“Draft Leaguer Finds Hal Richman Has Been Wrong for 57 Years”
Hey, this finally came up! Happy New Year 2025!
3 hours ago, roughrider said:
The modern cards I see today don't seem to be impressive at all, even on guess wrongs. Can someone explain why this is?
Sure, Allow me!
1 hour ago, NFLed said:
especially in the 2022 card set when there were a lot of part-time or non-star RBs who had amazing off tackle cards…
*Amazingly enough for some reason there are fewer of those in 2023. :/
1 hour ago, NFLed said:
In the past I remember Tony Galbreath and Rod Bernstine having gaudy-great rushing cards on a low number of carries (well under 100) that season, and I didn't like that approach back then.
*Tony Galbreath and Rod Bernstein notwithstanding, the carding of inside and outside specialists has a long history; long as the game itself. Part of the collateral of the Seventies game commented on how a lower average back like ‘78 Franco could still get the “tough yards”, in an ensemble running attack such as 1978 Pittsburgh, where they had a high number of carries but lower averages and needed to run well with leads, each back had something they did well.
The overlapping of those diverse cards- which might look like an overcarding to those who don’t know this history - was key to the design. In fact these kinds of card patterns were essential to the creation of some of the most impactful running teams of the time:
1) 1976 New England, which suffered an injury to Sam the Bam but still had a nice outside halfback in Andy Johnson and a great running qb in Steve Grogan. To this they added the late season addition of bowling ball fullback Don Calhoun. Calhoun posted 721 yards in real life in just 3 starts and roughly half a season. As a team they plowed for 2957 yards in 14 games, over 200 yards a game.
Carding for that kind of yardage is easy for a team like 1972 Miami, which had two legit high average 1000 yard rushers, although there’s a distinct difference between the Csonk of 1972 and the Csonk of 1973. Still the ‘76 Pats had to somehow get the same results with an ensemble cast, creating a top five running attack of all time at that time on SOM cards with no one back at 1000 yards. How did they do it? Well Calhoun has a specialty card; he’s an absolute monster between the tackles, reflecting his four or five consecutive 100 yard days in a row at the end of the year supporting Sam the Bam, who is a more standard type of back.
In other words if you stack two great outside runners in Andy Johnson and Steve Grogan with a good all around candidate on limited carries in Cunningham and another monster inside specialist on limited carries in Calhoun you can card a running game in SOM with four or five contributors that’s just as impactful as Csonka and Morris. It’s going to force run calls in much the same way.
2) 1980 Los Angeles Rams
Amazingly enough I believe this is still the franchises best running attack or it’s close, right near the ‘73 team, which is another ensemble effort headlined by a great Lawrence McCutcheon card. 1980 does not have a Lawrence McCutcheon, or even a thousand yard back. They have a bunch of 500-800 yard guys. What SOM did was set up a great outside guy in Peacock and a dominant inside specialty card for FB Jewerl Thomas. On its own Thomas’s card wouldn’t be worth much but in the context of that line, that passer and those running carded teammates he helps to project that running attack to its 3000 yard realm. There’s simply no way to do that stacking a bunch of standard cards for 500-800 yard 150-200 carry SOM running cards.
This has been a standard approach since the 1960s and the standard way of elevating ensemble running attacks, but as of now, if you look at 2023 Detroit, a team of two definite different styles of running between the two backs you have Jahmyr Gibbs and a mirror card for Dave Montgomery instead of a punishing inside running card. This goes against the style of the team as we watch it and the history of the SOM game as it was constructed from the start. This happened because they took the opinion of someone whose experience with these cards was typing them in over someone who had actually made Strat O Matic Football seasons. This was just one example, too. There were others. The net effect was to make the set much blander.
If you get the sense I felt this change ignored the fundamental design of the game as Hal envisioned it, you’re right, and to me it’s all because we have draft leaguers who don’t like to have to call the run. The only thing I hope is that SOM reconsiders for the 2024 cards.
End Rant. FJB 1/2/2025.
PS- you guys can fix stuff like this. Email the game co and say, hey if you can give Philadelphia special cards for tush pushing you can card great running QBs better, and you can restore running cards to their former brilliance. If enough if you do, they will listen.
