I wrote a whole post about changes to the OP, and inadvertently deleted it. Ugh. Basically, the set is back to All-Pro Plus.
The balance between the user and the CPU is back. For instance, in my game against the Jets, each side had 9 “drops”. I put drops in quotes bc Madden scores a defensive pass breakup as a drop if the receiver had his hands on it. So I’m good with the 9 “drops” a piece. IRL, a drop is considered a receiver not hauling in an uncontested catch when he had his hands on it. In that game against the Jets, there were 1-2 of those per side, which is what we want. Yards per play were on point, and it was all relative to the teams’ ratings. I’m not chasing stats, rather I chase the user and CPU to be on a level paying field. Usually, the stats wind up falling in line, though that’s not the case for all. I’m ok with that.
We fell 38-33, effectively ending our season. The bad news is that I got blown out by the Chargers and Bengals, following the 1.21 patch, before I was able to recalibrate the set. The good news is that the changes that I implemented for the Jets game were spot on for what I was looking for. The user and CPU are now on an equal playing field again, and games will be subjected primarily to ratings and game-to-game variance and variables. Again, this is what we’re looking for. It sucks bc it essentially cost me my season, but it was worth the trade off to equalize things.
As always, tweak things to your own personal preference, with the understanding that YMMV. We all have different skill levels and playing styles, so either run the set on the OP to a T, or make it less or more challenging in areas that you see fit. I’m very happy with it, now. Wish I ran a test game before playing that Chargers game..... some beach, somewhere.
Hope you can continue to enjoy your franchises.