Are there more sacks if you send your TE out as receiver since he isn;t blocking ?
Am interested in opinions but also hard facts from you guys who keep those stats please...

Question along that same thought process. In I or Proset does a back stay in to block on pass plays or do they both go out in the pattern?

If you look at formations, it is up to you if you want the 2nd back (FB ) to stay in and block or to go out for passes. But the number 1 back is always available as receiver . Then it's up to you if you use him or not depending how you customize your formation.

Thoughts ? Anybody ?

http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/

It depends. I believe the game treats OL as a unit. I think that some TE's will improve the quality of the unit. So that scenario helps a lot as you have an extra person and improved quality. I think some TE's don't impact the quality of the unit and in this scenario I think it helps some because of the extra body. Finally, a TE that lowers the quality of the unit will not be of any help even though theoretically the extra person should help. I don't think it does. In terms of gameplanning over time, this is where I believe the pass depth settings matter as there should be an open receiver somewhere that can be exploited.

I didn't actually test the impact of a TE blocking to prevent sacks. But, I did test the impact of having a fullback or TE blocking, versus having all players in pass patterns. I tested this across 10-12 games (564 passes) and alternated 1st half vs. 2nd half, where first half would have an extra blocker and the second half would not. Keep in mind that it was a mix of humans and SIMs I played, but I figured as long as I'm testing both equally in the same game, it would allow me to compare the percentages.

Here's what I found:
With Extra Blocker: 1.5% of passing attempts resulted in a sack; 0.3% of passes were intercepted; 61% completion % (med passes); 76% on short passes
No blockers outside of OL: 0.8% of passing attempts resulted in a sack; 0.8% of passes were intercepted; 70% completion % (med passes); 62% on short passes

So, I don't believe that the extra blocker results in more sacks, but it does create more interceptions (and likely hurries). But, the extra blocker doesn't lead to a higher completion percentage. On the contrary, completion percentage on medium passes was higher with no blockers, but lower on short passes.

I've thought about retesting this to see if I would see the same results. While, I tried to keep it even on the number of pass attempts between the two, this could be all random, and I would get a different result if I were to try this again. The other variable I didn't account for is the experience level of my QB (although it was the same QB throwing in both halves, excluding times where the QB had to be replaced with his backup). I do believe that a less experienced QB needs more protection and less receivers to throw to. Whereas a more experienced QB can make more reads, and handle more receivers in the route.

I have a mix of gameplans where I use an extra blocker when I have a FR/SO QB, and then as my QB gets to be an upperclassmen, I start to take the reins off him.

Would be interested to hear other POVs on this.

if you're gonna do this again i would alternate halves... so the blocker isn't always in the first half... not a big deal, i only thought of it because stamina issues still come to mind for me even if they don't matter the same now. also in previous versions, 2nd half passing stats would suddenly nosedive for no apparent reason other than it was the 2nd half.

thanks for sharing real data from game experiment

Thanks to all who have contributed your opinions and research.
More opinions and research would be welcome.

So extra blocker = more sacks ?

Posted by mraston on 3/14/2017 9:26:00 PM (view original):
It depends. I believe the game treats OL as a unit. I think that some TE's will improve the quality of the unit. So that scenario helps a lot as you have an extra person and improved quality. I think some TE's don't impact the quality of the unit and in this scenario I think it helps some because of the extra body. Finally, a TE that lowers the quality of the unit will not be of any help even though theoretically the extra person should help. I don't think it does. In terms of gameplanning over time, this is where I believe the pass depth settings matter as there should be an open receiver somewhere that can be exploited.

This is how I've always treated it

Posted by livemike on 3/14/2017 11:27:00 PM (view original):
if you're gonna do this again i would alternate halves... so the blocker isn't always in the first half... not a big deal, i only thought of it because stamina issues still come to mind for me even if they don't matter the same now. also in previous versions, 2nd half passing stats would suddenly nosedive for no apparent reason other than it was the 2nd half.

thanks for sharing real data from game experiment

I think I did that, but it's been a year ago, so it's probably time to retest this, among other things.

This in my opinion:

Finally, a TE that lowers the quality of the unit will not be of any help even though theoretically the extra person should help. I don't think it does.

nitros

Its not at all clear to me how much the TE actually impacts pass plays (blocking) or even run plays (blocking). I'm going to be doing a bit of an experiment myself this season in Wilkinson. But my experiment is based on ZERO TE on the roster.

100% positive that the deeper your pass patterns are(amongst other things) the higher your sack percentage will be.