"The Defense Never Rests" Design Notes for the 1970 NFL Season (SOM Football v11)

"The Defense Never Rests"
1970 NFL Season for SOM Football - Original Publication Date: October 21, 2010 (et. seq.)

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1970 Design Notes:

Apologies to F. Lee. Bailey, whose book of the same name was actually published a few years later. Bailey had a relentless style in representing his clients, and these teams share this approach on the defensive side of the ball. The 1970 season could also be referred to as “Strat-O-Matic Punting.”

1970 is the seventh football season that I have done, and the fifth that I have published through SOM, which now puts me solidly in second place behind Mike Kane’s nine seasons:  

1983 USFL (unpublished on PC)
1957 NFL (Published 2006)
1958 NFL (Published 2008)
1959 NFL (Published 2010)
1984 USFL (Published 2011)
1974 WFL (unpublished on PC)
1970 NFL (Published 2011)

At 26 teams and 800 sides it is the largest season that I have attempted, and it took about five months and 500 hours to complete. I want to thank Stephen Beardslee for the tools he helped me with. These cut the time quite a bit from previous efforts. I also owe Dave Bowman, who was quite familiar with this season in real life, a vote of thanks for his insights.  

1) Every season presents at least one interesting design challenge. The 1970 season packages two of them, League Balance and Offensive Design:

2) League Balance- the NFC, consisting of 13 of the NFL teams prior to the merger, won 2/3rds of its games against the AFC and this conference is much stronger than the AFC this year. Generally the stronger running games, run defenses and interception balances belong to the NFC. Most of its mid-range teams, like Washington, Chicago, and Atlanta, are still very competitive against the AFC’s best.

a) The list of the best teams in the AFC would include Baltimore, a hold over NFL team that swapped conferences during the merger. Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the two other teams that shifted conferences, are not in the lower ranges of the AFC. The AFC’s worst teams- Boston and Houston – are very bad teams indeed. 

b) Even within the NFC, the Eastern and Central Divisions are very strong and these make for great teams and great cards. If the 1970 Vikings lack the fanatical leadership of 1969’s Joe Kapp, they can still make due with Gary Cuozzo and Bob Lee at QB with one of the greatest defenses of all time (more on this later). Detroit faces Minnesota twice and gets a lift from its schedule, one of the toughest of this season. Detroit manhandled SF, LA, the Raiders, and the Cardinals, winning teams all, while losing to the Redskins and Saints, the latter loss one of the most unusual outcomes of the year.  

c) The Eastern Division sports three winning teams and, potentially, a great race to the finish. The Cardinals beat Dallas twice behind a tough defense and a great set of running backs and sailed into December at 8-2-1. They dropped their last three to finish third at 8-5-1, but they still have Jim Hart and a quick striking passing game and halfback MacArthur Lane to rely on. The Giants have a very nice offense featuring Fran Tarkenton and Ron Johnson, and they were tied with Dallas at 9-4 on the final weekend, dropping their last match 31-3 in LA while the Cowboys won 52-10 in Houston.

d) While good teams, Miami and Baltimore, the best of the AFC, are not as strong as their records would indicate. They each played and dominated weaker schedules. Both teams were respectable defensively and could pass well, rare for the 1970 AFC, and Miami also added a sound running game. Even still, the Dolphins were shut out twice in the middle of their schedule.  

3) Offensive Design- my experience has been mostly with teams that ran for ~140 yards per game and where rushing was ~55% to 60% of the total offensive play-calling. Even the 1974 WFL, which is similar to 1970 in that it is an extreme defensive league, is still a run-first league. 

a) Run first leagues are easy to card, since the runners are easier to model, and there are many ways to “deny” a team access to the air if they should not have this available to them for playability’s sake. For instance, if you have a strong run-first Cleveland team with an infrequent but very successful passer, you can raise his defense right interceptions, give him a limited number of powerful receivers, or detune his offensive pass blocking. These items force the Cleveland coach to “spot” the passing game and run first, and they are the primary design elements of most Strat-made seventies seasons. As players, we are all familiar with these design elements, for lesser teams, SOM has the tendency to “choke the passer”.

b) But 1970 is an extreme defensive league and a passing league. In the days of two platoon football only 1952 and 1965 rivaled the low 3.83 yards per carry posted in 1970. Both the AFL and NFL averaged more yards per play in 1965 than 1970, though, and the 1952 NFL averaged fifteen more yards per game on the ground. 1970 is thus unique in that there are not as many breakaway runners as there would be in surrounding seasons, and its teams run about 51.7% of the time, a low number that would not drop as far again until 1980, when the NFL finally dropped below the 50% mark.

c) Almost every team has a veteran caretaker type QB they can rely on, and they did. 1970 does have strong quarterbacks, where there are a lot of veteran signal callers who are in their prime or still productive. Almost every team has one- John Unitas, Bob Griese, Bill Nelsen, Charley Johnson, Daryle Lamonica, John Hadl, John Brodie, Roman Gabriel, Bob Berry, Bill Kilmer, Jack Concannon, Bart Starr, Greg Landry, Craig Morton, Jim Hart, Sonny Jurgensen, Norm Snead, Craig Morton and Fran Tarkenton all dot the rosters. Most of them collected at least twenty thousand yards passing in their careers. They are aided by the occasional productive backup passer – George Blanda, Roger Staubach, and of course, Earl Morrall. It makes sense that coaches leaned heavily on these veterans in a season of transition at running back.

d) There are a few youngsters, too- such as Dennis Shaw, the 1970 AFC Rookie of the Year, who threw very well but was also mistake prone. Sacked 112 times in his first three years, he failed to develop and was gone by 1975. The worst quarterback starter in the 1970 set, however, Terry Bradshaw, as a rookie would find much more success ahead of him.  

e) An extreme defensive league coupled with a passing season presents design challenges not present in run-first models, since “choking” a running game also changes the passing balance. Each team’s design depends very strongly on its schedule, its runners, and QBs. These elements need to be designed and tested together. The model was - complicated. Probably the most satisfying aspect of this season was creating this model and solving this challenge. 

f) The typical 1970 season run defense rates “average to good”. The typical pass defense is between “average” and “average to good”. In SOM’s defensive normalization, the 1970 defenses grade out fairly strong. (Some people claim that retro SOM seasons and teams are not designed to play with each other, and normalized from season to season, but mine are. I am using the same data to model the normalization for each year, it is SOM data. And I consider season to season playability to be secondary in a sense to within-season design, but an important design parameter nonetheless.)  

g) 1970 has a lot of sub-par runners, in part because we do not see as many all-timers at the running back position as we would have in other seasons. The best runners are borderline Hall of Famers such as Floyd Little or very good types such as MacArthur Lane or Ron Johnson. We do not have the Jim Browns or Walter Paytons in this set, and some great runners, such as Larry Csonka and OJ Simpson, are not yet at their peak. Simpson was hurt and had his worst year as a pro in 1970; joining him on the sidelines were such players as Tom Matte, Gale Sayers, and Matt Snell.

h) The defenses and defensive ratings carry this set. Most other SOM sets feature great offensive talent, the high average wideouts, deep flinging QBs, or runners that can bull through keys. These types of performances are muted in this set, its qualities are more subtle. It will be tougher to score on the ground against defense after defense with 5’s and 6’s upfront and at least one 6 rated LB. The average cornerback is closer to a five than a four, they will tip away deep passes. The pass rushes and turnovers will frustrate coaches. You have to look at the interlocking effects of the season’s defensive cards very closely to appreciate 1970, and because they can be inscrutable, I would guess that this card set will be either loved or hated, with little emotion in between.  

4) Visual Design, and SOM History - I am a big fan of the old white cards. Where possible, I use as much of the unusual yard patterns and splits of the original season as I can, both as a design element and to evoke the original gaming experience for those who have replayed those cards. If you see an unusual split or yardage on a card it is likely there for this reason. That said, when I redo a season, the quantitation is going to change the baseline for some teams. While I aim for fidelity to the basic original design I am not completely required to present to customers a mere “update” to the 1970 season. Some design elements are going to change for the better; here, I will explain what these are.

a) The original SOM 1970 season was limited to four running backs and it required backups at each position, that is, there was going to be two FB and two HB positions on those cards even if this strained the actual usage for those backs. This led to some quirky and unrealistic cardings- Lane was listed as a FB for the Cardinals, with Cid Edwards the HB. This is not correct, Edwards is a blocking FB and Lane through his career played HB. 

b) There are numerous instances of these, and I’m not throwing rocks at the Game Co., c. 1970 – these were driven by the constraints of the four card system. With the new cardings and the addition of extra players I am freed from that constraint, and I am able to add an extra runner or two to fill out rosters. I have researched these positions and placed the runners where they belong.  

c) Note that Pro Football Reference.com is not an authoritative source, instead I have gone back to researched materials in written sources including starter lists and lineup lists. This may aggravate draft leaguers who were counting on the lineups listed on the original cards, and this is the first such set that I have done where this could be an issue. But I spoke to men in numerous leagues and their input was unequivocal - it is better to have the runners “recarded” to where they actually belonged in the NFL and in this set than to adhere to a standard that is outdated.

d) I have kept the old offensive and defensive ratings as much as I could, only changing ratings for backups such as Cedrick Hardman, who was rated the same (four) as the nominal starters on the old cards but has a much higher pass rush rating. The old cards gave credit to players like Hardman who shared time by rating them as fours or sometimes fives, but in this recarding, he dropped to a zero to reflect the fact that he mostly played on passing downs.

e) Sack data was obtained courtesy of fellow New Mexican John Turney, the expert at pre-1982 play by play analysis. You can google his name and read about his prodigious efforts. John graciously allowed me to use his data for this set. (Note- Detroit was based from ~60% of complete play by play and Philadelphia ~55%, and so the complete record for these two teams is estimated).

f) The sack data highlighted an unusual aspect of the original SOM cards- they reflected the offensive and defensive rosters at season’s end and often did not include men who were injured, traded, or cut in mid season. For a couple of teams this leads to unusual results- lineman Willie Townes of New Orleans, one of only five men on the team who can sack for the Saints at all, was cut in mid-season and thus does not appear on the original card. He has been added here, as have similar other players – Joe Robb of Detroit, Bob Tatarek of Buffalo, etc. Again, nearly every team had a need for extra players, especially on the defensive line. Note also that the Cowboys get Lance Rentzel back, and the Jets now have Matt Snell, albeit for a limited number of carries. Note also per the Raiders themselves, but contrary to PFR or Total Football, guard Wayne Hawkins is on the team as a reserve.  

g) Some mention has to be made of the 1970 QB starter files. There are six new QBs added to the 1970 season above the two per team. No QB over ten attempts is excluded. In naming the “starters” I took into account the number of attempts the QB had in the game in question, which means PFR might list a QB as a “starter” who had four attempts in the game over a reserve that comes in and throws twenty five passes, but I do not. I design both passing cards and defenses based more on who actually throws passes in a given game. 

h) I have changed my approach to this somewhat at Bob’s urging, but in general, still, in order to get these QBs their appropriate attempts, I use a somewhat different standard to judge a starter in our game than PFR will use in their records. Since the fidelity of the results from the cards depends on my standard starter list, I encourage you to use it.

i) A few great efforts stand out- Greg Landry still can drive his team with his running, John Brodie has a card that reflects his stature as NFL MVP, Duane Thomas is one of the toughest runners in the set, and Larry Brown is an all around threat. The QB run cards from Landry down are interesting to look at.  

j) No 1970 effort is better than that of the Minnesota Vikings defense. The Purple People Eaters were tops in total defense and scoring and posted 3.4 net yards per play allowed- 3.4 for opponent runs, and 3.5 for opponent passes. 3.5 yards per pass play is just absurd, they allowed only six passing TDs and had twenty eight interceptions in 14 games. The pass defense was almost two hundred yards better than in 1969, and three hundred and fifty yards better than 1971. Nobody achieved 200 yards passing against them all season and eight times they held opponents to less than a hundred yards passing for the game.  

Looking at the best teams from 1950 on for net avg gain per pass play:
1970 Minnesota – 3.5
1973 Miami – 3.5
1969 Minnesota – 3.6
1974 Steelers – 3.7
1977 Dallas – 3.7
1967 Green Bay – 3.8
1977 Atlanta – 3.8
These are estimates based on yards lost passing for sacks, and these are the only teams I found below 4.0 net yards per pass play. In short, the 1970 Vikings have the greatest pass defense of all time, and this is reflected in their cards. 1970 Minnesota has SOM Pro Football’s first Supreme Pass Defense, and it allows very little yardage, sacks very well, and has brutal interceptions. 

Fred Bobberts, Albuquerque, NM, October 21, 2010

"The Beginning of the End" Design Notes for the 1984 USFL (SOM Football v11)

Design Notes for the 1984 USFL (SOM FB V11)

Friday, May 13, 2011 5:24:48 PM

"The Beginning of the End"
1984 USFL Season for SOM Football - Original Publication Date: May 14, 2009 (et. seq.)

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The Beginning of The End

Dedicated to Don Imm, Pesky's Pole, Giant Jeff, and of course Bob Militello. This is is for your son, Bob. En Memento Mori - Reggie White, I wish I could be one tenth the man.

An alternate title might be "Fred's Fifth", since this is the fifth season that I did overall. It was also the first season I did that used every trick I know- a new QB model, RB modeling top to bottom, the full defensive model, a new 3-4 model, modeling passrushing, and the detailed QB starter charts. With only 18 teams and using five years in the making, this is the last teamset I did where I really felt like I had the time to hand craft every runner's card and receiving card, and so I think of this as one of my most personalized efforts. One thing that really helped is that I got Imm's Acta Sports gambling reviews of this season. Unlike sportscasters, gamblers analyze week by week every team's positions and weaknesses, and this data is actually VERY valuable to me as a designer, even if I do not know that "vigorish" is not exactly a type of candy.

The USFL relied on a time tested formula for growth in its second season, bidding hard for good young quarterbacks and runners. In an effort to keep costs down the WFL had not relied on this formula and few high quality QBs really emerged from this league (Danny White is the only WFL QB to have sustained later success in the NFL). The USFL followed the AFL model, and signed high quality players offensive players in its second season, such as QBs Steve Young and Kim Kelly, runners Joe Cribbs and Mike Rozier, linemen Reggie White, Gary Zimmerman, and Nate Newton, and receivers Ricky Sanders and Gary Clark. Holdovers from a similar approach in 1983 also dotted rosters - Arizona's Tim Spemcer, Michigan's Bobby Hebert and Anthony Carter, New Jersey's Herschel Walker, and Tampa Bay superback Gary Anderson.

Along with these superstars came others who starred, but came with less of a pedigree - runners Buford Jordan of New Orleans (214, 1276, 6.0, 8); Kelvin Bryant of Philadelphia (297, 1406, 4.7, 13); Chicago's Larry Canada (169, 915, 5.4, 7), and Oakland's Eric Jordan (143, 744, 5.5, 6) and receivers such as Birminghams' Jim Smith (89, 1481, 8) and Michigan's Derek Holloway (62, 1219, 9) all gave their teams a lift on the ground at bargain basement pricing. Mid-way through the 1984 season it became obvious that the existing financing structure of most teams was not sufficient to allow them to compete unless they could stick to relying on players such as the latter, rather than continuing the emerging bidding war with the NFL.

This difference in approach fractured ownership, but it united long enough to agree to suspend spring operations in 1986 an effort to compete for the lucrative fall TV contracts that would allow them to attract the best talent, and possibly to force a merger with the NFL. This decision was merited, but it also killed the USFL, since its survival now relied on the courts rather than the playing field to survive. This turned out to be a bad choice. With the adverse court decision came the end of the quaint idea (except perhaps in modern day Green Bay) that football could be community-based and could rely on personalities and innovation rather than high finance as its driver.

In football terms this era may have been the high water mark for on-field innovation. The 1984 USFL featured no less than five distinct full time offensive styles and three base defenses. The modern Eagle 4-2-5, the 3-3-5 zone blitz, the run and shoot - all of these schemes were tried during this season. Doug Williams readied himself for Super Bowl history playing for the Outlaws during 1984, and the season gave us Young and Kelly and the Fun Bunch II, but it also eventually established the NFL as the dominant source for Pro Football. No other league has yet challenged its supremacy, a whirlwind that we, as fans, may now be about to reap.

In design terms, the differing styles and varying approaches meet the full range of SOM options here in a season with the kind of team balance that as a designer you can only dream about. Of the NFL seasons only 1975 comes to mind in terms of similar top-heavy performance and individual color. After four seasons of 4-3 defenses and STD pro offenses we have the full range of the simulation finally available to us, and in this season year these flavors are not so much presented as they are unleashed. This is a season in color, finally, rather than in black and white.

The Top Six:

Philadelphia - 16-2, first in the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference and USFL Champions;
3-4 defense and std pro offense, some blocking back

-Philadelphia had the 1984 USFL's best balance, matching an Excellent - Good defense with a steady offense led by former Buccaneer understudy QB Chuck Fusina and future Redskin runner Kelvin Bryant. The Stars lost twice to New Jersey but taught football excellence to everyone else in the USFL on their way to the top seed in the playoffs. Their run to the championship was also amazing, as they allowed only 20 points in three games. Philadelphia finally trumped the Generals' tough defense in the first round, winning 28-7, and they outlasted the explosive 15-4 Birmingham Stallions 20-10 in the second. The Stars throttled Arizona for the title 23-3 behind all-USFL players William Fuller, Pete Kugler, Sam Mills, Garcia Lane, and Mike Lush.

Fusina, and Bryant were the big names on the capable Philly offense, but the line also featured the Oates brothers, Bart and Brad, T Irv Eatman, and G Chuck Comiskey. Fullback David Riley split time with blocking back Jeff Rodenberger with great effect, as Riley scored ten touchdowns on only 94 touches. Other solid players included former Charger receiver receiver Scott Fitzkee, and punter Sean Landeta, who lasted all the way to 2006 as the last active player in the NFL from the USFL.

Birmingham Stallions - 14-4, first in the Southern Division, Eastern Conference
4-3 defense and std pro offense

The record is a bit misleading, because the Stallions dropped the two games they played at the very start and very end of the season without former Steeler clipboard holder Cliff Stoudt under center. With Stoudt they were 14-2, and they won often enough to outpace the tough Tampa Bay Bandits to win the South. 1983's best running team added former Buffalo all purpose back Joe Cribbs to the backfield, but was Stoudt who gave the team the versatile passer it had lacked the year before. Cribbs held out for two games mid-season but still led the league with 1467 yards rushing, while future Steeler WR Jim Smith set the USFL receiving yardage record with 1481 yards. The line featured all USFL guard Buddy Aydelette and Tackle Pat Phenix, who plowed the lanes open for the league's second best scoring attack. The defense was capable if unspectacular, with linemen Dave Pureifory and Mad Mike Perko applying pressure up front, LB Herbie Spencer roaming sideline to sideline, and the ever dangerous Chuck Clanton in the secondary.

In the first round of the playoffs the Stallions crunched Tampa Bay 36-17 as Danny Miller kicked five field goald and Cribbs raced for 112 yards. But Birmingham suffered a bad case of stage fright in the Eastern Conference Finals, losing two fumbles while Stoudt threw three interceptions in their loss to the Stars.

New Jersey Generals - 14-4, second in the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference
3-4 defense and TE offense (Thanks Linus!)

The previous year's edition of the Generals had weaknesses up front and had rotated in three signal callers to no avail, and so Donald Trump's new management group sought to improve the defense and the quarterbacking. They made every right move, adding an entirely new linebacking corp (Jim LeClair, Bob Horn, Bobby Leopold, and Willie Harper) to linemen James Lockette and Tim Woodland, and former NFL safety Gary Barbaro. Barbaro immediately added presence to the secondary and the defense rose to a top three unit. On offense the top holdover was mutiple threat tailback and Heisman winner Hershel Walker, and Trump added help for him too, in NFL linemen Kent Hull, Wayne Harris and Doug Mackie, along with former Cleveland QB Brian Sipe.

The Generals sufffered from the loss of speedy wideout Danny Knight to injuries, and Sipe was clearly on the downside of his career, so the team installed a two TE offense featuring Jeff Spek and Sam Bowers and trampled its way to two 1,000 yard seasons from Walker and FB Maurice Carthon. With their dangerous veteran defense and powerful running corps this team could compete with anybody, and they bruised their way to two wins over the Stars in the regular season until finally succumbing to them in the playoffs.

Tampa Bay Bandits - 14-4, second in the Southern Division, Eastern Conference
3-4 Defense and multiple offenses, usually 2 RB 3 WR

The Bandits were the league's attendance leader and they were probably its best run franchise. As the architect of community friendly "Bandit -Ball", owner John Bassett eschewed expensive free agents from the NFL or the college ranks. Instead he built a winner out of replacement parts, such as NFL backups QB John Reaves (4092 yds, 28 TDs) and RB Greg Boone (1009 yards, 8 TDs). One of 1983's breakout stars, WR Eric Turvillion ("E.T") was slowed by injuries, but the emergence of second year man Gary Anderson helped to pick up the slack. Anderson, who would later star for the Chargers, ran for 1009 yards and 19 TDs while catching 66 passes. The line, featuring veterans Fred Dean, Dan Fike and rookie sensation Nate Newton, protected the QBs and made way for the runners well enough for the Bandits to post just under 500 points for the year.

The defense was led up front by NT Fred Nordgren and End Mike Butler, and LBs Kelly Kirchbaum and James Harrell, and the speical teams had Zenon Andrusyshyn as a kicker and punter to help them win the close ones. The Bandits stuffed enemy runners enough to keep pace with the Stallions for the entire year, but if Tampa Bay had a weakness it was in their secondary, and Brimingham exposed this in the first round of the playoffs in a 36-17 torching.

Houston Gamblers - 13-5, first in the Central Division, Western Conference
4-3 defense and run and shoot offense

Mouse Davis and his Run and Shoot offense exploded onto the pro football scene in the Eighties, with its debut coming here, in Houston. The Gamblers drafted Jim Kelly and surrounded him with a talented group of receivers, including the two league leaders in catches, Richard Johnson and Ricky Sanders. Scott McGhee, Greg Moser, Clarence Verdin and Gerald McNeil rounded out a corps that allowed Kelly to reach 5219 yards and 44 touchdowns as a rookie passer. Houston had a pair of bruising runners to run draws and keep teams honest in NFL veteran Sam Harrell and rookie Todd Fowler. Fowler was a particularly good free agent choice, as he tallied 11 TDs and 1000 yards on only 170 carries. In true Jack Pardee fashion, Verdin and McNeil, known as the Ice Cube, bolstered the league's best special teams, as they each posted a TD on a return. NFL vets Toni Fritsch handled the kicking and Dale Walters the punting, while the Gamblers' special teams hunted down and snuffed enemy returns.

The Gamblers started slow, as their young defense took some time to jell. An early season 52-34 blasting by Bobby Hebert and the Michigan Panthers left them at 3-3. Then the defense, led by Cleveland Crosby, Pete Catan and Kiki DeAyala up front and former Saint Tommy Myers in secondary started to put some pressure on enemy passers and the team was able to outscore their opposition enough down the stretch to finish 10-2 and make the playoffs. There they ran into the one matchup that was going to be troublesome - the Arizona Wranglers and their powerful defensive front four. Houston had allowed 82 sacks in the regular season as a by product of their high risk, high reward style of offense, and they could not hold a 16-3 fourth quarter lead against the Wranglers and Greg Landry, losing 17-16.

Arizona Wranglers, second in the Pacific Division, Western Conference, runner up in the USFL Championship Game
4-3 defense and std pro offense

The Wranglers were an enigmatic squad, posting a record of only 10-8 while outscoring their opponents 502 to 284. At their best they could beat anybody. But Arizona found unusual ways to lose early on in spite of their top ranked defense and ferocious pass rush. Linemen John Lee, Karl Lorch, and Kit Lathrop menaced enemy passers while the secondary of Bruce Laird, Frank Minnifield and Luther Bradley snapped up or tipped away enemy passes. With his team missing kicks, fumbling punts, and allowing safeties to start at only 4-6, coach George Allen revved up running backs Kevin Long (1010 yards, 15 TDs) and Tim Spencer (121 yards, 17 TDs) down the stretch.

This would be QB Greg Landry's USFL swansong and he went back to the NFL as a backup QB for the Bears after a great season, throwing for 65%, 3534 yds, 26 Tds, while often catching all-star WR Trumaine Johnson (90 catches, 1268 yards, 13 TDs) behind napping enemy secondaries. Tom Thayer, Gerry Sullivan, and David Huffman kept Landry's jersey clean while opening up holes for the Wrangler runners. The Wrangler offense rose and fell with the talented and explosive Spencer, and he did most of his damage during the stretch drive, averaging more than 150 yards a game in total offense and scoring ten TDs while the team won its last four in a row. Spencer also savaged the Houston Gamblers and the Steve Young-led Los Angeles Express in the playoffs before the Stars wrapped him up completely in the Championship game.

Competitive Design:

If you liked NFL football in 1984 or 1985, this is the set for you. The 1984 USFL team setup is slighly "pass-first", and a it is a wide-open offensive model, at around 5.2 yards per play. But the runners average about 4.3 - 4.4 yds per carry and they can punish you, along with half a dozen passers - Kelly, Young, Stoudt, Collier, etc. who can hurt you with their scrambling. Ed's excellent CMs for this season are set up to be a bit conservative, which can make them tough to score on. This will reduce the offensive balance a bit. The teams tend to run a lot of draws on third and very long if scores are close.

This is not unrealistic, especially for early USFL play, but I recommend for 1984 autoplays that gamers turn off the caps for runners and receivers. Being mostly distributive the CMs do not manage these limits well, like humans would, and the resulting increase in big plays from freeing runners and WRs will raise the scoring by about two points per game while releasing the CMs from the limits a lower score differential imposes. In other words, the offenses open up, and the ball really flies around the field!

The caps should be on for human on human matchups. People will figure out very quickly how to use formations to gain the advantage on their opponents, particularly offensively, and the set should play straight up head to head right down the middle of the stats with no need for any special rules jiggery-pokery.

(One thing I need to point out is the timing here is also different - the USFL had an obscure special rule which we did not have time to incorporate this year. The clock stopped on first downs inside two minutes for each half. This means the average USFL team would run 65-67 plays in a game, as opposed to 62-64 here. That difference, about fifteen yards per team per game, deletes about 250 yards of offense and lowers scoring by about 1.5 points per team per game.)

Visual Design:

The set is visually designed to look and feel like the original SOM set from c. 1985 or so, with its quirky specialty third down backs, big play receivers, thumping TEs, and breakaway runners. The best 1985 backs had big short gain chances defense right, and so we also see these here. The 3-4 defenses live and die with their nosetackles and pass rushing LBs, while the 4-3s apply pressure from powerful sub pass rushing DEs. A lot of teams have these, reserve star rated pass rushers, and when they are on the field you have to choose your blockers and receivers carefully in one back sets. 

"Redemption" Design Notes for the 1980 NFL Season (SOM Football v12)

Design Notes for the 1980 NFL (SOM FB V12)

Friday, May 18, 2012 2:06:36 PM

Editorial

“Redemption”
1980 NFL Season for SOM Football - Initial Publication Date: November 17, 2011 (et. seq.)

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Dedicated to Mike and Sara Payne – you have my prayers.
Special thanks to David Bowman and Tommy Nobis, this season is also for you.
In Memoriam, Al Davis, 1929-2011.

Oh Hell, Yes!
From the first jolt of the season – Detroit’s Billy Sims performing The Airplane in the end zone after a long TD in front of a stunned LA crowd at The Coliseum:

http://www.gifsoup.com/view/2045170/billy-sims-airplane.html

- to the last gasp - San Diego clinching the AFC West and home field advantage in a ‘win or go home’ game on the season’s final day while Eagles came back to lose by just enough to win the NFL East – 1980 provided many thrills and chills and unusual outcomes. This was the first season that illustrated the concept of parity in the NFL. After a decade of dominance by the Dolphins, Rams, Vikings, Cowboys and Steelers, we would start to see playoff teams arise from last place, and we got our first champions from the Wild Card round in 1980.

1980 is a labor of love, since I was old enough to be a Lions season ticket holder by this time, and I followed the year with high intensity. 1980 is an immense season, the largest that I have attempted or likely will attempt, ending at 28 teams and 847 sides. I started 1980 in April of 2009, before I took over the project and thus I had to shelve it for 1970, and I did not complete it until nineteen months later. During the V11 run up I continued to work on it on and off for over a year; it was restarted no less than three times while I did other projects. It took eight and half continuous months and six hundred hours to complete, in part because it needed some sixty extra players in addition to those found on the original cards. Every player needed for a 1980 replay is in here, and this includes men like Cleveland’s Calvin Hill, San Francisco’s Paul Hofer, Los Angeles’ Drew Hill, and Miami’s Don Strock, players that were critical in limited duty, but originally uncarded.

This season is one of the most interesting teamsets I have ever done, because it represents a unique moment in NFL history. 1980 was the tipping point between the modern offensive driven passing game, and the seventies ethic of playing defense and running the ball first. As such there are teams from both eras represented here – Philadelphia, Minnesota, and San Diego could win by throwing first and often, while Buffalo and Oakland rely on defense first while pounding the rock. Dallas, New England, Cleveland, Los Angeles and Atlanta can strike both on the ground and through the air, and as such they are very dangerous offensively in SOM.

1980 features eight thousand-yard rushers, seven QBs over thirty five hundred passing yards, and eight thousand-yard receivers. It is the year of the Superback – Billy Sims had 1303 yards on the ground, 621 through the air and posted 16 TDs to lead the NFL, but Curtis Dickey (13 TDs), Joe Cribbs (12 TDs), Walter Payton (1827 total yards) and Tony Dorsett (11 TDs) also excelled as receivers and runners. Dan Fouts threw for 4,715 yards and 30 TDs, while Earl Campbell pounded out 1934 yards on the ground. 1980 is a season of many such strengths and contrasts.

Sunday's Cinderellas

Quite a few journeymen QBs weathered this long season to provide some of the signature performances of their careers:

Brian Sipe is still a household name because of his performances in 1979 and 1980. Prior to 1979 he was only 22-22 as an NFL starter and he had never thrown for 3,000 yards or made a Pro Bowl. Even in 1979 he led the league in both TDs and interceptions – but in 1980 he put it all together as the NFL’s MVP, throwing for 4,132 yards and 30 TDs while leading the Browns to several late game comebacks in an 11-5 season. Sipe is not even in the top 500 players of all time – he passed for a mere 23,000 yards and made exactly one Pro Bowl, and yet, particularly in Cleveland, he is beloved. This was his year, at least until his final pass landed in the hands of Oakland safety Mike Davis in the AFC Divisional Playoffs.

For many years, there was always someone ahead of Ron Jaworski at QB before he finally earned his shot at stardom. James Harris, Roman Gabriel, and Pat Haden had kept him on the bench while for half a dozen seasons he struggled to complete 50% of his passes. The 1979 Eagle resurgence had been led by the defense and Wilbert Montgomery on the ground, but a funny thing happened the next year – Montgomery spent a lot of the season hurt, and coach Dick Vermeil turned to Jaws to shoulder the load. Jaworksi responded with his best season ever, throwing for a career-high 27 TDs and 3529 yards. Similar to Sipe, he would have only one more year after 1980 even close to this peak, and it would come very near the end of his NFL career, like a star that shines brightly again, just before it finally burns out.

Philadelphia game films of that year reveal a clever and multi-layered deep passing offense, the horizontal sight-adjusted attack favored also by Don Coryell, a scheme that looks very similar to the St. Louis Rams offense Kurt Warner runs twenty years later. The 1980 Eagles had several big play receivers and they would set up Jaworki back in the pocket a good nine yards back of the line of scrimmage and allow him to just howitzer the ball downfield for huge gains. At his best Jaworski made big throws to Harold Carmichael and Keith Krepfle and he just could not be stopped, and of course the Eagle defense did not allow for much error once he got a lead. The Eagles won ten of their first eleven until teams started to figure out how to get an extra man downfield to disrupt these routes, but by the playoffs Montgomery was back, and once again, opponents needed at least seven in the box to stop the run.

Steve Bartkowski was drafted by the Falcons in the first round of the 1975 NFL draft. And while he had had a taste of winning during the 1978 season, he still had thrown more interceptions than TDs during his career in every season he had played in as the new decade dawned. Previews of the Atlanta season predicted a 4-12 record, bemoaning that Bartkowski’s new TE, Junior Miller, was still playing behind Russ Mikeska in the preseason and that his team still was weak in the secondary, the main pinch point in 1979. They did not reckon on Bartkowski becoming an All Pro QB while triggering a league high 31 TDs, including nine to Miller, who led the team.

Bartkowski was adept at both throwing downfield and handing off to William Andrews and Lynn Cain, and he led his team to its first Division Championship and the top seed in the NFC at 12-4, before the clock ran out suddenly in the fourth quarter against the Cowboys in the NFC Divisional Playoffs. Had the Falcons held on they would have hosted the Eagles in Atlanta, and they might have made their first Super Bowl much earlier than the 'Dirty Birds'.

Danny White was quite possibly the best player produced by the World Football League, and the only quarterback who really had long term success in the NFL after that entity folded. Dallas had originally chosen him for his punting, but he carved out a rather nice career for himself as a starting signal caller between 1980 and 1985. He led the Cowboys to consecutive NFC Championship games in 1980, 1981 and 1982 and in 1983 he set a Dallas record for passing yardage that would stand for 25 years. Under his tutelage the 1980 Cowboys led the league in scoring and won 7 of their last 8 before dropping the NFC Championship Game to the Eagles on a cold day in Veteran’s Stadium.

The old white ’80 Cowboy cards were disappointing, but this team should contend. They have all the pieces; this is one of the top Cowboy offenses of all time. Tony Dorsett leads a deep and interlocking ground game, and Dallas can field good receivers at every position. On defense they sack and intercept well, and this team will battle Philadelphia for the East, something the old cards generally prevented.

By the time the curtain closed on the Rams’ shocking first round playoff loss to the Cowboys, Vince Ferragamo’s NFL career had already peaked. He had led the Rams to a 17-7 overall record in parts of two years, including an impressive fourth quarter lead in Super Bowl XIV over the eventual champion Pittsburgh Steelers the previous season. Ferragamo threw for nearly half of his career TDs in this season alone (30), and while he would post a 500 yard game against the Bears in the strike-shortened 1982 season he was never quite at the same swashbuckling best as he was walking in LA in 1980.

¡Sympatico!

Even now, some two decades after it has ended, it is hard to judge Jim Plunkett’s career. Clearly statistics alone do not tell the story. Of all the reclaimed QBs who found a reason to celebrate in 1980, no one could have anticipated what this year would mean to the former Stanford signal caller. He had endured so much losing since being chosen in the first round by the Patriots in 1971 that his choice to serve as a backup behind the more highly regarded Dan Pastorini in the preseason barely raised any eyebrows. The Raiders had traded an All-Pro Tight End, Dave Casper, to get Pastorini from the Oilers, and he was entrenched as the starter as the season began. The Raider line was porous early in the season, and Pastorini endured a pounding before finally being sidelined with his team at 2-3.

The Raiders had Plunkett’s arm and his wits left in reserve, and these turned out to be enough. He also had a fine coach in Tom Flores, a fellow soft spoken Mexican-American who had also played QB in the old AFL. Flores had been the NFL’s first minority QB, Plunkett would be the first Hispanic QB to win a Super Bowl. Plunkett led his team to a 13-2 finish, including road playoff victories over the Oilers, Browns, Chargers, and a win over the Eagles in Super Bowl XV. The defense, featuring Lester Hayes and Ted Hendricks, was strong throughout, but the real spark for the team was The Big Indian, who stood firm against enemy rushers while firing deep to receivers Bob Chandler and Cliff Branch.

The Raiders under Plunkett changed the NFL, because, offensively, they were not really a great third down team all year long. Teams at that time used to play to keep third down manageable. The Seventies goal for each offense was to convert more third downs, while defensively preventing the other team from doing the same. This style of play was a war of attrition that played into the hands of the teams with the most talent up front. The Raiders had the most talent downfield, and so what they set out to show the NFL was that it did not matter if you were three for thirteen on third down in a game if you hit enough plays for 20-30 yards on your first and second downs.

When the Raiders played the Eagles during the regular season at the Vet their offensive line was still in flux and they could not stop the Philly pass rush, which descended on the immobile Plunkett like a hive of angry wasps to the tune of eight sacks. But for Super Bowl XV Tom Flores devised some new blocking schemes and screen pass plays that kept Plunkett on his feet just long enough to throw over the Eagles’ umbrella defense. He responded with an MVP performance. Plunkett’s Raiders would go 8-1 in 1982 and he and Flores would also win another championship in 1983.

I'm more sanguine about this Raider team now, but at the time I was a Charger fan. I watched in disbelief as the perfect San Diego set-up - Fouts, Muncie, that defensive line, and those receivers all playing at home at Jack Murphy Stadium - got run out of their own ball park in the first quarter of the AFC Championship game by Oakland. I knew it was not going to be Don Coryell's day after that tipped ball to Chester. People forget Plunkett got those key runs on the final drive that sealed the win. I tend to view championships as the true test of a player’s worth under fire, and so to me, based on his playoff performances at his peak, Jim Plunkett is a Hall of Famer.

A look at a few items from a design perspective:

1) The Eagles are really two teams – one team with Wilbert in, the other with him on the bench. Montgomery has a top ten or so rushing card based on his limited play and 8 TDs, but when he is out you have to piece together a backfield out of Leroy Harris and Louie Giammona. Giammona and mate Billy Campfield are better receivers than runners, and so it is important to work them into the screen game by keeping down and distance manageable on passing downs. While Jaworski can move the ball on anybody, it will be important (as it was to Dick Vermeil) to broaden the lineup with your play calling to get the most out of the talent on hand.

(This was also Charlie Smith’s best SOM year, he keeps his sneaky and somewhat overcarded deep card in this set. It’s nice to go 12-4).

Thankfully the backstop is the Eagle defense. In the old set it was Excellent-Average to Good but upgrades to several opponents in the modern carding patterns have changed the balance. The Eagles are now Good-Excellent both ways, and the only limitations are the turnovers, where they are merely average. But you can expect to coach a grinding game out of their defense every week while scoring just enough to win.

2) No team gets a more interesting handling in this recreation than 1980 Dallas. As they were carded before it seemed that there was no way they could finish 12-4, not with their offensive and defensive limitations. They were not really a top six team. What a difference 30 years and a new quantitation makes. This team should battle Philadelphia in most simulations very evenly.

The second best pure runner in the 1980 NFC behind Walter Payton is not Billy Sims nor Williams Andrews nor Ottis Anderson. It is Tony Dorsett. Dorsett has fewer carries than some of the other dreadnoughts in this season, but the defenses he faced and the offense he is a part of help to ‘card him’ in such a way as to make him very tough to stop. Dorsett gets help from Ron Springs, who can be sneaky out of the backfield on pass plays, and Robert Newhouse, who can sledgehammer opponents inside.

The old Danny White could not throw long and had a lot of interceptions on his card, and while this version still does not have a booming deep card he is deadly short and solid flat. He can throw interceptions, but if you spot him well he has enough targets to choose from that he will be very effective. The line is strong enough to negate most weak side pressure, and he has great receivers in Tony Hill, Drew Pearson, Jay Saldi, and Billy Joe Dupree. They need to get it in close, but if they do Raphael Septien is a good finisher (2-10 inside forty yards).

The old Cowboy defense finished Average-Poor, but this team gets an upgrade to Average-Average to Good. They still have those two zero rated cornerbacks, but there is enough open space on the card and enough pressure up front to give coaches a chance at stopping the pass. They intercept well and force a few fumbles; this is a much more complete team than before.

3) The Redskins do one thing better than anyone else in 1980 – they play pass defense. Excellent pass defense. The division gives the Skins Hart, Jaws and White twice, they also faced San Diego, Minnesota and Atlanta, and they led the NFL with 33 interceptions. The run defense is terrible, but if you can get opponents into passing downs you can get Rich Milot on the field, and he gives you a second PR ten LB to bring some heat. The offense is pedestrian, but they do have some nice runners.

4) I may catch heat for it, but there are two kickers with 2-11 close-in ranges, Eddie Murray, Detroit’s NFC Pro Bowl starter (and Pro Bowl MVP), and John Smith of New England, the AFC starter. I have my reasons – the two men’s teams led the NFL in kicks made, and both were Pro Bowl starters. In this era consistency was more important than distance, and both men were very consistent for their careers in close. Fred Steinfort of the Broncos also had 26 made kicks and by modern standards would be the AFC Pro Bowl kicker (and he is a Fred); but 1980 was his only year over 57% kicks made and he was 22/26 (85%) for his career inside 30 yards. Smith may not have had the range of Steinfort but he was 48/52 inside 30 yards for his career; Murray 107/116, each a bit over 92%. These ratings thus reflect their “body of work” as much as this season.

5) Atlanta had a pair of defensive Rookies of the Year in Al Richardson and Buddy Curry, but the player who put them over the top defensively was rangy linebacker Joel Williams. Williams went from the taxi squad in 1979 to an All-Pro with 16 sacks in 1980. His Falcon record for sacks would last almost thirty years. This kind of emergence is astonishing; it is very rare to find a Pro Bowl level player languishing on the bench as a twice released free agent.

It came down to a subtle change in scheme – Falcon coach Leeman Bennett saw his potential in the 1980 preseason. Bennett installed a 3-4 scheme that used pressure from its outside linebacking in place of a hard rush from a second defensive end. This allowed Atlanta to play its zone packages while still rushing four men. It worked very well, from the moment Williams went into the lineup until he hurt his knee early in the 1981 season the Falcons went 15-4 with him as a starter.

6) This Charger team may represent the high point of the Air Coryell teams, with the great defensive line up front and Dan Fouts firing to no less than three thousand yard receivers in Charlie Joiner, Kellen Winslow, and John Jefferson. They also have midseason acquisition Chuck Muncie to hand off to. San Diego really does not get stopped so much as they sometimes stop themselves; the offense is a high wire act of big plays and occasional turnovers.

God, I loved this team. They really had talent everywhere, they had All Pros on the line, at LB and DB, on the offensive front, at QB, RB and receiver, and even the kicker. They should have won it this year, and that still stings, more than thirty years later. (This wound was reopened by Schottenheimer's '06 team.)

7) The Rams and Cowboys both have great ensemble running attacks, my favorite type of teams to card. The Cowboys can always hand off to Dorsett, while LA has a solid group of plodders (Cullen Bryant and Mike Guman) and burners (Elvis Peacock and Jewerl Thomas) who can sting enemy defenses under the cover provided by Ferragamo’s strong arm. Thomas has the season’s best freaky card, with only 65 carries but at 6.6 yards per crack. They also pick up Drew Hill as a deep threat.

8) All they needed was heart – this is a very talented New England team, particularly offensively, where two completely different quarterbacks drive the team. Matt Cavanaugh is a typical drop back QB, but this was Steve Grogan’s best year. He can throw it deep with the best of them, but he also throws 7.2 percent interceptions. They have great runners and receivers, and when they bring Mack the Sack (Tony McGee) off the bench they can get to enemy passers. But the defense is just too inconsistent, and the team will struggle to catch Buffalo, just as in the real 1980 season.

Fred Bobberts
Clearwater, Florida
November 17, 2011

REDUX:

The Central Challenge

The 1980 AFC has three great pennant races, with Buffalo and New England in the East, the Chargers and Raiders in the West, and a three team race in the Central. And of them, the 1980 Central is the best race and the toughest to win, because the Browns, Oilers and Steelers are all teams with great strengths and deep weaknesses. The Bengals have the running game and defense to occasionally beat any of the three, too.

Though the pass defense is poor, Cincinnati has one of the season's best run defenses. FB Pete Johnson and RB Charles Alexander each contribute more than 700 yards on the ground while WR Issac Curtis and TE Dan Ross can each hurt you on pass plays. This is not one of QB Ken Anderson's better down field years but he is near-maxxed flat, which gives Cincinnati the ability to move the ball well on half of their passing attempts using V3 rules. And they can be tough in replays. What will relegate them to last place in attempt-limited replays, especially with human replayers, is the need to sub in The Overthrowin' Samoan, Jack Thompson, for 230 plays. They also have the worst place kicker in the set, Ian Sunter, a fifties-type column, something you might have gotten away with as a winning team ten years ago. Not now.

The Steelers slipped a bit this year. Bradshaw was great, but was limited by injuries. The same thing could be said of most of the team's great players- Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier, Joe Greene, and Lynn Swann. John Stallworth had only 9 catches and is not carded, and so new names - Greg Hawthorne, Theo Bell, Gary Dunn, and Jim Smith dot the lineup. The team can still play run defense and run it a bit, and Bradshaw is one of the better deep throwers, but the team lacks the consistency of the 1978-1979 group and it shows in replays. They lack the depth to be more than a 9-7 team, although a talented Steeler coach can still steal an extra win here and there with his starters.

In the preseason, Houston gave up Dan Pastorini, who in my mind was underrated as a passer, for Ken Stabler, who had a few great years but by 1980 was overrated. At this point in their careers Pastorini had lost a bit of his accuracy while Stabler had lost his arm strength, in that sense, the trade was even. But the Oilers also received Dave Casper, who made the Pro Bowl that year. Houston paired him with Mike Barber and ran a very conservative 2 TE offense with Earl Campbell in the backfield. That combination produced Campbell's best year - 373 carries, 1934 yards and four two hundred yard games. His year might have been better but he actually missed a game.

The Houston defense is Good-Good and can stop anyone, so the trick with this team is to use those TEs and Stabler to move the ball enough to set up Campbell for the homeruns. Once you get it in close you start to lose the benefit from the TEs and the offense can have a hard time scoring TDs. Stabler will kill you with his picks on occasion, but the team is versatile and resilient.

I'm a Detroiter, and during this period we did not get many Lions sell outs, so we were lucky to get more than 8 Detroit games a year on TV back in the days before Sunday Ticket. CBS had the NFC back then, and the AFC was on NBC, usually with Don Criqui and Dick Enberg ("Oh, My!") as the announcers. On blackout days we could switch channels and see a few Miami games on NBC, and the Steelers, of course. The team we got the most was the Browns. I loved watching the Browns. See, like Detroit, Cleveland has a tortured history. Cleveland has not won a major sports championship since 1964.

The Browns were brilliant in the Fifties and they had Jim Brown in the Sixties, but their history since then has been almost bleaker than Detroit's - just a handful of winning seasons, mostly in two eras. They were a good team in the Bill Nelson era of the early Seventies, and they were a very good team for an extended period during the Sipe and Kosar periods from 1979-1990 or so. The 1980 season may not have been their best squad in that period, but it was their most entertaining. They were a comeback team, and they were fun to watch.

The 1980 Browns lived and died on the arm of MVP passer Brian Sipe, who has a great card, especially flat and short. He could stand and fire behind a line with three sixes, Tom DeLeone, Doug Dieken, and All- NFL guard Joe Delamielleure. Ozzie Newsome was a solid TE and Dave Logan and Reggie Rucker were workmanlike wideouts. But what made the Cleveland passing game special was the runners.

What Sipe used to do that just killed defenses was hold that ball to the last second and then, as the rush closed in on him, he would just sort of...flick it...to a back waiting just over the line or over in the slot. He used his backs in the passing game as well as anyone, and in this set his runners are what make the team a great passing team. Here's the list of his main receiving runners and their splits:

Mike Pruitt, FB, 63 catches, 471 yards, 0 TDs;
Greg Pruitt, HB, 50 catches, 444 yards, 5 TDs;
Calvin Hill, HB, 27 catches, 383 yards, 6 TDs;
Charles White, HB, 17 catches, 153 yards, 1 TD.

Not bad- that's 94 catches and just under a thousand yards and 12 TDs for the halfbacks alone. This would be normal in our modern pass-happy NFL, but only Minnesota with Rickey Young ran a similar offense in 1980. Walsh was just fine-tuning his variant, the one most teams play with now, in San Francisco back then.

The Cleveland defense makes games interesting, Good-Excellent versus the run, but Very Poor versus the pass. They give up completions on the missed interceptions splits both short and long, something that should keep Cleveland coaches wide awake during games. 

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"The Emperor's Team" 1992 Japanese Central and Pacific Leagues for SOM Baseball

"The Emperor's Team" 

“If you want Sundays off, don’t be a manager in my company” -Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, CEO, Seibu Group

Translated to V14 by Len Durrant. Featuring the fantastic 1992 Seibu Lions, the heir to the V-9 Giants.
1992 Japanese Baseball (Both Central and Pacific Leagues) with BP and Clutch. Includes cards for the 1992 Japan Series (Seibu / Yakult.) Original Publication Date: January 5, 2005.

Dropbox Link for 1992 Japanese Baseball (SOM Baseball)

Link to all Strat-O-Matic Baseball Content

"The Gaijin Sawamura" 1964 Japanese Central for SOM Baseball (v14)

"The Gaijin Sawamura"
Len Durrant's magnificently translated-to-2008 version of my 1964 Japanese Central League season. Original Publication Date: March 17, 2007.

Dropbox Link for 1964 Japanese Central for SOM Baseball

Link to all Strat-O-Matic Baseball Content

"The V-9 Giants" 1967 Japanese Central for SOM Baseball

"The V-9 Giants" 

This season offers the greatest Japanese team of all time, the 1967 Yomiuri Giants. The "ON Cannon" of Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima pace a powerhouse offense,while 400 game winner Masaichi Kaneda and Tsuneo Horiuchi anchor the pitchers. This is the companion set to the Hankyu Braves, the 1967 Pacific League Champs.

Original Publication Date: August 27, 2003.

Dropbox Link for the 1967 Japan Central League, SOM Baseball

Link to all Strat-O-Matic Baseball Content

1953 Detroit Lions for SOM Football

Prototypes of possible 5-2 handling for the 1953 Season.  In one handling, Detroit is a 3-4 team with the tackles in the LB blitz zones.  This is the stock set up in the existing PC game.  In the other they are carded as a 4-3 with the addition of a Nose Tackle.

You never can say "never".

Original Publication Date: November 23, 2016

OTHER SOM PRO FOOTBALL POSTS:

SOM PRO FOOTBALL LINKS

Dropbox Link to 1953 Detroit Lions .rar file

53 Detroit Lions 1   53 Detroit Lions 2   53 Detroit Lions 3

53 Detroit Lions 4   53 Detroit Lions 5   53 Detroit Lions 6

"Three Seconds from Gold" Statis-Pro Basketball Teams from the Games of the XX Olympiad (1972)

Three Seconds from Gold - Teams from the Games of the XX Olympiad (1972)
Original Publication Date: July 19, 2014.
Special thanks to the IOC Historical Archives and Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland.

1972_Olympic_Basketball_Teams_for_Statis_Pro_Basketball_v2.zip

Rules for Adapting Statis-Pro Basketball to FIBA Olympic Play

1972 Soviet Olympic Team
1972 US Olympic Team
1972 Cuban Olympic Team
1972 Italian Olympic Team

Other Statis-Pro Basketball Links

This fileset contains the final four teams of the 1972 Men's Basketball Tournament,
including the Soviet Union, led by Hall of Fame shooting guard Sergei Belov and F/C Aleksandr Belov, the United States, with guards Doug Collins and Tommy Henderson, forwards Jim Brewer and Tom McMillen, and C Dwight Jones, third place Cuba, led by C Pedro Chappé and SF Ruperto Herrera, and fourth place Italy, led by F Ivan Bisson and C Dino Meneghin.  By now we know the stories of the top two teams very well, but 1972 was also the high water mark for the Cuban and Italian teams in international competition. Meneghin and Herrera are considered the best International players from each of their respective countries.

(Don't think that the Russians are easy to beat, because they aren't, and they become particularly difficult to handle if they gain control of the glass from the taller US squad, and can fast break to avoid the American trap and press.  The secret is to move Sasha Belov to center (as in real life) to allow him some shooting and rebounding room, to sub the guards wisely, and to hope that somehow PF Zharmukamedov can hold his own on the boards against Brewer and McMillen at PF.  The US is a team of bricklayers, but their rebounding and defense are Kryptonite to the Russians if they do not try to match up, with reserve guards Kevin Joyce and Ed Ratleff particularly deadly on steals.  As the included FIBA rules modification document suggests, make the Soviets the Home Team to get that extra feeling of Cold War paranoia, because the refs will side with them on rebounds and turnovers from the FACs pretty regularly.)

The World was gaining on the United States in basketball.  The transitory bitterness of this one point in time can be somewhat sweetened by the current international flavor of the modern NBA, which now routinely draws on the skills of the best players from around the globe.  This would have been unheard of in 1972.  This Soviet win, as well as the performance of later Yugoslavian teams ended that form of parochialism forever.