Quote:
Originally Posted by mozelmanzana
Hi! FOF7 veteran here, but first time having an account after years of reading along. I think the player ratings are logical for the most part, but I am struggling with one position:
How do linebackers work?
a) Play Diagnosis: Is it applied only on "trick" plays like Play Action or Reverses OR is it really needed in every single snap? So is a linebacker with 100 Run Defense and 0 Pl.Di. actually good at defendig the run?
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Play diagnosis is new to FOF9 so idk how much we know about it in terms of data. The description says it lets a player determine run or pass AND their assigned role in each case... so Based solely on that brief description, it would be an important bar for positions with multiple responsibilties to choose between given a particular play. So my pure guess, and I could be totally wrong, is it affects 2 things :
1. Reaction to the Play action
2. Gap responsibility for Dlinemen/Linebackers with 2 gap responsibility
So for example 3/4 DLinemen, Linebackers, and SS im guessing its an important bar for them. 4/3 DLinemen are always going into the same gap so intuitively Id expect it not to be an important bar for them. Id also be surprised if it mattered at all for Cornerbacks or Free Safety who are never really defending the run/in the box. To answer your question, Id be hesitant about signing a 3/4 ILB or True 3/4 DLineman with high Run defense but Low Play Diagnosis because they have 2 gap responsibility they have to choose between them to stop the run effectively. Also a 4/3 MLB which will be on the field the entire game and be both in pass coverage and A/B gap run support so I wouldnt want a 0 Play diagnosis bar.
To get technical about it, some Pro coaches (Gruden for example) dont even like to run play-action against man coverage, because the secondary isnt looking in the backfield the way they would when playing zone and cant bite on the fake even if they wanted to, so maybe in Zone coverage (where secondary is playing more run support as well) Play Diagnosis is factored in for the secondary more than in Man Coverages, but that could be a stretch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mozelmanzana
b) Coverage: Difference between Man and Physical. This is very logical for Secondary players, but for linebackers it is cloudy: "Physical Pass Defense: A player’s ability to stick with a wide receiver in the five-yard area where contact is allowed."
So, when a LB covers someone out of the backfield in man, is physical applied except if the route goes past 5 yards? Or is it just in press on TE situations important. How about Spy? What is the most important attribute here? Run? Play Diagnosis?
So, glad for your opinions
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For Coverage questions, Jim has some interesting info in the help file. He says "
Cornerbacks can be in “press” coverage, meaning they try and impede receivers in the five-yard zone". To me this means ONLY CBs will ever play press, and although thats not really respresentative of real football, I believe its true that Press coverage bar only matters for corners. He says it again later in the Description of Cover 0 Press coverage: "Press means the
cornerbacks are close to the line of scrimmage..." and again in Cover 1 Press description: "The
cornerbacks line up at the line of scrimmage." So press man bar only factors in when the defense specifically calls one of the press man coverages, and it only matters for corners.
So to sum up, based on Jims description of the Pass coverages in the help file, I believe linebackers never use their Press cover bar. They will use their Man Coverage bar in Cover 0 and Cover 1, and the rest of the time theyll be using zone coverage (Jim writes, in Cover 2, Tampa2, Cover3, Cover4, Cover6 that "Other defenders play zone underneath" which is referring to Linebackers that arent blitzing).
For Spy, Im not sure what bar matters for actually making the tackle, but the help file says that " Quarterbacks who like to scramble will do so much less when there’s a spy watching." So it sound like just assigning a spy will reduce the chance of the QB scrambling regardless of the LBs actual abillity to chase down and tackle the qb.
Disclaimer: this is all based off my intuition of what Jims written descriptions actually mean with respect to the games algorithms. In past iterations of FOF, Bars have behaved very differently than how you might expect them to function just based on intuition/description, so I wouldnt be surprised if this is all wrong, but AFAIK theres no data on how important the Play Diagnosis bar is yet so its the best I can do