I agree, as does everyone else, the passing game needs to be better in BETA. Improved passing will lead to increased passing numbers and therefore a drop in rushing numbers.
But lets not kid ourselves that the passing game works or is fair in 4.5 - this is a typical quote I get from people who want to join BETA leagues.
If you get another team open in that league let me know. I just dropped one of my other leagues because there is no integrity in it. The last guy I played calls FL Hitch almost every time. The receiver has over 2000 yards and 20 TD's. They play guy's out of position to gain an advantage. I don't care for guy's that exploit the AI to win. That's not good coaching to me.
IF you're going to do the compare and contrast scenario, post the stats from 4.5 Leagues with no side rules and 4.5 Leagues with side rules. As someone who was a driving force in the introduction of the 'siderule' Leagues (correct me if I'm wrong) you created those Leagues because you were 'fed up' of the workarounds that owners used.
Don't get me wrong, I think those Leagues are amongst the best in MFN (the siderule ones). IF those changes are producing the desired results (ie similar stats to NFL - both best and average) then we have something to take to JDB that doesn't involve significant changes to the code. ie limiting position availability based on weight eg a player that will never go above 260lbs can not be put on the DL or OL depth chart etc. Should be easy enough to code so that a player that does not have a position on his player card, can't/won't line up in those positions or be converted to those positions.
Everyone wants the same thing, an improved sim, that is reflective of how the game is actually played. There is a lot to like in both current versions of the sim, for me the priority is to have a passing game where more than 6 plays work (all with the same outside slant route) and those plays can be effectively neutralized with the right defensive calls. Real football needs to be unpredictable.
I'd also like to see a rule that if you don't select 40 offensive plays and 30 defensive plays that your Head Coach will fill in the gaps with plays of his choice - with the added note that if you don't use a formation in your gameplan matrix you can't select plays from those formations (thereby eliminating a workaround loophole where you could bloat a playlist with all the 5WR playcalls even if you do not have the 5WR set in your matrix.
