Week 1 rescheduled game

[Goodell]

We have a very unusual situation with the NFL officially rescheduling a week 1 game (TB/MIA) until week 11. For how we sim games, this causes a problem. Typically we're used to dealing with bye weeks throughout a season and allowing our sim teams to still utilize a player on bye week by using his season average. However, clearly nobody has a season average yet going into week 1.

So what to do with MIA/TB players for week 1 here? Two options seem to be:

- Use player average game stats from last season. That probably works well for established veterans giving them a typical game you'd expect based upon recent performance. Rookies, however, become a problem there with no NFL stats so they'd just get default performances.

- Or delay our sim season a bit, perhaps even just a week, then when we do our sim version of week 1 we use a current season average game for all players like we would a bye. If we just wait a week, MIA/TB players would have week 2 stats used for our sim week 1 and sim week 2, or we could wait longer and develop more of a season average for week 1 game stats for TB/MIA players.

A default update just means the sim won't work extra hard to get a player his uploaded stats since he doesn't have any uploaded stats. Sim results he gets will mostly be dependent upon role, like if he's a RB1 with no game stats he'll still get the ball a lot but with just a mediocre average. A receiver with default update may catch balls depending upon QB stats, game situations calling for more passes, and game inputs from other receivers. They'll still get in the game to varying degrees, but performance will be based upon default kind of mediocre averages for players without stats. QB default updates are a little different in that a higher grade for stating QB caliber player get a higher default update than a backup graded QB. But default QB updates are kind of unspectacular vanilla stats, but can go way up or way down 15% depending upon your grade advantages. RBs with default mediocre averages would also see their sim average go up or down based upon grade advantages.

The league default position will be to start sim season on schedule and utilize average performances for TB/MIA veterans based upon last season averages and TB/MIA rookies would just get default performances. If there is overwhelming response for the other option(s) then we'll reconsider, but wanted to raise this issue and get feedback. Thanks!

[Goodell]

This mostly impacts skill position players, since lineman and defensive players mostly contribute through their grade. Luckily there aren't any huge impact skill position rookies involved in the TB/MIA NFL rosters. Miami only drafted one skill position rookie who's out. TB does have a couple more in O.J. Howard and Chris Godwin. Perhaps both teams have some undrafted rookie skill position players but usually those don't make big impacts especially early in a season. So Howard and Godwin would probably be most impacted by this as skill position rookies who would have no game updates with no NFL stats, but our sim game generator uses QB updates to drive most of the passing results much more than receiver stats. Receiver stats mostly help in making receptions longer if they have longer reception averages. Receiver grades are possibly more important as they impact overall grade advantages for QB who drives passing results, so those rookies grades will contribute normally.

So the option of going with game averages from last year for MIA/TB veterans and leaving rookies with default updates probably won't be too big of an impact.

[rabbitrun]

What about just deferring it to week 11 like the NFL is doing? Guys on bye still get the averages, guys actually playing get the actual numbers and it is ran the same as usual except we will have Miami and Tampa Bay without a week 1 record

[Ben C.]

What about just deferring it to week 11 like the NFL is doing? Guys on bye still get the averages, guys actually playing get the actual numbers and it is ran the same as usual except we will have Miami and Tampa Bay without a week 1 record

I'm sure that's what will happen for the MIA/TB teams, but what's an issue is how we handle all the FanGM teams that have players that play for MIA/TB in real life.

[rabbitrun]

What about just deferring it to week 11 like the NFL is doing? Guys on bye still get the averages, guys actually playing get the actual numbers and it is ran the same as usual except we will have Miami and Tampa Bay without a week 1 record

I'm sure that's what will happen for the MIA/TB teams, but what's an issue is how we handle all the FanGM teams that have players that play for MIA/TB in real life.

Good point, that one flew over my head

[Fish]

Sounded like we may be delayed anyway as Troy tracks down non-compliant or inactive GMs. I don't really have players on either team, but doesn't seem like waiting to week 2 will be an issue so makes sense to me.

[Onyxgem]

Sounded like we may be delayed anyway as Troy tracks down non-compliant or inactive GMs. I don't really have players on either team, but doesn't seem like waiting to week 2 will be an issue so makes sense to me.

Can't really have 2 games simmed with one set of stats it could really mess up games if one of those teams have guy(s) go off or really stink for just that one game it then gives that team a double advantage using those great numbers or crappy numbers for 2 sims

[Ben C.]

Sounded like we may be delayed anyway as Troy tracks down non-compliant or inactive GMs. I don't really have players on either team, but doesn't seem like waiting to week 2 will be an issue so makes sense to me.

Can't really have 2 games simmed with one set of stats it could really mess up games if one of those teams have guy(s) go off or really stink for just that one game it then gives that team a double advantage using those great numbers or crappy numbers for 2 sims

Agree with this, plus I don't want to see us start the season a week behind. We always end up behind anyway, so it would be best to start on time at least.

[Fish]

What is the most dramatic change in a rating from a single week? I only have a year to go off of, but it seems rare ratings swing more than 3-4 points which is maybe a half grade (B to B+/-).

On the other hand, I have UDFA's and younger players that made their rosters, but EA hasn't updated. Perhaps there is an update before week 1, but I still feel like it makes sense for multiple reasons to wait.

[Ben C.]

What is the most dramatic change in a rating from a single week? I only have a year to go off of, but it seems rare ratings swing more than 3-4 points which is maybe a half grade (B to B+/-).

On the other hand, I have UDFA's and younger players that made their rosters, but EA hasn't updated. Perhaps there is an update before week 1, but I still feel like it makes sense for multiple reasons to wait.

The issue isn't ratings related. Those don't get affected by byes. We're taking about how the real life stats should be handled. Say jay cutler somehow throws for 5 TDs, 0 ints, and an 80% completion rate in week 2. Should the teams that have him here be able to use that update for both week 1 and 2 games? That's not realistic.