PNFL

I decided to tinker around today with EN, IN and DI ratings. I created 4 PNFL mirror leagues and used the NE-BASE PPP for all 18 teams. I played out a 14 game season in all 4 leagues:

League 1 - Control group (no changes)
League 2 - 10% lower EN actual for all positions
League 3 - 10% lower IN and DI actuals for all positions
League 4 - 10% lower EN, IN and DI actuals for all positions

Here are a few results:

Top 5 QBRs - League 1/League 2/League 3/League 4
MIN - 99/NO - 102/CIN - 102/LA - 98
CHI - 97/WASH - 97/GB - 94/SF - 94
NYA - 96/JAX - 93/CAR - 93/CAR - 92
DET - 95/NE - 92/JAX - 92/MIN - 92
PHI - 94/CHI - 91/MIN - 92/NO - 91

Bottom 5 QBRs - League 1/League 2/League 3/League 4
SF - 85/PHI - 85/NYN - 87/CHI - 79
CAR - 85/DET - 83/NE - 86/CIN - 77
GB - 84/KC - 81/WASH - 86/DET - 77
NYN - 83/CIN - 79/NYA - 85/SEA - 75
NO - 78/NYN - 78/LA - 81/NYN - 74

Top 5 Rush Avg - League 1/League 2/League 3/League 4
SF - 4.9/JAX - 4.8/WASH - 5.1/CIN - 5.2
OAK - 4.6/OAK - 4.6/CIN - 5.0/LA - 5.2
CAR - 4.4/CAR - 4.6/CAR - 4.8/MIN - 4.9
KC - 4.3/WASH - 4.3/SF - 4.8/CAR - 4.9
DET - 4.3/PHI - 4.3/NO - 4.7/JAX - 4.8

Bottom 5 Rush Avg - League 1/League 2/League 3/League 4
NE - 3.8/MIN - 4.1/LA - 4.2/NO - 4.1
NO - 3.8/GB - 4.0/SEA - 4.2/NYA - 4.1
LA - 3.7/CIN - 4.0/DET - 4.0/SEA - 4.0
WASH - 3.6/CHI - 3.6/NYA - 4.0/WASH - 3.9
NYN - 3.2/DET - 3.0/JAX - 3.9/NYN - 3.8

Top 5 Scoring - League 1/League 2/League 3/League 4
CHI - 390/MIN - 407/CIN - 468/OAK - 443
LA - 386/JAX - 404/JAX - 439/MIN - 424
NYA - 385/OAK - 399/NE - 421/LA - 418
MIN - 376/NE - 388/SF - 411/CAR - 415
NE - 373/NO - 379/NO - 410/NE - 410

Bottom 5 Scoring - League 1/League 2/League 3/League 4
GB - 323/PHI - 339/PHI - 360/CHI - 359
CIN - 305/LA - 337/LA - 354/JAX - 329
NYN - 297/NYN - 295/CHI - 352/SEA - 326
NO - 296/CIN - 295/NYN - 347/DET - 326
JAX - 293/DET - 273/DET - 333/NYN - 307

I've only played 1 season for each test league. However, it is interesting to see some early results.

Scoring and Rushing Avg appear much higher with lower IN and DI (with or w/o lower EN).

Even though the stats for the Top 5 and Bottom 5 might not have changed when adjusting a variable, the impact the change had on individual team's was pretty substantial.

I'm curious, did you do all positions including defense? Because I'm curious to know if IN & DI matter more than we realize for defensive players. A former coach I knew always went after high IN & DI for defense, especially DBs because he was convinced it's what really mattered for defense.

Yes, I changed every player at every position.

Ah, so it likely means that former XFL coach was close but not quite right! It had no real major impact on pass defense, but it does impact rushing yardage allowed and points allowed. Interesting.

I'd be curious if lower ST makes defenses suck too -- i.e., lots of mistackles. My team had a ton of those last season.

Possibly... however, remember, QB IN and DI was cut too. This would impact the passing game. I would believe the decreased IN on defense would impact READ defenses and lower DI would impact pursuit.