The long-awaited 2022 APBA Football cards were finally released, and new card owners could quickly see some changes.  Here are a few of my observations:

First, and foremost, is APBA has changed its method of adding extra scramble numbers to generate and include designed runs coming from that number.  APBA first changed this method a few years ago, and that caused a little bit of an uproar among some game players, myself included.  By adding unwarranted (extra) Scramble Numbers, the card designed had to essentially deduct actual passing numbers from the card. This caused players like Russell WILSON from a few years ago, and Josh ALLEN from the 2021 season to be very unbalanced.  Specifically, it was next to impossible to get their cards correct.  All of that had to do with the extra Scramble Numbers that had been placed on the card.  After all, there are only 36 numbers on the card to work with. But, all of that is all fixed now.  APBA’s new method now creates their cards based solely on actual stats.  So, the Scramble Numbers are now based on exactly how many Scrambles the player had, and not an inflated number. 

Well, that’s all well and good, but what about quarterbacks who run the ball a lot?  How will APBA allow them to get their extra rushes in if game restricts the quarterback to only rushing the ball on an Inside Running Play, and one Trick Play?  Well, APBA just created a new rating.  If you see a quarterback with an asterisk after his position and before his numeric rating, then that means that you can treat that quarterback just like a running back.   In other words, there are no restrictions.  This is important because APBA often gives quarterbacks the 3-5-7 style of cards, and as we all know, those cards are designed to work outside, not inside.  So, if you played the game in accordance to the rules, then they would never get enough rushes.

This new rating leaves it up to the game player to decide when to call for a quarterback designed run, which is really how it should be. Kudos to APBA for finally addressing this issue.

A second change, which sort of piggybacks the first, is that APBA is now using the number of Sacks to be reflected by the number of 28, 29, and 30 results that the quarterback has on his card.  This is just like the Scrambles.  It is a specific number.  I tested and calculated about 50 quarterbacks in the set, and each one mirrors my exact expectations.  This should actually make the card designer’s job easier as well, as he only needs to input exact figures to calculate the total.

A this point (first week), I have played only a handful of games with the new set, but I really like this card set.  It appears to be very detailed, and constructed perfectly.  Kudos to the card maker for his efforts.