Offensive Passing Play Rule Change Recomendation

[Rich-League Officer]

So is it an AI buster in the NFL when a DB gets faked out?
It happens all the time, that's in part what creates big plays and running after the catch.
If these plays create that 5% of the time, that is not an AI buster.
And if your DB's IN/DI play a roll in determining if he's faked out, even more reason to use these plays.

I think we need to discuss what an AI buster play really is.
Why did the programmers of the fake even put it in the game if it was never meant to be used?
I have to assume it's there because it's possible to fake out defenders.
How that got labeled AI buster is beyond me.
I think it's because back in the day, plays could be created that would go for 80 yard TDs each time.
That is not what this is.
The only way to test these plays is to get them in the league, in the plans in league play.

If they fake out a DB 60% of the time, then I agree.
But if it's a 10% fake out for a nice gain, that's GREAT!
That would not be an AI buster.
It would be exactly how the programmers designed the game.

[Jerry-Redskins]

I'm actually talking about other players stopping. Historically multiple players around a fake stop what they are doing. I agree with your comments for the actual CB covering the faking WR. I disagree we do it in season though. We should never change something in season even for small impacts. It is not right I believe. There is no reason to not wait until after the season and do deliberate testing. We set our teams and strategies based on the current rules.

We can test, discuss, and decide what to do before we get the draft and stuff going. While, I'm personally against making much change based on how well things are going, I'm open to thought out coordinated ideas implemented off season.

[Rich-League Officer]

So what if other players stop, NFL players do dumb things all the time.
Right now we have a passing game that is 100% possession/tackle/play over.
If there was a way to open things up a bit, not drastically then we should do it.

I don't see any problem starting this right now on a small basis.
I am not talking about teams have 15 of these plays in their plans.
And nobody has "planned" their season in such detail that they couldn't handle teams using 1 or 2 of these plays against them.
Adapt, overcome, create a defensive play that stops it.
It's week 2!

I have no idea if these plays will do anything special but why stop the innovation in its tracks?
Create them, let Charlie look at them. I can test them and see if they are performing unrealistically.
This alone could take weeks. If they are okay, let teams use 1 in their plan if they want.
But our passing game is dreadful and needs innovation.
And to be honest, I don't think this is a coaches vote topic.
This should be a command decision by the Commissioner if he thinks the plays are viable and not unrealistic.

[Mitch-Oilers]

Many of our LBs and DBs have very high IN/DI. As we create more variance in player ratings, maybe we should have rookies start with much lower actuals in IN/DI.

[Dean-Atlanta]

Rich makes a good point, we should be clear on what exactly is an AI buster.

The slashing defender plays are a clear example. At first I thought Charlie was over-reacting to something. The I decided fine, I will create some new running plays in the platy editor that defeat the slashing defender defenses. When I tried, I realized it was IMPOSSIBLE. No matter how much blocking I used, the slashing defender disrupted the handoff 85-90 percent of the time. This was truly an AI buster because there was no solution to be found in the play editor. It was then that I emailed Charlie and told him about my testing and told him I supported banning/editing of those plays, inclusing my own.

I have on going testing running. I will plug Charlie's new passing plays into the game plan and run them through The Sim and see what kind of stats they yield. I'll report my numbers here.

My off-season play development work was to open up some passing. ATF1AspZ is one of the products of that effort. There is more coming. I'm looking forward to submitting ATF7ArgS/ATF8ArgS soon, those are some fairly effective new PML/PMM plays.

[Dean-Atlanta]

I checked out some of the SF fake plays, they're interesting. But The Sim, for me, is the truth on plays. It's running and I'll have stats tomorrow.

[Steve-LA Chargers]

If we proceed, the plays should either have the word 'fake' in them or end with the capital letters FK or F so we know which ones have Throw a Fake. If it's a timed pass, then FT. If it's a rollout pass, then FR. If it's a rollout timed pass, then end with FTR. If it's a run, either end with capital F or have the word 'fake.'

[Justin-Chicago]

If we proceed, the plays should either have the word 'fake' in them or end with the capital letters FK or F so we know which ones have Throw a Fake. If it's a timed pass, then FT. If it's a rollout pass, then FR. If it's a rollout timed pass, then end with FTR. If it's a run, either end with capital F or have the word 'fake.'

The rules prohibit using the throw fake logic on running plays:

R04: Throw a fake usage

1. No "Throw a Fake" allowed on running Plays. The purpose of the fake Play is to freeze one's defender to allow separation on a passing Play. That is the only acceptable purpose in the PNFL.

[Dean-Atlanta]

Stats on the SF Fake plays from my sim:

[Steve-LA Chargers]

The rules prohibit using the throw fake logic on running plays:

R04: Throw a fake usage

1. No "Throw a Fake" allowed on running Plays. The purpose of the fake Play is to freeze one's defender to allow separation on a passing Play. That is the only acceptable purpose in the PNFL.

I don't care what the rules say. What's the justification? I can totally see 'throw a fake' being useful on a running play to temporarily confuse potential tacklers. Sweeps have been practically nullified by all those defenses with players reading on the edge. The running game has become a boring repeat of pitches. Heck, Charlie even said eliminate the rule that prohibits 'throw a fake' behind the LOS. That might help with a blocker on the outside against those edge defenders:

P05: Throw Fakes

1. Any skill Player at or past the LOS (RBs/WRs/TEs) may not throw a Fake within 5 yards of any other skill Player.
2. Fakes may not be thrown, by anyone, behind the LOS.[/b]

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