Players not playing but losing games!?

[Iceman87GT]

So I'm running a 4-2-5 on defense which means there are no OLBs, yet the guys I have at OLB lose games anyway. I have a guy who is nowhere on my line-up and the only place I've seen him in game is on special teams (punt returns and FG block).

In Madden Special teams never consumed contracts (games), unless you attempted a FG or punted the ball, and even then only the Kicker and the Punter lost contracts (which is why you should never use your Kicker for KOS, put your punter there, because you will always kickoff, and thus lose a contract, and we can all agree that the Kicker is more important than the punter, so you'd rather lose contracts with the punter than the kicker).

The placeholder loses contracts, even when he only comes in for XPs (not even FGs!?), and now it appears that the players in on punt returns, field goal blocks and Kickoff special teamers also lose games each time. The biggest issue with this is that we can't control who lines up there (short of going with a bare-bones team and having no backups at any positions that allow you to have no backups).

In Madden if you were playing the easy challenges you could call plays to where only a select few players lost a game (the pro/rookie challenges, I ran out of the I-Form, stayed in the same defensive formation and only consumed 22 each game, as long as I didn't need to deviate). It doesn't appear that they have translated that concept to the NCAA game.

I mean I have to put 2 silver OLBs at ROLB and LOLB so when the games get consumed (despite me not using them on a single defensive play throughout the game), I have 2 useless guys losing games. Basically I have to choose whether I consume games for certain players who go unused so I have the option to choose a play from a formation outside of the 4-2-5 or I don't have their contracts get consumed and I limit myself to the 4-2-5 formation exclusively.

Also on offense I used the Flexbone almost exclusively for my first 30 or so games, but I had to have a TE in my line-up to actually play a game, which means he lost a contract each game I played despite the fact that I didn't use him except for a few games where I ran a play or 2 out of the 1 Shotgun formation I had.

Has EA said anything about addressing this issue? Or is there a place where we could report it to them (can't exactly tweet them this info)?

Anyone have any work-arounds?

[loveburger]

Yea it's dumb, and no EA hasn't addressed it at all. Make sure you have good backups to your starters since they'll be on specials teams.

[marks0124]

I started a game yesterday and after a few plays it froze up - nobody was declared a winner/loser. Nobodies fault - looked like it was going to be a good game.

All of my players lost a game. It was a killer because I had three key guys sitting at one game and didn't have any coins to my name. I had planned to use my winnings (or my losers purse) to bump those guys back up.

[TDale5]

They could be playing on kickoff, kick return, and punt team

[Energ2121]

Quote: Originally Posted by TDale5

They could be playing on kickoff, kick return, and punt team

He mentions that in his OP.

He's asking if there are any work arounds.

[Iceman87GT]

Quote: Originally Posted by marks0124

I started a game yesterday and after a few plays it froze up - nobody was declared a winner/loser. Nobodies fault - looked like it was going to be a good game. All of my players lost a game. It was a killer because I had three key guys sitting at one game and didn't have any coins to my name. I had planned to use my winnings (or my losers purse) to bump those guys back up.

It's odd I've actually been able to quit a few games (against the CPU, on the rare occasions that I play online I take my losses like a man) and not lose contracts

[michiganfan8620]

I get the problem with that, but I don't get what the big deal is. If they don't play anyway, why do you care who it is at the position? Just put whoever there, and when they run out of games, switch it. You don't even have to put a LB there if you don't have any left, as it doesn't matter since they don't play.

[Iceman87GT]

Quote: Originally Posted by michiganfan8620

I get the problem with that, but I don't get what the big deal is. If they don't play anyway, why do you care who it is at the position? Just put whoever there, and when they run out of games, switch it. You don't even have to put a LB there if you don't have any left, as it doesn't matter since they don't play.

The issue is I want to be able to vary my formation choices when what I'm using just isn't cutting it. But in order to do this I would have to have players sit there and lose contracts in the off-chance that I may use them in another formation.

My TEs should only lose games if I actuall use them, I do run formations with TEs but I am from time to time able to go an entire game without using them, same goes for my FB (though I can manage that much more often), yet they lose a game each time I play a game.

I have to line up 3 CBs but my Defense uses 2, so a CB is losing a contract despite never playing a down.

I shouldn't have to spend game extensions on my Back-Up QB because he came in to hold for a kick (basically if I score in any way other than a safety the back-up QB loses a contract for that game).

If I have players there in the chance that one of my starters get injured they should only lose a game if they come in for an injured player. They shouldn't be automatically lined up on the Special Teams, and if they are assigned to the special teams they shouldn't lose a game. Only the Punter and the Kicker should lose a game on special teams, like it is in Madden.