1.2: bodies, ratings and the depth chart

This is the biggest change to the game since launch, and it is under the hood more than on the screen. Ratings now mean what they say, bodies meet as bodies, and the depth chart is rebuilt so who plays is decided by the job.

Ratings used to be one flat 1 to 99 pool. A 170 lb receiver and a 250 lb linebacker with the same Speed rating ran the same speed. That is gone.

• Under the hood every rating is a real quantity now: how many yards a second a man covers, how much force he brings, how fast he reads. His height and weight shape those numbers when he is made.

• The number you see on the card is graded against his position. A 99 Speed linebacker and a 99 Speed receiver are both honest, and the receiver is still faster, because he is graded against other receivers.

• When two men meet on the field, their real selves meet. A 320 lb tackle beats a 228 lb back on mass, whatever the two cards say. There is no "run block strength" number in the game; there is a blocker, a defender and a result, every snap.

• Because of this, some cards read lower than they did. Nobody got worse. He is graded against his own position now instead of against everyone.

Overall never predicted who would play well, because one number cannot cover every situation. It is off every field screen and the game never reads it. It is called Talent now and lives with the scouts: recruiting boards, the portal, awards. That is all it is for.

The depth chart, rebuilt The old full depth chart and the formation charts ran on two different numbers and disagreed with each other, which is how a man at the bottom of a room ended up starting. That is fixed at the root.

• Every job on the field has two grades, RUN and PASS. They are the coach's honest read of how a man's matchups go at that job, built from the exact same math the game uses to play the down. The sim never reads a grade; a grade only decides who is out there.

• Each formation and each front picks the best man for every spot by the grade that fits the down. Base looks fill on RUN, passing looks fill on PASS. Your speed rusher who cannot hold the edge is a nickel starter and a base backup, and the card says why.

• You override by pinning. Tap a spot, pick a man, he plays there. "Pin here in every look" does it across the whole side in one tap. Pin everyone if you want. If a pinned man gets hurt the spot refills by grade until he is back, and then he is back.

• You can also change what a spot reads. Tap a card and set it to RUN, PASS or BEST, for that look or every look. Set a whole formation the same way. If your best back sits third in passing looks because he is a runner, not a receiver, set that spot to RUN and he plays.

• The full depth chart is a readout now, not a list you drag. It shows every man, his projected snaps, his share of targets or carries, a tag (Starter, Rotation, Specialist, Reserve, Redshirt) and every spot he fills. It adds up your formations and your game plan.

• One quarterback starts all game. The passing grade picks him in every look. If you want your option quarterback in Pistol, pin him there.

• The quick sim rates the same eleven the full sim fields. Quick and full can still disagree on one game, but not on which team is better. A 9 and 0 team does not lose to an 0 and 9 team on a number the field never reads.

Computer teams

• Every computer staff re-picks its game plan each offseason for the roster it has, and again whenever the head coach or a coordinator changes. Before this a staff picked once and ran that plan for years.

• Computer teams fill their formations by the same grades you do.

Kicking

• Field goals go back to still goalposts on a make now that the posts are visible. A kick off the upright still rattles it.