When you put a playbook together for a game, how many variations of the formation do you put in the playbook? For example, I use Trips formation, but have 10 different versions. Obviously, I do not use all 10 one game, 2 stay the same and then alternate 4 others. But I am starting to think that is too many.

That is a lot IMHO. Nothing wrong with that though if you find a need to use them all. I generally have about 3-5 different versions of a formation depending on what form I am running. For balanced O, I have at least 3 versions. Also, depending on the formation, I'll have a couple different playbooks for it to.

For offense I nearly max them. For defense, always max them out and wish we had more

When using formations in a playbook your thought process should be about getting the ball to your most rested playmaker who has the highest chance of being defended by one of your opponent's weakest defenders. In other words, it is all about creating the highest percentage of mismatch possibilities during a game either due to reduced ratings of a tired defender or due to pitting your best offensive player against your opponent's worst defensive player. Since this varies wildly between defenses and how your opponent has configured his chosen defense it will all come down to experience, you have to be able to break down your opponent's actual defensive strategy and be able to adjust your formations and playbooks to take the greatest advantage possible of what he is giving you, just like in real-life football.

Because of my experience and the fact that I have intensely experimented with my chosen offense (Trips) against every defense using DII teams in multiple worlds, I have found certain plays that work all of the time. So at a great cost of time and money, I can now use a handful of Trips formations and a couple of playbooks that will always work against any defense, unless of course, I'm facing a significantly superior team. The key to being able to do this is to find out what worked and what didn't work during a game by breaking down those game results in Yatzr's game analyzer and trying to figure out why one formation worked and why another failed.

There are way too many factors that go into a play for me to be able to tell you how to do this, but the key points are to:

* Know your own player's attributes and be able to count the # of failed plays that were due to poor execution
* Who made the play on defense and at what level 1st, 2nd, or 3rd? (Look for things like LB against WR or 3rd level against RB)
* Which of the players was more fatigued offense or defense? (a fatigued player's attributes are diminished)
* How many progressions did your QB go through during the play and was he under duress? (The # of progressions that you can allow without incurring sacks, interceptions, bad throws, or balls thrown away is based on the skill level of your team)
* Time of possession (Just like in real life, your offense must be able to sustain drives and burn clock against tough opponents or they will wear down your defense, this is where "all pass" teams run into problems)

I hope that this gives you some starting points for creating effective offenses. It doesn't really matter how many formations or playbooks that you have or use, it is all about giving your team a greater percentage of opportunities than you are going to allow your opponent to have. It doesn't mean that you are going to win every game that you have created such an advantage, because sometimes the dice just roll against you or your opponent is using 8 sided dice against your 6 sided dice (Better Players). All you can really do is increase your chances of winning a play, and the more plays that you win the higher the chance that you are going to win the game.

Posted by bigpoppa85 on 2/8/2020 12:46:00 PM (view original):
For offense I nearly max them. For defense, always max them out and wish we had more

bigpoppa, why do you max out defenses? New to the game and I’m interested why this is. Different depth charts? Line vs cover? More vs less blitz? All the above? Just curious how experienced coaches approach defense. Thanks in advance.

Posted by goldencats on 2/8/2020 1:28:00 PM (view original):

Posted by bigpoppa85 on 2/8/2020 12:46:00 PM (view original):
For offense I nearly max them. For defense, always max them out and wish we had more

bigpoppa, why do you max out defenses? New to the game and I’m interested why this is. Different depth charts? Line vs cover? More vs less blitz? All the above? Just curious how experienced coaches approach defense. Thanks in advance.

Basically, to combat whatever the offense is trying to do. Mixing up how many I put on the line vs coverage, who blitzes and from where, where I want my better DL (inside vs outside), how many of each and where I want my run stopping LBs vs coverage LBs, playing backups etc.

Offense is more simple for me but I still use Most of the slots.

Everyone should read pete_61’s post. Pete is an EXCELLENT coach. The way he manipulates his team to squeeze the most out of their talent is very impressive.

"* Time of possession (Just like in real life, your offense must be able to sustain drives and burn clock against tough opponents or they will wear down your defense, this is where "all pass" teams run into problems)"

I prefer to fling it all over the yard and let the other team run down the clock for me!!! hahaha. I don't run into too many problems....bigpoppa is a big problem...lol

What blitzes in what defensive formations are effective at run stops and pass pressure? I’ve read conflicting forum posts on blitz effectiveness. Thanks

Btw, pete_61, thanks for your post! Great stuff. Among the other relevant data from yatzrs game analyzer, I’ve already started breaking down the text in play by plays by using periods (“.”) to bifurcate progression in passing plays. I’d like to determine passing results by QB progression and distance. I need more data.

"Because of my experience and the fact that I have intensely experimented with my chosen offense (Trips) against every defense using DII teams in multiple worlds, I have found certain plays that work all of the time."

I can't even begin to guess what you're doing pete. Just because I don't understand it doesn't mean I don't believe there is actually a secret sauce out there when it comes to passing. I know a handful of coaches that can pass all the time and you just can't stop them. Even when you have very good pass defenders.

Posted by superv97 on 2/8/2020 3:55:00 PM (view original):
"* Time of possession (Just like in real life, your offense must be able to sustain drives and burn clock against tough opponents or they will wear down your defense, this is where "all pass" teams run into problems)"

I prefer to fling it all over the yard and let the other team run down the clock for me!!! hahaha. I don't run into too many problems....bigpoppa is a big problem...lol

Man SuperV, I am excited to see how your shotgun O looks. Talk about a big problem!!

Posted by bigpoppa85 on 2/8/2020 5:17:00 PM (view original):

Posted by superv97 on 2/8/2020 3:55:00 PM (view original):
"* Time of possession (Just like in real life, your offense must be able to sustain drives and burn clock against tough opponents or they will wear down your defense, this is where "all pass" teams run into problems)"

I prefer to fling it all over the yard and let the other team run down the clock for me!!! hahaha. I don't run into too many problems....bigpoppa is a big problem...lol

Man SuperV, I am excited to see how your shotgun O looks. Talk about a big problem!!

I even have some guy named Daniel Marino as my QB to run the Shotgun for me for the next 4 seasons!!! lol

Posted by superv97 on 2/8/2020 3:55:00 PM (view original):
"* Time of possession (Just like in real life, your offense must be able to sustain drives and burn clock against tough opponents or they will wear down your defense, this is where "all pass" teams run into problems)"

I prefer to fling it all over the yard and let the other team run down the clock for me!!! hahaha. I don't run into too many problems....bigpoppa is a big problem...lol

Great teams with even better game plans are always going to be hard if not impossible to stop, if you know that you don't have the guns to win a shootout then your next best option is to try and slow the game down and keep the ball away from your opponent's powerhouse offense. I've seen passing teams that I could not stop no matter what I did, especially if they had a defensive line that could shut down the best run attacks you could muster. There are also weaknesses in every defense, I use the 3-4 exclusively because I find it to be the best all-around defense, but it is not the best for every situation.

Posted by goldencats on 2/8/2020 3:40:00 PM (view original):
Btw, pete_61, thanks for your post! Great stuff. Among the other relevant data from yatzrs game analyzer, I’ve already started breaking down the text in play by plays by using periods (“.”) to bifurcate progression in passing plays. I’d like to determine passing results by QB progression and distance. I need more data.

That's great, there is no better way to learn in this game than to study game results and put your conclusions, or postulates to the test by running experiments.

When using formations in a playbook your thought process should be about getting the ball to your most rested playmaker who has the highest chance of being defended by one of your opponent's weakest defenders.

Two points:

1. Any time pete drops some wisdom...listen, take notes and do what he says. Top 5 coach all time in my book.

2. That one sentence above is the best sentence ever stated on this forum with regard to offense game planning.

nitros (James)