FWL & Gameplans

[Ronnie_Claymores]

What is the situation with gameplans on FWL this season please ? Are we going with them or are none at all submitted. I know we had changed over from the original long running format to the more advanced version. At the moment The Claymores are submitting none as I think that is the correct thing to do?? Worry is the perfomance of the Claymores is so dismal I have to look at all possibilities. Considering where the team were going only two season ago and where the are going now ( down down and down) it is a bit of a shock as it has been like we have woken up to a new team and do not really know why. In such a short time , and with basically the same team or very similar, we have went from one of the best O-lines in the league with very few sacks on our QB to very poor ,making no holes for the running backs and our QB sacked with regularity, from a sound running game amongst the top two in the league to the league worst. One of the best D-lines and rush defense to one of the worst. The best kicker in the league to the worst kicker in the league (same guy only better ratings) and a training camp where oh so many attributes went down (all attributes covered by point allocation). The Claymores are going to be very hard team to win with now. Thats life ,sport and the game. Puzzle for me is to understand why such a dramatic change rom a promising team to so poor and such a huge drop in the ability of certain players from league heroes to laughing stocks. Stranger than a truthful politician :-)

[Mario ADK]

hi ronnie,

i am using gameplans and they seem to work to the extend one can say that they "work". regarding ups and downs: i have the same QB and the same set wo receivers and last season it was a horror to watch them play while this season it is working great so far.....

[Paul-London]

Well you can choose offensive gameplans, Ross did a spreadsheet about this which should be on the site.  We arent allowing defensive ones still just because there isnt an article for the people who dont have the software themselves.  If we allowed defensive gameplans it could allow people with the game an unfair advantage.

I purposely dont EVER use any offensive gameplans as i want to prove to people you can still win without using them.   People still use team profiles (you know 5 rush aggressive, 3 rush balanced etc), if you give these numbers to me i wont change them unless you tell me to so week after week it will be used.  I personally dont think these change the game much but others might disagree.

As for your team i still think you have talent personally but its used wrong.  Not saying i'm right or wrong but here are my views....

QB - Seems to change quite often, Nall has potential, Quinn seems to do well but theres a fair bit of swapping here.  I think you need to stick with one QB

RB - A season before Ken Shelby was one of the top RB's in the league with 1000+ yards (6th overall) and made the All-FWL team.  Yes in Week 1 he was terrible but you did face the best team in the league (Montreal) who have one of the best run defenses in football.  I think if Shelby was poor 6 weeks in a row then bench him but not one week.  Changing Malan to a HB i dont think worked as he seems more of a FB, the rookie Octobre is very poor compared to nearly all other starting RB's in the league and is at least 3 training camps away from being a starter.  Like i say Shelby had 1000 yards last year and now is sat on the bench.

D-Line - Yes i love veterans but i think Cushman should be starting.  All time sack leader and still had 8 sacks last year.  DE Threats being injured is a loss as hes very good.

The offensive line isnt playing very well, i think its very good but maybe a switch of some of the players.  In the past when you've done this it seems to have worked well.

Looking at your roster i think you have a decent side, i think Nall, Shelby and Cushman should start but thats just my opinion.  Definately not Octobre though.

Maybe a few new players in there might be good.  The d-line is getting old but you have a lot of good talent on the offensive line you could maybe trade.

Another problem area could be the LB's.  None have speed of 80 and above.  I would try to have at least 1 or 2 LB's with SP of 80 (and the rest of the skills decent).

Also try some trades with some of the newer GM's as theyre normally more open to trades than the old veterans who have had their team for years etc.  Like i say benching Shelby after just one game against the Montreal Machine i think was a bit hasty.

But yes you are right i'm surprised how much Scotland have fallen as i still think the team has talent. Players have got older and some of the young ones havent really come through yet.

Nall on paper being an ex 1st rounder has very good skills , good HA compared to Quinn, INT is very very impressive and i think the Claymores current set of WR's has a lot of speed.  The rushing game as you know is a key to win in the FWL but its been terrible this year.  3 different HB starters in 3 weeks though doesnt help as i think you need a starter for a few weeks.  If a player does very bad in a few home games then maybe a change.  Shelby wasnt good at all against Montreal but the Machine were #1 against the rush last year and so far are #2 this year.  I think Barry Sanders would have struggled against Montreal !

Like i say just my view, not saying my changes would make Scotland go 10-4 but just a view

[Ronnie_Claymores]

Definatly all fair comment from Mario and Paul. We will keep at it. And I think I have to figure out the ganeplan or  I will just not know if it helps or not otherwise.
The only reason Octobre and Malan have had a start over Shelby is that on occasions running back talent can turn up in ulinkely players. For example Dino Philyaw was a superstar for the Monarchs yet was a surprise on his starting season. The only way I could find out if Octobre or Malan would play beyond their current ratings was to try them. That may be illogical in a sense but it has answered the question. I also have a concern that older HB's do not play up to their ratings as we had a similar situation with the Claymores FWL Siran Stacy, as he was a league superstar no question , but as he got older he just did not play to his ratings. Fair and realistic really as Emmitt Smith is not as likely to play as well as he did several years ago. That is why I have been cautious with both Shelby and Stecker.
It has been a difficult call to make at QB , I like Quinn, but as you know his hands rating dropped dramatically for no known reason at training camp two seasons ago and that  (in my very humble opinion) has stopped him being a great QB. Nall when given the nod has so far failed to deliver to his ability but may need team confidence so we have a dillema there.
The O-line is a puzzle as I cannot see a weak point at acc, agility or strength in any player and they should be getting the job done better. As you say a change would help but the O-Line have had a change in the last six games to no avail.
As for kicker Grant plummeting in ability that is just a puzzle. Similar situation with the D-line. Agreed that the LB speed is a problem but again speed has actually dropped through training camp rather than improved which is also a tough cookie to chew.
All very frustrating ... BUT is that not part of the games appeal. We will keep trying and trying and trying and trying.....
Thanks for the replies guys. I like the forum format, I have not used it as I should have until now and prefer an open discussion on points like this as I do not like to keep asking Paul endless questions directly as that isn't fair.
Instinct is that gameplan may be a factor that we have to get sorted out, while understanding Pauls point that it may not be the factor some of us think, it may deceptive. Certainly since we swapped from not submitting the old format we have had a negative impact.
As always thanks for the fun..... Do I take the game too seriously... :-) When did it become a game ;-)
If the FWL wasn't so very VERY good and so (bleep) well organised and presented it wouldn't have such a passionate effect. Well done.
Ronnie
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Ronnie
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[Andrew-Neutral]

My views on GamePlans - they seem to work.

These notes are on last season's gameplans, so I'm not revealing my strategy for this season.

Last season, I chose a gameplan with lots of outside runs - thinking that my O-line was lacking in strength but had good speed and discipline, so they should execute the sweeps, counter-tres etc, well. My main HB, Edwards, had good speed, but his strength wasn't great. A look at last season's rushing stats reveals that this didn't seem to work! I got a few long runs when everything clicked, but too many runs were stuffed for no gain or a few yards lost.

On the passing side, as my O-line was pretty poor, I went for a short passing game last season, with a few razzle-dazzle plays. The passing game really worked, as the short dump-off passes seemed to reduce the number of sacks. Having a good threesome of WRs, a pass-catching HB and a decent TE certainly helped - although none had really great HA ratings - they had the Speed, etc to run the routes and the intelligence to change the routes and out-fox the DBs. The razzle-dazzle plays were called quite often! Usually a flea-flicker, judging by the game logs - with some going for 70 yard gains! Some were stuffed for a loss, or intercepted, but there you go!

[Andrew-Neutral]

As for kicker Grant plummeting in ability that is just a puzzle.

Strange things seem to happen to kickers - my kicker Kimrin was doing great until last season - his key attributes were still good (ST and DI) but he kept on missing and ended the season at about 55%. My personal view is that as their ST goes up, kickers can get erratic as they put too much leg into their kicks. They also seem to miss short FGs and XPs. I think the AC attribute helps, as they can get the kicks away quicker - ie. before the blockers break through a dodgy O-line!

This season, Kimrin is doing OK so far 7 out of 8 (1 was blocked). I do think players in FWL go through slumps - whether this is programmed into the game, or just random, I don't know!

[Paul-London]

Take a close look at that spreadsheet/doc file up on the FWL website about the game plans Ronnie.  Like i say i dont use it so you CAN win it all without using them but if you take a good intense look at it , look at Andrew for example, it can help your team.  I think Andrews team are doing very well as some of the younger players have progressed to a good level after being below average the last few seasons and he has a great mix of veterans younger players.  Plus he must be using the right gameplan and its having a great effect on his team. Remember we dont use defensive gameplans yet his defense have improved a ton, just a question of getting the right mix of players in there defensively.

I agree about unlikely players doing well.  To me ST is a major skill in the RB's but then again if you look around the league at some of the starters they dont have brilliant INT.  I actually like it that the game is a bit 'random' in that sense. In the past i had Brian Shay and Robert Bayless. Both had great SP but terrible ST and flopped in the FWL.

Siran Stacy to me was never the same after that huge injury he had.  Probably wasnt the case but i like to think so !  Stacy was very good, then was injured and then had some shocking seasons statisitcally but it was also at a time when defenses were too good.

I think Shelby and Stecker are two very good RB's.

I think Quinn should be the answer at QB, if you look at the career stats Quinn is #5 all time and has 29 td's and 6 ints compared to leading passer Rohan Davey with 26 td's and 4 ints.  And to think Davey has been on a far better side than Quinn but Quinn has played VERY well the last few seasons.  Yes the Claymores havent won lately a lot but you can see its not Quinns fault.  He had 8 fumbles last year but on the other side of the coin he doesnt throw many ints.

Glad you dont take the losses so badly.  Sounds weird but after the last 4 years with 10-4 type seasons it actually gets a bit boring for me personally ! I'm looking forward to trying to get the slumping Surge back to the playoffs as i think my team needs a makeover very soon. 

I wouldnt say not using the gameplans is that deceptive.  Like i keep saying i use the default ones we're all given to start off with and i've won a lot over the years.  I still think trading will give far more wins than team gameplans etc.  Saying that Frankfurt and Paris use gameplans and theyre doing well

[Andrew-Neutral]

My view is that the Gameplans can help influence your playcalling to suit your personnel, e.g. if you've got a dodgy QB, go for more running based attack; if your HB is a pile of poo, pass more! Seems obvious, but there are loads of different profiles to chose from, and by examining your team's personnel, a suitable one should leap out!

[Marco_Frankfurt]

I agree with Andrew.

What I also did is, that i read thru the play-logs last season and looked at every play was it a win or a loss.
So I leraned what run-plays worked for my team and what kind of passes. Of course you need lets say at least
1 home and 1 away game to judge correctly, however I found out where the strenth of my team was and I switched gameplans accordingly.

But you have to be patient and make no other changes during that time, else you will never know if the success is from the better matched gameplan or new starting players or just because you had an easy oponent.

Finally you can also choose the gameplan according to the way you would want to play.
So if you think you have fast WRs then take one with many pass-long, but dont think the game will call
pass-long more often then, it just has more plays to choose from IF the game calls pass-long.

If you have access to old NFL stats you could even look at the teams from that season almsot 10 years ago
to find out what players and formations were used. If a team had no FB (I think Houston played without) then the
gameplan also will have no FB. SF49ers had Steve Young, so a mobile QB should fit their gameplan and so on ...

(That is the reason I would love to see the defensive gameplans, because I would favour a 3-4 defense ;-)

I hope I could help a bit ;-)