Guys,
We just wanted to go over some things that we have noticed in both leagues so far through Season One. For the most part you guys have been doing a really good job. However, we do have a few new guys and this is a good refresher for guys that have been here for awhile.
Please take the time to read this in its entirety. We only accomplish what we are capable of with this league if everyone is bought in and playing by the same rules. Not only is it more fun for everyone involved, but it gives us more flexibility in who we put on our live play-by-play games and presents a far better and more appealing product to potential new owners and those that like to tune in for our broadcasts.
Good luck this season and keep up the good work!
Mike and Matt
Xxclaywilliamxx, Konvict27, BigTexas18, pack1797, Glen Cieske, rkjones217, Paytonno1son, BlackPaw, woodsmall12, NightHawkTH32, CJTHA1, georgiafan, ACH_Bucks, Ninersfan8052, zbenjamin85, Spayer419, Jukemwr21, Studley021, Tigers20, dspbuckle, OzoneAz, Blackhawk375, Vandalay14
We just wanted to go over some things that we have noticed in both leagues so far through Season One. For the most part you guys have been doing a really good job. However, we do have a few new guys and this is a good refresher for guys that have been here for awhile.
Please take the time to read this in its entirety. We only accomplish what we are capable of with this league if everyone is bought in and playing by the same rules. Not only is it more fun for everyone involved, but it gives us more flexibility in who we put on our live play-by-play games and presents a far better and more appealing product to potential new owners and those that like to tune in for our broadcasts.
- Your playbook dictates your formations - If you have only one 3 TE set in your offensive playbook and you have 30 formations, you should only run a 3 TE set about 3% of the time (Once every 30 plays). It does not have to be exact, but it should be pretty close game in and game out. Likewise, if your playbook only has 40% shotgun sets, you should only be in shotgun about 40% of the time (or less).
- Mix up your formations - Ideally you should be in a different formation every play. That's what real life teams do. Occasionally you might come out in an I-Formation or 2 TE set on consecutive plays. That happens in real life. But you should not be coming on in the same shotgun formation two, three, four plays in a row. You should not be running the same I-Form or 2 TE repeatedly, especially on 3rd and long. Again, if you do not see it on Sunday, we probably shouldn't see it in here.
- Diversify your play calls - In a perfect world, you would not call the same play from the same formation more than once. Sometimes you may run the same dive play from the same I-Form or other running formation or something like that. However, for the most part, you should not be running the same play multiple times. Each playbook has over 200 plays and we only run about 50-55 per game. There is really no reason to be running the same plays repeatedly.
- Do not use the same concepts over and over - There are a few passing concepts that you may use 2-3 times in a game like mesh, curl flats, drive or even levels. However, those should typically come from different formations and not always be on the same down every time (using the same play, in the same situation over and over = money play). Plays like 4 verts, and PA shot and anything else that looks like 4 verts, especially from trips, should be used, at most, once per game. Spot plays, because they have a flat and a corner routes, are generally considered cheesy or "money" and should be limited to 1-2 times per game in most cases.
- Don't abuse money plays - The typical money concepts this year are 4 verts from trips, streaks to very fast WRs, HB screens, corner routes and HB tosses. 4 verts should not be used more than once in a game in almost any scenario. Its just straight cheddar and we should all be better than that. We should also limit plays like HB screens and tosses and corner routes to 2-3 per game, at most. Again, challenge yourself to be better than having to rely on concepts the AI doesn't handle well. You can mix them in, but don't wait until your final drive or two when losing and then all of the sudden pull out your block of cheddar because you don't want to lose. If you weren't good enough to beat your opponent playing sim football for 3.5 quarters, you don't deserve to beat them on money plays at the end. The same goes for using money or over-powered plays early on. Don't use them early to build a lead and then try and start mixing it up. The goal is to use as few money plays as possible and win by out-coaching and out-smarting your opponent, not out-Maddening them.
- Run the play where it was designed to go - Running backs in real life do not take the hand off and then run parallel to the line of scrimmage toward the sideline. That is a common Madden glitch play to try and out run the defense. If you call a dive, run it between the C and G. If you call an inside zone, run it between the G and T. Occasionally, maybe a couple of times per game, you may break a run outside of the intended hole because it was clogged up. However, that usually just consists of moving one gap over. It almost never happens in real life where a HB is running a dive and turns and runs straight toward the sideline. Don't do that in here.
- Use play-action realistically - Read the rules on this too. Play-action on 1st or 2nd down and 10 or less to go is realistic. Play-action on 3rd and 5 or less "can" be realistic. Play-action on 3rd and long is not realistic. No real life defense is going to bite on a play-action on 3rd and 15. The absolute only reason to run that there in Madden is to try and glitch the AI into biting on it. Its completely unrealistic. Also, the majority of your passes should not be play-action. A "high" percentage of your passes being PA would be about 33%. The vast majority of us should be below that for the vast majority of our games.
- Run commit is not a base defense - NFL teams only "run commit" in 1 yard or less to go situations on the goal line or, maybe, when losing late on a 3rd or 4th down that they need to get a stop to get the ball back. Also, run commit is exactly what it says. You are "committing" to stopping the run. That doesn't mean call a base zone defense, get your defenders to all attack if its a handoff and then drop back into coverage if they happen to fool you and are passing. That is completely unrealistic and just playing Madden. If you are run committing, it should be an all out blitz and you should be perfectly aware that if your opponent expects it and fools you, you just gave up a TD. That's how it work in real life and that's how it should work in here.
- Quarters and dime are not base defenses - Quarters is designed for 5 WR sets, very long 3rd down situations and late game Hail Mary scenarios. You should not come out in quarters vs an I-Form or 2 TE set (or even a 3 WR set the vast majority of the time). Likewise, dime is not a base defense. You should not be running dime vs 2 TE sets or even 3 WR sets very often. If your opponent has two good tight ends and you are worried about them throwing to them, play zone and spotlight one of them and user cover the other. Or get better safeties and linebackers. Corners very rarely cover tight ends in real life because of the huge size disadvantage. That should not happen in here any more frequently.
- Personnel match your opponent - If your opponent comes out in 2 TE or 2 RBs, come out in a base 4-3 or 3-4 defense. If they have 3 WR, come out in nickel. If they have 4 WRs, come out in dime. There are exceptions like 3rd and long when your opponent may have 3 WR and you may want to play nickel or dime if you are expecting a pass from a traditional set. But for the vast majority of plays you should personnel match. On the flip side, there is nothing wrong with playing a base 3-4 or 4-3 vs a 3 WR set, especially on early downs. If a team likes out come out in 3 WR on 1st and 10, run a base D and get that extra guy in the box to help shut down the run.
- Punt the ball in bounds - Obviously, if you can punt the ball out of bounds inside the 10 you should try and do that. We can even say inside the 20 to make it easier on guys. But if you cannot punt the ball inside the 20, you should be punting it in bounds, generally down the middle. No team in real life has the control of their punts like we do. They also don't punt the ball out of bounds every time. Let's not exploit that.
- Call audibles realistically - Whether it is a line protection, hot route or audible, these should almost always be done at the line of scrimmage. A real life NFL QB cannot give his team directions while they are running away from him with their back to him. We shouldn't be doing that either. Yes, accelerated clock makes it more difficult but that is by design. Adjustments at the line should be minimal and done in a realistic manner.
- If you do the same thing all the time, its cheese - Whether its calling a line adjustment, hot routing a certain play or calling underneath coverage on D, if you are doing it every time, or the vast majority of times, you are probably exploiting something. If you are always doing the same thing in the same situations or on certain plays or in certain coverages, its probably because it "works." We don't want to do that. Being diverse in calling your game also means not abusing certain adjustments over and over. Nothing works that routinely in the NFL and if it does in Madden its likely an exploit.
- Mix up your RBs - We covered this last year but wanted to remind guys of it. A real life running back never gets more than 80% of the team's carries for the season. Typically, most running backs, outside of a few stars, get less than 70%. This also applies to touchdown runs. The #1 RB never gets anywhere close to 100% of the rushing TDs. Generally that is below 80% as well. Make sure to manually sub out your starting HB, especially when up late, via the play call screen or by utilizing the auto sub feature in your coach settings.
Good luck this season and keep up the good work!
Mike and Matt
Xxclaywilliamxx, Konvict27, BigTexas18, pack1797, Glen Cieske, rkjones217, Paytonno1son, BlackPaw, woodsmall12, NightHawkTH32, CJTHA1, georgiafan, ACH_Bucks, Ninersfan8052, zbenjamin85, Spayer419, Jukemwr21, Studley021, Tigers20, dspbuckle, OzoneAz, Blackhawk375, Vandalay14
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