I figured I'd write this out because I'm losing interest in the game. I've gone to a ridiculous offensive system that passes the ball up to 90% of the time on all downs and distances. You'd expect a system like that to produce a lot of passing yards, which it does, but it also produces a decent completion ration (~60%), solid TD:INT ratios (~2:1) and reduces sacks (~45 given up on >700 drop backs).

Some examples:
MFN-19: 729-419 - 57.5% - 5,818 yards - 46 TDs - 24 INTs - 45 sacks given up (rental QB, untweaked playbook)

Cust-10: 748-439 - 58.7% - 5,832 - 40 TDs - 32 INTs - 45 sacks given up (more INTs from this guy than ideal, but I'll explain later)

MFN-1 (through 7 games): 306 - 180 - 58.8% - 3,246 yards - 32 TDs - 8 INTs - 9 sacks given up (consider this a preview of v0.4.1)

Private-75 (through 12 games): 607 - 398 - 65.6% - 5,976 yards - 53 TDs - 21 INTs - 22 sacks given up

A Quick Note on QBs

This system works best with a fast QB with good accuracy and good look off. Arm is nice, but the rest is just gravy.

You will throw INTs in this system. Part of this is because of the sample size. when you throw more than 700 passes, there are more chances for the defender to intercept it. The other thing to keep in mind is that the number of interceptions your QBs throw is directly related to your QBs accuracy. The more accurate, the more interceptions (to a point). Low accuracy QBs miss wide, but complete fewer passes. High accuracy QBs complete more passes, but put the ball into the defender's window more. It's a trade off. You'll just need to live with it. That said, when you're keeping your TD:INT ratios above 2:1, it doesn't matter when you throw 25 INTs in a season.

Exploitiness

Not going to lie, this system focuses on all of the passing exploits, which you should all know already, but let's recap.

1) Your best offensive player should be a WR. - Probably the least thought of move, but I know a lot of owners are already doing this. Put those all 100 RBs and TEs at WR and watch their numbers explode.

There are some reasons for this.

WRs are not naturally generated with break tackle, which is a ridiculously overpowered skill in the secondary. When a WR breaks a tackle, he's basically gone.

There is a disportional number of all 100 offensive skill players versus all 100 defenders.

Most WR versus DB attributes favor the WR. 100 courage can make even the sloppiest hands WR an absolute threat down field. Couple that with good break tackle, and you have a potential home run threat every time the ball is in the air.

Slow WRs are still good WRs. Got a WR with 100 SP, but 255 pounds on him. Don't worry. He'll shed the weight. In the meantime, he'll still dominate unlike a RB in a similar situation.

RBs and TEs don't need to be super stars so don't waste your best players at that position. RBs only really need 4 attributes and you should know what they are. TEs depend on the system. I want mine fast, good receiving skills, good run blocking. I probably could just make them all WRs though since weight doesn't matter in blocking yet.

2) DBs fatigue faster than WRs and recover slower. - Not going to lie here either. I got pretty pissed off watching my CB3s get burnt for long first down after long first down on third and long plays before the adjustable fatigue meter came into play. Even with adjustable fatigue, DBs wear down much faster than your top WRs. So the more passing you do, the more tired those DBs get. I have had multiple games where my QB started 1/10 and ended up 30/50.

3) Six offensive lineman are best. - There are a lot of plays in 014 and 113 set that keep the TE in as a blocker. Find them and sub in your best blocking OL. Do it. Do it now.

How It Works

I'm not going to go through my game planning matrix, plays, or rule build in detail. But here are the basics:

1) Focus on short passes. - Your best player is a WR. Get him the ball quickly and let him make plays.

2) Use rules to control when to run. - This is a must. You have to know situationally when to run the ball, especially when protecting a lead late.

3) Appropriately use depth chart overrides. - If you have a bunch of RBs that have no business catching the ball, don't use them in obvious passing situations. If your TE is your best WR3, but you want to leave him at TE, override your depth chart.

There is more to this, but I wanted to put this out as a general outline since the topic has started to come up in MFN-1 regarding offensive production.

In my opinion your creating the lopsided stats with your play calling. (I see no issue with that)

Heavy pass is normal gameplan between two good teams who stop the run. The sucess thru 16 games has to do with your roster talent and average opponents who aren't gameplanning against all pass offense is a heavy percent of the reason for the ballooned stats. You could implicate the run game and still get those numbers passing minus 200 attempts.


( let me add this is not intended to hurt anyone's feelings and my opinion is not correct or the only opinion that counts, TM. Ricky bobby inc. )

I thought the same thing, but it's so much easier to exploit a team's passing defense than it is to exploit a team's run defense. It's pretty easy to completely shut down a run heavy team because run key is ridiculously overpowered. However, pass key does literally nothing right now. The best it does is not have your DB not get suckered on a play action.

That said, it does balloon up passing stats like crazy. Maintaining percentage, TD:INT ratios, and keeping sacks low have been an added bonus.

You guys are way above my pay grade whe it comes to this game, however, Ive game planned against a run heavy team and still have up over 200 yds on the ground. That's with a run defense that averaged 65 yds a game throughout the season only to get lambasted in the playoffs.

I still have a lot To learn.

Run key pretty much shuts down the 212 and 122 runs. But for the 113 and 221 HB toss, it's better to use rules to dictate the play calling.

Got it. Thanks. I was throughly disappointed with the run key 100% and still gave up 11 YPC. I will have to dabble in the rules. Thanks again.

Anytime a team runs from 1-1-3 on 2nd and 5+ your defense will most likely be set up in nickel and sometimes will drop into zone on first step. Unless you make a rule to change it or blitz your middle backers can also help that problem.

For the record, Setherick says that he uses 'all the exploits', but he doesn't use the ultimate exploit, which is the 'limited playbook'. I'm playing his team tonight in 75, which gave me the chance to see the amount of plays he's using. In the last game, Setherick used 37 offensive plays! That's the most plays I've seen used it one game. And he has DOMINATED the league offensively... (And 23 defensive plays, for inquiring minds...)

I hope the owners that are using the lazy limited playbook take note and can see that a GOOD owner can fill their playbooks and still win. It makes feel shame that I plan on destroying him this evening...

Keep up the good work, Setherick. Don't get bored and don't quit...

I assume that the plays that did not get called were long passes.

I do an 80% Pass on my Cleveland team, and it's worked fairly well despite not having the QB I'd like running it.

I do like having a really fast RB, because he can hit a home run on Sweeps as I only Run Outside when I do run now on that Team. I have an amazing WR that was Drafted as a WR, but I absolutely love the Broken Tackle RB/TE move to WR and will look to do this to add to my WR depth across the field.

I think I will also Depth Chart a WR at TE (despite my TEs both being legit) to really try to exploit vs. the LB or S in coverage on the TE to see how that goes.