I think zone has improved, not regressed. Past experience showed heavy blitzing was the way to go - o line not holding blocks, blitzing stuffs the run.

You've got that stats to pour over, but I think moving to pure zone from heavy blitzing using m2m would still be a leap of faith - my view still remains blitzing + m2m is op rather than zone being abysmal, zone having improved.

Can't fix all in ont release, I'm happy enough passing has improved, zone improved - balance still off but gap closer.

I'm not happy with my M2M changes, btw, I'm going to make some additional tweaking before the next games.

Overall, Ive found QB performance to be highly affected by exterior factors moreso than rating/attributes. Ive had QBs with 85+ default and/or custom weights that have had sub 70 QB rating seasons, and the opposite, lower rated QBs with 90+ QBRs. I cant remember the last time that I drafted a QB in the early rounds of a draft, and thats a lot of teams/leagues. Not saying that it is the way to go, not using a high round pick on a QB, just has worked for me.

Examples from MFN TEST player league stats as of last game....

Montgomery/Dallas, highest QBR by far, 139.8. 77 default.

Pepin/Raiders, 69.1 QBR, 80 default

Play selection/use will obviously have a major effect on QB performance, OL protection, Receiver group rating/speed, and schedule will all factor in to the passers results.

As to the statement about passing versus the run balance, I agree that passing has become more dominant, against good teams/owners it is very difficult to run in most cases due to defensive play selection and use. At least, thats what Ive experienced to date.

MFN has lost a lot of what were long term players in the last year, those that had more than 2 years exp, which started with the long pass play being basically unusuable, unless you enjoyed getting sacked or throwing a pick. The game became less of a simulation than more of one. There were other key issues, the new UI not being considered better than the old, the subscription plan, exploits, et al. I dont think the point is debatable, especially for those of us who have lasted and continue to play and support the development of the game with MVP memberships. Its all in the league forums as far as the history, complaints, observations, and all, both community and individual leagues. I dont know if there's a better way/method of improving, maybe the development and continual improvement of AI could assist, just a guess as Im not that tech savy anymore. I will continue to support and hope for improvement as long as the game continues, in addition to getting more new players to join us.

I seem to recall reaching out to a certain "ole man" about mentorship when first joining this game.

GDB, you have helped soooooo many in this game.....and yes, you have your haters, as do we all.

Sweet post "ole man" :)

Are you basing this on league-based stats over the course of a few games - or are you actively playing JDB?

I'm interested what you mean when you refer to AI - as in developing game functionality? Fixing bugs?

When I've used AI for personal projects, to literally nobody's surprise, I tend to confuse it easily. I've found if you ask simple, specific questions on common issues, it can be fine. As you get deeper though, it produces generally poor code. I think in the realm of MFN world, very simple tasks, sure. For improving zone defence? Forget it - JDB would spend more time repairing the damage caused.

I made a quick overlook of my plays in the last 14 games as we had the discussion on Goal Line Defense formations.
I have activated 5 of the 6 GL defense plays. GL defense is used 4 - 5 times per match. No rules for defense are active, so this observation relies only on AI coach decision.

How often were they used against non-GL offensive / 311 sets?

The AI used GL Defense 3 times in the 221 formation (Strong I Big TE Post). In my opinion, this is perfectly reasonable.
Conclusion: The AI uses GL Defense when it makes sense, provided that full-block plays (30/30) are activated without any rules.