Perusing through the DSFL season stats, I noticed my character Cameron Taylor had 0 interceptions and 0 pass deflections. Am I the worst safety in the league? Or is my build wrong? Or am I lacking in a very important stat? Well, I'm going to look at other safeties to figure out what's going on. I've been told that speed, agility, hands, and intelligence are all important towards getting INTs. Let's see if I'm adequate in those areas.
My build (according to most recent roster): 73 speed, 71 agility, 60 intelligence, 65 hands.
I wish I was faster, but I don't think I'm too deficient anywhere. 0 INTs 0 PDs
League leader in INTs - FS E. Kim (TIJ)
73 speed, 73 agility, 50 intelligence, 55 hands.
League leader in PDs (for safeties) - SS J. Masvidal (SA)
85 speed, 70 agility, 40 intelligence, 55 hands.
Fellow Teammate FS with 4 INTs and 5 PDs - FS Z. Richter (POR)
71 speed, 70 agility, 52 intelligence, 62 hands.
Fellow draft class mate, highest TPE Safety of the draft class, 2 INTs and 2 PDs - SS D. Morris (SA)
79 speed, 70 agility, 73 intelligence, 70 hands.
Well, it turns out that the league leader in INTs has the worst hands, bad intelligence, and is one of the slower players listed. The best rookie safety has 2 picks and 2 deflections. So that goes against the common thought. Now, I'm not denying that running sim after sim, the higher speed, hands, and intelligence will result in more INTs, but as far as this league goes, how do we make sense of this? We are told that certain stats should produce certain results, so why doesn't Morris have the league lead in INTs?
Regarding my build, if I were to compare my build to the other 4, I feel like I should have a better chance at grabbing INTs that the rest except Morris. I have better hands and intelligence and similar speed to the other 3. Yet, Morris and I have the worst INT numbers of the bunch.
The best safety in the DSFL, Morris, only managed to grab 2 INTs and 2 PDs and his coverage stats are out of this world. We see a pretty low TPE player in Richter double Morris's numbers. So what's going on here?
My two theories:
1) Myself and Morris are good at coverage so nobody throws our way, limiting the chance for INTs. We see the lower intelligence guys get picks, but maybe they give up more catches too? I think this may apply to Morris, but I'm not at his level of coverage ability so I'm not sure this is the reason I get no picks. We also see this with really good corners, like Bly Jr. Maybe he's so good at coverage that nobody throws his way and that why he only has 3 INTs, yet he's one of the highest TPE players in the league.
2) Strong Safeties are cursed. It sound ridiculous, but hear me out. The list above, the better INT numbers belong to the FSs. Masvidal being the exception because as a backup SS, he likely lines up at CB once in a while. The top 5 safeties in the league with the most interceptions are all Free Safeties except 1. As a group, the FSs snagged 21 INTs this year. The SSs grabbed only 13. So maybe it's not a matter of build or stats, but how the game uses the safeties differently. If the sim thinks that FSs are more for coverage and SS more for run support, of course the FSs will get more INTs. So my advice to any incoming safeties looking to get some INTs, ask your GM to play you at FS.
In summary, I have no clue how to get more interceptions other than line up at Free Safety. I can't find a trend in TPE allocations to determine that one particular stat will help get more INTs or PDs. Or, it could be that I am indeed the worst sim safety in the league.
GRADED
My build (according to most recent roster): 73 speed, 71 agility, 60 intelligence, 65 hands.
I wish I was faster, but I don't think I'm too deficient anywhere. 0 INTs 0 PDs
League leader in INTs - FS E. Kim (TIJ)
73 speed, 73 agility, 50 intelligence, 55 hands.
League leader in PDs (for safeties) - SS J. Masvidal (SA)
85 speed, 70 agility, 40 intelligence, 55 hands.
Fellow Teammate FS with 4 INTs and 5 PDs - FS Z. Richter (POR)
71 speed, 70 agility, 52 intelligence, 62 hands.
Fellow draft class mate, highest TPE Safety of the draft class, 2 INTs and 2 PDs - SS D. Morris (SA)
79 speed, 70 agility, 73 intelligence, 70 hands.
Well, it turns out that the league leader in INTs has the worst hands, bad intelligence, and is one of the slower players listed. The best rookie safety has 2 picks and 2 deflections. So that goes against the common thought. Now, I'm not denying that running sim after sim, the higher speed, hands, and intelligence will result in more INTs, but as far as this league goes, how do we make sense of this? We are told that certain stats should produce certain results, so why doesn't Morris have the league lead in INTs?
Regarding my build, if I were to compare my build to the other 4, I feel like I should have a better chance at grabbing INTs that the rest except Morris. I have better hands and intelligence and similar speed to the other 3. Yet, Morris and I have the worst INT numbers of the bunch.
The best safety in the DSFL, Morris, only managed to grab 2 INTs and 2 PDs and his coverage stats are out of this world. We see a pretty low TPE player in Richter double Morris's numbers. So what's going on here?
My two theories:
1) Myself and Morris are good at coverage so nobody throws our way, limiting the chance for INTs. We see the lower intelligence guys get picks, but maybe they give up more catches too? I think this may apply to Morris, but I'm not at his level of coverage ability so I'm not sure this is the reason I get no picks. We also see this with really good corners, like Bly Jr. Maybe he's so good at coverage that nobody throws his way and that why he only has 3 INTs, yet he's one of the highest TPE players in the league.
2) Strong Safeties are cursed. It sound ridiculous, but hear me out. The list above, the better INT numbers belong to the FSs. Masvidal being the exception because as a backup SS, he likely lines up at CB once in a while. The top 5 safeties in the league with the most interceptions are all Free Safeties except 1. As a group, the FSs snagged 21 INTs this year. The SSs grabbed only 13. So maybe it's not a matter of build or stats, but how the game uses the safeties differently. If the sim thinks that FSs are more for coverage and SS more for run support, of course the FSs will get more INTs. So my advice to any incoming safeties looking to get some INTs, ask your GM to play you at FS.
In summary, I have no clue how to get more interceptions other than line up at Free Safety. I can't find a trend in TPE allocations to determine that one particular stat will help get more INTs or PDs. Or, it could be that I am indeed the worst sim safety in the league.
Code:
677 words. Ready for grading
GRADED
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