Sooooo glad to be back in the "active play" portion of the game! :D

Looking over the big update notes, some other stuff people noticed, etc... And looking back at my game (http://mfn1.myfootballnow.com/watch/1343), here's what I took away (and sorry for the novella of a post here):

• Long Field Goals: Francis was 4/4 at 40+ still... Given he's an 80/82 guy, I might not notice it til he's trying 50+


• Penalties: The game total was 12 for 90 yds. Not bad. I was worried because my team was 'leading' the penalty stat by a 5-1 margin at one point. I'm curious as to what player stat / combo of stats contributes to penalties (Pos Exp / Int / Discipline, I assume?).


• QB Progression and QB Pass Logic / 'Accuracy': Here's where I started noticing a little oddness.
  
  My 2 QBs were a combined 26-for-29, and had a total of 403 passing yards. Now my starter Lyons, I could understand as a 91/92 QB. My backup Angulo, however, is a 52/54 QB and paced my starter EASILY through less than a quarter (my GP Distance Adjust is set to 10, and my Slow Down is set to 7, meaning Angulo threw his last pass with about 2:45 left in the 3rd after putting us up by 30).
  
  Also, the top receiver on my team was actually the #4 WR on my depth chart (John Woods, 54/55, 6 receptions for 96 yds) with my #2 return man Bernard Lewis (at 49/49, who was nowhere on my WR depth chart) getting the second-most catches and yards at 4 and 80 respectively. My #1 WR Ranieri got 4 catches for 70 yds.


• Can't really tell if the above stuff had anything to do with the coverage improvements. Baltimore's an AI Team right now, and there's no visibility on their depth chart... But looking at their roster, their defense isn't great, but it's not terrible either. I don't think it can completely explain the above stats, and near-definitely (IMHO) doesn't explain the passing logic oddness.


• Adding another odd play to the pile of odd plays this week: http://mfn1.myfootballnow.com/watch/1343#240676 - The play in question is actually the next play, but I left the penalty in, just in case it had something to do with what happened.
  
  So... There was no sack recorded. No fumble involved. No rush. Don't think he passed the ball, either. There was just... A tackle. Not as weird as some of the spike plays the others have thrown out there, but another oddball play involving a QB.


• My last little niggling involves injuries. I went back through the play-by-play, and counted 9 listed injuries to 8 different players between the 2 teams:
  
  BAL Eric Conner (injured twice)
  BAL Melvin Moen
  CLE James Reed
  CLE Steven Heatherly
  BAL Nathan Brown
  CLE Charles Ferguson
  BAL Robert Pryor & BAL Chad McMillian (injured on the same play)
  
  Going to the Transactions tab for the teams, however, there are a total of 15 injuries listed for the teams. Now, the only thing I can think of is that the extra injuries listed in the Transactions are those "stingers" and "jammed fingers" that happen during the game, but aren't serious enough to be more than an annoyance. The thing is, we still usually hear about those during the course of the play-by-play of an actual NFL game.
  
  I'm still looking at all of these injuries listed, and I really have to wonder if there's an excessive number. I mean, even with stingers and such, do you ever really hear of 2 teams saying that over a dozen players between them had some sort of injury?

Alright, I think my "War And Peace" is over. Heh. Sorry for the lengthy post, and for those that read the whole **** thing... Kudos to you!

Thanks for the report! Here are my comments:

* As you predicted, penalties are from experience + discipline. There is a measure of fatigue and crowd noise (which is in the sim although there's no record of it) as well.

* I think you linked to the wrong play for the mystery "tackle" - I think I know what you're referring to, though, but I haven't gotten to the bottom of it. The QB for some reason just doesn't know what to do.

* The starters get pulled in pre-season, which is pretty much everyone in the #1 spot. So that probably explains how you ended up with your #1 receiver not having very many catches, and if your depth chart didn't go deep enough then your kick returner would have made it onto the field. You can control when your starters are pulled via the Misc Gameplan options screen. It could also
be fatigue-related - first pre-season game, players are not fully conditioned, and will not be on the field as consistently.

* Interesting on the injuries. I'll have to look to see if there's a threshold for showing/not showing injuries in the game log, I don't recall offhand.

Thanks, JDB! Always nice to hear from you, especially on a marathon post like that one. ;)

My responses:

• Didn't even think of crowd noise and fatigue... Nice to know there's still a little 'randomness' to it besides straight stats, though!


• Yeah, that link was nowhere close... Not sure why that one made it into the post. Here's the actual play, confirmed from the game log: http://mfn1.myfootballnow.com/watch/1343#240735
  
  Result from the log:
  1-15-CLE 15 (1:29) Tackle by 50-Charles Neal.
  Offensive Play: I Formation Normal HB Draw
  Defensive Play: Goal Line Attack #1
  
  The 'black hole' pocket on this play is actually kind of entertaining to watch, but just from the anim it looks like the backfield goes into a blocking mode, and breaks that particular play as the QB no longer has his HB to hand off to.


• Understood about the depth chart issue. I know for a fact that my WR depth was only 4 for the first game, so that explains that. Also understand that the fact I had my starters pulled early mixes things up... Guess I didn't realize how much it would mix it up. Heh.


• That would be great to know. I'm thinking that the Transactions tab is tracking anything that's shifting the depth chart, even if only for a play or two, so that those stingers and whatnot are being logged as 'legitimate' injuries. But the PBP is only displaying the more 'serious' injuries, which would have the chance to truly affect your depth chart after the game's over.
  
  I'd say just flip the logic between the two... So that the Transactions tab only lists the more 'serious' injuries, but the PBP will let you know any guy that might've gone out with a stinger or getting the air knocked out of him.

Wow, that was a good catch! You are absolutely correct - the play by play was not displaying the super-minor injuries but the transaction log was. I have it fixed for the next game.

... I should say I fixed it as you suggested, which is the way I think I meant it to be as well. Injuries should now only show up in the transaction log if the player also shows as having an injury status, but the PBP will show an injury if the player had to step out for at least one play.