Sorry I wasn't as clear as I should have been, I sometimes forget just how much of the offense isn't visible to non-GMs. I forgot it wasn't obvious that the OC controlled the design of the plays and that on pass plays the QB then made his own decisions, so I explained how the player sets his scramble frequency, which is how likely he is to give up on a pass and try to run the ball instead.
The key to that is there usually has to be a good reason, no matter what you set it to the QB is probably going to throw a LOT more than he runs (again that doesn't include a designed QB run). However, if you're playing against a team that only rushed 3 or 4 D linemen and dropped everyone else into coverage vs shotgun 5 WR Streaks on 3rd and 6, the run will suddenly look a lot better to the QB than it normally does with the entire secondary covering deep. If you're set to scramble "almost never", your QB will take that VERY literally. It's still possible he'll run in that situation, but it usually has to be dire circumstances, like 3rd or 4th down late trying to keep a drive alive or if one of the DE/DTs does get pressure. I haven't seen much difference between "sometimes" and "frequently" but it probably has to do with how much risk the QB sees in passing vs the reward of rushing, taking into account the defense. For example it seems like the QB is much more likely to do it if he thinks he has enough space to pick up a first down (but he can still underestimate things like Closing Speed or just naturally really fast defenders, broken blocks etc).
In this sense scramble doesn't mean leave the pocket and go out on a boot leg to either run or pass, it instead refers only to the chance the QB has to give up on a play that was supposed to be a pass and to then tuck the ball and attempt to get yards by running down field, usually straight up through the pocket. The OC controls how often a designed QB run where there is no chance of a pass and he controls what the QB is intended to do. That's why it is a really good idea to get together with your OC as a QB and make sure he knows what your QB advanced tactics are since several basically let you change the QB decision making, either by favoring some receivers or longer passes or just trying to run instead. It's always nice to know both the QB tactics and all the offensive settings when planning.
Last edited Dec 30, 2008 15:26:24