Manster

Yes, and it's always when you see in the matchup screen when you think you've got a big player advantage in some area. Played a guy tonight who was starting a silver (SILVER!) safety and I thought to myself, somehow I am taking the L. Several overthrows, dropped passes and stuffs at the LOS later and it was fact.   And if your L15 coach is going up against an L4...yeah, you are probably in for a long game. I wondering if there is some overactive balancing mechanic in play that tips the scales.

I've not lost 26 but for some reason, whatever the mechanics of the matching system, you get stuck playing against teams vastly superior to your own and there are definitely losing ruts (in Ranked, not so much in Unranked). My personal rule now is once I lose two in a row I quit playing Ranked until I've done at least one Claim.  I'm fine with the random chance of facing a team that is vastly superior to yours; just the way it works. But throw us a bone and give us a chance to play the Buffalo Bills every so often, too. I don't think there's a time in the past several weeks where I've faced a team whose power ranking was at or more than a + 1 in my favor.

Drew an elite PR on one of my early game freebies. Figured he was about worthless considering how little punts would factor in the game. After letting the ball bounce off his helmet three times, his worthlessness is confirmed.

So I got to thinking and checked the coaches progression and the points you get from pressures. Sure enough, the higher the level of the coach the more points appear to be associated with the counters/pressures. If you look at the number on the top right of their cards it shows the differences. For example, Shanahan's "Minor Minimal Gains" number is 60 at level 2, but at level 3 it is 75.  That's consistent with all the coaches.  May have been something already noted in the forums, but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere.

So I got to thinking and checked the coaches progression. Sure enough, the higher they level the more points appear to be associated with the counters. If you look at the number on the top right of their counters it shows the differences. For example, Shanahan's "Minor Minimal Gains" number is 60 at level 2, but at level 3 it is 75.  That's consistent with all the coaches.  May have been something already noted in the forums, but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere.

I was wondering if anyone had figured out a rhyme or reason to the nature of the pressure challenges one receives. From reading the posts, it appears completely random. Sometimes I'm playing and receive reasonable pressure challenges (run 2-3 yards, etc.). But other times the opponent throws  nonstop haymakers...pass for 12 yards, Rush for 10 yards...I don't know if this has to do with the coach's level or what, but it would sure be nice to know.  I kind of like the overdrive challenge format but I'd sure like to understand how it works better.

I am not understanding something in this area of the game and haven't found an answer in the video tutorials yet... When playing H2H, you see where you've been presented with a challenge (run 2 yards, pass 6 yards, etc.) I've noticed some people I've played seem to jump straight to rather difficult challenges to accomplish: Score a TD using Play Action or Rush for 8 yards. Is there something that influences the difficulty of the challenge you must overcome to beat the counter?    Also, I find the fan gains/losses quite frustrating. It is particularly difficult making progress in later tiers. I hope that's something EA will address. Thanks for the help with understanding the defensive tactic challenges and how they work.   Edit: duh...spell much?  Tactics...Sorry for the fail.