dev diary #39 New Play Options

[Rocketcan]

Hello Coaches!

 

Welcome to another Dev Diary for NewSim on SimFBA!

 

Last Dev Diary, @TuscanSota showed all the amazing work he is doing to get the interface up and running. Today, I wanted to talk about some more changes that are coming to the NewSim engine.

 

Right now, users are only able to select from a few run options (Inside, Outside, Power), and a few pass options (Quick, Short, Long). Also, defenses have been hampered by their inability to blitz. Soon, that will all change!

 

New plays that will be added are:

• Draws
  
• Screens
  
• Play Action
  
• Blitzes
  

Draws

 

These plays are just like inside runs, but take advantage of a defense set to defend the pass. If this play is called when a defense either defends the pass, and/or is blitzing, the chance of an automatic breakout run increases by 16%, and the overall yardage gained will receive a boost. However, if you guess incorrectly and run a draw against a run defense, your run has a highly likelihood of being stuffed. Call this play often if you think the defense will blitz or defend the pass. These plays will be added alongside the current run plays in the gameplan as "Draw Left" and "Draw Right". Offensive Schemes will have limits on how often this play can be called

 

Screens

 

This is a sort of pass that takes advantage of blitzing defenses. Instead of using the abilities of the receiver to run their route etc., the screen pass treats the yardage gained formula like an outside run. Thus, quick and agile players will be best as screen receivers. Also, screens are much more likely to be completed, and sometimes will get bonuses or penalties on their yardage gained. There is also a slight chance of an interception. The chances are as follows:

• Complete (No Bonus): ~51%
  
• Incomplete: ~23%
  
• Complete (1/2 penalty): ~10%
  
• Complete (x2 Bonus): ~10%
  
• Complete (x3 Bonus): ~3%
  
• Interception: ~2%
  

Just like with the draw, if a screen is called when a defense is blitzing, it greatly increases the chance of a breakout run and increases the gain overall. However, the defense is more likely to stop you if they called a run defense. Screens will be put in the same section of passing as the others. There will just be the option of "Screen" as a pass type.

 

Play Action

 

All of the plays so far have been geared towards defeating defenses geared towards stopping the pass and blitzing. But what about defenses that stop the run? That is where Play Action comes in. Play Action is a type of pass that fakes run and then has a better chance of completion if the defense bites on the fake. Play Action can only be run with Short or Long Passes.

 

What happens if the Defense called a defense designed to stop the run? The Offense gets a +10% chance of completing the pass. And for long passes, that can be a HUGE difference. but, if a defense is ready for the pass and doesn't bite, that bonus gets turned into a -10% chance of the completing the pass. Also, if you called a play action pass and there is a pass rush situation, your blockers will have a much more difficult time of containing the pass rush, so be careful.

 

Play Action passes will be placed alongside the other types of passes, but there will be two variants: "Play Action Short" and "Play Action Long".

 

Blitzes

 

Now, we have covered a bunch of different plays that take advantage of defenses that blitz, but we didn't really cover why a defense would blitz in the first place. The answer is simple: Pressure. Most blitzes against Short or Long passes become a pass rush situation automatically, and that combined with more pass rushers to go after the QB means the better likelihood of a sack.

 

This doesn't come without a cost, however. If a player blitzes, they can't cover their man or zone, meaning it's entirely likely that when you blitz, you leave receivers running wide open and potentially give up a big play. There are some ways around this that we will cover later on.

 

With Blitzes being added, the way defenses will call plays has changed. The options for defenses will likely be as follows (subject to change):

• Scheme (4-3 or 3-4)
  
• Defensive Formations (Personnel Groupings)
  
• Run to Pass Ratio (How many defenses should be called against the pass? Against the run?)
  
• Blitz Ratio (How often should we blitz?)
  
• Blitz Aggressiveness (How many blitzers should we send?)
  
  • Cautious: Only blitz up to 1 player
    
  • Moderate: Can blitz up to 2 players
    
  • Aggressive: Can blitz up to 3 players
    

  [*]Blitz Safeties? (Yes or No)

  [*]Blitz Corners? (Yes or No)

  [*]Linebackers Coverage (Man or Zone)

  [*]Corners Coverage (Man or Zone)

  [*]Safeties Coverage (Man or Zone)

Cautious blitzes (only one blitzer) have the benefit of not counting as a blitz for draw and screen purposes, but aren't nearly as effective for generating pass rush. Moderate and Aggressive, however, do count and you risk getting burned deep.

 

That is it for this dev diary. I apologize for the length, but I hope it was worth it. Comment with any questions you have and I'll be sure to answer them as best as I can!

 

Until next time,

 

Rocketcan

[Rocketcan]

These changes will not come into effect for games and gameplans for at least a little bit. The coding is not quite finished. When this *IS* implemented fully, you will all need to get new gameplans as a result. I will let everyone know when that is the case.

[Kremit]

I'm going to run the greatest OnlyScreenPassesToFullback offense the world has ever seen.

[TuscanSota]

What does it mean to blitz safeties or corners? Are there benefits to doing this?

[Vivid]

@Rocketcan are there descriptions of the current plays like this listed anywhere?

[subsequent]

Freaking amazing. Love the detail!

[Rocketcan]

If you think those players are good at pass rushing, then they will add a lot to the overall pass rush value. But that is it, there is no other specific benefit to it.

[Rocketcan]

Not on a play-by-play basis, but I do explain the basics of runs and passes in their respective dev diaries:

• Run
  
  • Dev Diary #27: Running the Ball
    
  • Dev Diary #29: Blocking
    
  • Dev Diary #30: Defending the Run
    

  [*]Pass

  • Dev Diary #26: Throwing the Ball
    
  • Dev Diary #28: Catching the Ball
    
  • Dev Diary #29: Blocking
    
  • Dev Diary #31: Defending the Pass
    

[rabidsnowman]

I really appreciate that you can set up an offense that either runs to support the pass or passes to support the run. An important detail that isn't present in other online sims. It really brings out the "chess match" in certain coaching matchups.

[Piercewise1]

How does the sim decide which defender(s) will blitz? If I turn on safety blitzes will they be equally as common as LB blitzes? Basically I want to know how to maximize my chances that my one good non-DL pass rusher is doing the bulk of the blitzing.

[Rocketcan]

Great question. The short answer is it is pretty random.

 

The long answer is that the sim will add all possible blitzing players to the pool of players to choose from. So if you have CB and S blitzing off, that pool will just consist of your off-ball LBs (3-4 OLBs not included as they line up on the LOS). If you turn on either or both of those options, all players in those categories will be put in the pool as well. Then, the sim will select equally from the list of possible blitzing players. It will continue to do this until it has the number of blitzing players it needs for that play, based on the play call (1, 2 or 3).

 

Given that, if your best blitzers are LBs, don't turn on CB and S blitzes to maximize the LB's usage.

[Piercewise1]

So how are 3-4 OLBs factored into the pass rush if they don't count for blitzes? Are one or both always considered to be pass rushing?

[Rocketcan]

In base they are both pass rushing for now. This will likely change after the upcoming season.

[smackemz]

On 1/1/2023 at 12:34 PM, Rocketcan said:

In base they are both pass rushing for now. This will likely change after the upcoming season.

Is this changing for the upcoming season? 

[Rocketcan]

1 hour ago, smackemz said:

Is this changing for the upcoming season? 

No, base 3-4 basically lines up like a 5-2 and both OLBs pass rushing in a pass situation.

This will only change once the schemes are updated (probably the flagship feature for the next offseason's update)