How do I get my WRs more involved ?
 

My RB is a pass catching machine, and I want my QB to utilize my receivers more often. I have (what I think are key) my Miscellanious Options set as : Screen Pass - 5.5%, and my RB set in to block at 95%. And he's still been my leading target 4 straight years.

I think the RB only stays in to block on plays when he isn't a target, so that possible isn't helping. You could take him out as the passing down back and possibly do more medium and long passing? Do your WR's have decent Route Running attributes?

Odds are your RB has an awesome route running rating as compared to the WRs.

Yes sir.

I was just hoping I could game plan away from him somehow. No biggie, guess I should be glad my QB is smart enough to toss it to the open guy :).

True dat

FOUR WORDS:

Thow.

Down.

Da.

Field.

Dola:

My RB and FB both had high route running in this season:

I just drafted a team to illustrate what I mean further with some specific ratings. Here are the route running ratings of my skill position players:

RB Benjdya: 91
FB Haggan: 86
TE Perez: 80
FL1 McCarthy: 63
SE1 Buckhalter: 77
FL2 Manard: 47 (3rd WR)
SE2 Beyer: 43 (4th WR)
FB2 Murack: 76
RB2 Correia: 64
TE2 Murrel: 51

I set my gameplan up for the RB, FB, and TE to *NEVER* stay in to block. I used the following formation percentages for ALL situations:



This setup will keep a FB and TE on the field for pass plays quite a bit more than in a normal situation. I wanted to do that just for illustrative purposes. A FB will be on the field for roughly 70% of pass plays. At least one TE will be used on 85% of pass plays. I used pass distances designed to stretch the field.*

The results???

RB Benjdya: 91 -- 361 pass plays, 32 targets, 20 catches, 231 yards
FB Haggan: 86 -- 483 pass plays, 23 targets, 13 catches, 111 yards
TE Perez: 80 -- 424 pass plays, 62 targets, 38 catches, 500 yards
FL1 McCarthy: 63 -- 597 pass plays, 179 targets, 87 catches, 1440 yards
SE1 Buckhalter: 77 -- 579 pass plays, 209 targets, 111 catches, 1770 yards
FL2 Manard: 47 (3rd WR) -- 287 pass plays, 63 targets, 30 catches, 520 yards
SE2 Beyer: 43 (4th WR) -- 102 pass plays, 27 targets, 13 catches, 233 yards
FB2 Murack: 76 -- 0 pass plays (or run plays, for that matter, FB1 Haggan has 96 endurance)
RB2 Correia: 64 -- 323 pass plays, 25 targets, 10 catches, 65 yards
TE2 Murrel: 51 -- 236 pass plays, 29 targets, 16 catches, 213 yards

I'll put those totals in a more readable spreadsheet in a minute.






*-("Short passes are for pussies!"--Shaun "The Solution" Duncan)

Ok. I just reloaded, let the AI take over gameplanning for this same team, and these were the results:

POS/NAME	RR Rtg	PassPlys	Targets	Catches	Yards	YPC	YrdPerTrg	Participation %	TgPct
RB Bendjya	91	331	66	47	331	7.04	5.02	50.53%	19.94%
FB Haggan	86	346	59	47	315	6.70	5.34	52.82%	17.05%
TE Perez	80	360	66	46	536	11.65	8.12	54.96%	18.33%
FL1 McCarthy	63	541	115	57	742	13.02	6.45	82.60%	21.26%
SE1 Buckhalter	77	570	150	81	1199	14.80	7.99	87.02%	26.32%
FL2 Manard	47	330	35	18	239	13.28	6.83	50.38%	10.61%
SE2 Beyer	43	133	18	7	122	17.43	6.78	20.31%	13.53%
RB2 Correia	64	283	59	43	234	5.44	3.97	43.21%	20.85%
TE2 Murrell	51	152	15	13	160	12.31	10.67	23.21%	9.87%

So let's compare each player.

• RB Bendjya (91)--Using the AI gameplan, he was on the field for 30 less pass plays, yet had more than DOUBLE the number of balls thrown his way, and his yards per target decreased quite a bit.
• FB Haggan (86)--This is a huge shift. With short passing in place, Haggan's target percentage nearly quadrupled. He was on the field for 140 less pass plays (and was kept in to block on a good bit of those, remember), yet his targets zoomed from 23 to 59. His yards per target actually increased a bit with short passing, but it's still one of the lowest on the team.
• TE Perez (80)--With AI gameplanning, we see a modest increase in his target percentage. With only one trial each, the other changes aren't worth noting.
• FL1 McCarthy (63)--Sizeable drops in target percentage, yards per catch, and yards per target.
• SE1 Buckhalter (77)--This is typical of my tests in the past. The WR with the highest route running on a team like this (where the RB/FB/TE have better route running than the WRs) can move from being just a good player to putting up superstar numbers by stretching the field.
• FL2 Manard (47)--A third WR with mediocre route running skills is almost useless in a standard shorter passing scheme: only a 10.61 target percentage. However, with my quick haphazard gameplan, his target percentage doubled, and his yards per target in the stretch-the-field scenario was higher than ANY receiver in the AI scenario.
• SE2 Beyer (43)--Same thing for WR4. His targets nearly double in the longer passing gameplan.
• RB2 Correia (64)--We see very similar results as to the RB1 here. Target percentage more than doubles in the short passing scenario.
• TE2 Murrell (51)--Like the starting TE, not a huge change.

A few final numbers to ponder. Under the AI gameplan, targets were distributed as follows:

RB/FB: 31.6%
TE: 13.9%
WR: 54.5%

Under the quick gameplan I threw together, it was:

RB/FB: 12.3%
TE: 14.0%
WR: 73.7%

Wow, did those words come out of SkyDog's mouth? Mr. ThreeYardsAndACloudOfDust? ;)

You can still run the football much more than you throw. That's why it's called the Run-N-Stun. Despite having a QB break the league record for TD passes, I still ran significantly more than I threw in IHOF last year. The deal is this. If I'm gonna throw, I ain't wastin' time with some little weenie short passes or some mamby-pamby west coast crap. Real Men throw the bomb. :p

:my hero:

Makes me wish (once again) for some intermediate control level in the game, so I could tweak something like this without having to take over all 5 gazillion gameplanning settings... I end up just avoiding backs with route running like the plague.

You could just avoid route running full backs. Realistically, your rb should probably have a decent number of targets in a season. Then if you get someone like LT, Reggie Bush, or even the way the Texans used to use Domanick Davis(Williams) you can get them 50+ catches a year and not feel too bad about it.

You don't have to. I just changed short passing percentages on the "Basic" screen, and the 8 passing distances. The other changes I made were to "sandbag" a bit just to prove the point. If I had just used AI-recommended formations and stay in to block settings, my WRs would have gotten even more passes thrown their way.

Hello Al Davis. :p

Wouldn't these things change with the coaches as well? I mean if you get a good OC and a Head Coach with good playcalling, chances are they will fine ways to get the ball to your better players right?

If you're speaking from a real-world perspective, that makes sense. However, that's not necessarily how FOF works, particularly when it comes to coordinators. {shurg}

Funny you should say that. I made a deal in IHOF for a stud punter, and part of my thinking was remembering the reasons given for Ray Guy being drafted in the first round.

So coaches don't effect how the team runs?

According to the help file, coordinators impact player development, and I get the impression that's basically all that they do. The Head Coach seems to have some in-game impact, but I don't get the impression that it has much to do with getting better players the football.

Thanks

But if you have the "Coach resets the gameplan" option turned on, these changes get wiped out, don't they? That's what I mean by saying that if you want to tweak one thing, you have to take over the whole ball of wax. In SP that's more than I want to deal with...

That's what I thought at first, but it isn't that bad. I just do the recommend; and then tweak what I want. You can do it for every game, but it isn't neccessary. I set mine before game 1, and didn't touch 'em after - and have finished with the #1 scoring offense and top 5 scoring defense 3 years running now. (It'll come to an end soon, when I run out of cap manipulation ideas).

SkyDog.

Thank you sir; just what I wanted. I've tried it my last two seasons (yeah, I sim fast) - and finally got a WR to the Pro Bowl. Actually last year I had 3 1000 yarders (Clayton, Jefferson, and a rookie named Rice) !

I thought I could just get rid of screens & keep 'em in for blocking, but throwing further downfield is the trick.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the ideas...this has been a big issue with me since the game's been out. Looking forward to testing it out later.