"Every Game Counts" Rules & Guidelines Thread

[sg_HustlinOwl]

Please take a look at the General Rules and Guidelines. If you feel anything needs to be changed or looked at please let me know. Very standard rules that most leagues use, so I don't think any of them should be a problem, but again let me know if you think anything needs to be addressed.

[sg_HustlinOwl]

GENERAL CONDUCT OF A LEAGUE PARTICIPANT

• Each participant is expected to display conduct that of an exemplary standard. Good sportsmanship, honesty, respect and pride is demanded from all participants. The president or league commissioners reserve the right to ban any participant from play based on any violation of the code of conduct, stated, or unstated.

WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF A RULE VOILATION

• It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITYto report a rule violation WHEN it happens. Reporting a violation after the game will not help your case. Games will not be replayed because of an unreported violation. When you see a rule violation, you must PAUSE the game and inform your opponent that you think they have violated a rule (no matter how serious). Both parties consult the rules and correct the infraction in a sportsmanlike manner.
  
• PLEASE notify the president of any rule voilation, even if you think it's not a big deal.
  
• It is recommended that you PRINT out a copy of the rules to keep at hand during games.

PAUSING THE GAME

• You can NOT pause the game to AVOID a penalty or infraction that is about to happen. This could be a result of a player celebration, or end of play altercation, which could have been manually triggered by you or done ramdomly by the CPU.

FORMATION SELECTION
GOALINE
Goaline formation is a specialized formation only to be used in the following situations:

• Short-yardage (2 or less yards): Anywhere BUT ONLY on 3rd or 4th down.
• Inside the RedZone. In cases where you are backed up to your own endzone or attempting to score.

Goaline in no way should be used as a regular formation.


SUBSTITUTIONS

• Because EA has REMOVED the ability to sub by formation, special consideration is needed in order to facilitate player substitutions.

ALLOWABLE SUBSTITUTIONS

• QB/QB
• TE/FB
• WR/WR
• TE @ WR
• CB @ WR (but not WR @ CB)
• RB/FB
• CB/FS/SS
• ROLB/MLB/LOLB
• O-line/O-line
• D-line/D-line
• K/P

• Any other substitutions are prohibited, unless extreme case of an injury.
• If your team has any out-of-position subs, you can declare them with your commisioner for approval. These subs will be included in your profile for all members to view.

SPECIAL TEAMS SUBS

• Any sub is allowable on special teams besides the following exceptions:
• QB holder/QB holder
• Kicker/Punter

MASS SUBS FEATURE

• The Mass Subs feature is not allowed because at times it makes illegal and out-of-position subs not acceptable. You must sub using the dept chart.

LOWER-RANKED TEAMS AND SUBS

• Lower ranked teams (and teams with small rosters) can appeal to the conference commisioner in order to use special out-of-position subs.

GAME SETTINGS

• Skill Level - All American
• Weather - Random
• Penalty levels - Default (Middle)
• Quick Passing - Optional
• Time - 6 Minute Quarters
• Unranked
• Fair Play - OFF
• Injuries - ON
• Fatigue - ON
• Home Field Advantage - ON
• Even Teams - OFF

GAME MALFUNCTIONS - DISCONNECTS

• In the even of excessive lag or game disconnect both players will rectify the situation in a sportman-like manner.
• No game should be RESTARTED from the BEGINNING...unless the game disconnects with less than 2-minutes into the game. Both players must agree to restart the game. If not, in the case that one player would like to honor, time, down, or field position, the game must be continued where it left off.

• TIME, FIELD POSITION, SCORE, and DOWN MUST BE HONORED AT ALL OTHER TIMES! The player having the ball at the disconnect WILL be punted the ball REGARDLESS of who wins the toss. Both players will run plays to help get to the correct field position and down (they may want to add a minute or two to compensate for the time it will take to recreate field position and down). This may involved taking several delay of games, or running a play to get to the APPROXIMATE yard-line where the disconnect occurred. Once players feel they have gotten reasonably close to where the game disconnected, in terms of time, field position, and down, they should acknowledge that fact by sending a PM, before continuing regulation play. The players then play out whatever time was remaining on the clock. For example, if the game disconnected at the end of the 3rd quarter, the winner is determined at the end of the 1st quarter in the NEW game by totaling the old score with the new at the end of the 1st qtr. EACH player must document the score, time, down, and field position, RECORD the TEMPORARY STATS. when a disconnect occurs, then meet back at and set the game back up accordingly...as best as humanly possible...using the above guidelines.

• Restarts: One restart will give you a warning, a second restart will result in removal from the league if no just cause for your restart can be found (i.e. system froze)

MOVING PLAYERS ON DEFENSE
D-lineman: D-lineman can ONLY be moved by using shifts provided by the game...PERIOD! NO EXCEPTIONS!

• No defensive PLAYER should EVER be closer than 1.5 yards from the Line of Scrimmage (LOS)!
  
• The basic premise here is that NO player can be moved toward the LOS beyond what a natural **SHIFT UP** would put them...so, in that regard...
  
• LBs can get no closer than 2 yards to the LOS...UNLESS in a short yardage situation (2 yards or less)...when they can be moved up to the 1.5 yard no encroachment LOS BORDER.
  
• FS and SS can get NO CLOSER than 3 yards from the LOS unless in short yardage, when they can move up to 2.5 yards from the LOS.
  
• CBs and DBs can move no closer than 1.5 yards from the LOS (in B&R they move up to 1.5, so that's where we'll leave it).

FOURTH DOWN CONVERSION

• Your territory: 4th and inches AND PAST your 40.
• Opponent's territory (pass the 50): Anywhere, but NOT more than 4th and 15-yards to go.
• Last Quarter and Loosing: Anywhere, any distance.
• Last Quarter and Winning (4th and 2 or less): Anywhere.

NO-HUDDLE
No huddle is allowed only under the following circumstances:

• The last 2 minutes of the first half (regardless of who's winning).
• No more than TWO (2) series a half. That means you can no-huddle as much as you want the entire series (each play) or selected plays (every 3rd down)...but when you score or punt the ball...that counts as ONE series usage.
• The ENTIRE 4th Quarter if LOOSING or if the game is TIED.

NO-HUDDLE IS NOT ALLOWED

• AFTER an incomplete pass.
• The penalty for no-huddling after an incomplete pass is the player will be forced to burn a Time Out, or take a 5 yard penalty (which ever the opposing player chooses). The opposing player should pause the game to notify the player of the infraction...the moment it occurs.

MOTIONING

• Any player may be put in motion that can be put in motion but that motion must not include YO-YOing a player back and forth to get the DB or LB out of position when the defense is in man coverage. WRs must clear the OT or last offensive player on the line (TE for example) before snapping the ball...unless it is a run OR the WR has been hot-routed into block. At no point should any player run through the O-line on a pass play unless unless the player lined up in the backfield to begin with (e.g. RB/FB).

BLOCKING PUNTS, EXTRA POINTS, & FIELD GOALS

• No defensive players can be moved out of the formation called in order to block an Extra Point, Punt, or Field Goal. No manual blocking is allowed!
• Players can be moved BACK into return coverage or to defend a possible fake Punt, Field Goal, or Extra Point, BUT they must NOT be taken off the interior line to be used as kick return blocker.

AUDIBLING

• Illegal audibles (to date)
• A WR can NOT be audibled to a TE position...EVER!
• A WR can NOT be audibled into the backfield...EVER!
• A DB can NOT be audibled to a LB or D-line position!