Packers CCM Strategy

[NateDogPack12]

OK, so I am excited about the prospect of starting my CCM when the new patch arrives. I obviously want to play with my favorite team, the Green Bay Packers. From what I have heard, it is sometimes difficult to develop backups and reserves, which is somewhat troubling because that's the way the Packers traditionally build. So, I outlined some goals here and hope to get some comments and advice about how to move forward with Green Bay. Also insight into how to achieve my goals.

-Develop Bulaga and Sherrod into elite tackles. Keep Newhouse as a backup.
-Find a future center to replace Jeff Saturday in the draft.
-Retain T.J. Lang and Josh Sitton to long term contracts.
-Develop DJ Williams as a legitimate receiving threat and retain Jermichael Finley.
-Develop Randall Cobb into a top-tier receiver to compliment Gennings and Nelson. Potentially trade / release James Jones. Find a quality receiver in the draft to replace Donald Driver.
-Develop B.J. Coleman to at least low 70's to backup Aaron Rodgers. Always looking for a bargain young QB to develop.
-Work Alex Green into the offense as a 3rd down back and hopefully develop him and Starks into a credible tandem once Benson is gone.

-Develop Nick Perry into a legitimate pass rushing force opposite Clay Matthews.
-Develop young defensive linemen Jerel Worthy, Mike Neal, Lawrence Guy, and Mike Daniels - Daniels as an interior pass rusher on 3rd downs. He's to small to play traditional 3-4 end.
-Develop the young corners Heyward and House and McMillan and Jennings at safety. Look for talented, young secondary players in the draft.

Top Draft Priorities for 2013:
-CB
-C
-WR
-HB
-DE (3-4)

Obviously, I'll stick to the model of trying to take the best player available.

Can someone explain to me the concept of scouting, how it works and the strategy involved?

Looking forward to suggestions and discussions.

Thanks.

[Kwazi813]

I got a few things:

Newhouse is better than Sherrod, and only a year older. Unless Sherrod has better developement(I don't remember) then Newhouse is just as good of an option.

Don't trade Jones. Driver retired after my first season. Jones is really cheap cap wise, and can toast back up corners. Trust me, having 4 WRs you trust is invaluable.

Woodson is a SS on depth chart. Move him to the third corner as well, he'll be playing nickel. This will get your best CBs on the field, and give McMillian play time at safety.

Perry is a beast in this game. I put all his xp into block shedding. He sacked Eli 4 times in the playoffs, I didn't user him once.


Saturday will retire very soon. Get a stop gap ASAP.

Woodson also retires almost immediately. This is a HUGE loss on D. Try and trade him before he retires.

The interior of the DL is pretty barren. Pickett and Raji are a great run stopping duo, but provide little in pass rush. Sub these guys out on obvious passing downs. Raji can provide some decent push if you user him though.

Biggest needs I saw after year 1:

Benson is pretty damn good between the tackles, but RB is a huge need. None of these guys are worth much in the passing game.

Don't worry about back up QB for awhile. If Rodgers goes down, you're screwed anyway. The ratings for the backups are so low its not worth it to progress them, considering they'll never see a reg season snap.

I'm not great with scouting, so can't help you there.

[thebizarrojerry]

Just a tip, the computer is easy to trade up in the draft with. At the end of the season, you can get a top 5 draft pick by trading away your same round pick plus a 6th + 7th rounder usually. Sometimes they want a 5 and 6. Well worth it though. I won the Super Bowl in my 2nd year as the Lions, and traded away some draft picks and now have 3 top 10 in the 1st round. I scout physical and intangible and you can use the draft guide and find some replacements for your players who will retire.

[NateDogPack12]

Quote: Originally Posted by thebizarrojerry

Just a tip, the computer is easy to trade up in the draft with. At the end of the season, you can get a top 5 draft pick by trading away your same round pick plus a 6th + 7th rounder usually. Sometimes they want a 5 and 6. Well worth it though. I won the Super Bowl in my 2nd year as the Lions, and traded away some draft picks and now have 3 top 10 in the 1st round. I scout physical and intangible and you can use the draft guide and find some replacements for your players who will retire.

Hey, thanks for the advice, but I do try to play true to real life, or as true to real life as I can in a video game.

I just wouldn't see stockpiling picks and manipulation of the AI to be really fun or realistic.

[machzara24]

I just finished my 2nd year with the Packers. My main need was running back after year one so I was able to trade for Lamar Miller of the dolphins to get speed out of the backfield. I didn't resign Benson after the first year because he wanted to much money. Driver and Saturday retired after year one, so I had a hole at center as well. Miller did decent my 2nd year while center was a train wreck. My 2nd draft was much better as I pick up a starting MLB which enabled me to trade hawk. Jones and kuhn left via FA so I I'm down too Jennings, Nelson, and Cobb at WR. I do have a 98 speed receiver as my 4th who I was able to break some big plays with his rookie year, and look to build on that in year too. Woodson also retired for me so I took a SS in this draft to fill that big whole. They have been such a fun team to play with and I can wait to get my 3rd season going and see how some of these key new Rookies do for me

[ssc]

A few things come to mind. I'm in my (5th?) season in a Packers' CCM. I run a 3-4 based, but primarily multiple hybrid front (BAL def,) and run a pretty traditional ground and pound offense (about 30 touches for my #1 RB per game.) Not sure how applicable a lot of these will be, given your post, but -

OFFENSIVELY

1.) I put Kuhn on the Trade Block in Year 1 and got some good value picks for him. He's not competent as a Run Blocker, getting old(er,) and good run-blocking fullbacks are easy to find for cheap in FA or late in the draft.

2.) I actually started my CCM before the update with Cedric was installed, so RB was a *huge* priority for me. Luckily, I found a cat in the third round of the draft who is a total stud. (I could provide a name if wanted to.) Now, inversely, because I'm not a fan of Starks, I was able to develop Alex Green into a very legitimate #2 running back, and see him and my #1 guy dominating for years to come. He can be developed into a very trustworthy and capable running back who can be dangerous in the passing attack.

3.) If you can't actually find a good Center to draft (or even sign in FA,) Tackles translate over to Center pretty well. I had a "ho-hum" Center after Saturday retired for a year, but then was able to snag Eric Wood, a very serviceable run blocker, in the Off-Season between Year 2 and 3. I'm still looking for a good long-term young guy in the draft, though. On another note, I wasn't a big fan of Sherrod OR Newhouse, so I found a stud later in the draft, signed him for cheap, and he's already an 88 RT with Bulaga anchoring the left. Lang and Sitton are still comfortable.

4.) Jermichael Finley, if you take time to develop his blocking skills, will turn into one of the best stud TE's in the league. For whatever it's worth!

5.) Although he's a great return man, Randall Cobb is wearing my patience thin. I keep "giving him a chance" time and time again, but he drops too many passes in traffic, no matter how much higher I seem to increase his skill. I'm going to be looking for a serious long-term slot receiver, and keep Cobb around as a viable 4th this year. Jennings and Nelson are obviously studs, (Jennings actually set the single-season reception record in my rush-heavy offense!)

DEFENSIVELY

This is where I went haywire. I'm persnickitty with my defense, and I gutted the roster.

1.) Almost the entire D line is worthless, IMO. I tried to give Worthy a chance but he didn't develop too well. Raji and Pickett are still on my roster, and Pickett actually led the NFL in sacks one year. (Hmmm...) That being said, I even signed two guys who don't fit my scheme at all (Terrence Knighton, Pat Sims) to anchor my D-line and am stretching pretty hard with a rookie that I've plugged into the LE position. I'm really just not a fan of most of the linemen the Pack have right now.

2.) Matthews is very comfortable in his position, obviously. Perry turned out to be better than I expected but was never as capable in pass coverage as I preferred my OLB to be. I still like him as my backup OLB but, actually stuck Desmond Bishop on the outside because he's above average in coverage as well as a pass-rusher. It's worked out great for me. I have two very young studs at MLB.

3.) Chuck Woodson has been my #2 CB for some time now, with Tramon comfortable at #1. Neither are true shut-down corners, though, and I'm still looking for that person in the draft. I found a really good steal in the draft who has SS development but, I'm finding it overly difficult to get points to develop him, even with the "Extra Experience" package I bought. That being said, I wanted to try giving Hayward and Shields a shot but both of them were consistently blowing it... big time. Something had to go.

4.) McMillian is a serviceable back-up safety but not much else. Burnett and Bob Sanders anchored my safety positions for quite a few years, until I was able to find good values between certain drafts.

So really, my defense is almost nothing like what you're shooting for, haha.

Again, not sure how much of this will be helpful but they're just some ideas and personnel changes that I had to make in order to keep things legit with my personal coaching philosophies and schemes.

[btvs]

Nice write up guys.

[thebizarrojerry]

Quote: Originally Posted by NateDogPack12

Hey, thanks for the advice, but I do try to play true to real life, or as true to real life as I can in a video game. I just wouldn't see stockpiling picks and manipulation of the AI to be really fun or realistic.

I don't think it's manipulating the AI to get 3 1st round picks. I'm trading away all my 4,5,6,7 round picks.

To me it's fair because you can't scout what other teams are interested in, like you can in real life. So because you're missing that it evens the playing field out more.

Looking at what everyone writes, gutting half the team or more isn't "realistic" either.