Defensive players playing time fault?

[Sef0r]

Maybe I don't know how to search the forums or maybe I don't know how people would title this but man is this really starting to annoy me.

Why on earth does setting playing time to 50 do nothing for defensive players in ANY position?

I have 2 great DEs but nearing their end and another 2 young DEs who I want to play but the only way I can do this is if I have 2 subbed in for DIME defense, but then they would play all the dime defense which I play when in the lead.

This must be a known problem and I guess it isn't going to take much for someone to put me in my place, i.e. "its normal"

[Ben E Lou]

Actually, from what I can tell the settings work just fine. The issue you're experiencing here is likely related to these two facts:

1. There is no subbing in the specialty defenses (GL/nickel/dime)
2. If you are using AI-set defensive game plans, you're in one of the specialty defenses very often.

Example coming...

[Ben E Lou]

OK. Checking in a test MP league I have set up, on paper, Tampa Bay has the worst passing game: starting QB rated 23 current, starting receivers rated 46 and 40. They open with New Orleans. Going in and hitting recommend for New Orleans on defense yields 27-30-23-20 on 1st and 10, and 75/20 nickel dime against normal pass, 70/30 nickel dime against aggressive pass. In normal run, it suggests 43% GL. In aggressive run, it suggests 27% GL. (Actually it suggests those being reversed, but the switched-column bug causes the figures I list here to be the ones actually used.)

Anyway, that yields the following results on first and 10.

AGGRESSIVE PASS (20% Overall)
70% nickel (14% overall)
30% dime (6% overall)


PASS (23% Overall)
75% nickel (17.25% overall)
20% dime (4.6% overall)

RUN (30% Overall)
43% GL (12.9% overall)

AGGRESSIVE RUN (27% Overall)
27% GL (7.3% overall)

So we add those up and see that even on 1st and ten, it will use:

Nickel: 31.25%
Dime: 10.6%
Goal Line: 20.2%

That means that 62.05% of the time on first and 10, this team will use a specialty defense, an substitute no one. Once you start looking at 2nd and Long and 3rd and Long, that usage goes up into the 85-90% range.

And remember, this is all against a team that can't throw.

Let's take a quick look at the league's best (on paper) passing team. Arizona has a 67 QB, WRs rated 74 and 64, and a 64 TE. They open against Seattle. The recommend button rightly does heavily into pass defense mode:

17-22-26-35 on first and ten, and nearly 100% aggressive pass on 3rd and 4 or longer. Personnel usage package calls for 98% nickel/dime when in pass defense, and 100% when in pass aggressive. 46% GL in run, 29% GL in aggressive run. So right off the bat, roughly 60% of the time on 1st and 10 it will be in nickel/dime. And then when you add in the 15%-ish usage of GL on first and 10, you're right around 75% speciality defenses then, and virtually 100% speciality defenses on 3rd and 4 or more.

So, bottom line: those 50% settings are being used. But if you're using recommended game plans, those settings are only being used on the (rough but educated estimate) 15-25% of plays that aren't using speciality defensive packages.

Heck, let's say my estimate is low and 35% of plays are using standard packages. Last I checked, there were around 64 snaps on each side of the ball per game. At 35%, that would mean that 22-23 plays per game are using standard packages, so your 50% guy should be getting in on roughly 11-12 plays per game. And as I said, I personally think it's less than 35%, so we're probably talking 50% really yielding only 8-10 plays per game in recommended defensive settings.

[Ben E Lou]

So, bottom line: those 50% settings are being used. But if you're using recommended game plans, those settings are only being used on the (rough but educated estimate) 15-25% of plays that aren't using speciality defensive packages. I just ran another quick test that would indicate this is probably in the neighborhood of the correct range. In a full season using recommended game plans, the team I just checked used standard play packages 19.7% of the time.

[Sef0r]

wow, Ben that is some dedication to research.
I guess the bottom line is, avoid using specialty defenses unless required for the down. So if I am only using standard 4-3 defense 20% of the time and I have playing time set to 50%, my starter presumebly would only play 50% of that 20%...

...I will be testing that some time today, very nicely done.

I have to say though, it would have been great if there were specific positions in the depth chart for 3rd down packages for Defense, I know offense has them. I would like to play my nickle and dime defenses on 1st and 2nd downs with my starters and 3rd downs with my specialists.