the Lions have reached their 6th consecutive Ultimate Showdown. HC Dustin Bonilla was given the job in 2091 and has reached the Ultimate Showdown each season

i have debated with myself if i should share what i am about to share for 2 primary reasons

first, i did not want to come across as a self appointed "master" of MFN RO. who am i to share my theories as a guide book? however, with the sustained high level of success the Lions are having i feel it is fair to say my theories are accurate. i know im not the only one. or maybe its all because of Bonilla?

second, i did not want to lose my edge. however, i prefer this league to have more parity. its good for teams to have a dynasty run but id rather a team not make it to the Ultimate Showdown six seasons in a row

i am hoping a new game engine comes along to spice things up, but for now this is the way i see it

off top.....its only about the run game here in MFN RO.....forget passing. if you do not believe me go and look at the records of success between run teams and pass teams. there may be a few outliers (mostly due to a few particular plays from what i understand), but the message is in the data and it is very clear. do not think about passing, dedicate to the run game

drafting tips to help alleviate potential busts in camp, i chose players with a combination of hi max speed, acceleration and strength. even when a player bust those numbers do not change. i largely ignore intellegence and discipline, which also do not change. i am sure they factor in to gameplay.....but not as much as the physical attributes

in player weights, there are three different weights for kicker. there is K, kick offs & field goal kicker. why 3 for one position? its a waste of a roster spot to have more than 1 K unless there is an "out with the old in with the new" contract overlap. i use the kick offs & field goal kicker category to help find draft eligible players, free agents or potential trade targets with high physical atibutes that may be out of position without altering with my base weights

when in doubt, pick low volatility o line or d line in early rounds. those players have much longer careers than "skill" positions. choose o line with high strength and run block first. this is the best way to ensure you have the means to move the ball forward with the run and control the game for many years

QBs all of them pretty much s u c k because the passing game in MFN RO sucks. find a QB with 100 accuracy. that is all that seems to matter. the idea is to throw the ball as little as possible. and you really only need one QB, they seem to have a protective clause baked into the injury rate. refrain from drafting a QB in first 3 rounds unless it is the only way to get one with 100 pass accuracy

RBs RB1 is three times more important than any other position while RB2 is the second most important position on the team. create a stable at least three deep to absorb injuries. look for tight ends that can be converted to RBs...once they shed pounds they will be fast and strong (every 3% overweight equals an increase of 1 in max speed). fast is good, try not to go lower than 88..... but fast is not all. aim also for strength and acceleration. not sure how important ball carrying is, not a part of my factor. you will not win much in MFN RO unless you have a good RB

WRs their numbers compared to RBs are lousy. they are probably the least important part of the team. only draft in late rounds. do not spend big money on them. Lions aim for WRs that are strong and good at run blocking. dont really care how fast they are, but of course speed never hurts

TE get strong ones who run block. some put up numbers near the top of recieving charts, but they are mostly empty. their rec % is often lower than 60

OL third most important position. spend money on them. run blocking and strength are what matters. ill take a guy who is 95 run block / 50 pass block over an 80/90 guy 100 percent of the time. focus on the run block numbers and try to stay above 90 on strength. the slow ones are plugged in at G

DL focus on strength and pass rush

LB & secondary focus on speed, strength, run defense & tackle ability

coaches HC should be run focused. i try to have all my coaches be run focused, but will take the one with better run blocking in most cases

moral of my story....we all know speed kills, but strength is just as important. and run the ball as much as possible. the teams that get an early lead tend to play more conservatively, and those playing catch up pass more leading to more INTs

final formula

do's
* hire a run focused HC
* acquire a fast & strong stable of RBs
* focus on run block attributes for all coaches and offensive players (sans QB & RB)
* focus on run defense, tackle ability and strength for defensive players

dont's
* invest heavily in QBs or WRs
* draft high vol in first round (i see you Hopkins)

please chime in with feedback, curious on how you feel about my findings. still not sure if i should of showed my cards but feel its best for the league. my business is about to launch so i am not sure how much i will be able to participate here, still hoping to pass the torch to someone

I agree, my staff is run as well, the RO part comes into play at times,I would game plan more
to the run!

when i first joined MFN i employed run first strategy since that is the way i imagine i would do things as a coach. i had a huge o line and a star RB within my first 10 allocation picks. run the ball control the clock win the game. not exciting!!! in real life it makes it easier to have a Randy Moss or a Desean Jackson type WR and a dependable TE so defense cant fully commit to the run, but in MFN there are no deep passes

luckily for my win rate MFN was tuned that way also

A clear example of the importance of good running is the Rosario Guazues. In the last 10 seasons, they've had 4 MVPs among players involved in the passing game, and while they almost always made the playoffs, they were never truly relevant at that stage.

And this last season, in which Simpsons broke records (the head coach decided to focus solely on the passing game), was the worst season for the Guazues in quite some time. The curious thing is that we have good running backs, but it seems the veteran quarterback pulled the strings for the team over the head coach; nobody wants to contradict the Hall of Famer. =)

Since you're open to sharing information, I have a couple of questions regarding what you wrote. You say that DLs need Strength and pass rush¿? Shouldn't run defense be more important, since that's the most important aspect of the game?

my theory is D line doesnt get many tackles, so i value their run defense less. the D line wrestles with the opposing O line. i want Lions line to beat up the opposing line on each side of the ball. so i give strength the edge there

i do factor run defense into my DL weights some, but not as much as strength and pass rush

I agree on all except all my high vol has build my star studded team

ha yeah if you got 25 draft picks why not :)