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Rules Help

By Booger926
10/26/2017 1:44 pm
I have been debating to myself about using rules, but the more I lose by 3 scores or more by not using them, the more it seems like they are the way to successfully game plan my opponent. I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try.

Below is a chart of a recent game that I had in another league. I went into much time consuming detail of looking at the game log and charting my opp's plays by name, personnel, formation, and play type. As one can see, 27.5% of his personnel and formations is 1-1-3 and 30% of his play types is Short pass while passing 75% of the time he has the ball.



I know there are some rather extremely successful owners who live by rules, so I am asking how would one plan or make rules for this so I would not get beat so bad again.

Re: Rules Help

By punisher
10/26/2017 3:28 pm
Booger926 wrote:

I know there are some rather extremely successful owners who live by rules, so I am asking how would one plan or make rules for this so I would not get beat so bad again.



i think you would key Short Pass in the Play type then put 1-1-3 in the personnel then you would have to have it set to like only 2 quarters or a certain time period of the game so you dont get hit by the overuse play penalty.
Last edited at 10/26/2017 3:28 pm

Re: Rules Help

By jlyman
10/26/2017 3:29 pm
I'm by no means an expert when using rules, but I'll chime in.

setherick had a great write up on basic defensive game planning (https://mfn73.myfootballnow.com/community/3/3581?page=1#23686) that I have taken to heart and adapted to my teams. This is what he said about rules:

Proper Use of Rules
I already discussed the two rules that you need as a minimum. But if you are scouting your opponent, you will want to consider using other rules based on what your opponent does. These TEMP rules, as I label them in my ruleset, allow you to key on specific formations that your opponent uses.

Here are some protips for these TEMP rules and for offensive game planning for that matter.

1) If your opponent only runs or only passes out of a specific set, key the **** out of it. – Your opponent loves the 122 medium passing play where the WRs run a streak and the TE runs a post? That's a good time to go to a Nickle, Blitz 1 Pass Key rule against the 122.

2) If your opponent runs the 113 HB Counter or runs a lot period out of the 113 or 203 sets, create a rule that goes Normal Defensive Back field – You are probably signing LBs that are fast, strong, and good tacklers, right? Why do you want them off the field when the other team is probably going to run the ball. This rule can really save you through 3Qs. But you might want to not use it in the 4Q if you have a lead and your opponent is likely to pass. In that case, you might need two rules depending on how much you trust your LBs not to get burned by the slot WR.


I usually have 1 offensive rule: a 2-minute drill, and 2 defensive rules for each of my teams: 1 for pass formations and 1 for run formations.

For the 005, 014 and 104 formations there are no run plays so you can conveniently set up a rule to key only pass and use your best pass defenses against those. Other formations are not so straight forward.

In the example you put above this team seems to run mostly passes from the 113 set. You could set up a rule for that particular team that says whenever they use that formation you play pass. I would say probably 50% Neutral, 50% Pass and 0% Run. They also seem to run most often when in the 212 formation so you could do the same thing as well, but slanted toward the run.

Making rules like this is only for that team so you would want to deactivate them after that game and create new ones for your new opponent. I usually name them "TEMP - [formation][team name]." It helps me know which ones are temporary and which I always have turned on.

I've had to experiment a lot with rules and find things that work.
Last edited at 10/26/2017 3:29 pm

Re: Rules Help

By mardn72
10/26/2017 3:33 pm
A one game sample size can be deceptive, but there is an easy way to get a bigger sample size and build some rules off of that. In Gameplanning > Scout Offense, filter by Personnel and make sure the "Minimum times used" is set to 1. I prefer to look at an opponents last 16 games to see their trends.

If the info you've shown holds up over a big sampling, a few things jump out at me. They only pass out of the 1/1/3 set, so I'd make a rule to always run pass key against that personnel set. Depending on the coverage skills of your LBs, you can go with a Nickle defense or switch to Dime/Quarter since you won't have to worry about the run.

These same things apply to the 1RB/4WR, 1TE/4WR, and 5WR sets, but that always applies cause there are zero running plays out of those formations ever.

Each game, I always use the Scout Offense area to filter through there formations and see where I can find any sort of advantage. I always tweak my defense's run pass key every game to match up with the opponents tendencies.

Re: Rules Help

By Booger926
10/26/2017 3:46 pm
Whenever I scout, I use Times Used
32 games - to determine their favorite plays
Current number of season games - to determine if they changed their game plan over the season...for example going from a balanced team to an all run team
Last 5 games - to determine if they found something and are on a streak
Last game - to determine how they played their last game

Re: Rules Help

By setherick
10/26/2017 8:44 pm
Booger926 wrote:
Whenever I scout, I use Times Used
32 games - to determine their favorite plays
Current number of season games - to determine if they changed their game plan over the season...for example going from a balanced team to an all run team
Last 5 games - to determine if they found something and are on a streak
Last game - to determine how they played their last game


I typically use 4 games when scouting. Why? Because most people are not changing their plays every single game. Also, numbers are easily divisible by 4 so you know how many times per game your opponent is running a specific play. So if they use the HB counter, but have only run it 7 times in the last 4 games, you might consider going base defensive (which would be nickle in this case) against the set.

A few things that I didn't see mentioned above against this particular opponent. These assume running a cover 5 defense.

1) You could blitz 2 heavily against the 212 set because the owner mostly runs out of this set. Neutral key tho. No need getting burned on a PA pass because your CBs cheated toward the line.

2) Against the 221 set, you'd want to run the only cover 5 GL defensive play in the playbook. The reason why is because your opponent throws those stupid deep passes out of it. If you run any defense other than the cover 5 play you're going to get gouged eventually. That is if you're running any GL defensive plays. I use the cover 5 one and the Attack 3 depending on if my opponent runs or passes out of the set.

3) Against the 122, you'd want to run a nickle scheme in the pass key. In this instance, I've been taking to running the 3 Deep Man Nickle plays where you have a man on the WR1, 2, and 3. This effectively doubles the two WRs and the TE1 on the play.

I saw your PM, but I figured I'd just respond here.

Re: Rules Help

By Booger926
10/26/2017 8:50 pm
Thnx for the response

Re: Rules Help

By Phareux
3/27/2018 12:26 pm
What order do the rules decisions go in ?
is it down, time distance or what?

Re: Rules Help

By jlyman
3/27/2018 2:54 pm
Phareux wrote:
What order do the rules decisions go in ?
is it down, time distance or what?


As I understand it, it works from top down in priority.

Re: Rules Help

By jdavidbakr - Site Admin
3/27/2018 2:58 pm
jlyman wrote:
Phareux wrote:
What order do the rules decisions go in ?
is it down, time distance or what?


As I understand it, it works from top down in priority.


Yes - starting at the top, first rule to apply is used.