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I'm launching this here as a draft before JDB announces 0.4.3. As soon as he announces, I'll re-post this in the General Help forum. But I figured you all would be interested in it now.

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Advanced Offensive Game Planning – Spacing, Passing Zones and Levels

General Disclaimer: These are my notes. Use them as you will. Please question anything you don't think is accurate.

I really wanted to title this thread how to survive passing in 0.4.3, but I won't because it's really applicable to all versions of the code. But 0.4.3 changes the passing game so substantially that it's a good time to talk about this.

Intro

For this guide, we are only focused on offensive passing. Specifically, we are going to be looking at zones and levels, and how to use zone and level concepts to maximize your passing efficiency.

First, we need some definitions:

Definitions

1) Stutter – Stutter is a 0.4.3 concept where the WR's Route Running skill is rolled against the defenders M2M skill when the defender is in M2M. If the WR wins the contested roll, then he breaks down the defender and loses the coverage.

2) Zone – Passing zone in this guide refers to a specific vertical space in the field. As we will look at below, we are going to break the field into three roughly equal zones. These zones begin just outside the tackle box on either side of the field.

3) Level – Passing level refers to a specific horizontal space in the field. For this guide, and for reasons that will be explained below, we are going to look at three levels: <= 5 yards from the LOS, 5-15 yards from the LOS, and 15+ yards from the LOS.

4) Spacing – Spacing refers to point where the WR is going to end his route. Ideally, we will want to space the field so that one, and only one, WR is in a specific passing zone and level at a time.

Some Notes about 0.4.3

We need to get some notes about 0.4.3 out of the way. While 0.4.3 has some great updates, it has a few key limitations that need to be accounted for in offensive game planning:

1) Crossing routes are INT traps. - In 0.4.3, the QB reads multiple WRs at once. The problem with crossing routes becomes a matter of spacing. You get multiple defenders in one place, and the QB is likely to throw right at the center of the crossing route into the middle of everyone.

2) Passes <5 yards from the LOS are ineffective. - For whatever reason, passes within 5 yards of the LOS cause the WR or RB to stop to catch the pass.

Levels Explained

Here are our levels:

Level 1 - <5 yards
Level 2 - 5-15 yards
Level 3 – 15+ yards

We are not going to use short, medium, and long here because they mean something completely different in terms of game mechanics.

All of the hardcore football fans have been screaming at their screen that my level distances are wrong, so let's talk about that. Most football analysis puts levels at something like this: behind the LOS, 1-10 yards from the LOS, 11-20 yards, and 20+ yards. But that isn't going to work for us because of passes <5 yards from the LOS being ineffective.

That's why we're going with the <5, 5-15, and 15+ simplified breakdown. We want the <5 level so that we know what primary routes to largely avoid. And we're using the 15+ as the other level boundary because most of the “long” routes in the game end at the 15 yard mark and then the WR continues running.

Our sweet spot is going to be the 5-15 yard level. Getting proper spacing in the passing zones at that level will maximize our chances of gaining consistent yardage.

Give Me Some Examples Already

The easiest way to talk about this is to just show it, so here are four popular MFN plays from the 014, 113, 122, and 212 sets.

014 – Spread Corner Post



In this play, we see that three of the four WRs will end up in Level 3 spread across the three zones. The WR4 here is still in Level 1, which is usually a warning sign, but he will not be a primary receiver on this play.

113 – HB Flare (Medium)



Looking at this play in terms of zones and levels shows why it is so effective. The TE runs the seam, which is basically boundary between the middle zone and the right zone of the field. The slot WR cuts at the boundary between Level 1 and Level 2 and enters the middle zone at the same time the TE is breaking downfield. It looks like the Slot WR and the TE end up in the same zone and level on this play, but they actually don't. The TE continues running straight and ends up in Level 3 while the Slot WR continues to cut diagonally across Level 2.

122 – WR Deep



This play has been a game breaker for a long time. The TE2 runs the seam between the left and middle zones of the field while the TE1 runs an out at the boundary between Level 1 and Level 2 moving from the middle to right zone underneath the WR1 who is running a deep post, which takes him from Level 2 to Level 3 moving from the right zone back to the middle. Nasty.

212 – Skinny Posts



Here's a good short passing example. The RB running the outlet here is going to be a worry because he's squarely in Level 1 behind the LOS, but he's the outlet on this play since all receivers are running the same route distance. What makes this play effective is the spacing across the field. The WR2 is going to stay in the left zone the entire time, the WR1 is going to almost touch the boundary of the middle zone, but largely stay in the right zone, and the TE is going to stay squarely in the middle zone. Both WRs will end up crossing the boundary between Level 1 and Level 2 while the TE hugs that boundary. This gives us three good options for a 5-7 yard pick up.

Why Spacing Matters

In all three examples above, we see that the field is well spaced. This really matters because it allows the WRs an opportunity to stutter and break down a defender without having to worry about another receiver bringing additional defenders into their zone or level. A team with 3-4, 90-100 route receivers (regardless of SP) can put together a substantial game plan just by paying attention to the zone and level and making sure that the field is spaced appropriately.