Deeper Dive
Looking Into Three Replay Plotlines
Storylines
Instead of writing another bit of uninformed football strategy for you, I’ve decided to take a closer look at some of the plots that have emerged in this replay.
I think that those of us who perform single team replays in any sport tend to become too fixated on the drama surrounding our own team. Sometimes it’s nice to take a look around and see what else is going on.
There are a few massive surprises as we reach the halfway point of the 1980 season. Here’s a look at three of them.
The Undefeated Redskins
As you can see above, the Washington Redskins are undefeated.
At 7-0, they’ve already surpassed their real-life record of 6-10. And they just keep on winning.
Joe Theismann has had an excellent season so far, which is part of the reason behind Washington’s success:
However, if you compare these stats to his reallife numbers you’ll see that they’re actually pretty close:
Washington’s big runners have gained more yards than in real life - but that seems to be true of every team:
The real difference in this project seems to be Art Monk:
Again, these statistics aren’t extremely different from what happened in real life. Washington’s had a bit of luck, and also seems to have benefitted from good play calling.
Green Bay Packers
Green Bay has also played well. They beat us, as you’ll recall.
As was the case with Washington, Green Bay’s quarterback isn’t exactly playing over his head:
The difference has clearly been Ivery:
Ivery has also somehow become Green Bay’s top receiver:
I think this is due to the tendancy that quarterbacks have in the latest version of Action! PC Football to dump the ball off to the running back. Some people on the forums speculate that this happens a bit too frequently. I think that’s what we’re seeing here.
9.5 yards per reception is really good, by the way.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers have been the other surprise. The reigning World Champions lost their dynasty in real life, but that dynasty is holding strong so far in this replay:
Bradshaw has been healthy, which has made the difference:
And age and fatigue have apparently had no effect on Franco Harris:
Rushing in general in this season seems a bit overpowered, with star running backs having far too many attempts and gaining yardage left and right. This was the case before I turned the overaggressive fatigue system off; it’s almost certainly going to be even more of a problem going forward.
The Pittsburgh passing game hasn’t been overwhelming, but it’s been good enough.
And we face Pittsburgh this Sunday. Wish us luck!