First of all i want to say thanks for the game and all the work that has been invested in it.

I understand that in 0.4.3 there where to many Long passes. I mean there where QBs with backup statistics that threw to a receiving Corps with backup statistics and they had numbers that put Players like Brees, Brady or Rodgers ashame. Even if you would provide one of them with a receiving Corps of - lets say - Hopkins, Jones, Thielen and Brown it would not be like in this engine. Its good to adress it - but i dont think its good the way it happend.

0.4.4 is not Football. Maybe it was in the 1960s but im not old enough to now it. When you have a competent QB and WRs like Hopkins and Jones and your RBs are still your most sucessfull Receivers its broken. I know, a Player like Hopkins can be shut down for a game (like yesterday) but not for a Season. And btw. it cant be the solution to place your #1 and 2 WRs in other spots - it wouldnt work in real Football too. Can you imagine a game where Hopkins faces a soft Coverage because the Coach says hes only #3 and the opposing defense is double teaming the fifth best WR on the field for the hole day just because he is listed as #1?

I also dont think it should be a priority to have more Plays - at first every Play should be equaly good - if called in the Right Situation. I dont get the Point in having more Plays as Long as there are Plays that you should avoid all along? It would be just more Plays to sort out.

Basically i think there should be more wight on what a Player is able to do. I mean even if you are the best playcaller in the hole world - with a Team like this years Raiders or Cardinals you wouldnt have been near the Playoffs. And thats just because of a lack of Talent. and Maybe there should be penalties for using the same type of Play all the time. Like the "overuse" for calling the same Play a lot - why no overuse if you only call Long passes or HB dives? In todays Football you have to be flexible, the Teams that are sucessful typically uses running Plays, short passes and Long passes (of Course less Long passes than others). If you only Dump it off you wont win anything. Watch the Vikings (this year against good Teams, like the Bears or how they played with Ponder) - these Teams **** despite a great D#. Btw. im a Vikings fan - i have to know.

An optimal Engine should give you good chances to win, no matter if you run the ball more, establish a west coast offense or like to throw it Deep (as Long as you arnt doing it the hole game) i think. With a gameplan using comon sense and not working around some engine specific weaknesses. And of Course only if you have the Players to carry your strategy to the field. If you have a backup QB and backup WRs and throw it Deep a ton you should have just as many interceptions as completions - if you have a great QB with a great receiving Corps results should be different in my oppinon.

Build a good Team, maximise the strenghts of the Team (no matter if its a great RB, a great DL, great DBs...) and try to mask the weaknesses. WIthout any engine priority. That would be great.

Oh and i think the O Line Quality should have more Impact on the game. The O Line has a huge Impact in the NFL too.

For 0.4.3 - im not interested in my leagues and Teams with that engine any Longer. I dont watch the game, i do not gameplan and im not interested in the Outcome. Im already thinking About selling the hole Team for future picks when the issues are hopefully solved and just tanking until then.

I don't remember football in the 60s, but I think the NFL was pretty conservative until they got beat by the Jets and then the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.

I do remember football of the mid-to-late 70's and it was very different than today's game. Most teams ran more than they passed. Of course, for most of the period offensive holding was 15 yards and defenders could shove receivers all over the field until the ball was in the air. If you couldn't run effectively, you were likely to lose. If you could run effectively, you'd run the other team into the ground if you could. In their Super Bowl against the Vikings, Dolphin's QB Bob Griese threw six passes - SIX.

In those days you could be a starting QB with a completion percentage of less than 50%. You wouldn't be a very good one, but you could still start. Bob Avellini for the Bears. When Stabler completed 66% of his passes for the '76 Raiders, with good yardage, that was considered excellent. Now it's pedestrian. Look at HoF Bradshaw, Staubach, or Tarkenton. Their stats don't compare to the modern game because the game they played was so fundamentally different.

Just a quick point: agreed on the premise of making it more well-wounded where offensive strategies are equally effective.

I'll take v4.3 for example. You watch the games and see where the ball is being siphoned. You play against big time opponents/coaches and take notes. You go into the lab and you do whatever you can to be competitive and put your team into contention or at least deep playoff runs. (Divisional Round+ exits)

This meant the ball being siphoned off to the RB in the backfield and the TE route being featured as I believe in means to spray the ball away from the WR Streak Pattern, TD fiestas.

You have to match the GM alongside you on that tier or you're not going to win.

I'd be all for an equally effective offensive positioning. Run heavy strategies breaking through to the other side with proper play calls and balancing of PA Passes. Seth's short passing hooks and curls technique being able to snake through defenses at times, strikes that cut through for long TDs against vulnerable defenders and advantageous off play calling vs. susceptible defensive play calls. etc etc.

But it's easier said than done. The coding to come up with the perfect game and to make everything on an equilibrium has to be nearly impossible.

Others have said it but this game is most optimal somewhere in between in the spectrum of 4.2 offensive play calling and 4.4 defensive dominance as there's some definite credence to where the scoring out-puts lay now and that is more realistic plus increased defensive stoppage.

Hate to say it, but Im glad you're not in my league. Good, bad or indifferent as the game version might be, it is a disservice to your fellow GMs to tank under any circumstances.

BTW - IMO, 0.4.4 is better than either of the previous versions.

in that case you are better off not joining Fake Pigskin , NFL League , Elite Football league and Custom roster 130 considering those leagues are what he is in awhile it is better he doesnt try to join Paydirt football league knowing thats only league you are in.

Right on both counts.

I'm convinced that you don't actually read through posts, but here we go again.

First some background.

The changes in 0.4.5 are big improvements regarding how coverage works compared to how it worked in 0.4.2 and how it works now. Basically, in 0.4.2 and earlier versions, all "coverage" meant was the WR's Speed vs the DB's Speed. The fastest player was always the best player regardless of any other attribute. It was pretty ridiculous that you could take a 95+ Speed DB with no M2M, B&R, Punish, or Zone and play as effectively as a 70-80 Speed DB with 100 in all of those skills, but that's what you got.

This Speed versus Speed roll was made more ridiculous by how B&R "worked". Basically, DB's almost always jammed at the line if they were slower than the WR they were facing even if they had incredibly low B&R and then when they inevitably lost the B&R roll, they fell down letting the WR run away untouched. This led to a number of 100 point games by players running nothing but fast WRs with good B&R Avoid.

0.4.3 introduced the ability for DB's to disrupt a WR's route downfield using B&R. This helped equalize Speed versus Speed rolls some. If you had a 70ish Speed DB with 100 B&R, he wouldn't immediately get burned down field. The problem in 0.4.3 was that it did not address a major bug with coverage where the DB lost the ball in the air. This led to the all long pass offense and a bunch of 100 point games. And, for the record, 0.4.4 didn't actually fix this problem.

So what happened with 0.4.5 development.

As soon as QB's decision making and passing release was adjusted so QBs were making 2-3 second decisions like they should, we released that DBs were at a serious disadvantage. They always lost the ball in the air, and they were usually way out of position, even elite ones. And a lot of coverage was still Speed versus Speed largely for no reason. The first alpha server games were actually pretty hilarious in terms of yards, completions and points.

To address that problem, JDB is working on fixing the bug where the DB loses the ball in the air. But that wasn't going to fix all of the issues. There is no reason that a 100 M2M or 100 B&R Cover guy should lose a faster WR on a short route without putting up some kind of a fight.

So now instead of just using B&R to slow down a WR, which was again added in 0.4.3, DBs use B&R to grab and get themselves back into position. This isn't a nerf in the way you think it will be. A fast WR with good route and B&R avoid is still going to burn a slower DB deep, eventually. But a good cover DB is going to put up enough of a fight before the WR finally gets behind him to disrupt the play.

That's exactly what happens with good M2M players today. It's also why every WR in the NFL claims they were interfered with when they miss a catch.

Basically, there is no "kill the long pass code" coming in 0.4.5. What is coming is a lot more viable players that can still get beat badly deep. What you're going to have to live with is 0.4.5 not being released until the coverage bug of DBs losing the ball in the air is fixed because that would make the game more broken than 0.4.3 now that QBs see more of the field and they make fast decisions.

0.4.5: and if he could work something in where a FS coming across the field would take a proper pursuit angle to try and prevent the long TD, that'd be good too! :)

Fixing identifying where the ball is when it's in the air will address most of this (I think). What I've been seeing in alpha is that all the defenders are reacting better to the ball in the air and running to meet it. I'm not sure what that means for pursuit angles yet, but it's a start.

Uh, no but nice try. I recall something you posted recently and everyone who saw it stated there was nothing wrong with the DB behavior/pursuit angle. This is more of a losing mentality wanting protections put in place to safeguard against bad defensive plays that are being used or defensive players that got beat on the play.

Offensive player that busts open and is in the clear = play over, strategy worked.