There is definitely a certain amount of things the CPU must be allowed to do in this game, in my experience, for them to be competitive; such as: having a higher than realistic completion percentage; having a higher yards per carry average, etc. And it does appear, from my observations that the CPU will call more plays in regards to which type of play, run or pass, they can get more yards with. Thus the CPU really s balance touchy and IMO needs to be adjusted with balance in mind, not so much of meeting NFL goals like completion percentage rate, but first try to get the CPU to average a fair amount of runs versus passes, and then try to evenly dial up or down the sliders to get as simulation type a game as you can possibly get, which most likely isn't gonna be very sim acceptable..
Thus maybe, CPU sliders need to be, for example, if you have pass blocking at 40, then run blocking should also be at 40; Seems in my experience, pass blocking effects how well any QB and the passing game performs, and likewise with the run block and run game...From there, the run and pass game has other sliders, such as penalty sliders that can help or hinder either part of the offensive game...That is where balance starts to get tricky as penalty sliders seems to be by far the most whacky of all the sliders.
FOr example, I can go into practice mode - examine the attributes of my offensive line and lead or pull blockers and then call a run play over and over until I get a slider setting in run blocking and fumbles to where I can visually see the players following the play diagram drawn up for them, allowing for deviation per their ratings....Essentially, as I see it, a 60 for example means, that out of 100 plays, the player will be a winner 60 times and a loser 40 times: that is the very basic, without adding in the effects of the other players attributes that counter another players attributes.
For me, I try to identify where the game has attributes unevenly mismatched, for example, QB Acc, with all sliders equal, are generally too high. But is QB Acc too out of whack or is there a defensive attribute that is not up to par?
Another issue, as an example, is tackling...A tackle rating of 50 seems to allow too many tackles by the DT's, for one, not to mention tackle effects the pursuit path; so it seems that the tackle slider does need to be toned down to reduce the number of times the DT can make a tackle, but also, Facemask seems to have an effect on the intensity of the hits, as well as the number of facemask animations.
It really is a cluster mess of interconnected sliders compounded by the fact that we are all working on hypothesis and theories because EA/Tiburon REFUSES to give a detailed explanation of sliders...Though they gave an apparently great explanation of player attributes under their MUT section of the EASPORTS site...Nothing on sliders though....SMH
(sorry, I rambled, need more coffee)