The starting TE must remain at RTE in 2 TE
sets.
No Inter-league Play.
A safety may NOT move from FS to SS or
vice-versa when the starter is injured.
Teams may only replace their QB once per
half.
Adeline Assassins (Ron)
Cowboys
Motor City Hookers (Don)
Rams
Cincinnati Celts (Mike)
Packers
Dallas Destroyers (Tim)
Steelers
Cape Fear Leviathans (David) Colts
Crystal Lake Butchers (Brad) Vikings
Temecula Typhoons (Dan) Lions
Severna Park Slugs (Jeff) Browns
North Dallas Spotted Rats (Kurt) Redskins
Pittsboro Panthers (Mike V) 49ers
Dracut Middies (Mike S) Bears
Manhattan-N Riflemen (Tom) Saints
Available: Falcons, Giants, Eagles, and
Cardinals
Uncarded 1968 Players Protected for 1969
NFL
Adeline-Rich Hand, Robert Brown
Cape Fear-Les Josephson
Cincinnati-Roy Hilton
Crystal Lake-Mike Bass
Dallas-Andy Livingston, Bobby Williams
Dracut-Doug van Horn
AFL
High Plains-Tom Keating
Lancaster County-Rick Redman
Manhattan-A-Bill Laskey
A. Announce 26 man protected rosters +
Team D + additional players 27-33 + forfeited draft picks-March 1, 7 PM
Central.
B. Trading Begins around March 15.
C. Expansion Teams draft 10 each from
cuts.
D. Drafts begin around March 25 by email.
E. League File created. Teams announce
starters on offense, defense, and special teams.
F. Teams make injury grids. Injury charts
created.
G. League File completed.
H. Season begins around September 15.
2. All Game Options will be ON except:
Player overusage
QB overusage
Home Field Advantage (Conference playoffs
only)
Empty Flat pass = Guessed Wrong
Injuries are No Injuries
Rules Through the Years = Use Home Team
Rules
All games played in AFL cities: 2-point
conversion is allowed.
Looser substitution restrictions are
checked, however, positional switches will be allowed only as follows: RCB/LCB,
RLB/LLB, DRT/DLT, DRE/DLE, SE/FL, ORG/OLG, ORT/OLT. These will be restricted
for starters, requiring a starting RCB or SE to play that position all season
while in the lineup. NOT ALLOWED: FS/SS, FB/HB switches.
Illegal formations/plays for IFL Franchise League for all
situations through 1973
Offense: 4 WR sets, Blocking Back sets
Defense: Dimes (6 DB’s), 3-4-4.
Defensively, only 2 double-teams allowed at once.
Allowed
Formations:
Normal
Situation
Offense can use…Pro Set…3 WR/2 RB…TE…Full House… 3 RB/2 TE sets only.
Defense can use 4-3 only.
Passing
Situation allows additional formations
Offense can use 3 WR sets, or 2 WR 2TE 1 RB also
Defense can also use 3-3-5, or 4-2-5 also
Passing Situation defined by meeting one or
more of the following criteria:
A Passing
situation is when 3:59 or less remains in half, offense needs 11+ yards for a 1st
Down, or LB Run Containment is in effect. A few exceptions exist for score. It
affects both offense and defense.
Free
Safety Blitz is only allowed on 3rd or 4th down with 2:01
or more remaining in half, or anytime with 2:00 or less left in each half (also
allowed on 2 pt conversions in 1968-1969 AFL). No other exceptions or qualifications affect
FS blitz-not field position, score, or whether a Passing Situation exists for
determining formations.
3-4 defenses will be allowed beginning with
the 1974 season.
Shotgun is NOT allowed until the 1975
season.
Home field advantage will only be used for
the conference playoffs, not the Super Bowl.
3. Positional
rules
Positional switches will be only allowed
as follows: RCB/LCB, RLB/LLB, DRT/DLT, DRE/DLE, SE/FL, ORG/OLG, ORT/OLT. These will be permanent for an entire season.
No in game, down by down switching. The starting TE must remain at RTE in 2 TE
sets. Teams may only replace their QB once per half.
Each team will announce offensive and
defensive starters. These players will play only that position during the
season. So your announced SE for the season must play SE in a 3 WR set, and
your FL must stay at FL if in the lineup. In a 1-WR set, teams can choose ANY
WR.
Injury positional switches will be allowed
as follows: A starter may now move to cover a new position, say your starting
ORT 5-4 moves to play OLG 4-4 when the OLG is hurt. But the starting ORT may
only play RT, he cannot move to OLT for an injury. This allows some realistic
versatile backups for multi-position players, and still keeps the injured team
from cherry-picking a side of field matchups, which are not allowed.
If an injured player appears in the
lineup, a timeout isn't required. You cannot throw or run to the injured
player if he appears by mistake. But
the coach should check all his lineups immediately to make sure they
are accurate-don't just use/depend on the Sub Player button. If it
occurs again, it should be reported with play logs and any penalties will be
determined by the executive committee, perhaps awarding some of the violating
teams draft picks to the team offended.
IF the defensive coach notices this and
brings it up to the offensive coach, he must admit his use (not the location)
of an injured player (Yes, I am passing to my SE or I am running my FB). If an
injured QB is used, he must note which receiver if a pass.
The kicker will handle ALL FGA, XPA, and
Kickoffs. The Punter must always punt.
Each team must have a Kickoff returner and
Punt Returner rated as the ONLY KO or PUNT return man on his team to do the
same in the IFL. Otherwise, you many use any combination of guys rated as a #1
or #2 that you wish as your # 1 and # 2, as long as you have two. A bad
returner not used will be added to teams that don’t or can’t get enough
returners.
Other positions are not affected. A TE
rated to play SE may play either on any play, and a player rated as a FB/HB may
also still play either position. The permanent positions will only be for the
positions now allowing side-of-the-field switching.
One KO coverage, punt coverage, and
Penalty card will be used for all teams of a league.
4. Rosters
Defenses: Actual team defensive cards will
be used in the NFL, and Draft League Defenses (Good vs Run, Ave vs Pass) used
in the AFL. Beginning in 1970, team defenses cannot be drafted. Any NFL team
which enters the 1970 draft without one, or cuts one later, will convert to
draft league defenses. Teams keeping Actual Team Defenses in 1970+ will pay a
roster penalty of 1000 points while Draft League Defenses pay nothing.
Eligibility: Only players rated by SOM on
the1968 disk are eligible to be drafted, but a player already on a roster may
be kept even if unrated. If the player finished the year in a different league
however, he must be released.
Protected 26 players are announced in the off-season,
allowing teams to protect 11 players (2 OT’s, 2 OG’s, 1 C, 2 WR’s, 1 HB. 1 FB,
1 TE, 1 QB), and on 11 on defense (2 DT’s, 2 DE’s, 2 DB’s, 1 SS, 1 FS, 1 MLB, 2
Outside LB’s), a kicker and punter, and two wild cards for a total of 26 exempt
slots. There will be no cost to keep these exempt 26 players, regardless of how
good they are.
If you don’t have a valid player at a
position (your punter retired), the slot is left vacant until the draft and
still counts against the 26 man exempt roster. You can set your 26 man exempt
roster as you like before each years draft. This
is for protection purposes only-you are not required to play or start a player
at a position you protect them at.
Wild Card 1- no restrictions
Wild Card-2 cannot be used for a player
last rated at QB, RB, K or P. The slot cannot be used for a player rated as a 5
or 6 (except for a TE run blocking), or with a Pass Rush of 6+, or a Pass Block
rating of 4+.
A player may be assigned to any exempt
roster slot they are rated at the upcoming year (Danny White may be carried as
your QB or punter if rated at each), at your choice. A “LB” may be kept at your
RLB slot, but a MLB cannot be kept at your RLB slot.
Teams may protect more
than the 26 exempt players, as many as 7 more to a maximum of 33. To do so, they will pay a Roster Penalty.
A team Defense may be protected
and does not count as a roster spot, but will cost 1500 points 1967-1969, and
1000 points from 1970 on.
A maximum of no more
than 3 players may be protected at any position, including wild cards, in this
pre-draft cut to the protected 26, and additional players up to 33. So you can assign your backup HB
or QB as a Wild Card, but they still count against the position max in this
phase. Uncarded players do not count against the 3 player per position rule.
A maximum of 3 QB’s, 6
RB’s, 6 WR’s, 3 TE’s may be kept on the 44-man roster. These can be listed at
whatever position they are rated at to meet this requirement.
The Roster
Penalty system is for teams wanting to protect 27-33 players. After
announcing your protected 26 players, you announce your penalty players. You
own full rights to them as any player, but you must pay a roster penalty for
keeping the extra 1-7 players.
The Roster
Penalty is based on BV (base
value) + PV (performance value). Base Value is listed below, and PV
is listed at the bottom of this page, in RED font. The PV will be very low for
0’s and low attempt players, very high for 6-12 *12 rated lineman, QB’s or RB’s
with lots of attempts, and team defenses. Team defensive cards are so impactual
(as they represent coordinators, coaches and systems) that they will be allowed
to be kept, but at the cost of 1500 PV.
Players playing multiple positions must pay
the higher PV if kept on the non-exempt roster.
Player 27= 0 (BV) + PV
Player 28= 50 (BV) + PV
Player 29= 100 (BV) + PV
Player 30= 150 (BV) + PV
Player 31= 200 (BV) + PV
Player 32= 250 (BV) + PV
Player 33= 300 (BV) + PV
Teams will add up their roster penalty.
To pay their penalty, they will choose draft slots to abandon, based on the Slot Value (attachment) for the first 200
picks, or 20 rounds. Teams will select draft picks they wish to forfeit, based
on a weighted system of value per pick, to equal or exceed the amount of their
Roster Penalty.
The PV
is a fixed number for team defenses, kickers, punters, and graduated for
6-5-4-0 and pass rush for rated players. Runners, QB’s, receivers are valued by
attempts or receptions. The value is based on their upcoming season the card
will be used for.
44 Man Roster:
A minimum exists for
players rated to play these positions:
2 QB’s, 2 HB’s, 2 FB’s,
4 WR’s, 2 TE’s
2 C’s, 3 OG’s, 3 OT’s
(and a minimum total of 6 players who can play offensive line)
3 DT’s, 3 DE’s (and a minimum total of 5
players who can play defensive line)
3 CB’s, 2 TS’s, and 2 FS’s (and a
minimum total of 6 players who can play defensive back). A player rated at DB
counts as one towards each of the position requirements, and as one of the
required 6 defensive backs total.
2 MLB, 3 OLB’s (and a
minimum total of 4 players who can play linebacker)
A player may be counted at multiple
positions, so your player rated at C/OG/OT can count towards the minimum at all
3 positions.
Team Defenses do not count as a roster
spot.
If a team has an injury or over usage
which depletes their roster (>150 % of passing ATT’s or >125 % of rushing
attempts), and undrafted player from the NFL (if possible) or AFL will be
assigned for that game. He will be terrible, as bad as I can find, a 0 or worse
J. But that will allow you not to
have to keep that 3rd QB or 3rd TE if you don’t want to.
Some teams may have such high rushing attempts for starter and backup, that one
player will always be eligible.
A player/team D can be released during
the draft as needed to draft a better player, but will not be eligible to be
drafted by any team until the beginning of the next round.
A player who isn’t
carded due to injury may be kept as long as he isn’t carded in the other
league (then he isn’t eligible to be kept). He may be kept on the 26 man exempt
roster at the position played the prior year, or as a 27-33 player. He is
considered a 0 for the present season with 0 attempts. They do count in base
value but their Performance value is 0, and they do not count as a roster spot.
Once the draft is completed, teams will
announce their 44 man rosters for the season at the same time.
Ten players or draft picks of rounds 1-10 may
be traded away from 1968-1972, which will be tracked by Trade Chips. Draft
choices in Rounds 11-20 do not count against this and may be traded freely
during trading periods, pending approval.
Each team get an allotment of 10 trade chips in 1968 to last for
five off-seasons. In 1973 each team will get 10 additional chips, and any carry
over from the 1968-1972 period will be added. Each 5 years, ten Trade Chips will be added to
whatever total remains. Trade Chips can never be traded, and are only
expended when you trade away a player or trade away a draft pick in Rounds
1-10.
In addition to being used in trades, a Trade Chip can also be
used to reduce
your cost of protecting players or team D by exchanging them for 300 points
when you announce your protected rosters.
You may acquire any number of players. The 4 expansion teams
will have no trade limitations in 1968, except that they cannot trade once the season
begins. They will have all 10 trade chips beginning in 1969.
Trading begins AFTER the pre-draft cuts and before the 1968
draft. After the Cuts in 1968, expansion teams will each draft 10 players from
our cuts and all teams may begin trading then.
Trades are not permitted from once the regular season begins
until the next off-season begins. During the draft, certain rounds may be
no-trade rounds to speed along the draft. In future years, trading will be
allowed from pre-cuts up until the first game. Only in 1968 will we have to cut
before trading, and this is to help stock the expansion pool. No inter-league
trading until 1970.
I appoint a 7-person committee for reviewing trades-NOT everyone
will be used on every vote with various conflicts of interest. I would probably
head this committee. No 1st Round picks for the future can be dealt,
only 1st rounders for the draft for that season. You can only trade
or acquire draft picks for the present season or the following year.
5. Usage/Injuries
Running attempts will be capped at 125 %,
and passing attempts at 150 %. These are the only caps in place on usage.
Receptions will not be limited, but a player’s real life reception total will
determine how many games he can play.
The player becomes ineligible for the
regular season once this is reached or exceeded. If they begin a game under the limit, they may break it as much as they
want in that game, but once exceeded, their regular season is over after the
game.
The 125 % / 150 % are chosen to help with
the fact we are using 16 teams of an 22-26 team professional football league.
There needs to be quite a few available passes and rushes to go around.
Injuries will be used, but not SOM random
injuries. There will random injuries, determined each week before the pre-game
files are emailed using a public lottery. If injuries exhaust a team’s depth
chart at a position, the League Commissioner will assign a scrub player (a zero
to be sure) for that week. Special teams players can continue to play special
teams if injured, though if they also play another position and are injured,
they are only able to play on special teams
NON-SKILL POSITIONS
A teams 11 starting defensive
players and 5 starting offensive linemen (league office may
substitute a player if a backup is deemed better than designated
starter) will miss a minimum of 1 game from scrimmage if they played 14
games (they still can play special teams and thus actually play 14 games). This
is to simulate 60 plays over a 14 game season (4.29 plays/game) all at once. If
SOM improves their injury system in a later version, consideration will be
given to it.
11 starting defensive players and
5 starting offensive linemen use the following chart:
GP=NFL games played (we must decide upon
our official source)
GM= League games missed
GP GM
14 1
13 1.5 (only 13 game players will
need to use a 1/2 game INJ...The player misses the second half of this game.)
12 2
11 3
10 4
9 5
8 6
7 7
6 8
5 9
0-4 10
The chart reflects a
"base" of 60 plays, or 1 game, for 14 game players, and
then an extra half game (set INJ at half for 13 game players) for players who
played 12 or 13 games. After that, for the 5-11 game players, the penalty for
games missed is a one to one basis, and the rare guys carded with 0-4
games will miss 10 of the 14. Each team will list these 16 players on a chart
of 14 games played. Their injuries may be spread out as they like.
The drawing in Week 1 will set the
starting point on the 1-14 injury for defensive starters and O linemen, and
week 2 will be the next highest week for each team. This will allow for more
realistic consecutive injuries for players missing more than 1 game, and will
reduce the number of things to look up each week.
The playoff system will be
slightly different, in that 14 games played players must only miss the 2nd
half, and the half-game injury for 13 game players is voided. The chart will
reset before the playoffs begin and a new starting point will be selected for defensive starters and O linemen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SKILL POSITIONS
Each injury will remove 7
chances from their total. So if they have 7 injury chances or fewer, they
miss a max of 1 game, if they have 14 chances, a max of 2 games, etc.
This 1-100 chart only uses 14
"draws" per year, so these guys may or may not get hurt as much as
they should, but QB (150 %) and RB (125 %) are also limited by attempts.
Receptions are not limited, nor are rushing attempts for QB's since we use QB
ER limits in game.
When a number is drawn, say 54, any
injured players will have 54 removed as well as their next 6 highest
numbers from the chart. So if a player with 20 chances per 100 draws an INJ,
the next week he has a 13 in 100 chance of being hurt.
We will use "linked" injuries
as we did in 1964, where you spread out your skill-position injury chances
out from 1-100 so that only 1 of your top 3-4 runners/receivers/QB's can be
injured in the same game. These are listed by QB, RB (HB and FB), and REC
(includes TE).
The playoff
injury system for QB and RB will be based on allowed usage:
Non-INJ
QB = 20 % of their NFL seasons ATT's, RB =15% of their NFL
seasons ATT's
Injured
QB or RB gets 5% ATT's.
WR
and TE use their regular season chart that will reset before the playoffs
begin.
Injury frequency for
QB-HB-FB-WR-TE will be determined by their rushing attempts, passing attempts,
or receptions. The
coach will select the injury “chances” before the schedule is generated. If you
have a QB who can play 12 games, and his backup can play 8, you can stagger
them so that one of them is available for every game. But you won’t know until
that week’s game who (if anyone) is hurt that week.
Allowing linked injuries (chosen by the
coach) for your RB’s, QB’s and WR’s is done because SOM only rates so many
players and we are using 75 % of the players. Each position (QB, RB, WR) will
then have their week-by-week injuries assigned a random “starting point” in the
schedule. A random starting point for QB, RB, WR will be determined by lottery,
so that a coach cannot set his lead runner to be healthy if his QB is hurt that
week.
Most weeks we will average 1 starter hurt
on each side of the ball. Players who punt, kick, or return will always be
allowed to perform those duties regardless of injury.
Each injury chance is a 1-100 chance of
being hurt for each game, and which number 1-100 will be determined by a public
lottery.
So if my starting QB had 259 attempts, I
look at the chart and see the injury chance for a guy with over 250 but less
than 260 attempts is 4. So he has a 4 % in 100 chance of being hurt each week,
or 1 in 25. He probably won’t get hurt much if at all. If my starting QB had
only 130 attempts, his chance of being injured each week is 16% of 100. On
average, he will miss about 1 of every 6 games.
If a player suffers an injury, then his
injury chance for future weeks is reduced by 7.
So as an example for QB’s, I have a QB
with 160 attempts, another with 120 attempts, and another with 20
attempts.
QB 1 = 13 injury chances. He is assigned
1-13 by the coach.
QB 2 = 17 injury chances. He is 14-30.
QB 3 = 30 injury chances. He is 31-60.
I will have all 3 healthy on 61-100.
A team may set their #1 HB to be hurt
1-9, and their # 2 HB to be hurt 10-22, and their # 3 HB to be hurt 10-36
because they want the # 3 guy healthy as often as possible when their poor #2
HB must play. The random starting point will then be added to the HB injury
rolls, say the starting point is rolled as 60. Then HB #1 misses 61-69, #2
misses 70-82, and #3 misses 70-06 (70-00, and 01-06).
The 1-100 number will be random,
generated from a public lottery (http://www.txlottery.org/online/pick3.cfm)
just before that week’s games are played for both the regular season and
playoffs. In the playoffs, a players original injury figure will be used, but
teams advancing to Round 2+ will have players suffering an injury have their
chances reduced using the regular season method.
6. Schedule/Playoffs
Regular Season: 1964-1977 14 games
With 12 NFL teams, division members
will meet twice (10 games) and will play 4 games total against the 6 teams
in the opposite division.
With 8 AFL teams, each team will play one
another twice.
No overtime except for playoffs until 1974.
Playoffs 1964-1969
NFL-2 Division Winners and 2 wild cards
make playoffs. Teams are seeded by record, and the #1 seed will host the worst
wild card, and the opposite division winner gets the #2 seed and hosts the top
wild card.
AFL-Top 2 teams meet in AFL Championship
Game.
A Super Bowl is held between AFL and NFL
winners.
Playoffs 1970+
2 Division Winners and 2 wild cards make
playoffs in each Conference.
Tiebreakers
* 11-1-2 counts as 12 wins (ties are 1/2
wins)
Winning pct is not used here. Using W-L
record in Tiebreakers, 1-0 is better than 0-0, 0-0 better than 0-1, 2-1 better
than 1-1. Teams don’t need to face same opponents or have equal # of games.
In tiebreaker process, if 4 teams (example
AA, BB, CC, DD) are tied for 1st, and say using Tiebreaker # 5 AA wins, BB and
CC remain tied, and DD loses. At this point, AA gets # 1 seed and DD gets # 4
seed. Teams BB and CC go back to Tiebreaker 1 to begin the tiebreaker to
determine the # 2 and # 3 seeds.
Point differential is not used in playoff determination.
7. DRAFT
The draft is non-serpentine, and based on
the order of finish, with one exception: A lottery draw for the top 2 picks is
held, for non-playoff teams. The 3-12 slots in NFL and 3-8 in AFL will be based
on worst seed.
Rounds 2+ will be based solely on worst
seed. Some will forfeit picks in early rounds to retain more than 26 players or
a Team Defense. Teams can continue to draft until they reach 44 players, but
must cut someone if they wish to draft after 44. Any cut player re-enters the
draft pool at the beginning of the following round.
Lottery chances per 100.
NFL Seed (chances)
1-30
2-25
3-15
4-12
5-8
6-6
7-3
8-1
AFL Seed (chances)
1-30
2-27
3-20
4-13
5-5
6-2
http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/stats.nsf has annual stats (some inaccuracies exist)
7. Other Notes
QB-WR fumbles are determined by averaging the F Rating
for the Starting QB (counts double), SE, FL, TE. (QB+QB+SE+FL+TE)/5, rounded up
if 0.5 or higher.
While I will retain final say on all
matters (as I believe it is important for someone to have that), I will be very
open to ideas and input on the league and ways to improve it. I want a very
stable league in both player retention and coaching, but believe there must be
some safeguards to keep the league fun for all.
A five person Executive Committee reviews
rules, injury or formation violations. Joe, Brad, Dan, David, and Ron serve on
the committee.
A five person Trade Committee will review
all trades, unless involved. The committee will be Tim, Tom, Ron, Rob, and
David. Alternate is Kurt.
If a franchise is abandoned, it will
remain in the league, coached/managed until a new owner is found. We will
expand both AFL and NFL in 1968 by 2 teams each, bringing AFL to 8 and NFL to
12. This will make each division in 1970+ 5 teams instead of 4.
In 1970 2 NFL teams, Adeline and Crystal
Lake, will move to AFC and form a new 4-team AFC division with 2 teams from the
old AFL, High Plains and Great White. The player pool for drafting will be
combined in 1970.
44 man rosters, separate player pool for
AFL and NFL (players who switch leagues will become free agents in the new
league) from 1964-1969. Each year team rosters remain intact minus cuts and
draft picks.
You should look at your team for now and in future years, look at
the teams in your division, and create your draft strategy. The first few
rounds in future years will have team defenses and a few new star players or
cuts, but the later rounds will be filling out a 5th LB or 6th
DB, or drafting a prospect who will help down the road.
I prefer realism to anything, but because
of practicality believe for all intents and purposes for the league, SOM most
current rules will serve as the 1st guideline for our rules. If they
are really against what we want, we may change them. But to me, we will usually
adjust, as v4 becomes v5 and v6, rather than stick with v4 rules. I want to use
the standard SOM computer rules at the time our season is played as our
baseline, not v4 just because the league begins with it. If v5 is out, we will
play with v5 rules probably.