Posted by harriswb3 on 11/25/2013 11:48:00 AM (view original):
i suggest a TEST. Just stop all very short and short throws. See what happens then. I believe there is too much "checkdown" from the DBs. The defenses are a bit "too good" at deep and medium coverage. Its too difficult to get your stud WR open deep, therefore driving more checkdowns and RB safety valve passes.
This^^
Wasn't an issue in Beta. Now it is. Something changed. WHile RBs were heavily involved in the passing game in Beta, WRs were equally useful. It provided a good balance if you could catch the defense trying to stop one or the other (or playing medium to attempt to help out in both cases assuming what Norbert told us about coverage is still applicable). I know passing was out of control in Beta, but by the final season it seemed somewhat realistic. I still relied heavily on the long passing game to set up my screens and runs. Now here in the official 3.0, I really struggled to get the ball to my WRs this season, and I had pretty good recievers for div 3. My qb always checked down even in 1 on 1 coverage where my WRs were more talented than the players covering them.
http://whatifsports.com/gd/PlayerProfile/Ratings.aspx?pid=7975698
http://whatifsports.com/gd/PlayerProfile/Ratings.aspx?pid=7981169
http://whatifsports.com/gd/PlayerProfile/Ratings.aspx?pid=8060659
Pretty decent threesome. Most of the coaches I played did not have a strong enough secondary to cover all three, yet they managed to do just that. None of the above players have very high formation IQs, but I was under the impression formation IQ was about penalties and turnovers which should not impact getting open.
Sorry to highjack the thread but like I said, I agree with Harris and think checking down excessively is part of the problem. Noah may be right in that you can eliminate the checkdowns by eliminating short and very short passes, but my guess if the QB will get sacked or run for it. Without a test feature it is hard to say if he will continue looking fo an open reciever once he has gone through his reads with no outlet reciever available. Hopefully oriole can shed some light on this issue.
11/25/2013 8:49 PM (edited)