Surprised no one has jumped in yet to ask what the 'eureka' moment was....well, it goes like this.
Back in the day, there were many more sliders than there are now. Then, EA decided to remove some....including the old pass rush slider. King and I are both in agreement that the PCV slider still contains elements of the old pass rush slider (just as the Fumble slider also has elements of the old RBA slider in it).
When looking at an AP set (due to my personal frustrations on AM) I hit a point where not only PCV was equal to PBK, but so was the pass reaction slider...even on AP, the line play suddenly balanced-out (which is unheard of btw). That's when it hit me, the pass reaction and PCV sliders need to be equal to the PBK slider as the pass reaction slider ALSO has elements of the old pass rush slider in it.
So....as CPU PBK is giving a good mix of quick throws, deep throws, and protection while at 30, I decided to use that as the lynchpin value. So, I dropped PRT to 30 and Voila...sacks are much better (without need for an RTP value above 50). To compensate for the now run-oriented defenses, I bumped up the human RBK slider to 30 as well.
What I see now is that ratings on the line really matter. If you have a great line, you'll do well. If not, you will struggle. This works for the CPU as well.
Before revealing the set, I made one other personal modification. I raised the Human QBA to 7 as I was really tired of seeing elite QBs overthrow slant patterns by 20 yards. This is a really nice intermediate value as in a game using Luck, he was very effective; but when using Bortles...not so much. This is entirely optional....if you want to be hamstrung by a human QBA at 5 for added challenge....go right ahead.
In some ways, these may feel easier. However, I feel it is MUCH more balanced for both sides (bear in mind your matchups and confidence level when evaluating your thoughts on these - they matter more now than ever). The old set is in a spoiler on the OP for those that still want to use it. So....here we go (all game options such as speed, thresh, etc. remain the same):
HUM / CPU
QBA 7 / 5
PBK 30 / 30
CTH 45 / 45
RBK 30 / 30
FUM 40 / 40
PRC 30 / 30
INT 30 / 30
PCV 30 / 30
TAK 25 / 25
Special Teams
FG Power – 50/50
FG Acc - 50/50
Punt Power - 45/45
Punt Acc - 75/75
KO Power - 50/50
Penalties
Offside: 40
False Start:60
Holding: 60
Facemask: 50
DPI: 87
OPI: 90
PCI: 40
Clipping: 50
int grounding: 54 (VERY important - need to modify if you change CPU QBA)
roughing the passer:50
roughing the kicker: 40
ENJOY!!! I know I will (for the first time since this bloody game came out....).