Future Changes
Dime Defenses Allowed 1973. Same as
3-3-5 restrictions AND not vs.1 or 2 WR offenses
1970 Merger, Cannot draft Team
Defenses
1971 New Protection System (40)
1972
1973 Dimes (only vs. 3 WR sets)
1974 3-4 Defenses, Goal Posts +10, Overtime
1975 Shotgun allowed
1976 Expansion (20 to 24), Limited
Protection for Expansion Draft before trading
1977
1978 16 game schedule, Empty Flat
Guessed Wrong
Adeline Assassins Cowboys
Motor City Tanks Rams
Dallas Destroyers Steelers
Cape Fear Leviathans Colts
Crystal Lake Butchers Vikings
Temecula Typhoons Lions
Dracut Middies Redskins
Severna Park Slugs Packers
Cincinnati Celts Falcons
Brazos Generals 49ers
Manhattan-N Riflemen Giants
North Dallas Spotted Rats Bears
A. Trading Opens 4-24-14
B. Announce 26 man protected
rosters + Team D + additional players 27-33 + forfeited draft picks-,5-3-14
11:59 PM Central.
C. Drafts begin by email 5-5-14.
D. Teams announce starters on
offense, defense, and special teams 6-1-14.
E. Teams make injury grids.
Injury charts created 6-8-14.
F. League File completed with
schedule and lineups 6-8-14.
G. Season begins around 6-12-14.
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
If a QB is replaced after playing
(except for a mistake on opening snap of half, running play only), he may not
return until the following half.
Looser substitution restrictions are
checked, however positional switches are not allowed between HB / FB or FS / SS.
Exact positions for starters will be announced before the season (LG, SE),
requiring a starting LG or SE to play that position all season while in the
lineup.
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 allowed:
1st or 2nd Down: Only
if 2:00 or less left in half, ball on either 1-5 yard line, OT
3rd or 4th Down: 2-pt Conversions-anytime
3. Positional rules
Starters will be permanent for
an entire season. No in game, down by down switching. Teams may only
replace their QB once per half.
The starting TE must remain at RTE
in 2 TE sets. The starting 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. Your
starting ORT 5-4 can move to play G (if rated) when a starting G is hurt, but
the starting ORT may only play ORT. 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 or a FS Blitz is picked when not
allowed, a timeout isn't required. You cannot throw or run to the injured
player if he appears by mistake or FS Blitz if not allowed on that down-the
defense can just accept the added sniper. Illegal formations require a timeout.
A coach should check his 3 or 4 major
formations 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.
One kicker handles ALL FGA, XPA,
and Kickoffs. One Punter always punts.
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.
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 With Penalties I look for
variety and just below normal for that year.
KO and Punt coverage are meant to
be normal for that year, KO and Punt coverage are based on both average and
TD’s for that year. I often add a KO or Punt coverage return Long Gain on 12
(with the desired coverage average balanced with low yards on rolls of 7 and
8).
4. Rosters
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 (or a 2nd,
or 3rd + 4th Round). Draft League Defenses pay nothing.
Eligibility: Only players rated by SOM on the1970 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 40 players are announced before the draft, allowing teams to protect
up to 40 players. This is for protection purposes only before the draft-you
are not required to play or start a player at a position you protect them at.
If you don’t have a valid player
at a position (say your punter retired…I mean all of these guys have retired,
but you know what I mean), the slot is left vacant until the draft and still
counts against the 40 man roster (you should protect the uncarded punter unless
he retired. No substitutions.
The maximums at QB, RB, KO/P
Return, K, and P exclude uncarded players and those starting at another
position such as FS or HB. For Return maximums, Lone PR or Lone KO count
double. Each is measured separately.
|
|
1971+ |
1976 |
|
|
40 |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
QB (3 max) |
1 |
1 |
|
RB (6 max) |
3 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
Wild Card 1- anyone |
1 |
1 |
|
Wild Card 2 |
1 |
1 |
|
Wild Card 3 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
DB |
6 |
4 |
|
LB |
5 |
3 |
|
D Line |
6 |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
O Line |
7 |
5 |
|
WR |
4 |
3 |
|
TE |
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
K (2 max) |
1 |
1 |
|
P (2 max) |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
RET (4 PR or 4 KOR). Solo KOR or
PR count as 2 |
1 |
0 |
Wild Card 1- no restrictions
Wild Card-2 No QB/RB with 75+
attempts /no K or P
Wild Card-3 No QB/RB with 25+
attempts /no K or P
Team Defenses do not count as
a roster spot.
3-4 teams will get 1
additional LB spot and 1 less D-line slot
45 Man Roster:
A minimum exists for players
rated to play these positions:
2 QB’s, 2 HB’s, 2 FB’s, (4
RB’s total) 4 WR’s, 2 TE’s
2 C’s, 3 OG’s, 3 OT’s (and a
minimum total of 8 players who can play offensive line)
3 DT’s, 3 DE’s (and a minimum
total of 7 players who can play defensive line)
3 CB’s, 2 TS’s, and 2 FS’s
(and a minimum total of 7 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 7 defensive backs total.
2 MLB, 3 OLB’s (and a minimum
total of 6 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.
If a team has an injury or over
usage, which depletes their roster (>150 % of passing ATT’s or >125 % of
rushing attempts), an 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.
|
Active Roster |
|
|
45 |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
QB (3 max) |
|
4 |
RB (6 max) |
|
|
|
|
5 |
Wild Card 1- anyone |
|
0 |
Wild Card 2 |
|
0 |
Wild Card 3 |
|
|
|
|
7 |
DB |
|
5 |
LB |
|
6 |
DL |
|
|
|
|
7 |
OL |
|
4 |
WR |
|
3 |
TE |
|
|
|
|
1 |
K (2 max) |
|
1 |
P (2 max) |
Trading
Each
team received an opening allotment of 10 trade chips in 1968. Each year, 2 Trade Chips will be
added to whatever total remains from the prior year. Trade Chips
can never be traded, and are only expended when you trade away a player or
trade away draft picks valued at 300+.
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.
Trading begins before the pre-draft cuts
and ends just before the 45 men rosters are set. Trades are not permitted once
the regular season begins until the next off-season begins.
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.
The committee will be Tim, Tom, Ron, Rob, and David. All unaffected are selected to review a trade, and a majority is required to void a deal.
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 WR /TE’s real life reception total
will determine his injury frequency.
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 by 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 20 teams of 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. 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 (David provides research)
GM=
League games missed
GP
GM
14 1
13
2
12 3
11 4
10 5
9
6
8
7
7 8
6
9
0-5 10
The
chart reflects 60 assorted plays throughout the season served as a one game
injury, plus the complete games missed based on actual stats. So a player who
played 11 NFL games will miss 4 IFL entire games, and be available for every
play in the other 10.
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. 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 6 chances from their total. So if they have 6
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 5 highest numbers from the chart. So if a player with 20
chances per 100 draws an INJ, the next week he has a 14 in 100 chance of being
hurt. SO each actual injury removes 6 chances for a future injury and can
remove all chances.
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 6.
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
Division Rivals play twice (8
games), same conference-opposite division (3 games), and opposite
conference-rotating division each year (3 games)
Playoffs
2 Division Winners and 2 wild cards
make playoffs in each Conference. 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.
Super Bowl is between AFC and NFC
winners. Home field advantage will only be used for the conference playoffs,
not the Super Bowl.
Tiebreakers (Point differential is
not used in playoff determination.)
* 11-1-2 counts as 12 wins (ties
are 1/2 wins)
Winning pct is not used period.
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.
7. DRAFT
The draft is non-serpentine, and
based on seed, with two exceptions: A lottery draw for the top 2 picks of round
1 is held for seeds 16-20. Teams not selected for picks 1-2 will be seeded 3-5,
so the worst seed will pick no worse than 3rd. Rounds 2-20 are based on seed,
not the lottery which just affects the top 5 picks of round one.
Also, the prior champion will pick
last beginning in 1971.
Lottery chances per 100.
NFL Seed (chances)
20 seed=40
19 seed=30
18 seed=20
17 seed=8
16 seed=2
Any cut player re-enters the draft
pool at the beginning of the following round.
IFL Franchise will expand in 1976
from 20 to 24, when the NFL grows to 26 with Seattle and Tampa Bay joining the
NFL. We will consider adding some poor cards from a prior year if needed with
our strict attempt limits, or by having some poor QB/RB’s be without limits. Trading
will not be allowed until after the expansion draft and teams will only be
allowed to protect 30.
Expansion Draft- Each Conferences’
expansion team will select 2 players from each team in their conference, and
then the existing teams can protect any 2 additional players. The expansion
team will select 4 more players from each team in their conference giving them
a roster of 30. The expansion teams are not required to make cuts or meet any
positional requirements before the draft, just when the final rosters are set.
The new teams will pick 6-7 in
each round, with bonus picks at 15-16 and 27-28 in Rounds 1-3 in 1976. After
the draft, the expansion teams will be considered regular teams with the
possible exception of a relaxation of QB/RB attempt limits for some poor
players.
I will retain final say on all
matters (as I believe it is important for someone to have that), and 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, Dan, David, Ron, and I
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.
In 1970 NFL teams Adeline and
Crystal Lake moved to the AFC to form the new 4-team AFC Marine Division with 3
teams from the old AFL, High Plains, Great White, and Sydney. The player pool
for drafting will be combined in 1970.
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. I want to
use the standard SOM computer rules at the time our season is played as our
baseline if they improve the game for our era. Future or potential changes are
announced immediately,