Posted by CCHypno on 5/26/2016 12:28:00 AM (view original):

Posted by bjschumacher on 5/25/2016 11:41:00 PM (view original):
So for you people who say you set you max field goal distance to 40 or less...then I hope you don't even bother signing a kicker. And I think you are all nuts.

While I may or may not in fact be nuts, the math says setting max distance to 19 is the right expected value (EV) play. My feeling is that I backed that up in my last post. And you are correct, next season I will be carrying only a punter.

Except it doesn't suggest that at all ...

Are you expecting me to believe that kicking a FG when the LOS is at the 1 or 2 yd line is going to consistently generate more points than going for the touchdown every time? If you have a team that competes for a championship, I absolutely guarantee that - on average - you generate more than 2 yards per offensive play.

Pretending like you've "done the math" is the same as making up arbitrary statistics to prove a point you've already decided.

ddingo -- I set my max FG range to 19 because that is as low as it will let me go. If I could set it to zero, I would. I did not "pretend" to have done the math. I did the math and provided it in this thread. In fact, now my season is over, I plan on going through and doing the numbers for my actual results from going for it on 4th down every time for the entire season (I haven't decided if I'm posting that here or not).

If you have math that is different, I'd love to see what you have that shows there is a better EV play than going for it on 4th down inside the 35.

I just went through my numbers for the season which I decided to go ahead and post after all. I had 35 attempts on 4th down. Of those, 34 of those were inside the 35 yard line -- so those are the ones that are relevent (the other was a late game situation where I was behind and it was 4th and 14 from my own 25).

If I had gone for the FG on each of those 34 4th down situations inside the 35 (51 yard FG) with a 90% success rate, that is an expected value of 91.8 points (2.7 * 34). That is 5.74 points per game.

Instead, by going for the first down those 34 times, here is what happened instead: 112 points or 7 points a game over the 16 games. That result is a 1.26PPG advantage over the EV over going for the FG.

While the +1.26PPG over the EV is nice, what is far bigger is that going for it on 4th down in those situations gave me the win in at least two games I would have otherwise lost.

BTW, my intention is in no way to encourage everyone to do this. This season was a rebuilding one for me and so I was free to be aggressive in experimenting. I posted this information to show a contrarian, "Moneyball" type approach -- not to say this is the one true path to GD success. It's a path that makes sense to me.

Good stuff, CCHypno. That'll make people like me (who said you are nuts) think about this some more. In real life, I love coaches who like to go for it on 4th down. So why shouldn't I transfer that opinion toward this game?

Sorry, I know this is a dumb question. I saw the Maximum length at one point, but I cannot find it again, and want to increase mine. Where is this again?

Game plan > Special Teams

I’ve never saw a field goal>53....is that a division thing? Aka higher division can kick farther?

Posted by holdaway on 10/22/2018 11:01:00 AM (view original):
I’ve never saw a field goal>53....is that a division thing? Aka higher division can kick farther?

i have seen it above that.

longest I remember is 54 yards but Im sure I have seen longer.

51-53 depending on the kicker.

I've seen a 62 yarder in an exhibition game.. That's as high as you can set it.

I have mine set at 60. I make a surprising amount of 50+ yards kicks. Not saying my strategy is best, just adding a reference point.

I try to get a balance between FG kicking and punting. If I set FG too long, I'm missing my punter's sweet spot for pinning the other team inside his 20, but if I set it too short, the punts go into the EZ and I end up with a net 20 yd punt. Still trying to find a happy medium...

Posted by bigpoppa85 on 10/22/2018 5:27:00 PM (view original):
I have mine set at 60. I make a surprising amount of 50+ yards kicks. Not saying my strategy is best, just adding a reference point.

That’s funny. You never have to kick field goals. Your running back always lays the ball in the end zone when I watch your boxscores....

Posted by holdaway on 10/22/2018 7:47:00 PM (view original):

Posted by bigpoppa85 on 10/22/2018 5:27:00 PM (view original):
I have mine set at 60. I make a surprising amount of 50+ yards kicks. Not saying my strategy is best, just adding a reference point.

That’s funny. You never have to kick field goals. Your running back always lays the ball in the end zone when I watch your boxscores....

Funny. I was thinking something Very Similar :).