The 2024 NFL season will begin in a few months and a significant rule change is about to be implemented concerning kickoffs.  This will obviously affect the APBA card-making process, but I’ll address that in a minute.

First, the new rules in an abbreviated format:

The kicker still kicks off from his 35. 

The other 10 members of the kicking team must line up with a foot touching the receiver’s 40-yardline. 

Nine members of the receiving team must line up between their 30 and 35 yard lines, which is  called the “Set Up Zone”, and 7 of those must have a foot on the 35-yard line when the ball is touched in the field of play.  Remember, this area is just 5 yards away from the members of the kicking team.  

The last two players are in the “Landing Zone”, or the area between their own goal line and their 20-yard line. These are obviously the returners.

The kicked ball must land in the Landing Zone.  If it does not, the following things will happen:

If the ball is short and doesn’t make it to the Landing Zone, then the ball is dead, and placed on the 40-yard line, as if it had gone out of bounds in our current rules.

If the ball is fielded in the Landing Zone, then it must be returned.

If the ball lands in the Landing Zone and rolls into the end zone, and is downed in the end zone it is brought out to the 20-yard line.

If the kick lands in the end zone and goes out of the back of the end zone, or is downed in the end zone, then the ball is placed on the 30-yard line.

It is important to note that there are no Fair Catches, and the ball is live after it hits the ground.

Pease note, this is just an overview.  This is not intended to be a comprehensive study.  It’s just a 2-minute read as to how the new rule works.

So, how will it be used in the NFL? 

If you didn’t mind giving up the extra 5 yards, then you could just boom the kick off through the end zone, and have the team start at their 30. That seems safe.

If you want to get a little crafty, you could actually try to pin the receivers down and hope to catch them inside their own 20-yard line. 

I sort of see this being an evolving thing as far as strategy is concerned.  A few years ago the NHL implemented their 3-on-3 rules for overtime.  In the first few years the OT session was over very quickly because it was just an offensive shooting contest, with no defense.  Then, as time went on, teams started waiting, and setting up their attack, leaving someone behind to play defense.  So, it evolved.  I envision that this rule may follow the same pattern.  Some teams will embrace it, and others may be scared of it, not really knowing what the best way to handle it really is.  Only time will tell.

The APBA kicking and receiving cards should look quite different.  I believe that we will see a lot of kicks falling short of the goal line, which means far less touch backs, or 25s on the card.  Returners will likely see far more returns in the 15-yards (or less) category, rather than those 23-yard returns that we are accustomed to seeing.

Also, there are a plethora of new types of penalties to handle any kick off violations which will occur (mostly procedural), so the penalty tables will need to be slightly altered.

For the record, I’m not sure that I like these new rules, but they are obviously here, at least for a little while.  As a side note, I didn’t like the 3-on-3 NHL OT rules when they first came out either, and now I absolutely love them.  So, I’d recommend giving it some time to play itself out before passing any real judgment on the new rules.

Enjoy the season.

Whether you play the Master Game or the Basic Game, you have no doubt noticed some odd results on the Medium Pass chart.  What I am referring to is the results which are significantly less than what you would expect on a normal Medium Pass.  

At this point, for the sake of clarification, allow me to explain what I mean by that.  According to the charts, Long Passes are those that are 30 or more yards; Medium Passes are those falling in the 15-30 yard category; Short Passes are those that are 14 yards or less.

So, to return back to my point, why are there some Medium Pass results listing just 4 yards gained?  Can you imagine using you index finder and being all set to throw a Medium  Pass from Tua to Tyreek, and then getting just 4 yards on the play?  That’s ridiculous. A REAL medium Pass should be 15 yards downfield, so there is no way that Tyreek would be catching a medium Pass for just 4 yards.

I recently discussed this with Greg Barath, and it was his belief that the yardage was intended to be like a safety valve pass, to another receiver, other than the actual intended receiver.  I agree.  So, for purely aesthetic purposes, I came up with an innovation to remedy that.  It works like this:

The reception stands, but it no longer goes to Tyreek.  Instead, the pass goes to a back.  I roll on a special index just for Running backs, and that player is awarded the pass.  I do not mess with adjusting the total due to the pass receiving grade.  The result was already provided in the original.  All that I am really doing is redistributing the pass to a player who is more likely to receiver that pass, than a player like Tyreek.

Okay, what does it do to the game?  Not much.  The QB’s completion remains intact.  Tyreek loses a reception, and some back (probably a C-receiver) picks up an extra one.  I’ve tested this several times and the play only comes up about 2 or 3 times a game. 

(Here’s the math, if you desire it:  Teams generally have 60 plays a game.  Or most modern teams, they pass the ball 60 percent of the time, so that would be 36 pass plays a game. If you use the 60/40 (Short Pass/Medium Pass ratio, then 21.6 of those passes would be Short Passes, and 14.4 would be Medium Passes.  So, as you can see, a change of just 2-3 per game really won’t do very much to change anything, other than to provide a more realistic result to a more realistic layer position. 

Note: If you prefer fewer changes, no one says that you have to count everything less than 15 yards as a dump off pass.  I can easily see the category of 10-14 yards being considered as being a Medium Pass on the border where the receiver ran backwards or laterally trying to make a big play.  In fact, there are 75 play results on the Basic Game Medium Pass boards, and 27 of those results would fall into the 10-14 category.  That would significantly lower the potential changes.  This is an option to this innovation.

If you are conducting replays like Greg does, you can use this innovation, or not.  If you are a random game player like me, you will probably like this because the result “looks better” from an aesthetic position.  To me, this is similar to changing that 85-yard TD pass to some 256-pound fullback that has just scored on a Short Pass play.  That just doesn’t “look right” to me. 

Finally, I just want to restate that this doesn’t change anything.  The game totals are the same.  It merely redistributes the play results to a position player that would be more likely to catch that kind of pass.

One of the most complicated, and unrealistic (in my opinion), things in the game is the way that Interceptions are handled.  Today, I’m not going to discuss the problems with the chart itself.  Instead, I’m going to focus on determining the player who actually intercepted pass.  This is kind of important as it’s actually vital if you want to inject any kind of identity into a team’s defense that is reflective in the game.

The reason that this is important is because, as we know, defense seems to be an afterthought in the game.  Outside of a defensive total of ratings points, there really isn’t much else for a defense to do.  About the only way that a defense can have an impact in the game is if they intercept a pass, or recover a fumble.  And, if those were returned for a great distance, or even a score, then it would be as if the defense was actually be playing a role in the game.

There are several ways to handle interceptions.  As we know, the boards yield a W-result when the pass is intercepted.  The game player then rolls the dice, and a play result and interceptor are revealed.  That sounds good.  The boards at least place defensive backs deep down the field on passes, and have lineman for passes caught behind the line of scrimmage.  That makes sense until you realize that you want the game to be more realistic by using the Interception Locator Index.  That’s similar to the way that receivers are selected.

So, how does that work, for the benefit of those who don’t know?  Generally, you will see a bunch of players with W-4, W-3, W-1 ratings, etc.  You total those up, and apply it to your index to reveal which player intercepted the pass.  It’s simple.  But, here comes the problem:  What if you Defensive End (d1) is the player who was selected to intercept a long pass, some 50 yards down the field?  That’s ridiculous.

How can we make it more realistic, but still use the locator?  Well, I work backwards, and I find that it is much better.  I first determine which player intercepted the pass based on the index.   Here are the 2022 Houston players with a W-result and their index code:

PITRE                       CB d8                      5              11-22

SMITH                     CB xcb                     3 23-31

KIRKSLEY                LB d3/d6                3              32-36

GREENARD             DE xde                    3              41-45

STINGLEY                S d11                       2              46-52

KING                        CB xcb                     2              53-55

HARRIS                   LB d4.d7                  2              56-62

HUGHES                 DE d5                       2              63-65

NELSON                  CB d9                      1              66

(Note: Okay, let me break into my explanation right here and state that ‘in my mind’ players come and go from the field all throughout the game.  I do not make substitutions or lineup changes throughout the game, except due to injuries. I keep my defensive index numbers the same, and play on.  This way, a backup cornerback might be on the field to intercept a pass, even if he doesn’t actually appear as one of the starters. Make sense?)

So, let’s say that you roll a 25, and you cross reference that with the index (see above) and find a backup cornerback (xcb) is the player who intercepted the pass.   Let’s say it’s Tremon SMITH from Houston.  He’s a W-3, which is tied for the second highest rating on the team, despite not being a starter.  He obviously plays cornerback, and cornerbacks are listed as either d8 or d9 in the game.  (I’m not going to get into 5 and 6 dbs at this time, but I do use those.  This is a simple explanation, so I’ll stick with just using d8 and d9.)  First I decide what position he will be assigned.  I do that by throwing one die.  An odd roll means d8, and an even roll means d9.  Generally, there will be about five to six results on the chart in that column for that player, so I roll again.  Let’s say I got a 3.  I then start at the top of the chart, counting down until I get to the third result for the position selected, and that will be the result.

For example, if the position selected was d8, and the W-column was a W-64, and the roll was a 3, then the third result down from the top is a 34, and it yields 11d8.  Perfect.  Now we have a result which not only uses the finder index, but also yields a result which is realistic for that player, and the play result.  It sounds more complicated than it really is, but it is a much better way of doing it.

Again, this is important because some of these teams actually thrive on defensive scores, and if the ball goes to a player who never intercepted a pass, then the defense has lost an opportunity to make an impact in the game.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Doug

If you have been watching the NFL lately, then you know that a great number of passes thrown are to players who are behind the line of scrimmage.  In fact, the numbers seem to indicate that that number ranges anywhere from 15 to 30 percent.  (A lot of the data depends on who is capturing it, and who is defining it, but that’s another story.) Suffice to say, there are more passes thrown behind the line than there were before.

So, how does this affect our APBA play?  Well, we have two options to capture this type of play.  The first, the traditional SHORT PASS, probably does the best job, but it has too many INTERCEPTIONS, too many Sacks, and not enough PASSES FOR LOSS. The second is the traditional SCREEN PASS.  Looking at the SCREEN PLAY you can tell that this play (like the DRAW PLAY) is a DECEPTION play.  It is designed to make the defense rush the passer, only to throw the ball over the heads of the rusher to a back who then races up the field.  It’s a play that is designed to look like a pass, but is really more of a rushing play.  Unfortunately, this does not capture today’s behind the line of scrimmage passing plays either.

The plays that I am specifically talking about are the EDGE PASS (the perimeter pass), or the quick BUBBLE SCREEN, or a pass to the back in the flat, or even the 6-inch pass to the receiver who is in motion when the ball is snapped.  These are all behind the line of scrimmage passes.

I wanted to design a play that captured this type of play, without deviating too far from APBA’s tried and true charts.  What I did is the same thing that I do with the other innovations—I blended the boards.

The first thing that I learned when looking into this is that this is a different type of play.  Let’s take a look at the EDGE PASS.  I don’t envision this to be a traditional TEAM play.  This is more of a one-on-one play.  On the EDGE PASS, the QB gets the ball and fires it out about two seconds from the time that he gets it to the receiver.  Therefore, the chances of a Sack are somewhat reduced.  More importantly, the receiver is usually going one-one-one with a cornerback, and the success of the play depends on getting around that player.  So, in my mind, the result has little to nothing to do with a TEAM offense.  It has more to do with a player going one-on-one.

In researching this, the first thing that I thought of was my beloved Miami Dolphins and superstar receiver Tyreek HILL.  Everyone knows that he is a 5.  But, is he really on this type of play.?  HILL is super  fast, but the Dolphins always put him in motion.  Why? Because I his game is speed, and it helps him get off of the line.  If he just stands there when the ball is hiked, then he has difficulty getting past the defender.  So, his speed is neutralized.  So, even though he is a 5 in our game, he is not very good on this type of play.

For that reason, I am deviating away from the ratings altogether.  Instead, I simply throw one die.  One a 1, the best result is used; on a 2-5, the middle result is used; on a 6, the worst result is used. Pass receiving grades are NOT used.  This is merely the luck of the die.  And, that’s exactly how it is in real life.  Sometimes the defender makes a great play, and sometimes the receiver gets by the defender for a big gain.  Usually, he just gets a few yards.

So, how did I do this?  First, I only make the play available from o15-d31. For the best column, I use the G-column from the A-receiver; for the middle, I use the S-column from the B receiver; for the worst column I use the D-column from the C receiver. I added one more line of passes caught for losses, and I reduced the amount of INTERCEPTIONS by one in each column.  I also reduced the amount of yardage lost on a sack.  (I did not want to change the Sack total.) Since most of the plays go toward the sidelines, I added a few more out-of-bounds designations to the results.

So, why should you use this?  It’s not necessary, but it makes the game more fun.  It also gives you some coaching options. Plus, 99 percent of the results are directly taken from APBA’s own charts, so we aren’t doing anything radical. (I never make any changes that are radical.)

I call this an EDGE PASS, but it is really more of a play that captures all of the BEHIND THE LINE passing, other than the designed SCREEN PASS.  And, it works great!

Try it out, and let me know if you have any questions.

Edge Pass

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.