Madden 15 Rules

1) KICKING GAME RULES:

PUNT RULE - You must punt when the ball on 4th down if it is in your end...
unlesss:
a) your behind in the 4th quarter...
b) your behind 3 scores or more anytime...

* QDiggity CAVIAT - if score is TIED in the 4th quarter - you can do 4th down gamble without restriction  (this situation occurred in our game & he got screwed in this situation - hence it made sense to create this addendum)

note: when receiving a punt, you are NOT ALLOWED to take an extra blocker off the "D-Line" and bring him in a better blocking angle position... (if you want to bring a player back beside the kicker, move the players over-top of the Kick coverage team's gunners who already drop back on the sanp of the ball...)

- POOCH PUNTS are banned!

XTRA POINTS & SHORT FIELD GOALS - on XTRA points or field goal attempts inside of 30 yards,  YOU CANNOT MANUALLY MOVE ANY PLAYER (unless its a fake...)

2) QB is PROHIBITED from doing UNREALISTICALLY LONG DROP BACKS A QB cannot drop back farther than 12 yards from the Line of scrimmage...

note - the distanced dropped back in the pocket applies regardless of pressure and scrambling ability...

QB is PROBIBITED from doing UNREALUSTIC SPRINT OUTS (on pass plays that are designed for being thrown from a standard pocket)...The QB cannot move laterally (as a preplanned sprint out) more than 5 yards outside of the pocket in pass plays that are designed to be thrown from a standard pocket UNLESS he has been in the pocket - MAKES A LEGIT READ and movement outside of pocket is warranted by that read (because of throwing angles or flow of the play)

note - the LATERAL movement of a qb does not apply to ON THE FLY QB scrambles that were forced because of pressure from the distance (if a player is chasing you and forcing you outside, you can run laterally as far as you want)

example of ILLEGAL sprint out:



ON THE FLY SCRAMBLE:

example of LEGAL sprint out (QB makes a legit read that forces him out of the pocket - and that turned into an on the fly scramble so he is allowed to move laterally as much as he needs to because a defender is pursuing him!):



LEGAL Extreme Limit of the rule:

Notice in the example below the QB is not being forced out of the pocket but he LIMITS his lateral or outside movement to 5 yards out of the pocket (he only moves further outside of the pocket when a pass rusher forces him to...) - great example of limit to the rule... THIS IS A LEGAL PLAY!



3) You must PASS RUSH a minimum of 2 players EVERY PLAY (that means no "gay" defense)... You are prohibited from moving a Defensive Linemen off the Line of Scrimmage (to a traditional LB starting position) before the snap... If you want to play with less DL and more LBs or DBs than call a defense that has such a strategy implemented ...

SPY players do not count as a pass rusher

QB CONTAIN players count as a full pass rusher

Note: spy and contain were changed OCT 19/14 to reflect new play in the game...


4)ROSTER RULES:

Players played out of position must be REASONABLE and SIM like... (the most obvious example is that u cant play Offensive players on defense and vice versa) unless in an EMERGENCY SITUATION where injuries and fatigues demands this switch from a depth chart perspective... The acceptable changes of positions are as follows:

RB to WR
HB to FB (must be less then 90 speed)
TE to FB
FB to TE
OLINE is completely interchangeable

WR cannot play TE!

CB and safeties are interchangeable
LBs are interchangeable
OLB and DE are interchangeable
DE and DT are interchangeable
SAFETIES to OLB - 83 SPD or under; 80 HPW and higher required;

Note: if a change is not listed here - YOU CAN'T DO IT!

You cannot make Multi LEVEL switches (example move MLB to OLB, then from OLB to DE, then from DE to DT)

Note:changing players positions outside of this guideline is against the rules (and will result in forfeiture of that player for the season when he can be switched back to a position that is allowed within the rules...)


- If you drop a player you must wait 24 hours before you resign him.  This is to prevent guys signing FAs (or resigning current players) to huge contracts with no bonus - then dropping them and resigning so they get the bogus CPU generated contract (which is much less then the contract that was given just prior to land that player in the first place!)

5) Mix your plays up...We all have our "go to" plays - aka MONEY PLAYS but don't over use any one play... The exception being BASIC FUNDAMENTAL PLAYS that are "main stays" of all offense (example - dives, offtackle or sweeps... and blitz counter passes) - if a defense dictates that a bliitz counter pass be used b/c the defense continues to BLITZ - the offense is not responsible to mix it up as his play call is actually dictated by what the defense calls...

Any NON-base offensive play cannot total more then 20% of your play calls


6) The use of known GLITCHES and ILLEGAL BLITZES (aka NANO BLITZES) blitzes is prohibited...

note - there are many BLITZES that may appear as "NANO " blitzes to some - while others see them sound strategy... A blitz will be determined ILLEGAL if there is no reasonable easy way to defend the blitz (after falling victim to a BLITZ - a player should easily be able to find its counter on subsequent plays) - iof this counter is not relatively obvious and easy to implement - than its an ILLEGAL BLITZ...

7) SNAPPING RULES:

NO HUDDLE: The offense can only use NO HUDDLE as a change of pace tactic.  That means no  more then 15% of their play calls can be NO HUDDLE...
This rule is suspended when:
A) At the end of the first half...
B) If your losing in the 4th quarter...
C) Your down 17 points or more...


3 SECOND SNAP RULE When the offense comes to the line of scrimmage they must wait 3 seconds AFTER THE LINE IS SET (this means all players who are getting in a 3 point stance have done so - 3 seconds begins when the last player is clearly in his 3 point stance...) - This is to ensure the Defense is able to have a reasonable amount of time to call their base play...
This rule is suspended:
A) in the last 2 minutes of a half - when offense is doing HURRY UP
B) if the offense is down 14 points or more...
C) if the offense is behind in the 4th quarter...

* there will be times when the offense doesn't call their play in time and they will have to SNAP ASAP to avoid a delay of game penalty - you can do this a handful of times each game (but this cannot be a tactic you use to circumvent the rule...)

Example of illegal quick snap - Aka breaking the "3 second snap rule"




MILIKING CLOCK RULE - aka BIGMULLET RULE: You may not milk the clock unless there is 3 minutes left in the half... Milking the clock is defined as repeatedly letting the play clock run down below 10 seconds...
* There will be times when you are indecisive or making subs and cannot snap the ball within these guidlines - AND THATS FINE IF IT HAPPENS OCCASSIONAL - it just cant be something that happens consistently... (no more then 15% of your snaps should run below the threshold)
* you can RUN CLOCK in the last 3 minutes of 2nd quarter and 4th quarter (your opponent needs to use his time outs to prevent the clock from running out at the end half / game....

note: changing offense tempo to CHEW CLOCK by pressing L1 is banned unless your in last 3 minutes of 2nd or 4th quarter... (Of course in a blow out if both teams agree this can be rescinded)

Added caviat: MILIKING CLOCK RULE - aka BIGMULLET RULE: You may not milk the clock unless there is 3 minutes left in the half... Milking the clock is defined as repeatedly letting the play clock run down below 10 seconds...
* There will be times when you are indecisive or making subs and cannot snap the ball within these guidlines - AND THATS FINE IF IT HAPPENS OCCASSIONAL - it just cant be something that happens consistently... (no more then 15% of your snaps should run below the threshold)
* you can RUN CLOCK in the last 3 minutes of 2nd quarter and 4th quarter (your opponent needs to use his time outs to prevent the clock from running out at the end half / game....

Before the game if you tell your opponent that you MAY end up running the clock because you make subs, call audibles etc - and that causes clock to run under 10 seconds, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO TRY TO OFFSET THOSE PLAYS WITH SNAPS WITH OVER 17 SECONDS ON CLOCK;
- furthermore your opponent has the option of requesting a a 1 minute longer quarter to make up for the time that inadvertainly gets run off (this must be offered to opponent before game) - if it's declined Bigmullet rule implications are void..,


STAT MAX rule - if your playing the CPU or you are up 24 points your players cannot go above the following stat totals:
QB 500 passing 5tds
HB 250 rushing 3tds
any player who catches a ball - 250 receiving 3tds

Combo stats:
* after qb goes over 100 yards rushing - those rush yards count on his passing totals... (Example qb rushes for 175 yards - he can only have 425 passing yards)

- qb rushing tds after 2 tds come off his passing totals (example qb rushes for 3 tds - he can only pass for 3 tds instead of 4)

- HB receiving yards after 100 yards come off his rushing totals... (Example HB gets 150 receiving yards he can only rush for 200 yards instead of 250)

- HB can only have 2 tds receiving then those tds come off his rushing total... (Example HB gets 4 receiving TDs - then he can only rush for 1 TD)

* there are no stat max for defensive players

THE WEASEL CAVIAT: the ESSENCE OF A RULE is always upheld when it can be reasonably ascertained.
- We cannot make rules for every situation that could arise! Players are expected to know the reason why rules are in place.  When situations arise where a rule has not been specifically referenced but the ESSENCE OF A RULE CAN BE REASONABLY ASCERTAINED - then that rule will be upheld based on that essence!