Standard disclaimer: I am not a great coach yet. I may never be. I am not responsible for any losses created from following my advice. If a better coach disagrees with anything I say, he is probably right.
Some tips for beating Coach Bob, the computer-run coach at Dolphinsim.
Bob runs simple formations and simple playbooks, but he can be bedeviling to many managers. Sometimes, this is because Bob does not miss a trick. He does not accidentally copy his Long playbook to all situations, he doesn't forget to redo his depth chart, he does not run 80% in passing situations. Human managers often tweak so many things that they end up making things worse, or make changes in settings that won't do what they think the changes will, especially if they don't use scrimmages and prototype scrimmages to check to make sure everything is exactly how they want it.
I arrived at this much of this information by checking the “Auto-generate playbook” options on offense and defense. It appears to match the Bob playbooks used by computer teams. However, Bob appears to tailor the “options” settings for each situation to his roster and his opponents, despite using the same playbook. If anyone believes or finds out otherwise, feel free to let me know.
Specific disclaimer: There is NO way to guarantee that you will beat Bob if you have similar talents. Unlike human coaches, there is no way you can crush them with a perfect game plan, because Bob runs generic, balanced game plans. You can give yourself an edge, but because there is such a high variability in this game, an edge may not be enough. Sim the same game 10 times, you might get 10 wildly difference scores. But if the situation is right, you can give yourself a very large edge.
Offense
Bob runs essentially six offenses and four defense.
The offenses, with their normal situation running percentages (Bob appears to never change these, regardless of roster or opponent):
Wishbone 75%
I formation 60%
Pro Set 45%
Run and Shoot (Spread + pro set in goal line ) 30%
Shotgun (Shotgun + pro set in goal line) 30%
Spread 25% (Spread + pro set in goal line)
General offensive tricks:
In his settings, Bob has all the standard tendencies you'd expect from a football offense. Run more when ahead more when ahead. He tends to run inside more in short situations, and outside more in long situations.
Bob makes extensive use of dump patterns. His third receiver is usually running a dump or a quick, especially in two-WR formations. In a passing situation where you expect Bob, it is often wise to run a double-2 and force him to throw to the third receiver. An especially nice trick is to run a 3-2, double-2 with three cornerbacks and three safeties. What does this do? It forces the quick route to stretch itself as long as possible, often 8 yards. This puts it in the “deep” zone, so you know have your third CB and safety double covering a TE or back in a longer route, and the QB will usually throw to him (If not, he throws to a doubled wideout, which is essentially as good). This is interception city and a highly desirable situation. You will, of course, give up some long runs if the computer decides to run on that play, so it is a high-risk, high-reward play.
Alright, by playbook:
Wishbone
Running percentage by situation (Normal, Short, Long, Red Zone, Goal Line, Hurry Up):
75, 75, 25, 75, 75, 40
Running tendency: Prefers to run outside.
If you see Bob running this formation, sell out against the run. Something like a 5-3, keying run constantly is in order. To hedge your bets, don't set your “key run” at the settings level, do it inside the package. Create a 5-3 where each play keys run, and use that playbook exclusively against 1-WR sets. Then, you can use another defense if Bob gets tricky and comes out in a 2-WR set. Use zone heavily, which is better against the run than man-to-man. Because he is likely to run many sweeps, especially if he has a fast back, keep your defensive line loose.
I formation
Running percentage by situation:
60, 70, 25, 60, 60, 40
Running tendency: Prefers to run inside.
You don't want to sell out as much against the run here, but you want definitely want to key it and run zone defenses. Keep your line tight, and perhaps run a 4-4 or a 4-3 with a safety blitzing if you trust your corners and remaining safety to make tackles. Do not blitz your ILB, as this leaves a gaping hole if the back gets through the line.
High-risk maneuver: This can really work wonders, but if you get unlucky and Bob calls a lot of early passes, he'll figure it out and burn you. In normal situations, run a 5-3, OLBs up, key run, zone defense. Run 1 corner and two safeties, despite the fact that this is fewer corners than receivers.
Then, set your Long defense to “Mirror Opponents” in usage. For your long defense, run a 3-2-6 with 3 corners and 3 safeties, keying pass, double-2.
If Bob passes on first down or runs in a long situation, you set yourself up for a lot of long gains. However, you will also get a lot of these posessions:
First and 10, run, play disrupted, loss of yards.
Second and long, pass, double-2
Thid and long, pass, double-2.
The double two forces Bob to throw to his back or TE as a checkdown. If the checkdown is a dump pattern, it will be to a back or TE who is well short of the first down. Since he is covered by your CB, you will occasionally get an interception, and a dump-pattern INT often means “Returned for touchdown!” If it is a quick pattern, Bob is throwing to a double-covered, deep zone TB, FB or TE who is double-covered by a cornerback and a safety. This is a wonderful thing for you, and you will almost certainly get an interception or two in these situations.
Pro set
Run percentage by situation:
45, 60, 22.5, 45, 60, 30
Run preference: Balanced to slightly outside.
This is a little trickier. There isn't a ton to exploit here, except keying pass in long and hurry up situations. You can use the double-2 trick in those situations if you wish, especially long. This is my least favorite Bob offense to face.
One thing to remember is to watch your matchups. If he is passing, as he often is in normal situations, the fullback will be the third receiver on the strong side and the tailback the second on the weak side. Against most defenses, that means the FB gets an ILB and the TB gets the WOLB. Is that a matchup that favors you in pass defense? Be careful if it is not.
Run and shoot
Run percentage by situation:
30, 50, 15, 30, 60*, 15
Formations:
Spread in all situations but red zone, then pro set.
Run preference: Outside
This one is pretty straightforward, but you must be careful to have two defenses. Run a balanced defense in short and goalline situations, perhaps a little run-heavy in goal line. In everything else, especially in long and hurryup, just sell out on the pass. Run your defensive line loose, key pass, put in pass-specific personnel. You don't want to use the double-2 trick here because the third wideout is in play, but mostly these are easy calls to make. Remember to stick to man-to-man if you have the corners to keep up with the receivers.
Shotgun
Run percentage by situations
30, 50, 15, 30, 60*, 15
Formations:
Shotgun in all situations but red zone, then pro set.
Run preference: Outside
Look familiar? Basically a carbon copy of run and shoot, except with the QB in shotgun. Same advice as above, except if you like to blitz to generate pass rush you may want to back off, because it won't be nearly as effective.
Spread
Run percentage by situations:
25, 50, 12.5, 25, 60*, 15
Formations:
Spread in all situations but red zone, then pro set.
Run preference: Outside
Well, here we are again. Just like the above, except even if you are squeamish about selling out against the pass above, you should do it here in non short and goal situations. This is devilishly difficult to tell from the Run and Shoot, but since they are essentially the same, I wouldn't worry about it.
One more general trick: If you have a LB who is fast and good at tackling but has some trouble shedding blocks, be less afraid to use him against the three pass-heavy formations, because there is no fullback to leadblock for him. Bob does not run the popular 3-wide I formation.
Defense
Bob's defenses are a lot less exploitable than his offenses. He is also more willing to vary them up based on his scouting of you. You may come in expecting a 3-4 and get a 4-3. The key here is to run as balanced as an offense as you can and not give him anything to key off of too easily. The real advantage here is that Bob keeps 0-man defenses in his packages, which no human does regularly, and thus will give up long plays frequently.
Bob runs four basic defenses:
4-3
4-4
3-4
Nickel
Much of what I have to say on this subject is valuable to all four of his defenses, so most of it will be in general thoughts at the end.
4-3
Packages used:
In all situations except goalline: 4-3 against 0123 receivers, 4-2 against 34 receivers, and 4-1 against 4-5 receivers. In goalline, uses 5-3 against all receivers.
Keying by situations
BG,BG,BG/R,R,R/P,P,P/BG, BG, BG/R,R,R/P,P,P
4-4
Packages used:
In all situations except goalline: 4-4 vs 0123, 4-3 against 34, 4-2 against 4-5.
In goalline, uses 5-3 against all receivers.
Keying by situations:
BG,BG,BG/R,R,R/P,P,P/BG, BG, BG/R,R,R/P,P,P
3-4
Packages used:
Normal situations, long yardage, red zone, hurry up: 3-4 vs. 0123, 3-3 against 34, 32 against 45
Short yardage: 3-4 against 23, 3-3 against 34, 32 against 45, 4-4 against 1
In goalline, uses 5-3 against all receivers.
Keying by situations:
BG,BG,BG/R,R,R/P,P,P/BG, BG, BG/R,R,R/P,P,P
Nickel
Packages used:
All situations except goal line: 4-3 vs 012 receivers, 4-2 against 234, 4-1 against 45
Goal line: 5-3 against all receivers
Keying by situations:
BG,BG,BG/R,R,R/P,P,P/BG, BG, BG/R,R,R/P,P,P
General tips:
Telling the packages apart:
4-3 is the only one that runs a 4-3 against three receivers
4-4 is the only one that uses 4-4
3-4 is the only one that uses 3-4
Nickel is the only one that runs a 4-2 against two receivers
I've looked at PBPs and not found any evidence that Bob varies ever varies his keys, so this should be a no-brainer clue. Bob will vary which of the four defenses he uses depending on what he believes you will do, so be careful selling out on one of them.
Notice that Bob always keys run in short and goal, pass in long and hurry up. Run a 50/50 mix of pass and run in these situations (except goal line, which we'll get to later). You will find a lot of 3rd and 6s where you run for an easy first down, and even better a lot of 3rd and 2s where your slot receiver is covered by a linebacker and he's keying run. As we say in poker, that is a positive expected value situation.
Goal line situations are easy. He will be running a 5-3, keying run. Put yourself in a 3- or 4-wide with a TE to help in the pass blocking, put your QB in a shotgun, and run various quick patterns to your receivers.
Bob tends to underpopulate his defensive backfield in most of his defenses. You can spread the field and run against him.
Try to use receivers that have high RS, because Bob will run lots of 0-man defenses and you can break tackles for huge gains.
Against 3-4, it seems like the obvious thing to do is to run up the gut. If you have a great o-line and a good tailback, this works. But beware, the blitzes will cause a fair amount of losses to go with your solid gains, so it is a good idea to mix it up more unless you are confident in your long situation offense.
Bob tends to run his playcalling modification to “less” in the hurry up, goal line, and red zone situations, so feel free to do something cheeky, he won't adjust well.