House rules for dynasty gameplay

[Keyser Soze]

Well I asked this question in PM's AA slider thread but didn't hear any feedback so I figured I would make a thread just about this. What I want to know is if any of you have self imposed any rules to make the game more enjoyable, hell, even playable. I have had to come up with a number of them that I will post below. I would be happy to expand further if there is any interest and I am looking forward to any other rules that people use for gameplay. I am not interested in recruiting rules as I know many of you impose those as well.

1) No tight formations can be used on account that EA went another year without putting any logic into how to defend these formations. It is just too easy to destroy the CPU with Ace Tight slots and SG Tight slots and therefore are considered illegal.

2) If motion is used on offense the human has to let the guy get set and the defense fully adjust to the motion before one can snap the ball.

3) There is simply no optioning from under center on account that it is too easy. Making the option from under center difficult would require ruining the rest of the running game entirely. The option from under center is a dead scheme anyways, so no huge loss there.

4) No human QB can have greater than 75 speed. This one kind of sucks but since EA believes that a fast QB can still throw on a dime after sprinting out of the pocket, it makes them so much more valuable then a slow QB that its unbalanced. Our answer to this is to remove the fast QB from human offenses all together. It makes for a much more difficult time throwing the ball.

5) On defense you can only move your players around with the pre-snap by shifting with the 360 shifting control. Meaning, you can't take control of a LB and walk him to the LOS well outside the tackle and get the sack 80% of the time. Rather, you have to let the CPU move him and you are constrained to what the CPU will do. This at least lowers sacks and gives the CPU a better chance of getting to the outside.

This is what we are using right now for our dynasty rules. I am wondering if anyone else does this.

[jello1717]

I play as 2 teams and I've played through 2 seasons and these are some of the rules that I've imposed upon myself. I play on the 360.

1. I can only control 1 guy on defense (IE. no switching).

2. I can call a zone defense no more than once every 2 downs (because 90% of my inflated number of INTs come from zones).

3. I'm no longer allowed to use the impact stick (pushing the right stick up). I can still juke left, right, or back, but I can't use the impact stick anymore since it will do something (lower the runner's head or spin or juke or something else) that allows him to break the tackle at least 75% of the time.

4. I'm not allowed to call certain plays more often than every "x" number of downs.

5. I'm no longer allowed to shift my defensive line to the TE-less side of the offensive line and then have them rush towards the outside. This is about the only way I'm able to get sacks, but I get them too often like tis (since my DE will run outside, beat the tackle and then come back inside untouched to the quarterback probably 10% of the time). I'll have to find another way to get my linemen some sacks.

6. I'm no longer allowed to use motion on running plays. I used to use motion to either bring another blocker to the side i'm running to or to drag a defender away from the side I'm running to. This extra blocker/less tackler allowed me to run too effectively.

7. I don't allow myself to control anyone on defense for FGs/XPs since they're waaaaaay too easy to block.

[Keyser Soze]

I should have stated that I too play on the 360. I find these 2 to be very interesting.

5. I'm no longer allowed to shift my defensive line to the TE-less side of the offensive line and then have them rush towards the outside. This is about the only way I'm able to get sacks, but I get them too often like tis (since my DE will run outside, beat the tackle and then come back inside untouched to the quarterback probably 10% of the time). I'll have to find another way to get my linemen some sacks.

6. I'm no longer allowed to use motion on running plays. I used to use motion to either bring another blocker to the side i'm running to or to drag a defender away from the side I'm running to. This extra blocker/less tackler allowed me to run too effectively.

I too do #5 and have considered dumping that but like you said, its hard to get any real pressure if you don't. Until I can figure out something, I will continue to shift away at the line.

#6 only really applies for me on option plays where you run to the outside. Since I have ruled out the option and have a slow QB, it doesn't seem to effect my running much.

Do you find #6 to help you with handoff running much? Remember, I wait for the defense to adjust to any motion I do so I usually lose the extra guy.

[jello1717]

For me, #6 "can" make a big difference. I get (got) most of my big to-the-house runs around the end. They come on either options (North Carolina runs a lot of option for me, but Michigan doesn't) or outside handoffs (not pitches, as those are about a 5 yard loss for me about 90% of the time ) or counters when there is no receiver on the side to which I'm running and the D is playing man. If I can get no defenders on that side of the field, I'll motion a TE to the side I'm running which'll usually cause the LBs to shift a over little, but they don't bring any new defenders over there. Then when I run the play, the blockers (a lot of times I have a pulling lineman or 2) block the DL and LBs and then my extra blocker (whom I motioned over there) can pick off the safety who comes to help and then there's noone between my RB and the goal line.

Obviously this doesn't happen every time (maybe 10% of the time), but I figure 1/10 runs going for 50+ yards is just a "bit" excessive. Before I stopped motioning my TE if I broke one of these runs more than once in a game my RB would "trip" as I "accidentally" pushed the dive button, but that got stoopid very soon. I've only played about 5 or 6 games with this no-motion-on-runs restriction and so far it's working well (think I've broken 2 long runs around the end in those 5 or 6 games).

The long runs used to be really, REALLY bad when I found out about the impact stick. With that, all I needed was to have only 1 guy to beat and it was a guaranteed TD 75% of the time.

[Keyser Soze]

jello, do you have sliders?

Also, do you not shift the LBs to the non TE side if they are blitzing? It seems to have the same result as the DE shift.

[Cardot]

1 house rule of mine is no manual catching....especially on the lobs into triple coverage.

[NoleFan]

I've got one rule and that makes the game for me. I used to primarily coach but now I apply the no switch rule to all phases of the game.

Offense
I always control the QB. On passing plays, I make the read and the throw and watch from there on out. On running plays, I let the ball be handed off then I watch. On Options, I run out with the QB and either keep or pitch. If I pitch, I let the cpu control the HB.

Defense
I control the RE and never switch. You can choose any position but once the ball is snapped you CAN NOT SWITCH!

Sp.Teams
On KOs and Punts I always control the K/P for the entire play. For PR, I control the PR'er. On KR, I select a KR'er before the snap and if it's kicked to me I can return the kick but if they kick it to the other guy I have to watch.

I do all of this because I like the idea of being a part of the team.