Ha! ya, the Irish def know how to drink. Kessler costs me 15 a bottle compared to JD at 35, and it tastes better (mixed with coke). Someone else has figured it out and now it is sometimes gone from the shelf at the store I go to, lol.

OK, back to MFN and player awards/ratings. Thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at the WRs. We're now heading into game 12, so there has been 3 more games since the halfway point at 8.

The #1 WR is still Derek Romero/Clev, easily. He has been tearing it up and has a lead of near 500 yards vs #2 in yardage, Villacorta/LAR. His average of 24.2 is outstanding, he leads in every WR key statistical category , 68.7 Rec % (best in top 20), 16 TDs. He was drafted by Mac at the 3.3, the 8th WR selected. 3 WRs were taken in the first round, The WR position is not totally dependent on their ratings & atts, play selection/game plan, QB rating/atts, OL blocking are the main factors in both how an offense and individual WRs perform. Romero is AI rated at 96, and his key atts are all 95+, so he is not a big surprise but producing as his rating & atts would indicate. So, I would say that WR ratings & att values are more important to the position performance than most, based on the current league statistics & results.

The first WR (1.9) selected, Elliot/Ravens, is 43rd in yardage (633) with a low 40% rec%, and 4 tds. So, that reflects on how an offensive gameplan, QB, OL can significantly impact a WRs statistical performance. He's still performing well, just not up to his rating & attribute values.

The #2 WR and still in the top 5, Juan Campbell/Seattle was just an outstanding pick in the draft at 17.25! His AI rating is 75. He is one of 3 WRs in the top 20 that is averaging over 20 yds per catch. He has the lowest amount of catches in the top ten at 45, but has 60% rec. Seattle may want to start throwing to him some more!

#3 ranked WR is still Spells/Ariz who continues his fine season and is doing it with a speed rating of 77, he was picked by Ariz at 10.16

There has been a shakeup in the rest of the order, moving up to #4 from outside the previous top 8, is Max Wilson/Den, who was the 5th WR drafted in the 2nd round (2.23) and is performing up to his high rating/atts and has a 64% rec stat.

#5 is Bryan Villacorta/LAR, the Rams pass the most, and have two WRs in the top 15 for catches & yardage. Villacorta was selected 3.18, after Romero, and is AI rated at 99.

#6 and #7 are very close in stats, Martin Cunningham/KC & Antonio Bland/JAX. Both were high round pics in the 4th & 6th, and are AI rated 90+. Both have scored real well, with 10 and 11 TDs, but Bland has the edge on rec %... 59 vs 46, so he gets #6.

#8 (which will make commish Gus very happy) is Al Toon/ Jets. Who was another 3rd rounder taken after Villacorta was selected. Toon is AI rated 94 and is living up to his rating and att values (90+), congrats Gus.

#9 is Eric Isaac/Phil, and has 12 TDs for second most among WRs. 61% catch, so he may be in the top 5 overall when you really compare the stata plus he was 1.30 pick, so he is def living up to his high rating.

#10 is Peter Warrick/Cin, previously ranked 5th, is the top "overachiever WR" based on AI rating & attribute values. He's not that fast at 75 speed/73 accel, and his key atts are: 73 pass catch, 67 route, and 64 courage... nothing that would indicate that he is a league leading WR. He and Campbell are the only WRs in the top ten that are sub 80 AI rated.

Falling out of the top ten over the last couple of games since the mid-season ranks, but still "in the hunt"....
#4 Jackson/Atl (unfortunately, lol) has had a big slide to #16! , #6 Joiner/Cin and now 12th with only a 39% rec. And something really went wrong with Detroits #7 William & #8 Brewer, guess the passing game has had a tough time for them over the past couple of games, both are now outside of the top 20.

Another player who should get mentioned, TEs were not included in the mid-season awards, is Lyle Goodman/Atl who is the only TE in the top forty (first page) for receiving stats. He is one of those, like Warrick & Campbell, that performs way above his rating and att values. He was a 30.15 selection!! with an AI rating of only 69, he has speed (100 w 53 accel) which along with pass blocking are his top attributes. His receiving atts average 75, so there was no indication or clue that he would perform as well as he has. Will be interesting to see if he keeps it up or if it is a one season type performance.

So, overall, as compared to other positions, high rated WRs are a good bet overall. There are only a couple in the top ten that do not have the 90+ AI rating and 90+ attributes.

Interesting write up, thanks.
I really thought my #2 WR (Wes Walker) would be performing better, but he is still young so have fingers crossed. This game is still a pass orientated game and the importance of good players in these positions is paramount.

Thx Gus, it was interesting to see how the top ten shifted around so much in the 3 games since the mid-season, that was a surprise. And until the game is further revised, the balance between passing and running is not going to be there, if you want to win and compete for the LC you have to have a strong passing attack. And I like to see the players that over-achieve, way beyond their AI rating and attribute values, and see if there is anything that provides a clue as to why, because otherwise, how do you explain that one? The random factor in their favor? not when they consistently perform at a high level over two or more seasons.

Sethrick wrote in another thread with more detail but as far as the passing game, it's not just the WR or the QB it's both together both high Intel i believe was a major fact in his sample set. Add in pass accuracy and route running. Anyway, most of you probably already know this. Sorry for the repetition.

The top ten WR's had 8 with 90+ AI ratings and 1st thru 3rd round draft picks. Let's compare it to the QBs. See if the results are what you expected or guessed. Will just look at AI rating and when picked. Will add intell, as mentioned by Mac's reference to seth's post.

1. Sacco/Cleve 73 AI .... 9.3 draft .... 72 intell

2. McWhirter/Det 78 ... 7.31 ... 100

3. Fortner/Atl 70 ... 15.8 ... 64

4. Keaton/NYG 67 ... 19.11 ... 40

5. Jackson/Wash 97 ... 1.4 .... 100

6. Newell/Pats 81... 4.12 ... 87

7. Graves/Gbay 77... 10.10 ... 100

8. Millender/LARams 81 ... 2.31 ... 94

9. Downs/NYJets 54 ... Undrafted ... 18 ( FA pickup!, and no significant attribute indicators)

10. Lee/Seattle 87 ... 1.25 ...93

So, out of the top ten current leading QBs, only one is AI rated over 90, three over 80, and the majority between 67 & 78 and the low at 54. That is what I call a "crapshoot"! as compared to the consistency of high ratings and performance with the top ten WRs. Four out of the top ten QBs have intell less than 80 with a low of 18!

So a few things here. It's year-one so all bets are off.

1) WR Speed + Courage > DB Speed + Punish = Advantage WR -- Add in the year-one boost, and well, WRs should dominate.

2) Catches + Yards =/= how good the WR is. I didn't draft this team or GM it in the first five games, but it's grown on me. I have three WRs >80 overall in my weights. But, that said, I don't expect any of them to break 100 catches. Why? My system spreads the ball between the WR1, 2, 3, TE, and RBs depending on the set. A solid year for my WRs will be 80-1200 (this year should be more since my RBs are broken or **** and I'm passing more).

3) We don't know who is going to be a consistent playmaker yet. Defense isn't going to catch up until year three or five, and only if there are deep drafts in the meantime. The real test will be in year 10, but that's more than two calendar years away. (This is a major beef I have with this game but anyway.)

Dont know if you were aware Seth, but two teams really got screwed on the draft, Dallas and Arizona, and it was done on purpose to hurt the league. Whomever it was, they put the lowest rated players in the manual boards of those teams to be drafted, nice huh. If interested, take a look at the draft and the first picks for Arizona & Dallas. Wolfkill has done an outstanding job after taking over Arizona at the 10th round and putting up a record of 5-6 to date. jouameng took over Dallas by the 4th pick, much less damage done, but has not gotten a win yet, prob going for a top draft position next season. Thanks to both Wolfkill & jouameng for coming in and making a big difference for those teams and repairing the damage done. Fortunately for the Skins, QB Jackson is in the top ten after being the first QB selected and picked at 1.4 He has not been a bust. And overall, not too bad of a draft for Wash. Your tied for the division lead at 8-3, your extensive game knowledge & experience is making up for an inexperienced draft situation, thanks also for taking the team and improving the league.

You're right that I didn't know that two teams had been intentionally sabotaged, or I would have taken one of them instead of Washington, which had a solid core.



I don't want to split too many hairs here, but the bolded piece is incorrect. Downs has 99 Scramble, 98 Acceleration, and 64 Accuracy. The 99 Scramble means that he always has ~64 Accuracy because the Acceleration will allow him to scramble and the Scramble will all but negate the under pressure penalty. He's also only thrown the ball 290 times in Gus' system, and I will bet money that >60% of those throws were short distance.

No Scramble QBs are going to take something like a 20% penalty on passing accuracy. (I don't remember where I got that number, so I'm probably make it up. It could be worse, but 20% seems like a good place to start.) So your 100 Accuracy QB with 15 Scramble is effectively an 80 Accuracy QB >50% of the time.

McWirter is a similar style QB with only 2 INTs on the year, but McWirter has better Accuracy and more Intelligence.

The real comparison to see how all of those attributes work are with Sacco and Fortner. Fortner has better Acceleration and Scramble, but worse Accuracy and Intelligence (also a weaker arm so lower velocity and not as many throwing options). So he's taking fewer sacks and performing equal to who should be the better player. (For what it's worth I have both of them in the 70-73 range overall.) Fortner has taken 23 fewer sacks, which will just kill a drive regardless of how many yards you throw!

Point is high Scramble and high AC will allow your QB to get out of sacks and negate penalties. Once you have that, you can take a QB like Downs and be successful running the right system.

Other point, in developed leagues, you can still put up Drew Brees numbers with a QB that moves like, well, Drew Brees: https://mfn1.myfootballnow.com/player/12012

Great sum up. One point to consider is the pass plays utilized by both teams. Sacco throws a lot of Medium and Deep passes. Higher chance of sacks. I have a few QBs with low scramble/acceleration/speed that don't have huge sack numbers

https://agent86.myfootballnow.com/player/1144

I think gameplanning plays a large role in the statistical output. I have nothing to base this on other than my own experience. I have no idea what code is. Maybe it's just luck. I dunno.