End of Half/Game Logic

[sflcat]

Has this improved? I think for the most part DDS is a pretty solid and flexible sim...but I'm not going to lie, when I'm down by 3 or less, with less than two minutes to play, and I need 30-40 yards to get into field goal range, it's a little cringe to watch my QB hand off or throw a 7-yard pass that takes 20 seconds off the clock.

[brooks_piggott]

Tweaking the issue with kicking FG's too early and leaving time on the clock. But playcalling isn't being affected. That's kind of up to your QB intelligence, coach, playbook, and strategy sections. The QB does target people further downfield for first down purposes, and the AI does switch you over into fast pace to speed up playcalling.

[jay]

Appreciate you coming over sflcat. I reached out to a few who were online from our league to come check out this forum and the Slack, but figured I'd also keep a running log here in case anybody else wants to add to it.

The problems we were running into had a lot to do with End of Half and End of Game playcalling logic. Here are the screens and recaps I shared on the Slack as well, in case anybody else wanted to look into it. These are all from the first five weeks in a 30 team league that I started--and all from games that were decided by a TD or less. I'll preface by saying thank you already for making some changes to the FG/hurry-up logic. Happy to test some more later tonight and compare when a new update comes out as well.

End of Half


3rd and inches and the sim elects to go with a low-odds FG with 0:26 left and give the ball back to the other team with three timeouts left.


Similar situation. Elects to kick a FG with 0:19 to play, on third down and only 11 yards from the end zone. No coach would do this.


Same thing. Only need two yards to get the first down, over 20 seconds left, and inside the 10. Kicks a FG instead.


Probably even more dumb here. Kicks a LONG FG on first down with time left on the clock. Misses the low-odds FG, and a PI immediately puts the other team in field goal range. (Note: they didn't convert).


2nd and Goal FROM THE ONE and they kick a FG with 26 seconds left. This one is nothing short of hilarious. What could the logic possibly be, where it would EVER decide to do this?


0:26 to play, from the 11-yard-line, still only 2nd and 3 and they kick the FG again.

End of Game


Couple interesting things here:
1. Somehow it takes 20 seconds between third down and fourth down to spike the ball? (This is a case of what sflcat mentioned above)
2. He spikes the ball on the last play of the game?


Not as big of an issue because they're playing with the lead, but why would they kneel on first down then run plays on 2nd and 3rd?


Same as above. What's the logic here?


Spiking the ball on the last play of the game again...


Spiking the ball on 3rd and 10+ with over a minute to play still. Even with no timeouts left, this should/would NEVER happen to bring up 4th and 14.


Field goal attempt on 1st down with 28 seconds left. It wasn't even that short of a field goal either. Other team gets the ball back plenty of time still on the clock, gets it down into FG range, kicks the tying FG. (Sidenote: the team that made the stupid playcall later went on to lose in OT). This is the worst one.

[Cleasby]

Can you please show the score for your screenshots above?

[slybelle1]

Can you please show the score for your screenshots above?

The far right column on the screenshots above has the scores being shown, at least does on my screen. Maybe your screen resolution is preventing seeing the complete images?

[Cleasby]

Can you please show the score for your screenshots above?

The far right column on the screenshots above has the scores being shown, at least does on my screen. Maybe your screen resolution is preventing seeing the complete images?

yeah looks fine on pc - can you name the scenarios/screnshots so it is easier to reference please

also what was the coach aggressiveness for all scenarios?

[NotMikeZimmer]

Some of these situations where a FG is being kicked with say 19, or 20 seconds left on the clock seem reasonable to me. In this game I have seen plays take more time off the clock than that. plenty of coaches take the FG for the higher probability of points, not everyone is Jim Harbaugh.

Also I have no clue if the team has Timeouts left. If a team has no time outs, provided they dont need a TD to win, kicking a field goal makes quite a bit of sense in most these situations.

[Fire-Bred]

Honestly I agree. While some situations it is a head scratcher this is by far not the most broken thing in the game. I would much rather the team takes a chance at a sure fire 3 pts to extend the lead or take the lead with 20 seconds still on the clock rather than them trying to get 1 or 2 more plays in and lose the chance at the 3 points

[Cleasby]

I think to assist with the discussion above it would be usefult to know

- the human offence philosophy/strategy used by the offence
- the head coach philosophy of the offence team
- the timeout situation of both teams

[jay]

These are all CPU-run teams. And it's literally every team in the game that does this consistently. Can any of you who say it's the right call find a single instance of a coach doing any of the above in the 50+ seasons that the NFL has existed? At the very least, they should be running the clock down before the FG attempt.