6.0e Game Plan Thoughts So Far?

[Ben E Lou]

I've been pleased as punch so far. Intuitive, realistic game plans of various sytles seem to work, but personnel makes a difference. For example, I played around with a game plan designed on one team to get this guy touches, both running and passing:

http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/fofc/leggin.jpg

However, because this team has good WRs and QB, the other offensive goals on this team would be to get the ball to the receivers downfield, and not bother with throwing to the FB/TE much. I put together a game plan to do this, and it worked well:

RB Leggin: 386 carries, 1750 yards, 4.53 ypc, 62 targets, 53 catches, 374 yards, 6.03 yards per target. Total of 27.4 touches per game and 2124 yards from scrimmage

WR1: 75 catches, 1277 yards, 8 TDs
WR2: 71 catches, 1244 yards, 13 TDs

TE & FB combined for only 50 catches, despite decent route running ratings. WRs had well over 17 yards per catch, so it looks like Leggin ate up most of the short passes like I wanted him to. The idea is that with a good QB and a good receiving RB, the short pass should work almost like a substitute running play, and 6.03 yards per target there is GREAT! I'm sure Leggin caught a few longer balls to boost that average, but the fact that he caught 53 out of 62 tells me that his catches were mostly short ones.

I then load this game plan onto another team with a good QB, RB and receivers, but with one difference: the RB isn't good at pass-catching. The team only won 9 games (it's a test team I've used a lot, and 11-13 is the norm), and the RB averaged only 4.09 yards per target.


BOTTOM LINE: I am REPEATEDLY seeing game plans developed for teams with certain skill sets struggle when tried out on teams with different skill sets. Bravo, Jim!

[Antmeister]

I love reading stuff like this.

Too bad I am not home right now so I can post my findings, but the first thing I noticed, while playing 2 games of single player, is that my quarterback (who has a great scrambling rating) seemed to scramble a lot more often then he used too and was very effective breaking off some huge yards.

I wasn't sure if it was just the defenses I was facing, but my quarterback never took that many opportunities before and this felt more realistic considering his rating.

The other thing I had noticed is that it does appear there are offensive and defensive adjustments during the game. After the opposing team successfully threw a long bomb against us, the defense panicked and went into pass protection. However this was not a positive experience for me, because the opposing running back was killing our team and my team was often playing against the pass when they were protecting the lead.

This may not be a bad thing since I had read another thread about the coordinators' playcalling ability having an effect on the game. If this is the case, that will definitely explain why they were making these bad calls. I just wish I knew how much the head coach and coordinators balance out the playcalling.

And of course, adding that "Hard to Read" designation in the draft adds another layer to the drafting process. In fact, it seems to me that the draft was somewhat improved because I found a couple of gems in the draft that appeared to be below average players, but turned out to have some tremendous upside.

[Ben E Lou]

I haven't started touching defense yet, but with every offensive style I try out, I get a little more impressed. For example, with the Run N Stun, I'm finding if I don't run enough, completion percentage goes in the tank. However, with a Run and Shoot game plan I tried out, I can throw a LOT more than with the Run N Stun without any noticeable loss in effectiveness. Things are seeming to make much more "football sense"--in order to stretch the field effectively, you have to run the ball effectively.