FOF4 Injuries?

[samifan24]

So I'm playing my career in my latest league and everything's going smoothly, nothing too out of the ordinary until I start up the 2006 season. Going into week 6, my team has sustained the following injuries:

Starting TE- Dislocated Elbow- Full Strength: 9 weeks

Starting SE- ACL Knee Surgery- Full Strength: 32 weeks
**he never even played a down for us and we just signed him**

Starting DT- High Ankle Sprain- Full Strength: 18 weeks

Starting LB- ACL Knee Surgery- Full Strength: 47 weeks

I also have two probables but those are just normal injuries. While I enjoy FOF I was wondering if this is sort of bug or if I just have really, really bad luck. I'm guessing the SE and LB will retire at the end of the season so this really hurts my team. Any ideas??

[Bee]

Actually sounds like my office fantasy football team.

[3ric]

No, FOF4 is pretty heavy on the injuries. Someone nicknamed it "Front Office Injury Manager".

[FBPro]

I don't know, mine seems to come and go. Usually, as with any football team IRL you are going to have the questionable's, etc...every now and then I hit a streak as you have described but not too often.

[VPI97]

Originally posted by samifan24
While I enjoy FOF I was wondering if this is sort of bug or if I just have really, really bad luck.

If it took until 2006 for you to get injuries like this, I'd say you have good luck. I've had seasons where, by midseason, I have 7-8 guys out for the season. In my current 45 year career, I don't think I've had a single season where a starting defensive lineman played in every game...

[The Shadow]

Originally posted by samifan24

Starting SE- ACL Knee Surgery- Full Strength: 32 weeks
**he never even played a down for us and we just signed him**

This player you just signed, was he healthy when you signed him? I bet his ratings were great but he didn't ask for too much money, right? Sounds like he was already out with ACL knee surgery when you signed him.

BTW, was there a change in your coach during the previous off-season? If so, what was the Injury Avoidance rating of your previous coach to your present coach? What do you set your Traing Room time to during Training Camp?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by The Shadow
This player you just signed, was he healthy when you signed him? I bet his ratings were great but he didn't ask for too much money, right? Sounds like he was already out with ACL knee surgery when you signed him.

I HATE it when I do that! I've done it several times, too.

[Havok]

I brought this up a couple weeks ago on another thread. Im praying for injuries to be adjustable in FOF2004. Its ruined a bunch of my seasons so far having 5-6 guys out for the season.

Its not very realistic......

[Noble_Platypus]

Get this: I have a WR who is doubtful but I am so banged up and cap striken I cant sign anybody or make him inactive because I oly have 3 other healty WRs. I have him on my active roster but not in my depth chart. I put my 3rd string RB in at Wr (backup of course). Well, the guy who is doubtful and not even in my linup just caught a 26 yard pass. WTF?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Havok
Its not very realistic......

Yes it is.

As of right now:

Arizona--8 guys out for season. 2 others listed as "Out." 1 Doubful. 6 Probable.

Atlanta--2 guys out for season. 1 other Out. 1 Doubtful. 2 "status uncertain"

Baltimore--6 guys out for season. 1 Doubtful. 6 Probable.

Buffalo--3 Out for Season. 1 Doubtful. 2 Questionable. 2 Probable.

Carolina--5 Out For Season. 1 Other Out. 5 Questionable. 2 Probable.

Chicago--4 Out For Season. 4 Other Out. 1 Doubtful. 1 Probable.

I'm not going to go on down the list with such detail, but glancing down, I see the following that stand out.

Green Bay: 10 out for season.
Houston: 7 out for season.
New England: 9 out for season. 10 Questionable.

Football is a violent sport.

[mckerney]

FOF does seem to lack the players conveniently getting injured and going on IR when they're about to lose a fight for a roster spot with an injury that will last them up until mini-camp. John Avery what?

[Ben E Lou]

Dola--

Just looking at those first 6 teams alphabetically, they're averaging about 5 guys per team out for the season, and another 6.5 other guys injured.

...and we're only half-way through the season.

[mckerney]

Originally posted by SkyDog
Dola--

Just looking at those first 6 teams alphabetically, they're averaging about 5 guys per team out for the season, and another 6.5 other guys injured.

...and we're only half-way through the season.

But of course those teams can refill the opened spots on the roster with guys they had cut in the past.

[samifan24]

Originally posted by The Shadow
This player you just signed, was he healthy when you signed him? I bet his ratings were great but he didn't ask for too much money, right? Sounds like he was already out with ACL knee surgery when you signed him.

BTW, was there a change in your coach during the previous off-season? If so, what was the Injury Avoidance rating of your previous coach to your present coach? What do you set your Traing Room time to during Training Camp?

To answer your first question, the player in question was 100% healthy when I signed him during the offseason and had not missed a game in four seasons. He went down in the first preseason game and that was all she wrote.

To answer your second question, yes I did change coaches during the offseason prior to the season in question. My previous coach's injury avoidance rating was GOOD while my current coach's injury avoidance rating is AVERAGE. I didn't think one rating level could have such an impact, but this could just be part of the problem for my team.

Incidentally, I've never doubted the realism these injuries simulate, but the frequency with which they seemed to occur in such a brief time frame. As Skydog pointed out almost every NFL team is hurting much like my FOF team, but it seemed like everything hit me at once and, while this can be very realistic, I wondered if I stumbled into some sort of a bug. I'm glad this isn't a bug though. Thanks for the feedback fellas.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by mckerney
But of course those teams can refill the opened spots on the roster with guys they had cut in the past.

True dat.

Fortunately, it sounds like we WILL be able to do so in FOF2K4.

[Buccaneer]

Originally posted by mckerney
But of course those teams can refill the opened spots on the roster with guys they had cut in the past.

...or have a better pool of players available. You can have a realistic (or even high) rate of injuries but you also must have a realistic pool for replacements (through various mechanisms). One cannot exist without the other.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Buccaneer
...or have a better pool of players available. You can have a realistic (or even high) rate of injuries but you also must have a realistic pool for replacements (through various mechanisms). One cannot exist without the other.

True, but you don't think the pool is realistic? I've been able to fill the slots with non-embarrassments. Of course, this also brings back that old discussion of what is the talent of a 11/20 (out of 100) player. We tend to think of these guys as your cousin who walked on at a Division 3 school and was the 3rd-string QB by his senior year. In reality, they are bottom-of-the-barrel NFL talent, but still NFL talent. (And every now and then one of them has a big game, or even a decent season to prove just that...)

[nilodor]

I have had 14 players out at one point and was unable to continue playing. I couldn't cut enough players to get enough cap space to field a full team. This is with leaving some of the players active just not in the line up. Other than that I figure 5 or 6 out isn't to unrealistic, just that it is not quite so much fun.

[Godzilla Blitz]

The injuries seem pretty realistic overall, but it seems that the defensive line takes a disproportionately high amount of the casualities. Wide receiver is another spot I've had difficulties with. Offensive linemen, on the other hand, seem to be made of steel: rarely do I have serious or numerous injuries there.

I've never had a situation where I couldn't find a functional replacement because of injuries, but it does seem silly that some guy I cut with the IQ of a brick in 2015, and who has been out of football two years, refuses to sign with me in 2017 for $700,000/year because he's mad at me. What the hell else could he be doing that he would turn down that money? I too am glad to hear that this will be adjusted in FOF2004.

[sperril]

I did some math on this. Last week there were 239 players on injury reports for teams that were playing. That means that the average team had more than 8.5 injured players on their roster. This does not include the IR. There are 136 players on the IR currently. (At least according to my hand count.) This makes an average of 4.25 per team. That means your roster should have around 13 injured players by mid-season if you are having an average injury campaign. And even these numbers do not include the PUP and non-football injury lists.

The New England Patriots currently have 11 players either listed as "PUP," "IR," or "OUT." None of these players are available. Also, the average team had $2,307,156 available under the cap as of Sept. 30. Why do you think they leave that kind of cap room available? Injuries.

Having 14 players out at some point is certainly within the realm of possibility. If you didn't leave a couple million of cap room to replace them it is nobody's fault but your own.

Having 5 or 6 guys out by midseason is not only completely realistic, it is barely above average. I won't argue about the "fun" factor and I have no problem with allowing the gamer to adjust the injuries. Personally, I like to stick with realistic injuries to ensure an accurate simulation of what a GM and coach must deal with during the season.