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Gameplanning Primer
While we're waiting for the draft to officially go live...
Gameplanning can be one of the most mystifying parts of FOF, but it can also be one of the most rewarding. Once you understand how the different screens work in concert, you really take ownership of your team.
I'm not very good at it (I like to compensate by just having a lot of good players, and excellent playcalling coaches), so take all of this with a grain of salt — you've been warned
. For the vets, I hope you guys can chime in with a few more discussion points! Shared knowledge is the best part of this game and its community.
Hopefully it helps out the newer & confused players, by showing a little of the power & scope available to you in FOF gameplanning. It was overwhelming for me for a long time — Utah was a weekly REX GP team until 2019 or 2020.
Here's links to two spreadsheets I made and have used for myself in the past. They help me see how all the various gameplan screens come together by putting the information on all one screen.
Helpful Tools (google drive)
<a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdEFDdnRCRmlrM0U4bnl1dHd1OHB2Q Wc' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Formation Designer</a>
<a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdHVhdFhiTkd1ZmxZejlpb2dIcllRM Hc' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Gameplanner</a>
^There's also four of the GPs I've made recently (and they seem fairly different, at a glance), including the final two of Utah's 2025 playoffs run
. File->Make a copy into your own Google Drive to edit.
Offense Gameplanning
Formations
Formations are a key starting point, and they tie heavily into your Basic Offense Gameplan (the %s).
First, I tie my formation usage to my starting QB. It's a bad idea to ever ask your QB to play a formation he doesn't know. He won't do it (maybe a very small % of the time). Mostly, the AI will pick some other formation. Possibly the same one over and over. In my opinion, having any amount of % points devoted to formations he doesn't know, is efficiency loss.
Next, formations can be a huge part of your gameplan. The biggest consideration here is who am I putting on the field? Singleback sets don't have a FB. 2-TE base sets only have 1 WR. Strong/Weak 3 WR sets don't have a TE.
If you have a stud TE, you probably don't want him off the field. If your TE is OK but you have two big-time WRs, how often do you really want one of them on the bench?
When you're in 3rd & 10, how often do you want your FB out there? Or when you're in 3rd & 1, how often do you want to be WITHOUT either a FB or a TE?
Formations can be hard to plan out with all the different screens. I like to do them in a spreadsheet all at once, and then put into the game in one shot.
LINK: <a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdEFDdnRCRmlrM0U4bnl1dHd1OHB2Q Wc&usp=sharing' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Formation Designer</a>
^ Copy that file into your own Google Docs for editing. These are the current formations I am running in the CyFL, with a QB who only knows 9.
— I have 2 (actually 3, which is a pity) stud WRs, so I don't use the Pro-2TE at all except 61% + run situations. Then I use it a lot. This means I have to be in 61% + rarely.
— I want to rely on the SB sets (the only two where I have 3WRs on field), but not to use them all the time. I load up on them starting in 45% Run and less, which makes 45/x/x a specialty situation. If it's not somewhere I really want to be effective passing, I use the base 46-60/x/x - where I balance the %s evenly.
— I'm very rarely in "Pass Always" or "Run Always" situations. When I am, I don't balance at all and just run the best pass/run formations all the time.
— When I have the SB-4WR available, I sometimes put in 25% into the heavy run % formation screens. When you run SB-4WR, the defense automatically goes to a nickel or dime. I'm not sure this works too well, but I feel like it gives me an advantage if I can remove a good run-stuffing LB.
Basic Offense Gameplan (%s)
As mentioned above, what % number you put in can have a big impact on the kind of offense you are running.
Most of the time you will either be in 46-60% Run or 30-45% Run. But this still gives you room to throw very different looks at the defense. You can run a completely different set of formations depending on if you're in 45/x/x, or 46/x/x.
Maybe you want to throw long sometimes, but throw short other times. You can tailor your gameplan by throwing long out of 46/x/x (i.e, run 46+% when you throw long a lot) and throw short out of 46 (i.e, don't throw long very much when you go 45% or less run). Then set formations accordingly.
For example, maybe you have this WR who has great GD, but low BPR. Make him the WR3 in Strong/Weak-3WR and play that a lot in 45%- run formations. Play your BPR guy in 46%+ run formations, when you throw long.
I did this in Utah recently with WR Chester Haddix, who wasn't my primary 3rd WR, but was on the field in Strong/Weak-3WR because he had a 3rd down catching bar that my other guy lacked. On 3rd downs, I ran 45% or under a lot, and went Strong/Weak-3WR heavy. I rarely used those formations outside of that.
The Utah PAV
I haven't really looked at Ben's stock GPs, because I like building my own, for better or for worse. It's important to note that you can go very wrong with a gameplan. But you can also learn from those mistakes. In my book, it beats running someone else's library.
The PAV style is one I've come to favor though. Nemesis taught me the principles of it, and while this may or may not be Ben's exactly, it's what I like to do. It's good for a team that can threaten both on the ground and through the air. Probably hard to pull off if you have no ability to throw deep...
General Principles
Balance. There's nothing that kills an offense more than familiarity. You have almost no chance when a defense hits a 'familiar' on you. Additionally, a strong, frequently used run game is the foundation. It increases pass efficiency. Maybe your YPC will drop, but is going from 4.8 ypc to even 3.8 ypc that big a deal? If it increases your completion rate and YPA? I'd take that deal. How about you, Utivich?
I like a 50/50 run-pass split, as well as a 50/50 short pass/long pass split (maybe slightly more short passing). That's the biggest thing I keep in mind when gameplanning. There are different ways you can get there.
I like going to various extremes. If I pass a lot in this down & distance, I'll compensate by running a lot in another one. If I'm always throwing deep here, I need to get my short passes in somewhere else.
This also lets me be a bit of a chameleon, and change things up on an opponent who has been scouting me. Maybe they were expecting my usual 86/14 on 3rd & 1, but I can just as easily go 29/71.
1st & 10 - "Ground and Bomb." This kind of thing drives me nuts to defend. A team that is willing to go 55/10/35, for example. You can't ease up on the run game or they will keep moving the chains. You can't focus on the run game, because those long bombs will just kill you. The PAV is designed to get you your big yardage on 1st down.
2nd & 10 - "Short Pass." This is because you ran Ground & Bomb on 1st & 10, which is a high risk, high reward thing. You're going to get a high % of incompletions. So be prepared to be in 2nd & 10 after throwing long and missing a lot. "Short Pass" is a 30/60/10 type offense, 35/55/10, 30/65/5, etc, etc. Short Passes are high % completion. If you're in 2nd & 10, you don't want to go for yardage anymore. You're looking to bail yourself out and give yourself a fighting chance.
Before I adopted the PAV-style fairly recently (within the last four seasons here, I think), I ran a 60/20/20 type offense on both 1st & 2nd and 10. That worked not too badly. I like this better. When I look at the stats, it's rare that I find a team that is giving up handsome YPC on the ground on 2nd & 10, even if they play a lot of pass defense.
3rd & 10 - ??. This is pretty open-ended. I think you can throw short a lot or throw long a lot here. If you're playing a D that sits back too much, or if they are just too darn good at stopping pass and you can't throw anyway, maybe even run the ball a lot and avoid the INT. Better field position, less familiarity with your passing game, and maybe even the occasional first down.
In Utah, I like to throw long. Randy Boone is not often denied when he goes deep. If I'm coming off 2nd & 10, I probably just threw short and missed, so it's not like I'm running the same play twice in a row. So I run a 29/20/51 usually -- puts me in my heaviest passing formations, and punishes teams that try to play 4-deep.
2nd & short, 3rd & short - 2nd & 3 or under is where I like to go back to the ground & bomb. 3rd & 3 is a pretty good situation already, and hard to stop. If I bomb it and fail, I'm still in decent shape. If I bomb it and succeed, this drive just became a scoring drive.
And if I run here, I'm probably picking up the first down anyway.
3rd & short, I go run/short pass only. You just want the conversion at this point, not the yards, and long passes are always lower percentage. I didn't go short-pass heavy in the previous down, so here's the time to do it.
We're very multiple here though. I can go 86/14. Or 61/39. Or 29/71. I look at what the defense is doing and take my best shot.
3rd & 4-9 If it's not 3rd & long, I don't want to risk throwing long. I want my high-% shots. Depending on what the defense does, I can run more or less (29%, 30%, 45%, 46%, depending on which formations I want), and I fill in the rest with short passes.
2nd & 4-9 This means I'm not going short-pass heavy here, because if I don't convert - and I won't in most cases - I'm probably throwing short on the next down.
I generally find, when I look at the stats, that running the ball isn't very effective in 2nd & 4-9. So I like going anywhere from 30-46% run here, and pass short/long in approximately equal amounts.
Some teams are just more vulnerable to the run here for whatever reason. I run more when I see that. But the important thing is, 3rd & <10 doesn't throw long at all. 2nd & 10 does very rarely. So for balance, I need to get my long passes in somewhere, and that's going to be on 2nd & <10.
Pass Distances
These tie so heavily into what your QB is capable of, and what your WRs are capable of. I look at my QB's distance bars and adjust accordingly. Then I look at GPA mid-season and look at what's working, and what isn't.
These also depend a lot on how much you throw short, or throw long.
If you throw long all the time, you probably don't want to put 45% into 9-12. Balance it out. If you only throw long rarely, may as well go 9-12 when you do, because of the high completion rate.
I like doing a good mix of 9-12 and 13-18. I think I run 38/32 between those two a lot. My teams are usually able to do both with reasonable efficiency. After seeing what Columbus has done, I think you can't be afraid to throw long (I mean, unless you really can't). If you even kind of have the ability, it's worth it.
People say the 0-4 is useless. I don't know. I find a lot of times screen & 0-4 have really high completion rates and acceptable YPA. I don't like going lower than 55% of short passes 5-8, though. I usually like 70-80% if I can. If I'm short passing a lot and the screen/0-4 are doing well per GPA, I'm comfortable with something like 20/15/65.
Run Direction
20-20-5-5-5-5-20-20 is the standard, because outside running is overpowered or something like that. I think it's awfully dependent on your OL and your RBs, though. As well as what the opposing DL is good at stopping.
Probably the biggest mistake I made with Utah last season was running outside too much. My RB is a Power Inside demon. I think an inside running game can work.
I often try to look at GPA for this, but injuries cause me to juggle my OL enough that it's usually not helpful.
Even when I want to focus on outside running, I usually go a little less than 20 and 5. When I have a weak run-blocking tackle, I'll still run outside tackle and around end a lot, but I really take down the "inside tackle" on his side. I do think running outside is pretty good in general.
If I have a good run blocking tackle though I'm definitely going at least 20/20 on his side, outside tackle and around end. I take stuff out of other places to increase inside tackle as well. Caveat lector, I don't think I do very well with setting my run directions.
It's important to note that you can expect a run-blocking center to help across the line, in all directions. I think you can probably expect the same out of a run-stopping MLB/SILB or SS.
Adjustments
This screen makes me pull my hair out, so I prefer keeping almost everything the 'same' on tied score, and using 'tied score' deep into the game.
I do like not going to my clock-draining offense, though. Don't really want to do that too early, and it takes advantage of defenses who start expecting the run more because you're up 30-10, but you keep airing it on their 1-deep and running up the score. Hey, if it's 45-10, they really ain't coming back.
Another thing to keep in mind: this screen can toy around with your formations. I put a lot of my gameplan %s on the boundaries -- 45, 46, 29, 30, 60, 61...so that when adjustments do kick in, so do another set of formations.
I haven't thought about this in too much depth, although I know some people do.
Defense
I learned defense on advice of bomber & strickzilla by reading a lot of the threads in the vNFL. This is probably my favorite thing to do, because it's fun to dream up how you're going to shut down an offense. "Oh yeah! Try to throw into that, suckers!"
Also, GPA on offense is much more insightful than using my log parser on a team's defense.
Lesson 1: Don't Rex
Don't do this. Rex is not so bad with their offenses if you have the right personnel. Rex is really, really bad on D. Rex will play 1-deep.
Defense GP Screens
— Defensive Gameplan %s
— Defensive Personnel & Blitzing
— Coverages & Doubling Settings
These are the screens to understand, about how they work in concert.
Gameplan %s determine which set of coverages you are using. Personnel determines which kind of players you have on the field.
Play 100% base in Run Normal, 100% Nickel in Pass Normal
This really helps me 'make sense' of a gameplan. The Base package and the Nickel package are very different -- you switch off a LB (hopefully your worst) for a little cornerback.
Doing this lets me know, "Okay, I'm playing 54% run, 46% pass. That's 54% base, 46% nickel." Besides, the run D has penalties vs the pass to begin with. Why throw out your nickel back, only to nerf him?
There are times when I get daring and play base defense 50% of the time or more in Pass Normal. That's when I really don't respect the opposing pass D, have pretty darn good LBs, and a very sucky nickel back. You'd have to have a pretty good 3rd coverage LB to overcome even a sucky nickel back, though, and how often does that happen?
Pass Aggressive & Run Aggressive
In defensive playcalling, I value balance too. Additionally, Pass Aggressive is significantly vulnerable to the run. And vice versa. And Run Aggressive is frighteningly vulnerable to the pass. Especially the long pass.
So given all of that, I like saving RA and PA for special situations, and run them all the time there. For example, going 0/0/0/100 on 3rd & long. Or 100/0/0/0 on 3rd & short.
I run 100% goalline for Run Aggressive. If I'm going to load up on stopping the run, I'm really gonna load up on it. [I actually run 100% goalline for Run Normal too. Goalline doesn't actually get put in the game unless it's a goalline type situation, so it's safe.]
Running the Base D out of pass aggressive is just out of the question for me. Sometimes I like going all Nickel. Sometimes all Dime. Sometimes a mix. It depends on my talent, #1, and #2, how worried I am about the other team's run game vs pass.
My Green Bay team in the CyFL is a better example than Utah. They have a very perfect set of DBs -- two corners with high zone and INT bars to be in the nickel and dime. So, on 3rd & 10, I'll go 100% dime, 100% pass aggressive, and 100% 3-deep zone.
If a team runs the ball well on 3rd down, though, I don't want to be quite that vulnerable to the run. I'll probably still want to load up against the pass, but maybe 100% pass aggressive with 100% nickel. I'm not worried too much about a team that runs the ball 30% of the time on 3rd down if I'm in the nickel. I'll give them field position and even an off-chance 1st down in exchange for shutting down their primary weapon, the pass.
Playcalling
This is very dependent on what the offense calls, of course.
I do not call aggressive outside of specialty situations (when I'm confident the opponent will be heavy run or heavy pass). The rest of the time, I'm split between run and pass normal.
The starting point for that is, what % you set determines which coverages you use. 0-9% pass, 10-29% pass, 30-45% pass, 46-60% pass, 61-85% pass, 86%+ pass, each come with their own set of coverages. You can make them very different, but you don't have to.
For example, you can run 100% BnR in 46-60, and 100% M2M in 30-45%. Not that you'd want to. Just an example.
More concretely, let's say your nickel back is a zone specialist. You can run 0/15/85/0 when you really want to stop passes, and run a lot of 3-deep zone there.
When you play 0/54/46/0 though, and you have your crap-coverage LBs out there, you probably want to ease up on the 3-deep, a LOT - especially if you are going to play base 54% of the time.
This is why when I go 0/0/0/100, I know I've got my dime defense out there 100% of the time, and I am comfortable running exclusively 3-deep or 4-deep if necessary.
To me, (54/46 - if I want to focus on the run more), (40/60), and (55/45 - if I want to be in especially run-focused coverages) are the standard defense calls, and the time for a lot of 2-deep BnR and Man, in whatever ratio fits your players' abilities on D (primarily corners).
Coverages
I view the 2-deep Man and 2-deep Bump as standard defenses.
The 3-deep zone is what you want to play to stop the pass, though. It will stop short passes as well as long ones. This is just your best "pass D" defense, IMO. I invariably end up playing this one a bunch. I try not to play any 2-deep Man or Bump on 3rd & long -- why wouldn't you want your best pass coverage out there?
SSM and WSM defenses I play more rarely, and as a change-up if I need to. I like playing them when I have better zone coverage guys, since in these defenses, you have either your Strong CB or Weak CB playing man, and everyone else in a zone. I avoid the SSM if there's a good TE on that side; SSM has penalties vs the TE, while WSM has rewards (because the TE, on the strong side, faces zone coverage).
I play 1-deep bump exclusively when I run 100/0/0/0 (0-9% expect pass coverage screen). If I'm loading up on the run, I load up big-time...also running 100% goalline there.
Double Coverage
In order, here's what I consider when I decide to double cover or not:
— strength of their WRs - is one WR much more dangerous than the others?
— team statistics - is one WR getting all the targets?
— QB ability, especially Read Defense bar - is he going to see through the doubles anyway?
If I need to, I'll look up their stats in my Log Parser, vs DC and vs no DC. That rarely gives me anything I don't already expect, though.
There are teams I won't DC because they have too many great passing options. I generally feel if a QB totally stinks at Read Defense, it's best to throw some DCs his way no matter what, even if all his WRs are sucky to start with.
I usually either don't double at all, or double the WR I've spotlighted 100% of the time.
Sometimes I'll feel like they have great options with their receivers, but only one true big-play threat. When that happens, I double the BPR guy 100% of the time on my extreme pass DC screen, and don't double too much elsewhere.
Remember, you can set different DCs depending on your gameplan (extreme pass situations, pass situations, etc, etc, etc). Also, you will only DC if expecting the pass, or aggressively expecting the pass. When you play run/run aggr, there won't be DC, ever.
Blitzing
This is an area of the game I haven't figured out too well. I know people that have and I won't share their tricks.
From what I gather, blitzing is about risk/reward. I vastly prefer having a killer base pass rush and not having to take the risks. This means four pass-rushing linemen (in a 3-4, three pass-rushing linemen and a stud pass-rushing WLB).
About the 3-4 WLB, I think it's important to consider him an analog of the 4-3 RDE. He's filling the RDE role in the game's algorithms, rather than making use of the blitzing mechanism 100% of the time. That's my theory, anyway.
So, I don't like blitzing, and I will never blitz more than 1 guy, or blitz a defensive back. The whole point of a blitz is to cause a sack or hurry. Putting your own coverage behind the 8-ball is a little too much to ask for me.
I think it's something that helps in moderation though. I've put it at 5% in the pass, or 10-15% more regularly. Someone at the V said they turn it up big-time inside their red zone, figuring, why not? They've got that far. Time to gamble on knocking them back, and you aren't worried about giving up big yards because there's not much yardage left.
As for where to blitz, I look at the opposing team's linemen. I love spotting a weakness at RT. Dime blitzes go against the LT/LG, I would think. I prefer blitzing outside a little more, but I'll blitz inside if I can. Since I don't blitz DBs, I go 50/50 or variations on that with SLB outside/inside.
I don't usually blitz my MLB/SILB. He's typically my best LB in coverage and run-stopping, so I'd rather he stay put. If a QB has low sense rush and a bad line, I'm encouraged to blitz more, just to smoke him. If his line is OK I'll let the base rush take care of it.
I blitz a healthy amount on a high-SR QB though, the logic being, I'm probably not going to take him down any other way. It helps if I'm not sacrificing a stud pass defending LB in the process.
Lastly, I wouldn't blitz a LB that didn't have the pass rush bars to do it.
Alternative Gameplanning
There are other ways of playing defense obviously and I don't really have it figured out. I started noticing with Julio, who does this 50/0/10/40 thing on 1st & 10, something I've tried at various points in time.
I think that is all about risk/reward. You'll get long passes on you. But you will also get a greater number of big plays -- the run stuffs, the picks, incompletions. I believe the theory behind it is higher % of 2nd & long. It's a good way to combat an offense that relies on staying on schedule, by keeping them off of it.
I will go to this sometimes against a PAV attack, because gambling big is the only way I can think of to defend it. It still scares the hell out of me though, and I do it rarely.
The upshot of going 50/0/10/40 on 1st & 10 is I play a lot more run aggressive than I would in my standard defense. So I do feel it helps me out with balance, and helps when I want to play run normal on 2nd & 3rd down. I feel better if this is a team I can't play 100% pass aggressive on 3rd & 10 against, because this lets me get my pass aggressives in on 1st down.
There's also a guy in the CyFL who plays 3-deep 50% of the time, and 4-deep the other 50% of the time. I have no idea how this is sensible or how it even comes close to working. But it does for him. Go figure
I did beat him the last two times we played (one of them a CCG!) but they were tight games. And the last one, my first 15 or so runs went for under 30 yards, which had me screaming at the monitor.
Adjustments
Same as for offense, this screen is TOO DAMN COMPLICATED for me.
In Closing
I hope that helps! If you're still feeling your way around these screens, I hope it gives you a good idea of where to start. Gameplanning is very powerful in FOF, and there are a lot of different things you can do with it. It is always more fun to go into a game with a plan of attack! ... even if sometimes, the best-laid plans go horribly awry.
Here's links again to two spreadsheet GP tools I've made for Google Drive. File->Make a copy into your own Google Drive to edit.
LINK: <a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdEFDdnRCRmlrM0U4bnl1dHd1OHB2Q Wc' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Formation Designer</a>
LINK: <a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdHVhdFhiTkd1ZmxZejlpb2dIcllRM Hc' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Gameplanner</a>
Lastly, a shout-out to a few of the best gameplanners out there, many of whom have helped me with advice at some point or another in the past — Firefly, Nick/Hammer, Ben, timmynausea, bomber, thenewchuckd, Nemesis, Mike17, Julio Riddols, and so on. I'm sure I've been remiss and forgotten a name or five. Cheers!
While we're waiting for the draft to officially go live...
Gameplanning can be one of the most mystifying parts of FOF, but it can also be one of the most rewarding. Once you understand how the different screens work in concert, you really take ownership of your team.
I'm not very good at it (I like to compensate by just having a lot of good players, and excellent playcalling coaches), so take all of this with a grain of salt — you've been warned
. For the vets, I hope you guys can chime in with a few more discussion points! Shared knowledge is the best part of this game and its community. Hopefully it helps out the newer & confused players, by showing a little of the power & scope available to you in FOF gameplanning. It was overwhelming for me for a long time — Utah was a weekly REX GP team until 2019 or 2020.
Here's links to two spreadsheets I made and have used for myself in the past. They help me see how all the various gameplan screens come together by putting the information on all one screen.
Helpful Tools (google drive)
<a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdEFDdnRCRmlrM0U4bnl1dHd1OHB2Q Wc' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Formation Designer</a>
<a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdHVhdFhiTkd1ZmxZejlpb2dIcllRM Hc' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Gameplanner</a>
^There's also four of the GPs I've made recently (and they seem fairly different, at a glance), including the final two of Utah's 2025 playoffs run
. File->Make a copy into your own Google Drive to edit.Offense Gameplanning
Formations
Formations are a key starting point, and they tie heavily into your Basic Offense Gameplan (the %s).
First, I tie my formation usage to my starting QB. It's a bad idea to ever ask your QB to play a formation he doesn't know. He won't do it (maybe a very small % of the time). Mostly, the AI will pick some other formation. Possibly the same one over and over. In my opinion, having any amount of % points devoted to formations he doesn't know, is efficiency loss.
Next, formations can be a huge part of your gameplan. The biggest consideration here is who am I putting on the field? Singleback sets don't have a FB. 2-TE base sets only have 1 WR. Strong/Weak 3 WR sets don't have a TE.
If you have a stud TE, you probably don't want him off the field. If your TE is OK but you have two big-time WRs, how often do you really want one of them on the bench?
When you're in 3rd & 10, how often do you want your FB out there? Or when you're in 3rd & 1, how often do you want to be WITHOUT either a FB or a TE?
Formations can be hard to plan out with all the different screens. I like to do them in a spreadsheet all at once, and then put into the game in one shot.
LINK: <a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdEFDdnRCRmlrM0U4bnl1dHd1OHB2Q Wc&usp=sharing' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Formation Designer</a>
^ Copy that file into your own Google Docs for editing. These are the current formations I am running in the CyFL, with a QB who only knows 9.
— I have 2 (actually 3, which is a pity) stud WRs, so I don't use the Pro-2TE at all except 61% + run situations. Then I use it a lot. This means I have to be in 61% + rarely.
— I want to rely on the SB sets (the only two where I have 3WRs on field), but not to use them all the time. I load up on them starting in 45% Run and less, which makes 45/x/x a specialty situation. If it's not somewhere I really want to be effective passing, I use the base 46-60/x/x - where I balance the %s evenly.
— I'm very rarely in "Pass Always" or "Run Always" situations. When I am, I don't balance at all and just run the best pass/run formations all the time.
— When I have the SB-4WR available, I sometimes put in 25% into the heavy run % formation screens. When you run SB-4WR, the defense automatically goes to a nickel or dime. I'm not sure this works too well, but I feel like it gives me an advantage if I can remove a good run-stuffing LB.
Basic Offense Gameplan (%s)
As mentioned above, what % number you put in can have a big impact on the kind of offense you are running.
Most of the time you will either be in 46-60% Run or 30-45% Run. But this still gives you room to throw very different looks at the defense. You can run a completely different set of formations depending on if you're in 45/x/x, or 46/x/x.
Maybe you want to throw long sometimes, but throw short other times. You can tailor your gameplan by throwing long out of 46/x/x (i.e, run 46+% when you throw long a lot) and throw short out of 46 (i.e, don't throw long very much when you go 45% or less run). Then set formations accordingly.
For example, maybe you have this WR who has great GD, but low BPR. Make him the WR3 in Strong/Weak-3WR and play that a lot in 45%- run formations. Play your BPR guy in 46%+ run formations, when you throw long.
I did this in Utah recently with WR Chester Haddix, who wasn't my primary 3rd WR, but was on the field in Strong/Weak-3WR because he had a 3rd down catching bar that my other guy lacked. On 3rd downs, I ran 45% or under a lot, and went Strong/Weak-3WR heavy. I rarely used those formations outside of that.
The Utah PAV
I haven't really looked at Ben's stock GPs, because I like building my own, for better or for worse. It's important to note that you can go very wrong with a gameplan. But you can also learn from those mistakes. In my book, it beats running someone else's library.
The PAV style is one I've come to favor though. Nemesis taught me the principles of it, and while this may or may not be Ben's exactly, it's what I like to do. It's good for a team that can threaten both on the ground and through the air. Probably hard to pull off if you have no ability to throw deep...
General Principles
Balance. There's nothing that kills an offense more than familiarity. You have almost no chance when a defense hits a 'familiar' on you. Additionally, a strong, frequently used run game is the foundation. It increases pass efficiency. Maybe your YPC will drop, but is going from 4.8 ypc to even 3.8 ypc that big a deal? If it increases your completion rate and YPA? I'd take that deal. How about you, Utivich?
I like a 50/50 run-pass split, as well as a 50/50 short pass/long pass split (maybe slightly more short passing). That's the biggest thing I keep in mind when gameplanning. There are different ways you can get there.
I like going to various extremes. If I pass a lot in this down & distance, I'll compensate by running a lot in another one. If I'm always throwing deep here, I need to get my short passes in somewhere else.
This also lets me be a bit of a chameleon, and change things up on an opponent who has been scouting me. Maybe they were expecting my usual 86/14 on 3rd & 1, but I can just as easily go 29/71.
1st & 10 - "Ground and Bomb." This kind of thing drives me nuts to defend. A team that is willing to go 55/10/35, for example. You can't ease up on the run game or they will keep moving the chains. You can't focus on the run game, because those long bombs will just kill you. The PAV is designed to get you your big yardage on 1st down.
2nd & 10 - "Short Pass." This is because you ran Ground & Bomb on 1st & 10, which is a high risk, high reward thing. You're going to get a high % of incompletions. So be prepared to be in 2nd & 10 after throwing long and missing a lot. "Short Pass" is a 30/60/10 type offense, 35/55/10, 30/65/5, etc, etc. Short Passes are high % completion. If you're in 2nd & 10, you don't want to go for yardage anymore. You're looking to bail yourself out and give yourself a fighting chance.
Before I adopted the PAV-style fairly recently (within the last four seasons here, I think), I ran a 60/20/20 type offense on both 1st & 2nd and 10. That worked not too badly. I like this better. When I look at the stats, it's rare that I find a team that is giving up handsome YPC on the ground on 2nd & 10, even if they play a lot of pass defense.
3rd & 10 - ??. This is pretty open-ended. I think you can throw short a lot or throw long a lot here. If you're playing a D that sits back too much, or if they are just too darn good at stopping pass and you can't throw anyway, maybe even run the ball a lot and avoid the INT. Better field position, less familiarity with your passing game, and maybe even the occasional first down.
In Utah, I like to throw long. Randy Boone is not often denied when he goes deep. If I'm coming off 2nd & 10, I probably just threw short and missed, so it's not like I'm running the same play twice in a row. So I run a 29/20/51 usually -- puts me in my heaviest passing formations, and punishes teams that try to play 4-deep.
2nd & short, 3rd & short - 2nd & 3 or under is where I like to go back to the ground & bomb. 3rd & 3 is a pretty good situation already, and hard to stop. If I bomb it and fail, I'm still in decent shape. If I bomb it and succeed, this drive just became a scoring drive.
And if I run here, I'm probably picking up the first down anyway.
3rd & short, I go run/short pass only. You just want the conversion at this point, not the yards, and long passes are always lower percentage. I didn't go short-pass heavy in the previous down, so here's the time to do it.
We're very multiple here though. I can go 86/14. Or 61/39. Or 29/71. I look at what the defense is doing and take my best shot.
3rd & 4-9 If it's not 3rd & long, I don't want to risk throwing long. I want my high-% shots. Depending on what the defense does, I can run more or less (29%, 30%, 45%, 46%, depending on which formations I want), and I fill in the rest with short passes.
2nd & 4-9 This means I'm not going short-pass heavy here, because if I don't convert - and I won't in most cases - I'm probably throwing short on the next down.
I generally find, when I look at the stats, that running the ball isn't very effective in 2nd & 4-9. So I like going anywhere from 30-46% run here, and pass short/long in approximately equal amounts.
Some teams are just more vulnerable to the run here for whatever reason. I run more when I see that. But the important thing is, 3rd & <10 doesn't throw long at all. 2nd & 10 does very rarely. So for balance, I need to get my long passes in somewhere, and that's going to be on 2nd & <10.
Pass Distances
These tie so heavily into what your QB is capable of, and what your WRs are capable of. I look at my QB's distance bars and adjust accordingly. Then I look at GPA mid-season and look at what's working, and what isn't.
These also depend a lot on how much you throw short, or throw long.
If you throw long all the time, you probably don't want to put 45% into 9-12. Balance it out. If you only throw long rarely, may as well go 9-12 when you do, because of the high completion rate.
I like doing a good mix of 9-12 and 13-18. I think I run 38/32 between those two a lot. My teams are usually able to do both with reasonable efficiency. After seeing what Columbus has done, I think you can't be afraid to throw long (I mean, unless you really can't). If you even kind of have the ability, it's worth it.
People say the 0-4 is useless. I don't know. I find a lot of times screen & 0-4 have really high completion rates and acceptable YPA. I don't like going lower than 55% of short passes 5-8, though. I usually like 70-80% if I can. If I'm short passing a lot and the screen/0-4 are doing well per GPA, I'm comfortable with something like 20/15/65.
Run Direction
20-20-5-5-5-5-20-20 is the standard, because outside running is overpowered or something like that. I think it's awfully dependent on your OL and your RBs, though. As well as what the opposing DL is good at stopping.
Probably the biggest mistake I made with Utah last season was running outside too much. My RB is a Power Inside demon. I think an inside running game can work.
I often try to look at GPA for this, but injuries cause me to juggle my OL enough that it's usually not helpful.
Even when I want to focus on outside running, I usually go a little less than 20 and 5. When I have a weak run-blocking tackle, I'll still run outside tackle and around end a lot, but I really take down the "inside tackle" on his side. I do think running outside is pretty good in general.
If I have a good run blocking tackle though I'm definitely going at least 20/20 on his side, outside tackle and around end. I take stuff out of other places to increase inside tackle as well. Caveat lector, I don't think I do very well with setting my run directions.
It's important to note that you can expect a run-blocking center to help across the line, in all directions. I think you can probably expect the same out of a run-stopping MLB/SILB or SS.
Adjustments
This screen makes me pull my hair out, so I prefer keeping almost everything the 'same' on tied score, and using 'tied score' deep into the game.
I do like not going to my clock-draining offense, though. Don't really want to do that too early, and it takes advantage of defenses who start expecting the run more because you're up 30-10, but you keep airing it on their 1-deep and running up the score. Hey, if it's 45-10, they really ain't coming back.
Another thing to keep in mind: this screen can toy around with your formations. I put a lot of my gameplan %s on the boundaries -- 45, 46, 29, 30, 60, 61...so that when adjustments do kick in, so do another set of formations.
I haven't thought about this in too much depth, although I know some people do.
Defense
I learned defense on advice of bomber & strickzilla by reading a lot of the threads in the vNFL. This is probably my favorite thing to do, because it's fun to dream up how you're going to shut down an offense. "Oh yeah! Try to throw into that, suckers!"
Also, GPA on offense is much more insightful than using my log parser on a team's defense.
Lesson 1: Don't Rex
Don't do this. Rex is not so bad with their offenses if you have the right personnel. Rex is really, really bad on D. Rex will play 1-deep.
Defense GP Screens
— Defensive Gameplan %s
— Defensive Personnel & Blitzing
— Coverages & Doubling Settings
These are the screens to understand, about how they work in concert.
Gameplan %s determine which set of coverages you are using. Personnel determines which kind of players you have on the field.
Play 100% base in Run Normal, 100% Nickel in Pass Normal
This really helps me 'make sense' of a gameplan. The Base package and the Nickel package are very different -- you switch off a LB (hopefully your worst) for a little cornerback.
Doing this lets me know, "Okay, I'm playing 54% run, 46% pass. That's 54% base, 46% nickel." Besides, the run D has penalties vs the pass to begin with. Why throw out your nickel back, only to nerf him?
There are times when I get daring and play base defense 50% of the time or more in Pass Normal. That's when I really don't respect the opposing pass D, have pretty darn good LBs, and a very sucky nickel back. You'd have to have a pretty good 3rd coverage LB to overcome even a sucky nickel back, though, and how often does that happen?
Pass Aggressive & Run Aggressive
In defensive playcalling, I value balance too. Additionally, Pass Aggressive is significantly vulnerable to the run. And vice versa. And Run Aggressive is frighteningly vulnerable to the pass. Especially the long pass.
So given all of that, I like saving RA and PA for special situations, and run them all the time there. For example, going 0/0/0/100 on 3rd & long. Or 100/0/0/0 on 3rd & short.
I run 100% goalline for Run Aggressive. If I'm going to load up on stopping the run, I'm really gonna load up on it. [I actually run 100% goalline for Run Normal too. Goalline doesn't actually get put in the game unless it's a goalline type situation, so it's safe.]
Running the Base D out of pass aggressive is just out of the question for me. Sometimes I like going all Nickel. Sometimes all Dime. Sometimes a mix. It depends on my talent, #1, and #2, how worried I am about the other team's run game vs pass.
My Green Bay team in the CyFL is a better example than Utah. They have a very perfect set of DBs -- two corners with high zone and INT bars to be in the nickel and dime. So, on 3rd & 10, I'll go 100% dime, 100% pass aggressive, and 100% 3-deep zone.
If a team runs the ball well on 3rd down, though, I don't want to be quite that vulnerable to the run. I'll probably still want to load up against the pass, but maybe 100% pass aggressive with 100% nickel. I'm not worried too much about a team that runs the ball 30% of the time on 3rd down if I'm in the nickel. I'll give them field position and even an off-chance 1st down in exchange for shutting down their primary weapon, the pass.
Playcalling
This is very dependent on what the offense calls, of course.
I do not call aggressive outside of specialty situations (when I'm confident the opponent will be heavy run or heavy pass). The rest of the time, I'm split between run and pass normal.
The starting point for that is, what % you set determines which coverages you use. 0-9% pass, 10-29% pass, 30-45% pass, 46-60% pass, 61-85% pass, 86%+ pass, each come with their own set of coverages. You can make them very different, but you don't have to.
For example, you can run 100% BnR in 46-60, and 100% M2M in 30-45%. Not that you'd want to. Just an example.
More concretely, let's say your nickel back is a zone specialist. You can run 0/15/85/0 when you really want to stop passes, and run a lot of 3-deep zone there.
When you play 0/54/46/0 though, and you have your crap-coverage LBs out there, you probably want to ease up on the 3-deep, a LOT - especially if you are going to play base 54% of the time.
This is why when I go 0/0/0/100, I know I've got my dime defense out there 100% of the time, and I am comfortable running exclusively 3-deep or 4-deep if necessary.
To me, (54/46 - if I want to focus on the run more), (40/60), and (55/45 - if I want to be in especially run-focused coverages) are the standard defense calls, and the time for a lot of 2-deep BnR and Man, in whatever ratio fits your players' abilities on D (primarily corners).
Coverages
I view the 2-deep Man and 2-deep Bump as standard defenses.
The 3-deep zone is what you want to play to stop the pass, though. It will stop short passes as well as long ones. This is just your best "pass D" defense, IMO. I invariably end up playing this one a bunch. I try not to play any 2-deep Man or Bump on 3rd & long -- why wouldn't you want your best pass coverage out there?
SSM and WSM defenses I play more rarely, and as a change-up if I need to. I like playing them when I have better zone coverage guys, since in these defenses, you have either your Strong CB or Weak CB playing man, and everyone else in a zone. I avoid the SSM if there's a good TE on that side; SSM has penalties vs the TE, while WSM has rewards (because the TE, on the strong side, faces zone coverage).
I play 1-deep bump exclusively when I run 100/0/0/0 (0-9% expect pass coverage screen). If I'm loading up on the run, I load up big-time...also running 100% goalline there.
Double Coverage
In order, here's what I consider when I decide to double cover or not:
— strength of their WRs - is one WR much more dangerous than the others?
— team statistics - is one WR getting all the targets?
— QB ability, especially Read Defense bar - is he going to see through the doubles anyway?
If I need to, I'll look up their stats in my Log Parser, vs DC and vs no DC. That rarely gives me anything I don't already expect, though.
There are teams I won't DC because they have too many great passing options. I generally feel if a QB totally stinks at Read Defense, it's best to throw some DCs his way no matter what, even if all his WRs are sucky to start with.
I usually either don't double at all, or double the WR I've spotlighted 100% of the time.
Sometimes I'll feel like they have great options with their receivers, but only one true big-play threat. When that happens, I double the BPR guy 100% of the time on my extreme pass DC screen, and don't double too much elsewhere.
Remember, you can set different DCs depending on your gameplan (extreme pass situations, pass situations, etc, etc, etc). Also, you will only DC if expecting the pass, or aggressively expecting the pass. When you play run/run aggr, there won't be DC, ever.
Blitzing
This is an area of the game I haven't figured out too well. I know people that have and I won't share their tricks.
From what I gather, blitzing is about risk/reward. I vastly prefer having a killer base pass rush and not having to take the risks. This means four pass-rushing linemen (in a 3-4, three pass-rushing linemen and a stud pass-rushing WLB).
About the 3-4 WLB, I think it's important to consider him an analog of the 4-3 RDE. He's filling the RDE role in the game's algorithms, rather than making use of the blitzing mechanism 100% of the time. That's my theory, anyway.
So, I don't like blitzing, and I will never blitz more than 1 guy, or blitz a defensive back. The whole point of a blitz is to cause a sack or hurry. Putting your own coverage behind the 8-ball is a little too much to ask for me.
I think it's something that helps in moderation though. I've put it at 5% in the pass, or 10-15% more regularly. Someone at the V said they turn it up big-time inside their red zone, figuring, why not? They've got that far. Time to gamble on knocking them back, and you aren't worried about giving up big yards because there's not much yardage left.
As for where to blitz, I look at the opposing team's linemen. I love spotting a weakness at RT. Dime blitzes go against the LT/LG, I would think. I prefer blitzing outside a little more, but I'll blitz inside if I can. Since I don't blitz DBs, I go 50/50 or variations on that with SLB outside/inside.
I don't usually blitz my MLB/SILB. He's typically my best LB in coverage and run-stopping, so I'd rather he stay put. If a QB has low sense rush and a bad line, I'm encouraged to blitz more, just to smoke him. If his line is OK I'll let the base rush take care of it.
I blitz a healthy amount on a high-SR QB though, the logic being, I'm probably not going to take him down any other way. It helps if I'm not sacrificing a stud pass defending LB in the process.
Lastly, I wouldn't blitz a LB that didn't have the pass rush bars to do it.
Alternative Gameplanning
There are other ways of playing defense obviously and I don't really have it figured out. I started noticing with Julio, who does this 50/0/10/40 thing on 1st & 10, something I've tried at various points in time.
I think that is all about risk/reward. You'll get long passes on you. But you will also get a greater number of big plays -- the run stuffs, the picks, incompletions. I believe the theory behind it is higher % of 2nd & long. It's a good way to combat an offense that relies on staying on schedule, by keeping them off of it.
I will go to this sometimes against a PAV attack, because gambling big is the only way I can think of to defend it. It still scares the hell out of me though, and I do it rarely.
The upshot of going 50/0/10/40 on 1st & 10 is I play a lot more run aggressive than I would in my standard defense. So I do feel it helps me out with balance, and helps when I want to play run normal on 2nd & 3rd down. I feel better if this is a team I can't play 100% pass aggressive on 3rd & 10 against, because this lets me get my pass aggressives in on 1st down.
There's also a guy in the CyFL who plays 3-deep 50% of the time, and 4-deep the other 50% of the time. I have no idea how this is sensible or how it even comes close to working. But it does for him. Go figure
I did beat him the last two times we played (one of them a CCG!) but they were tight games. And the last one, my first 15 or so runs went for under 30 yards, which had me screaming at the monitor.
Adjustments
Same as for offense, this screen is TOO DAMN COMPLICATED for me.
In Closing
I hope that helps! If you're still feeling your way around these screens, I hope it gives you a good idea of where to start. Gameplanning is very powerful in FOF, and there are a lot of different things you can do with it. It is always more fun to go into a game with a plan of attack! ... even if sometimes, the best-laid plans go horribly awry.
Here's links again to two spreadsheet GP tools I've made for Google Drive. File->Make a copy into your own Google Drive to edit.
LINK: <a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdEFDdnRCRmlrM0U4bnl1dHd1OHB2Q Wc' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Formation Designer</a>
LINK: <a href='https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhbfF9SP0LxtdHVhdFhiTkd1ZmxZejlpb2dIcllRM Hc' style='color:#269' onmouseover="this.style.color='#37c'" onmouseout="this.style.color='#269'">FOF Gameplanner</a>
Lastly, a shout-out to a few of the best gameplanners out there, many of whom have helped me with advice at some point or another in the past — Firefly, Nick/Hammer, Ben, timmynausea, bomber, thenewchuckd, Nemesis, Mike17, Julio Riddols, and so on. I'm sure I've been remiss and forgotten a name or five. Cheers!
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