It's taken me quite some time to go through all of the small nuances of Head Coach 2009, and it has come with the price of making quite a few mistakes long the way, but one thing that I have discovered that will improve any team immediately is making use of the "Tendencies" chart that the game provides you with.
Now, I have a little experience in the coaching world, and I can say that game planning revolves around figuring out your opponents tendencies in relation to down and distance, formation, and similar. I couldn't tell you how many hours a week are poured into analyzing film and painstakingly writing notes on this subject. What baffles me is the ease with which this information is handed over to you in this game. It almost makes me sick to think that such a large aspect of coaching was not only absent from the first Head Coach game, but is so often overlooked in the new one.
Understand first that every week a task appears on the clipboard that reads "scouting report". To be honest, I think I spend more time analyzing this information than I spend doing just about anything else on this game. There is just so much information made available to you, the coach. You are given the top plays that your opponent runs in every important situation. What's more, during the game you are bombarded with down and distance tendencies and each and every play in your playbook's success rating against these tendencies. Naturally, this speaks more to defense than offense, but it's importance is not diminished by this fact. Let me share something with you all, this is the greatest tool at your fingertips! Imagine that you are inside the opposing coaches head before you ever call your own play! In my experience, the AI sticks so closely to it's tendencies that I am able to predict the play with almost certainty.
The great thing about playing a computer is that it is less likely to deviate too much from it's tendencies than a normal coach would. So how can this be exploited?
Naturally, I am very opinionated on this subject, but I would love to hear what others think about it. Do you use the down and distance tendencies as a weapon against your opponent? How often is it accurate? Do you feel as strongly about it as I do?
Now, I have a little experience in the coaching world, and I can say that game planning revolves around figuring out your opponents tendencies in relation to down and distance, formation, and similar. I couldn't tell you how many hours a week are poured into analyzing film and painstakingly writing notes on this subject. What baffles me is the ease with which this information is handed over to you in this game. It almost makes me sick to think that such a large aspect of coaching was not only absent from the first Head Coach game, but is so often overlooked in the new one.
Understand first that every week a task appears on the clipboard that reads "scouting report". To be honest, I think I spend more time analyzing this information than I spend doing just about anything else on this game. There is just so much information made available to you, the coach. You are given the top plays that your opponent runs in every important situation. What's more, during the game you are bombarded with down and distance tendencies and each and every play in your playbook's success rating against these tendencies. Naturally, this speaks more to defense than offense, but it's importance is not diminished by this fact. Let me share something with you all, this is the greatest tool at your fingertips! Imagine that you are inside the opposing coaches head before you ever call your own play! In my experience, the AI sticks so closely to it's tendencies that I am able to predict the play with almost certainty.
The great thing about playing a computer is that it is less likely to deviate too much from it's tendencies than a normal coach would. So how can this be exploited?
Naturally, I am very opinionated on this subject, but I would love to hear what others think about it. Do you use the down and distance tendencies as a weapon against your opponent? How often is it accurate? Do you feel as strongly about it as I do?
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