My Solitaire electric football league. Works great for me.

[K9BUDDY]

Been playing the game for some 15 years now.   Presently have 16 teams in my league.   Teams are from 60's and 70's (yes I am that old).   Each team get 8 possessions per game each 2 possessions per quarter.  Try to keep my games at between 2 to 3 hours per game.   Typical game goes as follows: Coin toss determines who receives ball.  Ball is placed in runners hand at 20 yard line and game is turned on.   Do not kick off as it is easier and faster to just place ball in return mans hand to return kick.   Same is done on punts as well.  In my game the tackle is everything to my game   Try to keep game as realistic as possible.   A tackle happens when runner is touched directly on front of base anywhere on front of base by any part of opposition players base.   If runner  is touched on side of base by opposition  it must be direct hit by opposition with front of base other wise a glancing hit to base does not constitute a tackle and the runner can continue to run.   The exception is if two defenders hit runner on side of base at same time then he is down.  Same rule applies to making contact to back of runners base.  Found that these  tackling rules make the game very realistic.  When it comes to passing  I will allow a completion if ball hits receiver or if ball hits within about 1/2 inch of receivers base.   The game takes to long to set up to have play end using typical electric football rules on offense .  On defense if  defender is touching receiver going out and a pass goes to the receiver it would be incomplete unless ball hits that defender then it is obviously an interception.   On pass rush I turn on game for 3 seconds if any defender travels 7 yards or more into oppositions back field it is considered a sack even if he does not touch the quarterback.  Fumbles are handled the same way as most EFL rules.   I found that my game is fast exciting and very realistic to the actual game.   Let me know what you think.

[Bob Davis]

I find several of your concepts intriquing. The one that I'm particularly interested in is the tackling. I've always maintained that if the defensive player's base contacts the ball carrier's base no matter where or how slight, the offensive player is considered tackled. But there is no situation where a ball carrier breaks a tackle. I'm going to consider adopting an iteration of your rule into my league. Thanks for sharing!

[nefgm.org]

I like your style of play. On tackles I do require the forward progress of the ball carrier to be stopped to be considered down. 

[Capanther]

I dont count a touch ( tackle ) if the defensive player has his back to the runner....but if the bases touch and the defensive player is facing the ball carrier from any angle...the runner is down.....but it is like someone else said....its what works for you that makes this great game of ours enjoyable.

[Paul Kian]

13 minutes ago, Capanther said:

I dont count a touch ( tackle ) if the defensive player has his back to the runner....but if the bases touch and the defensive player is facing the ball carrier from any angle...the runner is down.....but it is like someone else said....its what works for you that makes this great game of ours enjoyable.

That's more or less what I plan to use; my logic being that if he can touch a runner's base from his front (the figure's front, which is not necessarily only the front face of his base if he's rotated a bit), he can believably wrap his arms around the runner.

Defenders touching the back of a runner's base while facing forward would just be a chase down tackle in that scenario, though I can definitely see the logic of making that a broken tackle as you don't seem to see those as much anymore for some reason. 🤔

[nefgm.org]

Seems to me that in real football, defensive players are more concerned with trying to strip the ball from a ball carrier to create a fumble rather than actually tackling someone. Too often you will see a ball carrier gain another 5 yards or more or break a tackle simple because of the effort to punch the ball out rather than actually make a tackle.   

[Paul Kian]

Oh yeah, and a similar thing is true on the opposite side of the ball. I've seen more and more often receivers trying to make spectacular catches of bad passes on early downs, which results in them knocking the ball in play for a potential interception. Old school wide outs would know to either let it go and live another down, or would even play a little d-back themselves and keep it away from the defense, including slapping it out of bounds if necessary. I can understand if it's like 4th and 11 in the 4th Quarter, but I swear I saw the Panthers do it at least twice in the first 10 minutes of the Tampa Bay game a few weeks ago, and it got picked off at least one of those times. 😑

Back to the topic at hand, I could see making a chase down tackle have more stringent rules than a face-to-face tackle. Perhaps the pursuing player has to make a direct pursuit and not just get knocked into the ball carrier or something. I'll have to test it out a few times and see if I notice anything significant.

[blue32]

On 1/4/2022 at 10:14 AM, nefgm.org said:

I like your style of play. On tackles I do require the forward progress of the ball carrier to be stopped to be considered down. 

I use the 'stop forward progress' concept also. Touching front, back, or sides is not enough. A long duration touch doesn't constitute a tackle. Multiple simultaneous touches do not constitute a tackle. The defender(s) must stop the ball carrier's forward progress. I define Stopping Forward Progress as causing the ball carrier to run parallel to the Line to Gain, or backwards away from the Line to Gain.

In my experience this really opens up the running game because:

1. Loopers may change the ball carrier's direction but they rarely stop forward progress;

2. A strong running back will push defenders out of the way much like a Derek Henry or Bo Jackson; and,

3. A two-deep safety defense is forced to move closer to the line of scrimmage which opens up the long pass.

 

[nefgm.org]

12 hours ago, blue32 said:

I use the 'stop forward progress' concept also. Touching front, back, or sides is not enough. A long duration touch doesn't constitute a tackle. Multiple simultaneous touches do not constitute a tackle. The defender(s) must stop the ball carrier's forward progress. I define Stopping Forward Progress as causing the ball carrier to run parallel to the Line to Gain, or backwards away from the Line to Gain.

In my experience this really opens up the running game because:

1. Loopers may change the ball carrier's direction but they rarely stop forward progress;

2. A strong running back will push defenders out of the way much like a Derek Henry or Bo Jackson; and,

3. A two-deep safety defense is forced to move closer to the line of scrimmage which opens up the long pass.

 

My reasoning exactly!!!

[Paul Kian]

These are all great options for tackling rules, I'm going to have to demo each of them in some exhibition games and see which one makes sense for me. 😁

[blue32]

Just a couple footnotes.

Drop back passing: When I'm playing a game, my QB usually starts out under center and is fading back to handoff, pass, or run. So, in effect the QB is running away from the line to gain, or backwards. As long as the QB is moving backwards then I consider a touch by a defensive player to count as a QB sac. The moment the QB starts running toward the line to gain, then the defensive player must stop the QB's forward progress.

Sweeps: Forcing the defense to stop forward progress really improves sweeps, Jet sweeps, and end arounds. I've found that I can pull guards for sweeps and counter treys because the running backs can slide around defensive players.

Thanks 🙂 

[Carl]

On 1/27/2022 at 8:13 PM, blue32 said:

I use the 'stop forward progress' concept also. Touching front, back, or sides is not enough. A long duration touch doesn't constitute a tackle. Multiple simultaneous touches do not constitute a tackle. The defender(s) must stop the ball carrier's forward progress. I define Stopping Forward Progress as causing the ball carrier to run parallel to the Line to Gain, or backwards away from the Line to Gain.

In my experience this really opens up the running game because:

1. Loopers may change the ball carrier's direction but they rarely stop forward progress;

2. A strong running back will push defenders out of the way much like a Derek Henry or Bo Jackson; and,

3. A two-deep safety defense is forced to move closer to the line of scrimmage which opens up the long pass.

 

I love this tackling idea, do you use it for recievers too? they are so hard to catch in the open field on a monster board that I usually go with front of base to consider them down.

[zak99b5]

I too am thinking of altering the "any touch=a tackle" rule.  Thinking it needs to be with the front part of the defender's base.  Stopping forward motion seems like it will just cause differing interpretations with the coaches in the league during a game.

[nefgm.org]

For league and tournament play, it is probably best to just stay with any touch. Less doubt and arguments about when a player is tackled. Works best in solitaire because you as the referee are the one making the call 

[blue32]

On 2/12/2022 at 8:06 AM, nefgm.org said:

For league and tournament play, it is probably best to just stay with any touch. Less doubt and arguments about when a player is tackled.

 

On 2/11/2022 at 12:27 PM, zak99b5 said:

Stopping forward motion seems like it will just cause differing interpretations with the coaches in the league during a game.

Perhaps. I've never been to a tournament so I will take your word for it. Moving from touch football to stopping forward progress is like breaking the Sound Barrier. It starts out bumpy but at mach 1 it really opens up the running game. I'm talking about six, or even eight men in the box to stop a dive play.

 

On 2/11/2022 at 9:59 AM, Carl said:

I love this tackling idea, do you use it for recievers too? they are so hard to catch in the open field on a monster board

I use it for receivers. Cornerbacks play Bump and Run on every down in order to stop sweeps and prevent receivers from getting up field.

I play on a Tudor Ultimate Board and my safeties have to be very fast to get ahead of the ball carrier and push them out of bounds, or in the center of the field, redirect the ball carrier. Which means, with regard to Wide Receivers, Speed Kills. ☠️

I have a lot of interceptions returned for Touchdowns also. 💥