COUNT-GOLG OFFICIAL RULES
*Subject to change
Most of you have been in the league long enough to know what's acceptable and what's not. If you're new, this is a SIM LEAGUE which essentially means: Don't use broken plays. Every year in Madden, there are plays that work without fail because of a design flaw. If you find a play you feel is broken, let an admin know. It will be looked into and brought up to the league.
RACISM of any kind will not be tolerated in the GroupMe chat
STREAMING
Streaming is mandatory
• Away teams are responsible for streaming every game (regular season and playoffs)
• All streams must be archived (Please change your Twitch settings)
• If you for some reason you are unable to stream, please contact your opponent, ask them to and notify an admin.
GAMEPLAY RULES
Play Calling
• Custom Playbooks are allowed
• Do not call the same plays over and over again on offense and defense.
Offense
• You must maintain a 2:1 Run to Pass or vice versa ratio (ie. You cannot pass or run the ball more than 67% of your offensive snaps)
• Mix up your offensive formation don’t stay in the same formation all game.
• Mix up your run type and pass type. Don’t run stretches or dives all game or do all verticals all game.
• Motioning Players: Due to the in game mechanics, you must allow the motioning player to come to a complete stop before snapping the ball.
Defense
• You must maintain a 2:1 Man to Zone or vice versa Ratio. (ie. You cannot play man or zone more than 67% of your defensive snaps)
• Must mix up the zone coverage: Cover 3 is Cover 3. Picking a different variation of the coverage does not count as mixing it up.
• Cannot stay one formation all game. Even if you’re picking a different coverage does not consist of mixing it up.
• Minimum 3 pass rushers
Moving players pre-snap
• No moving a player in circles or at the line repeatedly to try and break through. You may move the players, but only in a way that makes football sense.
• You cannot move a defender more than 5 yards out of position and then switch to another player. If you do happen to move the player more than 5 yards, you must user him.
• Some exceptions apply, for example: Pre-Snap SHIFTS and vertically moving the CB off of PRESS.
• Known nano blitz pre snap movement is banned and will result in removal from the league
No Playmaker
• This is a feature in Madden that the AI cannot properly react to. Until Madden fixes that, it's out.
Chew Clock
• Chewing clock is forbidden until the final 3 minutes of the 4th quarter unless a mutual understanding is agreed upon by both involved users in-game in a blowout scenario.
4th Downs and Coach’s Call
• You can go for any 4th and 2 or less on your opponent's side of the 50.
• You get ONE Coach's Call during the game where regardless of yards to gain for a 1st down and where you are on the field, you can go for it.
• You can go for ANY 4th down situation if you are down multiple scores (10+) to start the 4th quarter.
• Kicking & Punting: You may use a fake FG or fake Punt if they are within the 4th down scenarios listed above.
• Irregular punts: Punt it in the air. If you punt at a low angle to get a fumble, you'll have to punt again.
• You can go for a 2-pt conversion anytime.
Spamming
Please make sure that you’re not over utilizing a single player. Make sure you are spreading the ball around amongst your offensive players. We do understand that certain players are your go to, but don’t spam.
• Your leading Receiver cannot have more receptions and yards than your next 2 combined.
• RB’s cannot be more than 40% of your total offense.
• RB’s can’t lead your team in receptions.
• A WR CANNOT average more than 20YPC after YAC is subtracted
Spamming Penalties:
Admins will conduct a mid-season check and hand out warnings to any of the players found to be out of compliance. At season end, a player found out of compliance will receive:
• 4-game suspension
• Roll back on any season ending dev upgrades (including season awards)
• Banned from All Pro
SCHEDULING
You may contact your opponent however you see fit (GroupMe, text, Xbox Live, etc.)
• Please announce scheduled times in GroupMe.
• Provide proof of missed agreed upon playing time
• If you’re 30 minutes late on an agreed upon playing time and haven’t sent an explanation PM to your opponent and/or a admin (include screenshot of the PM to your opponent) you will get a Force Loss
• If no contact of proof has been given to a admin and the last accounted for game has kicked off, it will be a straight sim.
• Admins will no longer be hunting people about if they have their game scheduled. It is not fair to hold up the league.
TRADES
All finalized trades must be posted in the GroupMe Trade Chat – no exceptions. Do not send or accept the trade in game until they have been agreed upon and posted in the chat.
• To mirror real life, there will no longer be a cap penalty limit. Construct your roster as you see fit (meaning no Trade Committee either); just be mindful that the more dead money you rack up, the less cap space you'll have.
• New users to the league will be required to go through a 3 game trade embargo. Trades can be agreed upon ahead of time but cannot be executed until 3 in-game weeks have passed.
ROSTER REQUIREMENTS
53-Man Rosters
• All teams must keep full a 53-man roster. Suspensions will be handed to teams who play a game with less than 53 players.
• Practice Squad stealing will be permitted, but only if you have both a full 53-man roster and full practice squad yourself are you permitted to steal from someone else.
Name Changes
• Name changes are not permitted for existing or Madden generated players.
RESIGNS/FREE AGENCY
• No Slave Contracts- Signing a player to a 6+ year contract only allowed only if one of the years they are scheduled to make at least $10 mil.
• Any contracts that are 6 years or more that do not meet this will be adjusted by the admin team. This will be done by either increasing the salary or changing it back to 1 year to resign again.
• Cannot release a player and resign for a cheaper contract. Unless they are on their final year.
• Players in free agency CAN be protected upon Admin discretion.
POSITION CHANGES
Roster
Pre-approved position changes. All other potential position changes are not pre-approved and must be approved by majority admin vote.
• 3-4 OLB to 4-3 DE and vice-versa
• 3-4 DE to 4-3 DT and vice-versa
• LB positions interchangeable (Caveat: Pass rushing OLB cannot be moved to MLB)
• OL positions interchangeable
• Safeties and CB’s are no longer interchangeable. This will need to be approved by an admin and require a reasonable case for the position change.
• Punters can ONLY be punters and kickers can ONLY be kickers.
Depth Chart/In Game Subs
• WR can only play WR
• RB and FB interchangeable
• DE/DT are interchangeable
• ROLB/MLB/LOLB are interchangeable
• FS/SS Interchangeable
• TE can play WR and FB
• OL interchangeable
• QB can only play QB
• FS/SS can play at Sub LB position. However, they have to have an LB next to them in the formation. Meaning cannot be a Dime formation and the Safety is the lone LB. Must have a minimal weight of 215lbs and a minimum of 80 Hit Power.
SUPERSTAR/XFACTOR ABILTIES
As you know you can now select your player’s SuperStar and XFactor abilities.
• Restrictions: You cannot have more 1 player for each position group with the same abilities or Zone abilities. (ie. Both of your DE’s with Edge threat)
• Below are the defined Position Groups
o QB
o RB
o WR
o TE
o OL
o Safety (FS &SS)
o CB
o MLB
o OLB
o DE
o DT
BREAKOUT GAMES
In the event, you have a breakout game for a player and the person you are scheduled to play is not available or is a CPU, you can roll the breakout game to your next user game.
• Must provide screen shots of that player showing the breakout storyline and the stats needed to achieve.
• If the stats are achieved during the next user game, the dev boost will be granted.
• Taking a screenshot your breakout ahead of playing is strongly encouraged. This will act as proof in case of any issues. Without proof, there will be no action taken from admin team.
• The breakout goals for QB are extremely difficult so if you receive a QB Breakout opportunity, take a picture of the scenario and message an admin. Parameters for each Dev are being discussed.
ALL-PRO
• At the end of each season, the admin team will vote on an All-Pro team. Players selected to All-Pro will be given a dev upgrade. In the case the player is already XF, you will get a choice of upgrading a trait (ie. High Motor).
• Users with more than 3 simmed games (due to their own scheduling issues, not their opponents) will be disqualified from All-Pro.
• Age limit for All-Pro is 32
DESYNC / DISCONNECTS
• If it occurs in the second half when you're up by 21+ or no chance of winning, you will receive the sim win. If it was in the first half, and you are up 21+, when the desync or disconnect occurred, you are allowed to re-create the score and possession. You can restart if you want, but it's your choice.
MISCELLANEOUS
• CLOCK: 8 minutes/Accelerated clock runoff to 20 seconds
• KNEEL the ball when the game is over.
• STAY CLASSY: no one likes losing, but it will happen. Take your losses like a man and try to keep your cool. Don't quit early and don't hate on the victor either. Before you post or send a pissed off message, calm down and relax.
• SHOW MERCY: no running up the score. Beating someone senseless doesn't help you, and only leads to someone wanting to quit. If you're up big late in the game, you should be running far more than passing.
• CPU: No playing against the CPU. Sim win will be set in your favor
• SIMS: If you have a total of 5 games simmed in a season without a good reason or are clearly throwing games, you will not be allowed to carryover any player you draft in the 1st or 2nd rounds in the following draft. Does not matter whose 1st you use either. Anyone else that acquires your 1st’s are fine to carry over those players.