There are three ratings that I think can sort of overlap, SPD, ATH, and ELU, especially ATH and ELU. I was thinking of making SPD consistent and just be a plain "how fast can you run" rating. For all actions in which a player is trying to run somewhere quickly, the engine would use SPD. ELU would be in trying to avoid a player (no kidding, huh?) and would be factored in when trying to tackle a player in the open field. But I can see it also being used as a counter to BLK in that the defensive player is attempting to avoid the block. For ATH, I was looking at that as the player's ability to control their body. An example of this would be a receiver trying to stretch out to catch a poorly thrown ball.
This kind of brings up a problem of mashing ratings together for an action. Say we look at a player's ATH and ELU to counter a player's BLK. What if a player has 80 ELU and 40 ATH? It's difficult for me to think a player could be highly elusive, but low athleticism. To me, those two ratings kind of feel like the same thing. It's difficult to think of a situation that would call for ELU that doesn't also call for ATH, but if I always pair those two, then it diminishes the value of each. If I had two players that had 80 ELU, I would expect them to be pretty comparable in eluding tackles or sacks or blocks. But now one has a low ATH and is now not really all that elusive, even though his ELU is high. It just seem in this case that ELU could have been just as well served by using ATH.
So with all of that - what I'm thinking is to make ELU the rating used when trying to avoid someone else. For offense, ELU counters TKL. For defense, ELU counters BLK. Which means I only need to figure out how to work ATH into the picture. It might be that ATH is always used when looking at some personal action of the player. For instance, the defensive player passes the ELU/BLK check, now ATH determines how well he gets to the QB or rusher.
For the outside line, when a defender is trying to get into the backfield and run around the blocker, I think SPD is in order. For countering that on the offensive side, i think I have to use ATH. The FAQ says SPD for OL, but SPD is not generated or developed for OL whereas ATH is. I think it also makes sense when considering SPD as fast and ATH as being able to move. A defender will try to run around a blocker, and the blocker tries to get in position to not allow him to run around him. Yes, STR versus STR will also be considered in the case of a defender just trying to run over the blocker, but the engine is able to compare both match ups. So just to get specific, on a pass rush on the outside line I can look at three matchups: STR -> STR, SPD -> ATH, and ELU -> BLK. Between those three match ups I should be able to limit the range of possible results to something that more adequately reflects those match ups.
This is just one example of breaking down a small part of the play, so you might be able to see why it is as much work as I was saying. But in the long run, especially if I can convey these match ups in the PBP, I think we will have a better game.