[algoody421]

NO, LETTING YOUR DC AND OC PICK EVERY PLAY MEANS THEY WILL ONLY PICK MASTERED PLAYS. Because of that, you will win 95% of the time, only losing against teams that are truly better than you and not often then either. The only time an oc or dc will REALLY call any unlearned plays is in preseason and its really only the first preseason. They do sometimes in the reg season but its very rare.

Once he has called the plays he likes in the BASE PLAYBOOK(the one you start your career with or the one you chose to build your playbook from), THOSE WILL BE THE ONLY PLAYS THEY CALL. Your oc and dc will NEVER PICK A PLAY YOU CREATE OR STEAL UNLESS YOU HAVE CALLED THEM YOURSELF IN THOSE SITUATIONS.

To truly add difficulty, you must call your own plays and must limit yourself to learned and unlearned plays once you have the lead. That is the only true way to add difficulty to this game, other than slider tweaks. People seem to forget that even the loading screen tells you MASTERED PLAYS GIVE HUGE BOOSTS TO THE PLAYERS ABILITIES WHO HAVE MASTERED THEM. If the oc and dc only call mastered plays, you're not adding difficulty, you're subtracting it.

Other than that, you must promote from within and anyone who is too good at their coaching position already needs to be promoted or let go and replaced. If you have a staff of all 99s, you will go undefeated at will. I typically wont keep a coach longer than 5 years and those are the ones you develop yourself who started at 1 out of 4 in everything but had the potential to fill out(started as an 11 overall and what not).

But someone like Caldwell I will only keep one year if I cant get him to oc that next offseason. I usually will sign him as my qb coach first, then the next year oc for 2 years MAX, then let him go become a hc or oc somewhere else.
If I dont want him as my oc after that first year, I let him go after 1 season. So most coaches should only last on your staff 1 3 or 5 years max to add difficulty.

You also need to limit the amount of draft picks you take in the first 3 rounds to add difficulty. If you're drafting 3 1sts 3 2nds and 3 3rds, you just stole 9 of the top 50-100 players in the draft most likely, prolly closer to top 50). If you only pick 4 total in those rounds though(getting 2 in only one of those rounds), the talent is better dispersed around the nfl.

Finally, you have to tender your rfa low enough so that teams will want them and you can take draft picks as to lose your consistency. What I mean is, the longer you have the same players at the same positions, the less time it takes to learn all the plays each season, and the better they will play every game. When you're trading people and letting people walk or get stolen as an rfa, you lose consistency on your roster and have to reteach the plays to those new rookies and free agents.

If you're looking for a challenge, only use mastered plays when you absolutely need them(3 &7+) or you need a 4th down conversion. As I told Wheeler dealer in a message, think of it this way. ALL UNLEARNED PLAYS HAVE A 25% chance of working(but can be 100% against the right defense or offense called), Learned plays have a 50 50 shot of being successful(again can be 100% called against the right defense or offense), Mastered plays have a 75% chance of working. If you only use mastered plays, you only have a 25% chance of losing on any play let alone any game in total.