In 77 I have an AI game plan that called the same blitz 16 times and a total of eight plays . The opponent's score was zero. It also is about the talent fielded and blitz called. Throwing deep has always been this way.

There were only a hand full of big plays in the test leagues playoffs. And it was vs the blitz

How about whenever a QB throws like 40+ times, his attributes begin to decrease due to fatigue? And that is a fatigue that won't recover during the game simply cause his arm is getting blown out for that game. It is similar to a pitch count in baseball. If you continuously go over the mark, you run the risk of a catastrophic arm injury that will permanently decrease their attributes. That should force teams to either run a bit more or start throwing out a backup. For reference, Brees threw 42 times a game this past season, maxing out at 54 attempts in one game. Surely his arm must've been tired that game.

Brees has averaged over 40 passes per game for the past 7 seasons (and 8 out of the last 10)! That after coming off of a devastating injury that few thought he would recover from. So I don't know if I agree with the increased chance of devastating arm injury for throwing more. And I'd be shocked if fatigue doesn't play a factor in arm strength now.

There are bigger issues in the passing game right now than number of throws:

1) DB vs WR interactions. High courage is allowing a lot more contested catches, which is actually a good thing since QBs throw so many contested ***** because of QB logic.

2) DBs fatigue much faster than WRs. Ray said that he's been running his fatigue rates for his CBs at 97. I have had mine at 75-85 since I could start setting by position. DBs for whatever reason just wear down fast.

3) Broken tackles in the secondary are devastating. Because WRs can catch so many contested passes, a WR is one broken tackle away from taking it to the house on any given play. And since there are so many bad tackles or broken tackles, this happens way too frequently.

How many of those are 5'9 WRs against 6'+ DBs?

Sorry, just a pet peeve ;)

In-game play recognition would solve a lot of this. IRL, 3 times in an NFL game is about the max as players recognize and adjust on the fly.

There could be an effective code on O and D and it would adjust accordingly based on the number of time a team ran the same play whether on O or D.

I agree with this, WarEagle. I put forth almost this exact suggestion a while ago, to mixed reviews. The thread is here:
https://cust12.myfootballnow.com/community/thread/5/2820?page=1

I know guys want freedom to do what they want, but there is nothing wrong with parameters like this. If implemented, it would affect maybe 5% of owners in the game. Almost every one uses the bulk of their playbook to play games. It would force the guys using the same few plays to be in line with the rest of site and stop winning cheap championships. I've seen good owners quit because of this problem...

I just simmed the Seattle/Jacksonville game referenced in the original post using the 0.4.1 game engine as it currently stands. I think you will be relieved to see the result, which is undoubtedly the impact of some of the overuse penalties in play. 23 sacks is still crazy high, but the players giving up the bulk of the sacks have really low pass block rating, one guy as low as 28. If you've got a 28-rated pass blocker and you're throwing lots of passes, especially long ones, expect to have your QB on the ground a lot.

And your point is.......?

... that the new engine is addressing this type of game planning.

Specifically, 0.4 = Seattle 113, Jacksonville 7. 0.4.1 = Seattle 28, Jacksonville 22.

That's great JDB, i'm looking forward to the new code :)