And I barely pulled out a W against one of the weakest teams.

Don't know what I'm doing wrong. I even went back to the same alignments I was using at the very beginning.

My 2 game losing streak started the 1st game Kalil went out. :hmmm:

Provo has a pretty good offensive line, but that Rancho Cucamonga pass rush is withering. We took seven sacks and Big Ben was running for his life the whole game.

7 sacks, 6 points allowed. This defense is picking up.

If I could figure out how to convert on 3rd down, I might have a chance in the post season.

Maybe Chad Henne can give your offense a spark.

Just FYI, be careful about Bernard Pierce. If he goes over 300 carries you'll burn him out in future seasons.

Yeah, I noticed that league-wide they are about 10% lower than they should be. I think I know why, and I think I know how to fix it, but it won't happen immediately.

I have no more running backs. As in, literally none.

I'm convinced that sandbox line play is important too. I've got a good QB (Matt Ryan), but my other skill players are horrible (Robert Turbin at HB, Kevin Walter and T.Y. Hilton at WR, and Anthony Fasano at TE). But I have been getting decent offensive performance so it's got to be my line and my FB.

I just blamed Golden Tate. I guess I can stop beating him with sticks after practices now.

I think so. Being 4 deep on my interior dl has been beneficial.

Also, my team needs some monies, Wrs, Rbs, and TEs. This upcoming draft should be interesting.

Is there a home field advantage in this sim?

Not yet. Since we are simulating events on a sub-play level, it's a little tricky. It can be done, but it isn't trivial to implement.

And risk not having SIMS tonight??? :doh!:

LMAO

I just realized he's starting this week for me.

Should be fun.

No, I don't have plans to add this soon.

As we move into the back stretch of the season, my three teams have the following story lines.

Anchorage Eskimos - It took a few weeks for new QB Peyton Manning to figure out his receiving corps, but the offense is clicking on all cylinders now. With the most productive offense in the league based on points and yards, and no weak spots, injuries are the only risk. On defense, we're playing strong, and are ranked well in yards allowed and big defensive plays. However, the team is middle of the pack on points allowed and is looking to improve in that area. The team appears to be getting stronger as the season progresses.

Seattle Undertakers - This team is a poster child for line play. The offense is quite talented, but can't get off the ground as Joe Flacco is taking pressure consistently and running backs Doug Martin and Arian Foster can't find running lanes. Foster is averaging only 3.1 yards per attempt. The defense is faring better, being strong overall and particularly against the pass. However, our strong D has not translated into big plays, which has hurt. Nonetheless, the D is carrying this team right now. They're starting to move in the right direction, and we're shaking up the offensive line this week to see if we can get more production.

Provo Lone Wolf Pack - This team got off to a hot start, with a surprisingly potent offense and swarming defense. Right now, we're hit hard by the injury plague with 12 players out this week, and we're missing all of our QBs and our top 2 HBs. The pressure will be on free agent QB Todd Blackledge to maintain the winning winning record until Roethlisberger returns. Up to now, we have the #4 offense in the league in yards, but have lost Maurice Jones-Drew for the year. On defense, we have big name linebackers, and our DL and backfield have been overachieving no-names who have played surprisingly well. The D has also been hit hard by injuries, losing Orakpo early on and then his replacement Sean Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon will be back soon, though, and will bolster our efforts. This is a team that is above average statistically in every way but points, so we're hoping that evens out. This team is entering rough waters the next few weeks.

When is the next sim?

I believe it is today, mon frere.

It depends on when cdcox can peel himself away from the ancestral hearth.

Somehow, he snuck that announcement right past me. Thanks.

(Is "snuck" a word? Maybe it should be "sneaked")

This Little Rock squad is a grinder.

It seems like one of those 1 and done playoff teams you see every year that wins close games and gets by on grit.

Oh, and Von Miller/Robert Quinn having 22 sacks between them doesn't hurt.

It isn't, though I've always maintained that it should be.

Snuck isn't a word? Well, I'll be.

If you ever decide to start a campaign to get it into the OED, I'll march beside you.

Count me in, too. This is an injustice.

As a minor bookkeeping note, we had a math problem on a safety free kick.

Seattle
2nd Q 5:16 3rd and 13 Free kick, ball returned to the 52 yardline.
2nd Q 5:08 1st and 10 Aurora 48 Arian Foster rushes for 4 yards.
2nd Q 4:26 2nd and 6 Aurora 44 Joe Flacco passes complete to Vincent Jackson for a gain of 35 yards.
2nd Q 3:41 1st and goal Aurora 8 Joe Flacco passes complete to Randall Cobb for a gain of 9 yards. Touchdown, conversion
Seattle 19, Aurora 0

Hmm, shouldn't this penalty have been added to the play, or are some personal fouls before the snap?

Aurora
3rd Q 15:00 free agent kicks 57 yards, returned for 30 yards by David Wilson
3rd Q 14:52 1st and 10 Aurora 38 Robert Griffin III (pressured) passes complete to Jeremy Maclin for a gain of 13 yards. PENALTY. Roughing the Passer on Navorro Bowman. 15 yards.
3rd Q 14:44 1st and 10 Seattle 47 David Wilson rushes for 3 yards.
3rd Q 14:02 2nd and 7 Seattle 44 Chris D. Johnson rushes for 0 yards.
3rd Q 13:20 3rd and 7 Seattle 44 Robert Griffin III passes incomplete, dropped by David Wilson.
3rd Q 13:13 4th and 7 Seattle 44 Jon Ryan punts 44 yards, touchback.
Seattle 19, Aurora 0

Some of the penalty treatments are "simplified". This one might be relatively easy to fix though.

I went run heavy in my offensive game plan because Rancho Cucamonga typically allows more than 4 ypc and can bring a heavy pass rush. Alfred Morris managed a whopping 1.88 ypc and the Knights lost another crucial game, 17-14.

Greg hardy is an animal in sandbox. Wow

Week 11 lineups are available. Sims Thursday night.

We 2-gapped so well, Romeo cried.

This happened. LMAOLMAOLMAO

Chad Henne FTMFW. 31 points on the board, 236 yards passing, 2 TD and a 147 QB rating.

The Sioux Falls Swagger are the worst 8-2 team ever. :shake:

He has a modest 6 sacks in league 1. It is really situation and small sample sizes can still make an individual player look better than they actually are.

holy god, 26 sacks

Ouch, that hurt.

Well, with Percy done and no Murray, its probably time to begin focusing on the draft/fa.

Need a lot of help at skill positions, (RB/WR/TE) and could upgrade the interior OL and at ILB.

In a preview of this week's key games....

A hot Anchorage team takes on League powerhouse St. Louis. Unfortunately, Anchorage just lost their star RB Lesean McCoy for several games. Can Peyton Manning and his deep running back committee overcome that setback?

A rising Seattle team takes on the Kansas City Fubar in a critical game for both teams. Can Seattle's stifling D hold the KC offense, and will their on-again, off-again offense show up?

An injury-riddled Provo team gets several key players back this week, though they're still starting their third-string quarterback. Will the return of Terrance Cody, Sean Weatherspoon, Darren Sproles, and others allow them to slide past a struggling Waco team?

The LA Knights have fallen below 0.500. I'm leading the league in yards from scrimage and first downs but only 10th in scoring. The defense has some issues at the LB position, but I should be getting a better pass rush with Geno Atkins, Michael Johnson, and Jason Pierre-Paul.

I was thinking this was the stronger of my two teams, but so far the record isn't showing it.

St Louis squeaked their game out again with good defense.

Why would Round Rock not take one or two shots at the end zone to win the game in regulation? Instead they kicked a field goal on first down from the opponents 11 yard line with 17 seconds on the clock? Even Herm Edwards is confused.

Sandbox QBs don't necessarily throw the ball into the endzone in these situations. So it would be possible to complete a pass short of the goal line. When trailing, if there is a chance that it won't be possible to run another play, SB coaches go for the FG.

Tough loss for Anchorage, and having Lesean McCoy out of the game may have been a deciding factor. We couldn't run the ball well at all and just fizzled on offense. I was pleased with our defense, though.

Ya it was a boring defensive battle

Provo may have a quarterback controversy on our hands. Roethlisberger is a proven quarterback and he's completing 62 percent of his passes for 7.1 yards per attempt and a 92.3 quarterback rating. He's averaged 252 yards per game.

However, after he went down to injury, "Free Agent" quarterback has blasted out of nowhere, completing 65 percent of his passes for 8.4 yards per attempt and a 104.6 rating. He's averaging 265 yards per game.

Will Roethlisberger get his job back?

Don't look now, but Seattle's on a roll. The defense is still playing very well and the offense has woken up. Another win this week against a strong Kansas City Fubar team, and they're starting to talk about us in a wild card spot.

I get that you can't program situational coaching into the sim. On the other hand, a change to the setting mentioned below (from the offensive settings page) making the passes into the end zone seems reasonable enough

"In obvious situations, the settins will be ignored. For example in situations where the ball is outside the opponents 5 yard line, where a non-TD run will greatly decrease the offensive team's chances of winning, the "hurry up" settings will be ignored and a pass play will always be selected. "

How many wild card spots are there?

2

436 yards of offense, 16 points.

2 per conference, right? Not per league.

What a brutal game to lose vs Pomona. Double overtime.

My running game and offensive line are disasters.

Defense choked, too. Ed Reed committed two personal fouls in the last two drives of regulation that led to scores for Pomona. Dumbass.

Yep.

Little Rock is just chugging it's way to the playoffs, 3 point victory at a time.

2 weeks ago they win on a safety off a punt return (where was Gary Stills to block someone in the back and bail him out?)

This week they scored 2 TDs in the final 7 minutes to take a 21-14 win.

This really is a 2010 KC Chiefs squad. They'll get some love for being 'gutty' and being a team that 'knows how to win...'

Then they'll get their asses kicked by a team with a top-end QB and #1 wideout.

But hey, it's better than losing.

8 sacks in this game. Poor Andrew Luck.

The Spiders are within distance for the league sack total, sitting at 51.

This isn't the game I want to gamble with I have to figure out how to increase my yards per attempt but with my lack of offensive productivity I'm inclined to think I need to. Brees is playing as a game managing quarterback who refuses to throw the ball down the field

Wait - you had Percy Harvin, right?

That's your answer. In league 1, when I had Harvin absolutely destroying the world 12 yards at a time, Rodgers refused to throw downfield.

In the last 2 games with Dez Bryant and now Rod Streater having moved in as my #2, my downfield passing has gone up considerably.

Now it's not necessarily been a great thing; Rodgers threw 2 picks his first week post-Harvin after only throwing 3 in the first 9 games, but he is attacking downfield more.

I think your WRs strengths play a larger role in your overall passing attack than I originally expected. Someone like Harvin that does so much short yardage/YAC work may be better suited as a slot WR in our league.

Our QBs seem to throw to the first guy that breaks open and when it's Harvin on an 8 yrd route (because he'll always be open; he's extremely good), then the throw goes short. Without Harvin, the targets have ended up further downfield because that's where the WRs are breaking open.

I'll be curious to see if it keeps up. It's a little irritating to me, truth be told. My WR is dictating my QB play? Huh? But it certainly seems to be working that way.

Golden Tate has been outperformed by Kerley.
He's been horrific and I've yet to see several throws that are deep, but I'm not sure how you adjust to increase that other than personnel.

I also have nobody at TE which reduces my personnel/packages.


At least my defense is quality without having to incorporate a large quantity of secondary blitzes or having 6+ rush.

I'm wondering if though, based on your post, I should move Criner up the lineup to give Brees a version of Colston.

I'm beginning to think the same thing.

I've been extremely annoyed by the lack of targets going to Torrey Smith, who is playing a crap ton of snaps and not doing much damage.

He should be targeted more simply because, holy shit, Torrey Smith against most #3 CBs is a giant mismatch.

Ya I agree the passing needs a lot of work still.

I forgot to advance the rosters to week 11 until now. Sims on Saturday night unless I hear a protest.

Okay, my teams are ready. Let's do this thing.

I've completely revamped my starting lineup and game plans after a thorough self-scout and I'm ready to hit this tough final stretch.

One more win or a Fubar loss and I lock down my division then I can rest Peterson.

On the road. I'll sim when I get home tonight around 10:30.

Charles Tillman with two late interceptions to help protect a tenuous lead for Seattle and get them to .500.

We may have our first ever offensive lineman reception. Garry Williams got the start at FB for Sioux Falls and hauled in this key grab on a TD drive. He's a good third down target!

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/14...cca5ca7e09.jpg

Unfortunate mistake here by Wes Welker.

Ouch LMAO

A valiant effort, DJ.


Schaub was fantastic.

Week 13 lineups are available and we will sim Monday night.

Also I made a few very minor upgrades to the sim engine:

1) safeties on punt returns will become less frequent
2) yard lines on free kicks and onside kicks were fixed
3) until now injury availability was ignored for punters and kickers. I fixed that so if they are unavailable in a given week, they will now won't play in your game.

LMAO

Just as long as you don't nerf my secret weapon, Garry Williams.

Any budding QB controversy in Provo is now over, as "Free Agent QB" had a terrible game against Los Angeles. At one point it appears that he even got benched for another guy named "Free Agent QB" for a series. We're welcoming Roethlisberger back from injury.

Due to some odd minor injuries, Anchorage was down to only two healthy receivers for this game, but it didn't really matter so much. Peyton Manning and Donnie Avery were all we needed, as Avery had 15 receptions for 158 yards and 4 touchdowns.

:facepalm:

And yet I have Tom Brady, and can't get more than 50 yards from Roddy White and Wes Welker.

Avery was motivated because he's been trying to wrest the starting role from Andre Roberts. Perhaps you need to create more competition during practice.