I probably should have quoted the OC's thread. I meant that there isn't any advantage that I can see of going only all pass or all rush.

I think Neo was referring to the OP.

I can share an anecdote from CUST-21. Last year Indy went undefeated with an all passing attack and then got shut down in his first playoff game by a good Corellia Smugglers defense and lost 41-16. Smugglers' game plan was pretty easy to set up.

There was an owner in MFN-19 that used to run every down. It didn't end well.

How is this any more of an advantage than paying your players what they ask for when someone else pays theirs more than they ask for?

Or gameplanning against your opponent when they don't gamelan against you?

Now that I think about it, maybe you don't mean advantage in a negative way. The way I interpreted your comment almost made it seem like you meant an unfair advantage, but I may have misunderstood.

Well, just tossing the slider full bore in one direction isn't the thing.

At the end of the day, Pass, Run or Mixed... you got to have the Players to execute the Plays.

I just took over the team, and my theory is it will be much easier to find 11 Guys that can come together to Rush the Football than it will be to find 11 Guys that can Run and Pass, when you consider capable 'Balanced' Players won't be on the FA Market in Season, and the best Talent will be highly sought after in the FA Market in the Off-Season, combined with the Draft either having a hodge-podge mix (Look, Pass Blocking LT, Run Blocking LG!) of Players or forcing you one dimensional when you want a more Mixed Play Book.

So what I would have to ask is two things. Did he have the Talent required (in other words, had he went Traditional would he have still sucked?) and did he invest the time to really build the Roster to succeed in such a singular strategy?

I know my Talent isn't there yet, but it is young and gets better every Day and I have a Draft coming up soon as we are in Week 13 to try to get it where it needs to be.

See, now this is highly interesting.

So good enough to go 16-0, but lacking the Consistency vs. Play Off Talent.

SO the plan might work, he just needs more Ability on his Offense to pull it off.

Also, did the Offense cave, or did the Defense let him down? He lost, so something wasn't enough, but perhaps it wasn't the Offense that lost it (or perhaps it wasn't the Offense that got them there, maybe the Defense got the 16-0 Season).

As someone who usually looks to build the running game first, I agree there are usually players available that have been overlooked that are really good in the running game. It's very easy to convert a QB, WR, TE, or FB to a running back for a season and be able to churn out some yards. But I disagree that this is the only way to build a team.

There are plenty of players in the passing game that get overlooked as well. And since there currently is not an accuracy penalty for short passes, it's pretty easy to put together a pitch-and-catch passing attack to balance out the running game. That way your opponents don't just key on your run game the whole time and dominate you. Because it's very easy to push the run/pass defensive slider all the way to Run for the whole game and watch that otherwise useless LB suddenly become the most aggressive tackling machine on the field. In times like that, you need to have balance if you expect to win at all.

Here's an example of what one of my friends did to my MFN-16 team, and still lost the game: https://mfn16.myfootballnow.com/box/view/2136 It was one of the best defensive performances I've ever seen game planned against my team. If I would have tried to do what you're suggesting, he may have given me negative yards for the entire game.

I am sure there are many players in the Passing Game that are over looked.

But I have some issues with the Passing Game. Like WIDE OPEN players never being looked at until the play sinks like the H.M.S. Titanic.

Also, this involves a really good QB (ironically enough, of which I have). Those cost and don't grow on trees. And then even a really good QB can play really poorly (mine has) due to a variety of factors from OL to Targets (WR/TE) to Play Book.

For a Running Game, theoretically you need a Running Back, then 5 OL and a TE that focus on STR and Run Block. That's... well, pretty much it. And Discipline, because a Holding Call or False Start is going to kill your drive 90% of the time it happens. So that's very important as well.

I'm not sure how important WR Blocking is to the Running Game, hard to gauge since they are off screen and you can't really watch the engages... but it's simply enough to find OL/TE to move to WR, and there are a SURPRSING number of WR with amazing STR/RB. Now, they likely **** at things like SPD/ACC/Catch... but we aren't sending them out to catch, so what do we care. We just want that STR/Run Block.

So while it is far from the only way, I think between Run and Pass that Run is the easier one to build. Between Run, Pass or Mix I feel Mixed will take the absolute most talent, and finding a team of really 'balanced' players would be very tough, while having Specialty types would hamper your build (Think the 100 STR/20 RB/80 PB LT next to the 100 STR/80 RB/20 PB LG... or how hard it might be to find a 100 STR/80 RB/80 PB at all 5 spots).

Now I get I'm taking a VERY simplistic view, I really do. But I think this may be the easiest way, and the quickest way to build the most effective team one can.

As the designer of the defense that shut him down, of course I'm going to say it was the defense! Seriously he was an offensive juggernaut but totally one-dimensional, only running the ball ~5 times per game. That let me sell out at the against the pass. I was never in base defense, spent the entire game in Nickel/Dime/Quarter with 100% pass key and blitzed like crazy. The result:

His QB regular season -- 93.7 QBR, 13 INTs, 32 sacks
Against sellout D -- 28.11 QBR, 6 INTs, 10 sacks

So yes you can build an all run or all pass team, but the risk is that any opponent paying attention will be able to easily plan for what you're going to do. Balance is harder to build for, but gives you way more flexibility.