Phase VI-GAME PLANNING

This, in my opinion is the hardest thing to figure out for coaches and I still dont think I have a good grasp on how these settings affect plays. I will give some basics but alot depends on your players and the sytem you are running along with your opponents settings.

FAQ section on Gameplanning-

General
The general section is used to set your primary offense, 2 minute offense, primary defense, 2 minute defense, and special teams settings. The primary offense settings are used to determine your starting offensive lineup and basic offensive style and tendency. If you do not set your down specific offense (Off. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th tabs), then the primary offense will always be run. The primary defense settings work the same way -- it determines your starting defensive lineup, basic defensive style and tendency, and will always be used if no other defensive settings (Def. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th tabs) have been saved. The 2 minute offense section specifies when to enter the "2 minute drill" or "hurry up" offense. You can choose to always follow your normal game plan regardless of the score or specify the number of points your team must be trailing with a given amount of time in the game to enter the 2 minute drill. Once your team enters their 2 minute drill, they will remain in this offense until the score is tied (or you take the lead) or the game ends. For example, if you specify to enter the 2 minute drill when down by 1 with 4 minutes remaining, your team will enter the 2 minute drill if you are losing inside of 4 minutes and will continue to execute this offense until you either tie the score (or take the lead) or the game ends. Your team will NOT punt when running the 2 minute drill. The 2 minute defense section allows you to specify whether or not to adjust your defense if the other team enters their 2 minute drill offense and what the adjustment should be. You can choose to follow your normal game plan or adjust your defensive tendencies and styles to the selected settings when facing a 2 minute drill. The special teams sections allows you to set the maximum distance for a field goal attempt (remember to add 17 yards to the line of scrimmage to account for the placement and the end zone) as well as your return man to return all punts and kickoffs.Offense: 1st Down, 2nd Down, 3rd Down, and 4th Down
The down sections are used to specify your offense in every down and distance situation - i.e. on the 1st tab you set your offense for 1st and long, 1st and medium, and 1st and short situations. The 2nd tab is for second down situations, 3rd tab for third down situations, and 4th tab for fourth down situations. The distances for long and medium can be set for what your team considers each situation to be and the short distance is automatically set to be 1 yard up to the medium setting. Under each down and distance situation, there are 3 "play" options consisting of set, tendency, style, normal, red zone, and 2 min. settings. The set is the offensive formation. The tendency is the run/p*** balance used for play calling:

The style determines how aggressive the play calling is. A more aggressive offense will take more chances for the big play, but is more likely to turn the ball over. The normal checkbox indicates whether or not this "play" can be used during normal play calling, i.e. not in the red zone or running the 2 minute drill. The red zone checkbox indicates whether or not this "play" can be used when the team is in the red zone (inside the opponent's 20 yard line). The 2 min. checkbox indicates whether or not this "play" can be used when the team is running the 2 minute drill. You may check any combination of the checkboxes for each of the "plays":

If no "plays" have the checkbox checked for a given situation (e.g. none of them have the normal checkbox checked), then ALL of the listed "plays" are available to be called in that situation. Defense: 1st Down, 2nd Down, 3rd Down, and 4th Down
Just like the offense section, the defense section allows you to specify your defensive set, tendency, and style when facing every offensive formation in long, medium, and short yardage situations broken up by down. The distances for long and medium can be set for what your team considers each situation to be and the short distance is automatically set to be 1 yard up to the medium setting. The set is the defensive formation. The tendency is what the defense is looking for or leaning towards -- p*** or run. For example, if a heavy run tendency is chosen, then the defensive players are pulled up closer to the line of scrimmage to try and stop the run but potentially leaves the defense open to a big p***ing play. The style is the overall style of play for the defense -- the more aggressive this setting is, the more often the defense will blitz, jump p***ing routes for interceptions, etc. An aggressive defense could lead to a lot of turnovers, but it may also give up some big plays to the offense.With that information you can get a good handle on game planning. If you scout an opponent an he "always runs or p***es" in certain situations then by all means go always run or always p*** on your tendency section.Also look at the talent levels of your teams, if your defense is supperior to his offense in the running department then you can go to heavy run or run to help prevent the chance he tries to p*** in that situation. You are depending on your talent to offset the fact you are not looking for run at all times.

Evaluate your personel on both sides to help determine your aggresivness settings. If your QB has a weak arm you may want to run a short p***ing attack and stick to conservative p***ing. Again this takes times and evaluation of talent. Being inovativve and keeping your opponent guessing helps but at times no game planning can offset huge talent gaps.

If you do something really well on offense dont outhink yourself, do what your team does well.

I tend to avoid anything but always p*** or always run in certain situations. If it is 3rd and 1 at the 1 I dont want to see my team throw a p***, make sure settings are so that you do what you want your team to do in that situation. Always p*** and always run are good settings in certain situations.

Phase V-DEPTH CHARTS

Depth Charts decide in what order you have players come into the game and who your starters are. The BASIC depth chart determines who gets credits for starts along with the formations you have selected in general game plan. So say you run the ND Box and Trips offense in games but have the Wishbone selected as your offense in the general gameplan section. The game recognizes the players that woul be in the WB formation in your basic depth chart as starters for the year. If you never ran a play from WB all year long you would still recieve credit for 3 RB's starting or the 3 first RB listed in your BASIC depth chart. Make sure you have the guys you want starting listed in your BASIC depth chart first.

Generally the players listed first on your depth chart have a higher impact on the game so you want your best guys listed in order in your depth charts. i.e. you want your best DL first and not 2nd or 3rd.

MAKE SUREYOU SET YOUR ADVANCED DEPTH CHARTS FOR OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE SETS!!! These advanced charts are formation specific and give you the ability to move players around to keep players fresh. Your best RB say in the ND Box could get a rest in trips if you have a good RB who can catch the ball well that could be in the first slot on the depth chart in trips. The same with defensive players, you can sub some of your best DL out in Nickel formations to get them rest. Watch for places you can get your stars some rest and let back-up players play. If a team only runs from the ND Box and you run the 4-4 defense then I would take you 3 worst DB and place them as starters in the depth chart to save them for p***ing situations in your Nickel D. This takes time to learn when and where you can skimp on some talent to provide fresh players in other formations to exploit depth and tired players.