Week 7 Discussion

[Warhammer]

so basically the winners and losers in this league are the ones who had a great initial inaugural draft from 2003, that's the theme i'm getting. you got great players in 2003, then you have a reason to keep the same players together for 7+ seasons. IHOF is the same way.

IFL is vastly different from IHOF in this regard. Hartford was a top team the first two years in the league. Then we rebuilt and turned over most of our initial roster. We came back and won the championship last year with about 7 players from the initial draft. Our cohesion is still pretty good because we would typically add only 1 or 2 new players per unit on the team.

but still, cohesion or not, i have better overall talent than you. that has to count for more than just 1 win. there shouldn't be this many 1 win team this far into the season. it's like night and day in IFL. either you'e a winner or you're a loser. there's hardly many "in the middle" teams than can change their fortunes with one or two trades. not complaining, just venting. all in all, even seeing how great Gomez is doing this season i'm glad i moved him cuz it's time this team was able to build around a younger core.

but seriously, when you add in more superior talent than you had the previous season, it's supposed to make you better. you're not supposed to take a step back. i added Gomez, Lundquist and Otey, and that only counted for 1 win. i had worse players last season and i wasn't losing so much. sigh.

It depends on the players and it depends on how you use those players. I had the top roster in the league the first year. But I lacked stars and was unable to turn that talent into championship team. The next year I was able to get more out of the team, even after I lost a number of key players, due to superior gameplanning.

Then, we ran off a cliff. I thought a team that was aging had one more good run in them, but they didn't. We were terrible, and went 6-10. I made a road map to put the team back on the map, and in our first "rebuilding" year we went 7-9. The next year we went 8-8. Then we went 9-7 (and could easily have been 12-4). Finally, last year we won the title.

We ascended the mountain by making moves that made sense from a cohesion and talent standpoint. It took a while to do, but it was extremely satisfying when all was said and done. Heck, even with our 3-4 record this year, look at who we lost to and how the game played out, and we're not as bad as the record indicates.

[tarcone]

Wow. Im in trouble then. I need to draft some WRs for Sanford ASAP.
Was Taylor to Groth last season a fluke? That was their 1st season together.

[JesterBlaze]

Wow. Im in trouble then. I need to draft some WRs for Sanford ASAP.
Was Taylor to Groth last season a fluke? That was their 1st season together.

If I remember correctly Taylor just threw deep all day last season (or at least at the start) and Groth was the lucky recipient of the gift that opposing teams offered by not covering the deep pass when playing Tulsa.

In any event there will always be exceptions to the norms. However everything else remaining unchanged (except being together for a 2nd season) the Taylor-Groth connection would theoretically be better this time around.

[Hell Atlantic]

You've had the same explanation from so many GMs and just refuse to do the one thing that you need to: Learn how to gameplan. And it's gonna take time. You're not going to be a good gameplanner by the end of the season. Maybe not next season. Maybe not ever if it "just doesn't click".

i don't want to learn how to gameplan, i don't want to gameplan. period. i'm not a coach. i'm a builder of teams. i don't know how to coax the best results out of my players, i only know how to aquire the best players. i can make the tough decisions. i'm willing to pull the trigger when other teams back off. that is the way i work. i don't know how much to have my RB run in the red zone. i don't know how often i should have my offense in Single-back Trips formation. i don't know how often i should have my TE back to block in passing plays. i mean, i think i know - but it doesn't work. i don't come from a coaching background where i can visualize a gameplan and then look at FOF and know how to make the team do it. i can only build a team.

now, i have confidence in the AI setting my gameplan for me. i've won a championship within the first 4 seasons of my solo career. obviously MP is a different beast than solo, but at least i've seen firsthand that, yes, it is possible to get out of the way of my own gameplan and just focus on building the team.

but again, this is going against all logic. i went 10-6 last season with a roster rated, say, "B". i built my roster to about "A-". so not only should i generally have as much success as i did last year (theoretically), i aquired players who, theoretically, should have been able to put us over the top. my secondary overall is leaps and bounds better than last year's version. i have 2 of the top 3 DE's to have played in IFL on my team. i have one of the top 3 DT's in the game. you can't just bat your eyes at that and say "talent doesn't guarantee winning". well, talent doesn't get you a 1-6 record. something doesn't make sense here. even taking into account "any given sunday", i still should have more than just 1 win by this point. even Suicane says he doesn't know what he's doing, so how could that be any better than me letting the AI do my gameplan but the only difference being i have better talent?

i think next season i'll take over the gameplanning reigns again. at this point of the season i'm closer to having a high pick than i am to getting to the playoffs, so i'll leave things status quo, chalk 2010 up as a bad season to be quickly forgotten, and try to start over next season. doesn't make sense to dig my heels in and try to get myself out of this mess only to get like a 7-9, 6-10 record and ruin my draft positioning.

[Warhammer]

Crap, part of the problem you're having is the change in the sim engine. Tons of things are different between FOF2k4 and 2k7. That is part of the reason why the team is playing differently.

[Hell Atlantic]

i can agree with that logic. makes sense.

[dberner30]

its good to get a dominating win...maybe we can get the penalties attributed to specific players...i hate them and would cut some lousy bastard if I had a scapegoat.

[dberner30]

our 4 losses come to teams with a total recored of 22-4 combined...maybe we can get this thring on track and make a run at the playoffs...

[JesterBlaze]

i don't want to learn how to gameplan, i don't want to gameplan. period. i'm not a coach. i'm a builder of teams. i don't know how to coax the best results out of my players, i only know how to aquire the best players. i can make the tough decisions

The tough decision here then is whether or not you want to continue in a competition where you have no interest in a very fundamental part of said competition. Like a boxer who isn't interested in footwork and only wants to punch people with his big arms you're never going to have potent enough weapons to go up against someone with lesser weapons who knows how to wield them. You can compete... and lose at the higher levels, stop competing altogether, or learn what you need to learn to win.

I hope you stay and learn to utilize the weapons you so enjoy attaining.

i can only build a team.

I don't know enough of you personally but I'd be willing to be this is a classic case of "whether you believe you can or can't you're right either way".

even Suicane says he doesn't know what he's doing, so how could that be any better than me letting the AI do my gameplan but the only difference being i have better talent?

Suicane says he doesn't know what he's doing. His ratings lie. Look at his production.

i think next season i'll take over the gameplanning reigns again. at this point of the season i'm closer to having a high pick than i am to getting to the playoffs, so i'll leave things status quo, chalk 2010 up as a bad season to be quickly forgotten, and try to start over next season. doesn't make sense to dig my heels in and try to get myself out of this mess only to get like a 7-9, 6-10 record and ruin my draft positioning.

Understand that you need to test things through trial and error so now is always the perfect time to start gameplanning. You might have just figured something that works in week 17 that took you many weeks to figure out and will help you next season in week 1 (assuming the situation is similar enough when the time comes).

BTW - You're not alone. There's a natural progression in football video games where a person goes from roster builder to angry because said roster isn't winning on it's own to gradual gameplanner to successful but chronically unsatisfied GM/Coach symbiote.

[Matt]

My issue is that I seem to be moving the ball well, but have nothing to show for it. I know I don’t have a whole lot of red zone opportunities, and I blame a lot of this on ill timed fumbles. I don’t know how to gameplan against fumbling, per sey. I understand that it is a hidden rating, but I know the rating from 2k4 for the gentlemen who had the privilege of playing with me from before the conversion. I know that I don’t know how to have a successful rushing attack. I’d like to know how to set my offensive linemen up to succeed and have them attain KRB. Despite my changes, I see highly rated players have very poor KRB% numbers, despite dominating in 2k4. What has changed? I’m in 2 other leagues besides this one, however my heart and soul lies with the Newark Bulldogs. In my first season of MP 2k7 I made it to the “Bowl” game only to lose to likely the better team. Ironically, I beat that same team in the “Bowl” game the year before in the leagues last season of 2k4. My other league I continue to wallow in mediocrity. I blame most of that on myself for not being as involved in that team. There is very little talent in that league, and I find it difficult to scout guys. This Imperial League season has easily been one of the most frustrating seasons for me. Not just because of my injury to Crespo, but because I can’t seem to do the things I want to do. I find it unfathomable to be in dime defense while trailing by 2 points with less than 3 minutes remaining. I admit that I am a little intimidated by the gameplanning features of this game. My reason for being intimidated is because when I do/did adjust the %’s, my changes either did not take appropriately or I got bombed. Due to my own time restraints, I have been unable to dive into SP testing. Add to it that I cannot get into SP at all. I find all too boring. I also can not replicate my team or players which make it difficult to test in an environment which has limited amount of variables as possible. I would love the opportunity to export a team or league so that I can play around and hopefully learn things about my team and players. Losing games this year doesn’t seem to equate to the actual performance of my players. I also believe that my cohesion is pretty damn good, all things considered, which is how I tried to build this team. I think I might spend the next 2 weeks gameplanning and preparing for Lawrence

[Cringer]

I lost a LT but his replacement is ok and Chungs out 2 weeks. QB Burns is very capable as we saw. Texas would probably only be 1 game out if the last GM didnt tank the 1st two games. Going to be a fun 2nd half.

Agree with the thought on your record. And the second half.

[BuddaKINGII]

Hmm i dont know about gameplanning. I've been taking baby steps in those regards. Take the Hou game as an example I went with the computer suggstions to run to the right the whole time that didnt get me anywhere. Last game I went back to the basics that seemed to get Shelton and Richardson back on track. Just recently we have been playing with the off situation sceen because I didnt think we were running enough in some places. You just have to basicly continue to progress the gameplan till you find that right one.

I don't think it really that hard though as some make it out to be. If you have a general grasp of common football and know you have molded your team the way you want to then you'll figure it out eventually. See i've built my defense to be a man-to man/blitzing/cover 2 coverage team (Benson was the last piece). I thought we'd have more ints but we're still working on that. Offense i've had always went after a balance O so nothings changed there.

[Suicane]

When I said I didn't know what I was doing I was lieing.

I played 40 plus seasons in sp to get a foothold on drafting and I think I got some very good value this year.

Im messing with sp gameplanning constantly and feel like I can impose my will on any team when I so desire.

I Pm'd jeff before he simmed the games and informed him of the fact that my team would run all over Louisiana. And they did exactly that after 5 weeks of nothingness.

I know exactly when and how to deliver every blow I want to deliver and as I said, I have nearly 40 gameplans stashed away for occasions such as playoff games and games against certain teams. There will also be times that I just let the AI decide what to do out of a desire to simply confuse anyone trying to gameplan against me.

I am the orb.

All of this was a lie.

[tarcone]

When I said I didn't know what I was doing I was lieing.

I played 40 plus seasons in sp to get a foothold on drafting and I think I got some very good value this year.

Im messing with sp gameplanning constantly and feel like I can impose my will on any team when I so desire.

I Pm'd jeff before he simmed the games and informed him of the fact that my team would run all over Louisiana. And they did exactly that after 5 weeks of nothingness.

I know exactly when and how to deliver every blow I want to deliver and as I said, I have nearly 40 gameplans stashed away for occasions such as playoff games and games against certain teams. There will also be times that I just let the AI decide what to do out of a desire to simply confuse anyone trying to gameplan against me.

I am the orb.

All of this was a lie.

I would prefer if you just lost.

I felt like I had a handle on gameplanning in 2004. Especially the passing game aspect. I am totally off now. I dont play SP at all. I play for MP. So that is not an option.
Suicane, sell me those gameplans. I have a 1st round pick next season that could be had.

[Suicane]

I told you it was all a lie.















So was this.