League Rules

This will be the most important document and I implore all owners to carefully read this, as I didn't know is not a valid excuse for violating any of the rules. Some of the rules will be subject to change and or enhancement upon the release of the game.

Violation Enforcement
The Ussml will have a suspension policy in regards to violations of the rules. Although we encourage video evidence when a complaint is reported we also know that is not always practical, and therefore will take players prior history into account in regards to all complaints, as well as here both sides to any argument. A first offense will mean the suspension of a player on your roster. That player and the length of time will be deliberated on by Myself and my co-commissioners and depend upon the level of the offense as well your actions immediately following the offense. A second offender will then himself be suspended, the length of time of course will be deliberated on by myself and the co-comissioners and depends upon the level of offense and your actions immediately after. The third offense will result in your immediate removal from the league. If at any point we feel that a persons actions are so egregious that they require immediate removal from the lg, circumventing the suspension policy, I do reserve the right to do so.

League Ettiquette
I will always encourage a competitive banter amongst the owners, but I require a level of respectability between us all. Keep the comments to madden. Anything offensively personal or racist will not be tolerated.

Position swaps
Madden 25 apparently will have a wider range of positional change abilities and with that will come a bevy of crazyness and unsim tactics. This is why I feel the need to regulate them and list what is illegal, Such as a TE at FB, we all know the imbalances this can create when vertical threat TE's manually lineup at FB. I will make one loophole in that certain change, you may move a TE to FB if they are a blocking TE and have a speed 79 or less and RBK and Impact BLK ratings of 70 or higher. HB's at FB will also remain an illegal manual substitution, as well as wr to te. I know there are certain formations like the pistol that line up 2 RB's and that is fine. O-line can be swapped around at your own discretion. Cb's can be changed to safety and vice versa. OLB's can be moved to DE and vice versa. DT's can be moved to DE's and vice versa. If the game incorporates storyline players, any player that switches positions as part of there storyline may be switched back to there original position at your discretion. Mlb's may be moved to OLB's but once moved there they must either remain at that position or move back to MLB. WR's can only be WR's however if you have a WR they is a playmaker out of the backfield, they may be used in sub packages like that however there position listed must remain at WR. There are 2 intial odd player specific positional changes I will allow, and that is Tim Tebow at TE and Denard Robinson to QB. Any other manual change will be deemed illegal and you will face discipline if you try them. QB's must stay QB's unless it was a storyline change. HB's must stay at HB unless it was a storyline change. I'm sure you can understand where im going with this! My last manual substitution is as follows, and may be subject to change. WR depth, You may not manually place your best receiver at number 3 or less in the depth chart unless that receiver and your team meet certain requirements. If your best receiver is a prototypical slot receiver, that means 6'1 or less and is known for speed and agility, or if you have 3 high overall recievers , then the smallest 1 must be listed as your number 3 receiver in your depth chart. This is to try to counter act a blatant manipulation of a 3rd cb. M13 did not have defensive assignments and even if it did this could potentially create unfair imbalances. However any play call formation that automatically puts your top receiver in the slot is of course allowed.

Hurry up Offense
This might be the most interesting rule change I've decided to implement. The hurry up rules for the fourth quarter are similar to most sim leagues. If your down by 21 or more at start of the 4th quarter then you may use this weapon at your discretion, however it may not be used after a sack or loss of yards. If you are down by 14 inside of the 4 minute mark in the 4th quarter you may use the hurry up offense, again you can't use it following a sack or loss of yards. If you are down by 1-16 points inside of 2 minutes you may use the hurry up offense including after a sack or loss of yards. You may also use the hurry up offense inside of 2 minutes in a tie ball game. Now here is where it gets interesting. Due to the sudden influx of fast paced offenses in the NFL the USSML is implanting a new rule on the hurry up offense. You are now allowed to use it for 3 plays at anytime in the game. It can be 3 straight plays if you so choose or 3 separate plays at anytime in the game. Again it may not be used directly after a sack or loss of yards. However use common sim and madden sense when using this new tool. If you are up big then there is no need to use the hurry up offense!!

Blowout rules
This should be simple and self explanatory. If your up big run the ball!! Only pass on 3rd down if necessary and that is to move the chains! If you can kneel it out then do so, do not try to pad your stats. Same concept goes for the losing team, You don't like the score being run up on you, well your opponent doesn't like you running hurry up and launching bombs in an effort to get 1 last meaningless td and prolonging what is already a blowout defeat. Now I know there might be times in a blowout game where a bad pick may be thrown, or a fumble or a broken run happens and a td seems imminent, I will not say run it in or dive down or go out of bounds, that is purely discretionary and has very much to do with your opponents mistakes and the time of the game. If at the point of a play like this you can kneel it out then yea we expect you to not score but if you cant and you score, you will not be penalized.

Nano Blitzing
Throughout the years madden developers have taken stride to try to remove the use of nano blitzing from the game however every year guys will find ways to nano and take advantage of blocking AI. We all know what it looks like and know one should be attempting it. This rule will tie directly into pre snap manual movement of defenders! If you set up a blitz that manipulates the blocking AI and allows for a blitzer to come in instantly untouched and sack the qb within a second of the snap that is a nano and you will be penalized.

Defensive pre snap manual movement.
This is simple, you may control whomever you'd like defensively, but pre snap you can only manually move 1 guy and normally that should be the guy you control at the snap. If you manually move a player then switch off to another player, you are not allowed to manually move that player pre snap that you switched to. All dpad adjustments and movements are allowed. Turbo circling with ur user is not allowed, for those of you that don't know what that is, its is taking ur user and running him in circles pre snap in an effort to get a turbo burst at the LOS at the snap of the ball.

Rocket Catching
This feature didn't seem to be in m13 and I am hoping its not in M25. However if it is of course it is not allowed! A rocket catch is the manual controlling of a receiver after a throw in an effort to cut the route short, strafe to line the of scrimmage and jump up like a rocket to catch the ball, where a db animation is motionless and can only attempt a tackle on the descent of the receiver.

Base Defenses
3-4 and 4-3 are base defenses. Quarters, Dime, and 4-6 are not base defenses. Of course they can be used throughout a game, but if that is the basis of your defense you my friend are unsim and will be penalized. Theres no way to put an amount or a said percentage on the use of these but its not hard to tell if you are being unsim. This coorelates to matching personel with the offense. You don't always have to match up personel if you feel your opp is trying to exploit a mismatch however playing dime or quarters when your opp is in a 2 back set in the 1st quarter of a game seems mighty fishy to me. Now most guys would say I welcome that, I'll runt he ball right at them. That is great and should work however there are always some weird madden set-up guys will do that will turn a quarters defense into a great run stuffer, that is why the pre snap manual movement rule exist. as for nickel and dime defenses, there are many types and if you choose to prefer a certain type for your nickel and dime coverage looks, that is at your discretion.

Playcalling
This rule tends to be blurred sometimes, so I will do my best to unblurr it for you guys. Alternate your playcalls and your formations. Running the same formation all game or the same handful of plays all game is unsim and not fun. Now I know there may be certain routes you like and are comfortable with, and maybe even 1 or 2 plays you trust and will go to in clutch situations, but remember to balance your playcalls and have realistic ratios. Certain games may dictate you to be pass heavy, but if every game your throwing the ball 40 times and running 5 times you are wrong. If you throw 10 passes in a game and 5 of them are screens you are wrong! Some guys like to run the ball and will be a run first run second and run 3rd if we can kind of team. That while may be somewhat of a fine line is relatively ok, however your still expected to mix in a few passes into the game. The bottom line of this rule is to mix up your play calling. Defensively guys may choose to be a heavy mcv team or heavy zcv team or a blitzing team, that is very much understandable but I will say this, if you base your defense off 1 concept, you cant argue man your opponent attacks you with similar routes and or runs to counter your defense throughout the course of a game.

Max coverage
Simple, dropping everyone into coverage is not allowed!!! You should have at least 3 rushing at all times. There is the 9 Velcro play that automatically drops 9 and rushes 2 and those plays are allowed however that doesn't mean they should be run over and over and over again.

Offensive pre snap movement
Motion in the offense is fully allowed, however if you manually motion a player you must wait till that player comes to a complete stop before snapping the ball. Any play that has motion already designed into it is allowed.

4th down rules/ special teams fakes
You may go for it on 4th down at anytime in the 4th quarter if down by 21 or more. You can go for down 10-20 anytime between the 2 and 4 minute mark of the 4th quarter and down 1-10 anytime after the 2minute mark of the 4th. You may go for it on 4th and 1 outside of the fourth quarter, inside your 45 yard line, but only one time in a game. You may attempt a fake punt or fake fg, but you must be trailing in the game, and you can only do so once each in a game. Remember to use common sense in the matter, this doesnt mean you should or have to do it once every game, it just means you have that weapon at your disposal.

Trading
There will be a 3 man committee made up of myself and the 2 co-commissioners. All trades must be posted on the forum and voted on by the committee. You need 2 approvals for a trade to go through, however let me make this personally clear to the lg and the committee members. It is not our job to nit pick trades. In fact i will instruct the committee memeber to be relatively loose with approvals as more often then not if 2 owners agree to a trade then they feel it is fair. It will be our job to monitor the trades to make sure the teams are following cap guidelines. We want to prevent teams from committing cap suicide. The only other reason we would deny a trade is if it is is so obviously unfair, blatant trade rape and someone needs to step in. With that said let me get down to the trade requirements. When posting a trade on the forum trade thread, certain information needs to be posted properly. Player name, position, age, development trait, overall, and contract info (Years remaining how much money remaining and salary for current year).