Question about QB's

[tomr1962]

Any guru's want to tell me why my QB is sucking so bad this season?

[Aston]

Not a guru, but I wonder if his youth has anything to do with it. Passing cohesion is shot. Doesn't have a ton of formations under his belt yet (not sure how much that has to do with it).

[Guest]

Maybe after the game today. :D

[Guest]

I need a new cities file. I don't see your team name. Actually, I seem to be Davenport with this cities file that I have, not Denver.

First question. What has his development been like? Give me his change tracker info (1st training camp especially).

11 formations is not that bad. I could build a pretty good offense around that. And your coach is good at offensive play calling... Not perfect but not bad.

Next thing - your receivers suck. You just have one good one - I double him with an ok corner and your QB has no receivers. You would be surprised how good a QB can look with two 80/80 WRs to throw to. Or even a 60/60 and 50/50.

3rd - you have a LT who is a bad pass blocker. I won't look at the rest of your line but I see that you have one of the worst opposition pass rush % ratings in the league (4th worst to be precise). Only 29 sacks because your QB is getting out of trouble... But most of those are coming in hurries and blocks.

Finally, avoid interceptions is one of the last bars on a QB to get fully developed. And my guess is you were behind a lot this season, meaning the other team was often in a pass defense against you. Maybe you were also throwing a lot of deep balls.

So... your off-season targets should be a pass blocking LT and some better WRs. At least, if you want your QB to be better. ;-) Oh yes, and keep the score closer.

[Guest]

Oh yeah... and I only looked at it for about 5 minutes so take what I say with a grain of salt.

[Guest]

Next thing - your receivers suck. You just have one good one - I double him with an ok corner and your QB has no receivers.

This, to me, is the key. Not because you necessarily have to have two stud receivers to win (post 6.2, anyway), but because your particular QB is non-existent in Read Defense.

So, as chuckd says, double him and your guy is going to have trouble. Just this last game, he threw into double coverage 13 times. They really start racking up in the 2nd half, probably having to do with familiars.

1st half - 1/3. One completion to your stud WR Wilkerson for 44 yards, that's going to happen. Other two were failed 3rd downs.

2nd half - 0/10, 4 failed 3rd downs.

Part of it you'll just have to live with. Only adjustments I can think of is to find Ben's notes on getting your TE involved. Maybe send out the RB/FB out more. And of course, always look out for another threat, either at WR or TE. Run more, you have the backfield for it.

And yeah, you could definitely use some pass protection on your OL. Don't think that's the primary problem, but can never have too much.

[Guest]

Spock,

if i may thread jack for a second, in regards to getting my rb/fb invlovled i have tried this in seasons past by lowering the "keep rb in to block" (i always keep my fb in) and it wasnt working so at like game 5 in the season i put my rb to 100% to stay in and i got like 8 targets when he was supposed to be blocking on almost every play

[Guest]

I'm no guru, by any means, but it will also depend on your passing distance, RB's RR, and the QB, I imagine.

That number also indicates the percentage they stay in to block when they're not the primary receiver. So doesn't mean they're staying home every time.

[Guest]

This, to me, is the key. Not because you necessarily have to have two stud receivers to win (post 6.2, anyway), but because your particular QB is non-existent in Read Defense.

Maybe there are some elements of life post 6.2 that make it a bit easier to win without WRs. But there are still so many teams in multi-player who pass almost exclusively and win. And in my experience, if you have two stud WRs you can turn the right 45/45 QB into one of the best passers in the league.

Anyhow, I don't know if read defense helps here. His other WRs are pure crap. The QB should be throwing to his best WR all the time, whether he is doubled or not. I'm not sure if that's how a QB's read defense rating works but that's the way it should work.

But finally, I do agree that he doesn't need two stud WRs. But he does need more viable options so game planning against him is not so easy.

As for getting the TE involved, remember his limitation here is the limited number of formations on his TE. He does not really have the luxury to pick and choose TE only formations until his QB learns more.

As for the o-line, you can go and check the # of incompletes due to knockdowns and hurries. I think you will find that they add up for his team... And he could do better with better pass blocking, starting with his LT.

Finally, I do agree that turning up the run game would help his QB.

[Guest]

Just to elaborate a bit further... I was playing in the PFL a number of months ago. The Meat owns a team there, a guy who is quite experienced at FOF. He already had one stud WR but only an average QB (think 45-50 rated). So he did poorly that season, mostly because he was only running the ball two times a game. He said that he wanted his WR to break all the league records and that's all that he was gunning for (his WR had over 2000 yards that season).

Anyhow, in the draft that year he made a crazy offer to land a 2nd stud WR. Something like a stud corner, 5 1sts round picks (including a top 10), 2nds, 3rds... Maybe I am exagerrating a bit but it was a very one sided trade. Everyone was laughing at him. They even started a tracker thread that season to say how many times he ran the ball each game, how his WRs did and if he won or lost.

Of course he started the season poorly, his 2nd WR was not very developed. He had a losing record at the half way point and everyone said that if he would just run the ball more... maybe he could win. It seemed like everyone was laughing at him.

Well, guess what? He finished the season 8-8 and advanced to the Superbowl. I think he lost the Superbowl game, I can't remember. But basically in the 2nd half of the season his team was unstoppable.

That opened my eyes a bit... Everyone says that post 6.2 that the running game has more importance. It does. But a run first team in FOF is never going to be as dominant as a pass first team.

PS I do have a game plan to stop pass only teams and I was actually one of the teams to beat The Meat that season. But the game plan needs a stud CB and 2-3 more decent ones for it to work... And it still gives up a ton of yards and points. The key is to generate turnovers and have your offense take advantage.

[Guest]

Of course it makes life easier to have two stud WRs. The trick is getting the most out of what you have, though. My run-first, strong defense mentality has won me many more games since 6.2 came. I don't believe that the two-WR thing is the *only* way to the ring anymore. Have to gameplan with what you have.

[Aston]

Ah, those 'formation usage' screens...got any tips there, guys? Editing them's never ended well for me and it's a hell of a lot of work going through all five or six screens. A few seasons ago I tried to pour in a lot more singleback sets to get 3,4,5 WRs on the field more - only resulted in too many 'familiar's and bad results. Now I'm trying to spread out formations evenly among the ones my QB knows, and I'm not convinced that is working out either.

[Pat]

Best tips I can give for that is play to your personnel.

For example: This year I had two good TEs, one great WR, one average WR, a great FB, and a lot of young, crappy WRs below them. So, I made sure to use a lot of two TE sets, for running and passing situations, and I also tried to get my FB involved as much as possible.

[Guest]

Ah, those 'formation usage' screens...got any tips there, guys? Editing them's never ended well for me and it's a hell of a lot of work going through all five or six screens.

My tip is to start with Rexx and then go from there. That will give you an idea of the formations that are more useful for passing and the ones that are more useful in the running game. Also, some formations are not to be overused. For example, WR to the slot formations I always try to keep below 5% and usually in the 2.5% range.

If you have a QB who knows a good deal of formations and/or a coach with solid offensive play calling, then I might be more tempted to pick formations based around your player strengths.

[Guest]

I don't believe that the two-WR thing is the *only* way to the ring anymore. Have to gameplan with what you have.

I agree, it is not the only way. And I think you can now design a game plan to beat pass only teams, with the right defensive players. Just not a lot of people know how to do it or have the right players.

I just wanted to stress the importance of good receivers. Even another 50/50 guy with the right bars could have made a difference for his QB... Although, I do understand it is a rebuilding season for him.