Warrior General Games

Running my two teams against each other in a Screen test. They both have rosters of all CPU players at Level 0 Rookie. Player skill values, while extremely low, shouldn't be that different. Both teams are running same O and D playbooks and tactics.

Game 1 Result: http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/game/272976

Notable:
Passing Yards of -21 and 112 BEFORE sack yards of 78.5 & 66.5.
Completion rate about 60%.
Yards per Attempt: -.4 & 1.8 before sacks
YAC per team: 105.5 on 37 catches & 113.5 on 40 catches
Total punts: 39

While Screens are better and some of the Play design looks good, there still isn't a high enough completion rate. Also, 3rd down logic for QBs could be an issue because of QBs waiting for receivers to get to the first down marker (which they don't on screens) causing QBs to take sacks. Saw a few 3rd down sacks where if the QB just got rid of the ball, the screen would have beat the blitz nicely. QB Pocket Awareness and Consistency should buff this better, but a logic change in the code may also be needed.

I'm doing a 2nd game of Screens and then I'll do an OP Pass Play comparison with the same players against the same Man Base D/3rd down blitz schemes.

I would like to see this tested on tiers a bit higher. I think that those results for tier 0 teams with hardly any passing skills on a QB, hardly any receiving skills, balance or physicals on receivers is better than what I would expect honestly.

Originally posted by Detroit Leos
I would like to see this tested on tiers a bit higher. I think that those results for tier 0 teams with hardly any passing skills on a QB, hardly any receiving skills, balance or physicals on receivers is better than what I would expect honestly.

Reserve judgement until you see how they execute other available plays.

And this is the low-end test no doubt.

But the first tier New Agents/Customers play is Rookie, so the plays should be somewhat functional at this level.

Originally posted by Xars
Reserve judgement until you see how they execute other available plays.

And this is the low-end test no doubt.

But the first tier New Agents/Customers play is Rookie, so the plays should be somewhat functional at this level.

As much as I agree that all plays should be somewhat functional even at rookie I believe that the coding would have to target the rookie and sophomore tiers specifically to accomplish what I believe you are looking for as a generic change could "break" higher tiers. Then there will be all the people moving from Soph to Seasoned or whatever wondering why their screens are not as effective as they were last season once the training wheels come off and the builds are not quite where they need to be to prop up that section of the PB.

Keep in mind that I am NOT saying that work is not needed. Many areas still need love and many plays that "should" work in situations that do not are frustrating as all get out. I am merely speaking to the effectiveness in rookie versus what the effects would be at higher tiers.

Here is some cross reference numbers on screens at the NFL level.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/04/02/qbs-and-the-screen-game-2014/

Just a heads up xars the qb doesn't hold it on third down from my testing. It seems the hb has to complete the full screen route before he's passed to. Some screens take longer to develop for this reason.

Originally posted by USC_Trojans
Just a heads up xars the an doesn't hold it on third down from my testing. It seems the hb has to complete the full screen route before he's passed to. Some screens take longer to develop for this reason.

Thanks. I'll look at the Third Down plays closer.

I ran two regular games and I'll post the combined data later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Updated Data from yesterday's tests:

LZ&SCO combined for 323 Screen Passes for a net 20 yards. That's .06 yards per Attempt. Comp% rate of 54.65%. Sacks 12.38%. Big Gains 4.64% (10 yd). Drops were 17.96%. Defended Passes (KL,PD,Unable) were 11.46%.

LZ&SCO combined for 270 Medium OP Passes for a net 911 yards. That's 3.374 yards per Attempt. Comp% rate of 28.99%. Sacks 8.15%. Big Gains 18.89% (10 yd). Drops were 18.52%. Defended Passes (KL,PD,Unable) were 38.15%.

Both teams ran the same O playbook with the same tactics and the same D playbook with the same Tactics. That playbook on D was Man Base with 100% Blitzing on 3rd and 8 or more - ZEB and Over Will.

HB Screens had a Sack Rate of 19.89%. WR Screens had a Sack Rate of 2.5%.

On 3rd and 10 or more, HB Screens had a Sack Rate of 53.85% against Over Will and ZEB.
WR Screens had a 0.0% Sack Rate.
On all other HB Screens, there was a Sack Rate of 10.88%.


Major conclusions:

The Comp% for catching behind the LOS has clearly been buffed and is very significant. The completion rate is 25.67% points higher, which is almost DOUBLE the Med Pass catch rate. This was clearly the intent of the S16 Changelog and it's clearly working.

There are problems though. 3rd Down QB Logic is probably were this now goes. The Sack Rate against the most popular Blitzes is the opposite of what it should be. A 53.85% Sack Rate is clearly a problem. Particularly when all other HB Screen plays have a 10.88% Sack Rate.

Here's an example of what more 3rd Down HB Screens should do against the Blitz. http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/replay/272976/4439435 The game mechanics are there to make this work more often if the Sacks can be avoided.

Thanks for posting.