That particular play the player lined up outside is actually FB-2 - the tight ends are both flanking the linemen. The order of the eligible receivers in this are:

#1 - RB (#17)
#2 - TE-1 (#82)
#3 - TE-2 (#81)
#4 - FB-1 (#40 on this play, in the backfield)
#5 - FB-2 (#41 on the outside)

There's no logic for the defense to adjust in this scenario (or any scenario based on the lineup) to prefer the FB lined up outside vs behind the LOS, and perhaps it would be better to change the formation definition so that FB-1 is the one that's flanking and FB-2 is the one that stays in the backfield - something to consider for a future update.

It would make a whole lot of sense to make that change, but please address my earlier post. After spot checking, it looks like RB's are WAY down in catch percentage in general, though my team is an extreme example of it. Not surprising, since we went from arguably the top passing offense to utterly incapable with minimal changes. That alone should raise serious red flags that something bad is happening.

Is that across the league? RB1 for me has dropped, RB2 improved.

I'd have imagined that if the QBs are doing less of the dink and dunk effective handoffs to RBs then the % would decline? Could it also be that a lot of the traditionally high % completions were due to exploiting say weaknesses in zone?

Like I said, I spot checked, but yes, everything I saw seemed to suggest RB's are not catching nearly as many of their targets. If you missed it, mine have gone 0 for 24 this season so far. That's a problem.

From what I can tell, a lot of medium passes that dumped off the the RBs (HB Flares, HB Release Mid, FL Post, WR Corner TE Middle) see the QB hold onto the ball for a bit longer and throw it downfield. From what I have seen, it will be difficult to get your RB involved in the passing game because we don't have screens and most other RB routes from the backfield are not good targets ie your RB is in the middle of the defense running a hitch route.

Personally, I will take my QB pushing the ball downfield with this change compared to my QB immediately dumping it off to my RB/TE a second after the ball is snapped. But there should be some change to let QBs target the RBs more. A lot of QBs throw under pressure and they never target the RBs while doing so, is there a chance we could make it so that QBs under pressure are more likely to check down to the RB or just target the RBs a bit more?

Edit: Misread lack of catches as lack of targets. I think overall it's much harder to complete passes currently but anytime something is 0 for 24, we should take a look at it

We don't want more RB targets if they're not going to be able to catch the ball. If their catch percentage starts looking reasonable, then sure, I could see looking for more targets, particularly in situations where it makes sense like a QB under pressure.

Yeah that was my bad, misread what you were saying. I edited the comment but not in time

My team is almost the same as last season in the meaningful and relevant positions for these stats. Where it is different, it is almost certainly marginally better. I've been noticing the offensive failures more, but the defensive is almost as shocking:

Panthers 2076:

Stat Value Rank Opp Rank
Completion Pct 67.0 5 53.3 1
Yds/Attempt 7.4 2 4.4 1

Panthers 2077:

Stat Value Rank Opp Rank
Completion Pct 44.4 31 56.2 19
Yds/Attempt 5.1 29 6.2 15 (T)

If JDB had sat down and said "I'm going to see how bad I can make the Panthers in the pass game", I highly doubt he could have produced a result this drastic. What in the ****?

Maybe it's depending on play selection. Last season, my target average for RB 1 was 3 per game; this season, the average is currently 2.625 per game.

QB performance 2076
Completion PCT Jacksonville 59.6 23 74.7 31
Yds/Attempt Jacksonville 6.4 8 7.9 32

QB performance 2077
Completion PCT Jacksonville 62.7 1 56.4 20
Yds/Attempt Jacksonville 7.3 7 6.8 27

Conclusion: On my side it improved!

That's correct that medium and long passes should be much less likely to dump off to the RB's - a reduction in RB catches is going to be expected for those. Realistically, only short passes should be thrown to RB's.

Here's the actual stats for week 10 of who caught passes grouped by play type:

Short Pass TE 80
Short Pass WR 143
Short Pass RB 38
Short Pass FB 6
Medium Pass WR 158
Medium Pass TE 24
Medium Pass FB 1
Medium Pass RB 8
Long Pass LT 1
Long Pass TE 8
Long Pass FB 3
Long Pass WR 17
Long Pass RB 3

Same data for week 6 of 2075 (just randomly chose a season before we put in the changes)

Short Pass TE 73
Short Pass RB 68
Short Pass WR 141
Short Pass FB 39
Medium Pass TE 36
Medium Pass RB 72
Medium Pass WR 137
Medium Pass FB 12
Long Pass TE 8
Long Pass WR 5
Long Pass FB 10
Long Pass RB 2