You know old style British betting odds.
7/2 11/4 4/9
How do you convert your 'chance of winning' into a percentage? Can it be done quickly in your head? Must be a way, if compulsive gamblers can do it at a glance, then why can't we?

Can it be done in your Head on the fly?
Fractional Betting odds like 7/2, 13/5, or 11/4.
So how would you then break down the percentages of the two possible outcomes? Like one outcome being 60% and the other outcome being 40%?

A complete analysis of the Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1

Why it is a very unique vehicle that was overlooked, but will soon be rare and highly valued
The BI is an interesting plane, and due to its in-game characteristics, the setup of the event, and the overall attitude of players, I have realized that it is very likely that this will be an extremely expensive plane soon, and that there is a way to get it discounted right now, but it is only viable until the 12th of October. This post is quite long, but I hope you find it as interesting as I did, and if at all possible, helpful as well.

READ ME: There are four sections to this analysis, each which details why this plane is likely to be sought after; read only the part/s which interest you most, as it is quite long (even by TEC standards). View conclusion for TL;DR.

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The most unique gameplay and flight characteristics in War Thunder

From tier I-V there are two basic strategies. Having more energy than the opponent by climbing or staying at high speeds, and turnfighting. Most planes specialize in a certain area while lacking in another another, such as the Fw 190 Ds or P-47s which have great guns, engine power, and energy retention, but sacrifices turnfighting capability and speed. On the other hand we have the A6M1 "Zero" or Spitfire, which can climb well and turn very well, but sacrifice speed, energy retention, and have bad guns. The BI has the capability to do everything that these planes do but better, except it has horrible guns.
Apart from this plane, there are almost none which have good everything, and while the BI has some detriments, it out-preforms every single plane at its tier in every non-weaponry department, especially considering it is at 6.7. The fact that its the only useable rocket plane in the game (RIP Me 163) and it faces propeller planes and early jets means that it has gameplay that is not replicated with any other plane in the game.
In terms of performance, its only detriments come from the fact that it preforms unlike any other plane in the game. You see pilots fly at 100% throttle and dive at 700km/h in this thing then crash because they cant pull up. Compare this to a player who just unlocked their first jet, and starts climbing at 250km/h then tries to dogfight propeller planes. Until then their doctrine was good for propeller planes, but they must learn to adapt to the completely new fighting style. The same goes for the BI. At low speeds it can outturn a Spitfire and Ho 229, especially with flaps. At mid speeds (just under 600km/h) it can pull a sustained 14g, which is nearly impossible save for the Ho 229 and a some Mach capable jets.
At high speeds (600+) The BI is a flying brick, but consider two things. First; it can sustain 750km/h with only 35% throttle, second, it can sustain 500km/h in a climb at 45% throttle and reach 5000m after 2.5 minutes with 60 seconds of fuel left. Compare this to the British 7,000 GE Premium, the Spitfire FR Mk XIVc, which according to the WT climb chart, takes 4 minutes and 45 seconds to reach the same altitude at 100% throttle, so the BI already out climbs it by a considerable margin at 35% throttle, while at 100% it can reach that altitude in 1 minute and 10 seconds, over four times faster. Practically Nothing around these BRs can outclimb this plane, or outrun it either.
It is notable that at low altitudes you get "REDUCE SPEED" warnings around 730 km/h, but it your plane will not rip. Instead, you can go up to 900km/h at which you simply stops accelerating (its your top speed). You dont rip anything at this speed, but your controls are quite sluggish.
Processing img p6mhmqtnuyr51...
At over 600km/h other planes have a maneuverability advantage, but this plane can pull up and cut throttle to stay above them, and now as the enemy has been maneuvering, they are slow, and you can swoop down on them or turn in with them, as at slow speeds you excel. If they try to run away, at 35% throttle you can easily outrun them, so if they turn you catch them, and if they run, you catch them. The enemies best bet is trying to make you overshoot, as the BI's incredible energy retention can be a curse at times, as even at 0% throttle you can convert 800km/h into 2500m of altitude, but it also means slowing down to stay on an evasive enemies tail is hard. You can always pull up and out though, and dive back on them as mentioned before.
With such a powerful engine, it is limited with a 1 minute and 57 second fuel load. This is deceiving, as I have tested the longevity of the fuel at different throttle settings, and it is as many have noted, non linear. For the exact data on how long fuel lasts, check out this post. If the fuel consumption and throttle percentage were directly correlated, you would expect that for 60 seconds of fuel; 100% throttle would last 60 seconds, 10% would last 600 seconds, and 1% would last 6000 seconds, while in reality as it is non-linear, 100% lasts 60 seconds, 10% lasts 6,600 seconds (1h 50m), and 1% lasts for 660,000 seconds (183 hours). At 35% throttle you have about 8 mins of fuel, a respectable amount, and as mentioned above, you can sustain 750km/h. This engine is even more powerful than the other rocket plane, the 163, but the 163 is at 8.0-8.7 where it faces MiGs and Sabres, while this plane is at 6.7 where it faces P-51s and Me 262s, and it can completely dominate them.
The % of throttle used exponentially increases the fuel used. But this is deceiving, the airframe of this plane creates almost no drag, so cutting throttle doesn't really limit top speed, only makes it take longer accelerate to such speeds. At most throttles the BI can sustain a very high top speed, as it only needs a bit of thrust to counteract what air resistance it does experience, so it can stay at high speeds. You almost never want to use throttles above 50%. The situations in which high throttles can be useful is in a stallfight when you need more thrust to hang in the air a bit longer, if you are at low speeds and need to get the energy advantage quickly, be it getting to a top speed then throttling down, or climbing up to escape low enemies. When hunting bombers do not use full throttle, as at high altitudes your rip speed and controllability decreases significantly, and you will never reach high enough altitudes if you waste your fuel in a 100% throttle and 60 degree climb, you wont have fuel left over, but at 35% you climb slower, but still much faster than anything else, and by the time bombers start reaching your bases, you can easily be at 6000-7000 meters with a good amount of fuel left.
As fuel efficiency is quite important, it would be very useful if someone who is good with data and aeronautical concepts could find the most efficient throttle + angle of climb combination for this aircraft. From what I have seen, 35% throttle at 400km/h is quite efficient and can get you to altitude fast.
Now about its guns. In protection analysis you can compare the damage of AP-I and FI-T, but not HE, and although there is info about the 20mm ShVAK in-game and on the wiki page, no where could I find the muzzle velocities of each round, and much info is from years ago, so finding accurate reliable information was hard. I, along with many players would be grateful if u/gszabi99 could extract the data for the damage and velocity of different types rounds, or if Gaijin would allow us to do protection analysis for every round, as until now the consensus on best belts are based on speculation.
From what I can tell, the HE has a bad reputation. On protection analysis, AP-I does good damage when hitting a critical component, but doesn't do well on wings or the main fuselage. I would estimate that without a pilot snipe or fire, it would take 3-4 shells to the same spot of the wing to snap it, four shells to the tail to break the controls, but only 1-2 shells to destroy an engine. FI-T appears to explode on impact, but does little damage. It would probably take 3-4 shells to the same spot to snap a wing, five to the tail to kill the controls, but four for an engine. Overall, the AP-I seems better, as it appears to have a higher muzzle velocity, is likely to start fires (which can kill much more reliably then the guns damage itself), and pens more, so is more likely to reach the pilot. FI-T can also be useful, but seems to spark more often, and its lack of pen make it useless when hunting bigger planes. For dogfighting it can be better, as snapshots during turning tend to hit flat wings, and while AP-I passes right through, FI-T damages the whole wing. Its lack of pen doesn't matter, as planes that dogfight you are small and lightly armored, and the spread of damage can do more on a hit. If your style is being on an enemies tail and fighting armored and big enemies, AP-I is best for fires, pilot snipes, and killing engines. If you prefer turnfighting, snapshots, and fighting light enemies, FI-T might be best for you.
On the topic of guns, from what I am seeing, the Russian air tree is preforming much worse in the current meta then its contemporaries. From tier I to VI its planes are generally outclassed, with few notable exceptions such as the MiG-17AS and the IL-2s. At low-mid tiers their engine performance and guns are mediocre, and in upper tiers the Phantom is dominant. Gaijin will surely see that people are not grinding out the Russian tree nearly as much as other nations with better planes. I cant predict what they will change to attempt to balance this, or even if they will do anything about it at all, but it is possible that, as we have seen in the past, if a certain thing is underperforming, it will have its characteristics improved, and if it is over preforming, vice versa. I think we can all agree that ShVAKS are underperforming, but the question is whether Gaijin will do anything about it.
It is easily a 7.7 worthy in terms of performance, but its bad guns mean it is 6.7 and faces props and early jets, both of which can do nothing against it if the pilot is smart and does not take unnecessary risks. It reminds me of the He 100 when it was at 1.7. A plane that preforms incredibly well, but as it had guns worse those that of biplanes, it was placed at a br at which it faced biplanes, and nothing could touch it. Good players were in a position where they could not be killed if they played it right, and could shred the enemy team.
Overall it could be argued that it is the best plane at its BR, but it depends on how much you like guns. If you are experienced in nations with bad guns such as Brittan, Russia, Japan, and France, you may like this plane. If you are more inclined to nations with powerful guns, having to adjust to shitty guns would probably not be fun.
Below is a list of pros and cons it has compared to other planes it faces.
Pros:

• Best MER (Maneuvering Energy Retention)
• Best low speed maneuverability
• Great mid speed maneuverability (Almost as much as 229)
• Best climb rate
• High top speed in level flight (900km/h)
• Good top speed in a dive (Mach 0.81)
• Best acceleration
• Best poweweight ratio (Even good compared to tier VIs)
• Guns have low rate of fire which helps conserve ammo
• Very unique
• Good repair cost
• Interesting in Sim
• Could be acquired for free/cheap

Cons:

• Expensive now that the event is over (85 Gjn at the moment of posting)
• Guns are bad
• 45 RPG
• Controls lock up at 600km/h
• Fuel load requires throttle control
• Plane is less controllable and more susceptible to rips at high altitudes and in dives

As a summary of its characteristics; it is better then everything it faces, but its lackluster guns make it rare to be able to use its performance advantages to get more than two kills per sortie.
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The setup of the "Strategist" event will make it very rare

There are a few things I have seen about the event itself that are extremely likely to make the BI very rare. First; although we are in quarantine, people are very busy with work and school, and it took around four hours a day for 10 days to get the Merk or the BI. It was also during the work week, so most people could only grind those four hours in addition to the work they already had, and one weekend. If people had a day or two off, they may have been able to grind it then, but Gaijin in their infinite wisdom capped the rewards at 40 per day, so players could only earn 1/6th of the materials needed (3 offensive docs at 80 intel per doc means 40 intel x 6 days). Thus to get it for free you had to participate in an intense grind for the max reward for at least 6 days, and many people didn't have the time. This was bound to make the reward rare, as who in their right mind would spend hours every day on intense grind for a videogame? (Needless to say I am not in my right mind)
The second characteristic which makes the BI rarer is the fact that the Merk comes before the BI, and in addition, the Merk can be exchanged for the BI, but the BI cant be exchanged for the Merk. Go to the Strategist map and you will see what I mean; three docs for a Merk coupon, and the Merk coupon can be exchanged for a BI coupon. If you had the choice between getting a BI or a Merk for free right now, the logical decision would be to get the Merk, because you know if you get the BI, you are stuck with the BI, but if you get the Merk, you have a chance to exchange it if in the end you decide that you would prefer the BI. This means more players will keep the Merk, as well as put the Merk up for sale rather than the BI, because its logical that if you can exchange it for a BI, it would be more valuable because it gives you the chance to get both instead of just being worth itself. It was also believed and repeated by Youtubers covering the event that the Merk would be the better vehicle to sell to make money. Considering the pervious two points, it is odd to consider that in practice the BI coupon is selling for 5 gjn more than the Merk. We will get into the reasons why this happened in the next section, but it has to do with the fact that the Merk appears to be the better reward (as we reasoned logically before), and thus people kept it and neglected the BI, making the BI rarer in the end.
As the Merk was exchangeable for the BI, most people kept the Merk. As of right now there are 9.3 times more Merks than BIs on the market. The last characteristic of the event that will make the BI much more rare is the fact that the Merk will no longer be exchangeable for the BI on the 12th. As we have seen, there are disproportionately more Merks than BIs, and when the possibility to exchange the one to the other stops, there will still be many times more Merks than BIs, making the BI much rarer.
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How players see the BI + how they act in the market

One of the most interesting and hard to measure variables about things like these event vehicles are peoples opinions towards them. Fortunately for me, there are myriads of Reddit and fourm posts from the average player about their feelings on the event, as well as many Youtube posts about the event which most WT players watch, and my own experience in the game, where I played consistently with and against teams full of Merkvas, while in Air battles there were only 2-3 BIs per game, and I was able to talk with players of each to get a general impression of what they think of them.
The first thing to consider is the first impression everyone had when the event was announced. The first thing almost everyone saw was that there is a rocketplane with two shitvaks, only 45 RPG, and less than 2 mins of fuel, and almost every comment about it was that it would be really bad. From what we knew, all signs said it would be true! We had no idea that its flight characteristics would turn out to be practically the best at its tier, it would have more engine power than the 163, and the fuel would be manageable with throttle control. On the other hand, we had the Merkava 3D. This was seen as easily the better vehicle, from first sight is is a very good looking tank, while the BI looked like dildo with wings. On top of that, the Merk boasted the best round in the game, good general performance, part of a Israeli collection, has a good supporting lineup and a great repair cost. Based on this primary info, the BI seems quite bad, just a meme plane, while the Merk seems like a very good vehicle.
Now lets consider the Youtubers. They are good players who had early access to the vehicles, and have quite an influential voice. What they say, especially if many of them agree, would be believed by the majority of their audience, and thus those interested in grinding the vehicles (Especially if it reinforces their first impression). In all the videos of early gameplay and ideas for how to grind the event, the advice that the Merk was the better vehicle, and that to make money it would be best to sell the Merk, was almost universal. Everyone who made a video said that the BI itself was ok, but its guns were extremely frustrating to the point of being almost useless, while the Merk was portrayed as quite good. Now there is a thing to consider about WT Youtubers. As it is usually one of their prime sources of income/favorite hobbies, they play WT a lot, more than the average player and their viewers. As they play so much, they get really good, and for tanks; "No armor is best armor" (Phlydaily). The gun is the thing that matters the most to really good players, and armor is there for if a mistake is made and you are in a position where the enemy can shoot you (Spookston and others). As Youtubers tend to be above average players, they note it has the best gun (round) in the game, and ok survivability. As they are very experienced, they can position themselves so as to not get killed, and with the best round, do really well. But as mentioned before, armor is for if mistakes are made, and boy does the average player make mistakes.
Even in my B1 ter and Tiger H1 (famously OP tanks), I can get penned a lot because I make mistakes. Nearly everyone agrees that the Tiger H1 is OP at its br, almost unpenable if played right, but if a flanking enemy shoots you, you get sniped, or there is more than one enemy to angle against, you are easily penned. It takes a good player to position correctly, to know when and how much to angle, to not ever expose a flat plate. I tend so hear people say that when they play allies they can never pen Tigers, but when they play Tigers they always get penned. The point I am trying to make is that the average player is average, and not having armor to protect them when they fuck up means they die. Look at the OP R3, and yet most R3 players rush a cap and come in guns blazing and get killed instantly. It is a good vehicle, but the lack of armor makes the average player not do great in it. The R3 is similar to the Merk in the fact that they are really good vehicles with bad armor, and while they are great for experienced players who know every spot in the map and how to correctly position by heart, most will just push and be disappointed when they get killed by a sniper every time. Long story short, the Youtubers said that the Merk was a really good vehicle because of its gun, but for most players its just OK if not underwhelming, and the the state of allied 10.3 confirms it. When considering the BI, Youtubers opinions started to change once they had the BI for longer. It started out as being not recommended at all, but slowly they began to learn how to fly it and that it is actually quite fun. This change is the same learning curve we all have experienced with jets. It was a completely new and unique playstyle, and even the really good players had bad first experiences because they didnt know how to fly it properly and use all its incredible performance advantages. Thus, slowly the BI has been enjoyed by those who play it more and more, and consequently, the opinions of the Youtubers and players about it have improved.
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Initial opinions about the BI/in favor of the Merk:
A BI... to fly - War Thunder Napalmratte
🔴First Look - Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 - War Thunder LiveStream🔴 WhooptieDo
The Issue with War Thunder's events Ash
War Thunder's Event Problem Spookston
War Thunder - Merkava Mk.3D "The Hard Hitting Prize!" Bo Time Gaming
Holding The Line - Merkava Mk.3D War Thunder DEFYN
Merkava Mk.3D - IT IS HERE - Crafting Event "Strategist" Vehicle... RagingRaptor
Players who I had met in-game who had just unlocked the BI crashed or ran out of fuel and ammo a lot, and said that it was ok but its guns were trash and its flight characteristics were very weird.
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Recent positive opinions on the BI:
Day 3 Thoughts - Wargame "Strategist" - War Thunder TheEuropeanCanadian
RUSSIAN SPACE INTERCEPTOR... PhlyDaily
2 Minute Hero The Iron Arminian
The Russian Ohka | War Thunder BI ConeOfArc
Players wo have played the BI for longer now, such as those who have spaded it, appear to get 1-2 kills on average per sortie, then btb to rearm and come back to the combat. Overall they usually get 1-3 kills per game and rarely die. They say that it is very fun once you get the hang of it, and that you can easily outmaneuver the enemy, stay alive, and get shots on target, but the worst part is the 45rpg and bad damage. Even with every shot on target after getting an enemy slow, only 45 chances to shoot limits how much the planes superb performance can be used before a btb.
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Now lets consider value. As the BI was first considered to be trash, the initial expectations of the market were quite low:
Processing img fdugkuukfyr51...
While in contrast the Merk had many buy orders, and for higher prices. This makes sense as people thought that it was much better. As people began finishing the event, they would keep whichever they wanted more, usually the Merk judging by the lack of entire teams of BIs at 6.7. If they wished to sell, they would but up the Merk, as everyone said it was more valuable and would sell better. Thus the Merk coupons came onto the market by the hundreds, while even now there are less than a hundred BI coupons for sale. Now armed with the knowledge of supply of each vehicle, lets look at the current prices of each. The lowest 32 sale orders for the Merk are 80 gjn, while there is a single BI going for 85gjn, then more priced higher. This doesnt make sense, why is the coupon for the supposed better vehicle (which can also be exchanged for the more expensive one) cheaper than the supposed worse one? You could just buy the Merk for cheaper and exchange it for a BI through the Strategist map, why is the price so high? The answer is a fundamental principal of supply and demand, the fact that the fewer of something there is, and by extension the rarer something is, the more valuable it is. As of right now, the advice has been to not sell the BI, but to sell the Merkava, which means everyone intending to sell, either listed a Merk coupon on the market, or is saving it to sell when the price goes up, and much fewer have done similarly with the BI. The only thing keeping them more or less balanced is the fact that you can exchange a Merk for a BI, so their differences in price are limited. But soon the final stage of the event will be over, and this conversion will be no longer possible, leaving a ton of players with Merk coupons on the market, and an extremely limited number of BI coupons. This precipitates a huge inflation in the cost of the BI, because as of now only around 90 new BIs will ever be created, while there are hundreds of Merks that can be redeemed.
As it is such a unique vehicle, and the opinion of those who play it is generally improving, it will likely be highly regarded, and as such drive up its price quite a bit on top of the fact that it is going to be quite rare already. Something quite similar happened with the AU-1 from the last event, but now there much less BIs on the market than AU-1s after 6 months, and the AU-1 is not nearly as unique as the BI!
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Two chances to buy it for cheap

Right now the BI is going for 85 Gajouble Roubles, but if you are interested there are two ways to pick it up for less. Unfortunately, as it was an event vehicle, there is no way to get it for free anymore, and the limited supply means that the price will only go up as it gets rarer.
The first method is one I thought up and made a post about earlier which you may have seen. It involves buying the Merkava, which due to saturation is going for 5 gjn less than the BI, then going to the Strategist crafting map and converting your Merkava into a BI. Its easy and saves you 5 bucks, but if you want to do this you better hurry, as the event ends in a few hours and you wont be able to exchange it for a BI any longer.
The second method is less sure, but will probably work. As the anniversary sale approaches, sellers in the market, including the sellers of the BI, will want money to spend during the sale, and thus will sell their vehicles for lower prices instead of holding out at a higher price. If the sale is really good this year, then the price will lower more because they will really want the money to buy the packs on sale. The drawbacks are that from now to the sale the price could rise substantially and even with the lowered price cost more then you can get it for now, and if the sale is bad, then the price of the BI wont lower.
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Conclusion (TL;DR)
After looking at all aspects of the event, the behavior of the players, and the vehicle itself, I have found that it is a very fun and good vehicle if used right, and that it is more unique than any other vehicle on the market except the E 100 and the P-59, all of which offer a completely unique experience that can be replicated by practically no other vehicle in game. The Merk is has a good gun and looks good, but is not that unique, while the BI is very fun.
In terms of value, the BI is already much rarer than the Merk, and its cost on the market will soon increase to surpass the Merk by far. If you are interested in it, I would recommend acquiring it soon before it gets too expensive.
If you have a still have a coupon and are deciding which vehicle to redeem; first consider your current experience with top tier American tanks. If you enjoy that type of combat, would like an addition to your top tier lineup, or want to use this tank to grind tier VII, the Merk offers what you want. If you dont play high tier ground RB and dont have a lineup at that BR, want a vehicle that offers significant advantages over the enemy, and want to have fun and not stock grind, than the Merk may not be for you. If you want a vehicle that offers an experience unlike any other in the game and you find outmaneuvering your opponents fun, the BI may be for you. You dont need a lineup, you dont need to suffer a bad stock grind and horrible team composition, and you dont even need to have any Russian planes, you can just get it and start flying.

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Afterword

Truly the best reward is the Lübeck F224. A decent amount of grinding to get a quite good vehicle, although because Gaijin didn't design Naval battles to be fun no one plays them. If they added some more good sea premiums I am sure they would revamp naval because they would have an incentive to do so. It could be fun as well if low tier sea grind wasn't so terrible.
The worst reward is easily the half track. At such a low BR, battles are rarely fun. The vehicle itself may be iconic, but if it was the 75mm variant at a higher BR I would be much more inclined to get it.
If I were to design the event there are a few things I would change. I would still want it to be necessary to grind so people would play and get these rewards on top of normal tree grind, a win-win, but not to much to burn out the participants. Ideally, there would be two tiers of reward instead of three, the first with the 75mm variant of the half track or the Lübeck. This way there are two good vehicles to choose from for a lesser grind, and people are happier for it. It may also entice more players to get into naval. The second tier reward would be the BI or the Merk, as these are good vehicles and the grind is just right. In addition only tier III and up would be allowed, no more sealclubbing innocent new players with the B1 ter or F4U 1A. In addition to these rewards I would make gameplay more important in getting the rewards. When I was grinding, I could drop a single bomb from my 264 and be AFK the whole match and get enough activity for the reward, but in a fighter I needed more than one kill to do that, and you don't have the option to climb into space as you need to fight for activity. There was a pitiful reward for actual performance, the assault groups, and even then you only got it if you got first place. I would make the event last slightly longer as well, and perhaps add another reward to each tier to make there be good variety and represent minor nations. Thus players would be satisfied to get one or two of their preferred vehicles, while those set on hardcore grind could get all three tier one rewards and one tier two, or two tier two rewards and one tier one reward max.
I procrastinate writing my essays for school by writing an essay for WT, ironic.
Some information I referenced may have changed slightly between me writing it and you reading it, for example, it may be after 12:00 GMT on the 12th, so exchange of coupons will no longer be available, and the market data may have shifted a bit.
As of the exact moment of posting the event will end in 6h 32m. It is 11:27, I have school tomorrow, and I am tired so I will check responses in the morning.
If you have read my whole paper, good job! (If you just scrolled here, see the TL;DR in the previous section) I wrote it because I want to help any players who are interested as well as players who have the BI and are learning how to fly it, and because what I saw and learned seemed very interesting to me, and I wanted to share it with others who may be as interested about this event. If I am wrong in a certain area, or some info is not up to date, please let me know.

The playoffs continue to rage on, but there are 26 teams sitting at home with nothing to do but twiddle their thumbs, watch the Conference Finals, and wait for next season to start.
For their sake, we wanted to look ahead with the next edition of the OFFSEASON BLUEPRINT series. In each, we'll preview some big decisions and make some recommendations for plans of attack along the way. Today, we're looking at the Orlando Magic.
step one: "just shoot" - me
Veteran coach Steve Clifford has always been known as a defensive specialist. He's good at that. Alas, once the ball crosses that pesky midcourt line, our problems start to emerge. In Clifford's first year in Orlando, the Magic finished with the 22nd best offense. This past season, they sagged down to 23rd. Sadly, these anemic offenses are nothing unusual for the franchise. Amazingly, they've been in the bottom 10 for offensive rating every season since 2011-12 -- that's a streak of 8 years running.
The primary issue during this entire stretch has been a lack of shooting. This past season, the Magic ranked 19th in three-point attempts, and only 25th in three-point percentage. As a team, they shot 34.3% from three, over a full point off from the NBA league average (35.8%). The issue ran up and down the roster. Consider this: of the 19 players who recorded minutes for the Magic this season, 17 shot below league average from three. The only two who matched the league average rate were Evan Fournier and Melvin Frazier (who played 6.6 minutes per game and shot 8/16 total.)
Of course, assessing the problem and fixing it are two entirely different animals. The team's invested in players like Markelle Fultz, Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Vucevic, who could all improve to the "average" range but are never going to be sharpshooters from deep.
The easiest solution would be to utilize your # 15 pick to snag a shooter like Aaron Nesmith (Vanderbilt). Nesmith is probably the best shooter in this draft class, hitting 52% from three and 83% from the free-throw line this past year in his 14 games before injury. The sample size in college tends to be unreliable, but Nesmith's shooting form looks the part of a true 38-40% shooter. Better still, Nesmith has the length to play either the SG or SF spot.
Outside of that quick fix, the team may need to make some serious shakeups to the roster to make this combination work.
step two: find the silver lining in your shitty day
As any Orlando Magic fan will tell you, there's one bright spot at the center of this universe: Jonathan Isaac. He's a rising offensive threat, and already one of the best and most versatile defensive players in the NBA. He may have been on track to earn first team All-Defense, and maybe even a Defensive Player of the Year trophy one day.
Unfortunately, Isaac tore his ACL in the bubble and will likely miss the entire upcoming season. Yikes. It's one of the most brutal and disappointing breaks of an already-bad 2020 calendar year.
Outside of literal magic, there's nothing the team can actually do about that. They're going to need to soldier on and make the best out of a shitty situation.
If there's any positive here, it's that Isaac's injury may open the door for the Magic to "showcase" Aaron Gordon. Gordon's gone from being the star of the team to a potentially odd fit on this roster. He's not coming off a terribly strong year either, with averages of 14.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. After 6 seasons in the NBA, it may be time to give up on the idea that Gordon can be a top option on offense. He doesn't have the shooting or scoring skills to get to that level. More likely, he's best served as a 3rd or 4th option who primarily provides defense, energy, and athleticism. There's value to that, but it may be more valuable to another team that lacks those qualities on their roster.
With Isaac out, the Magic can feature Aaron Gordon and try to increase his trade value as much as possible. He's on a reasonable deal ($18M + $16M) that would make a trade easy to figure out logistically. With an increased role, he may be able to put up good raw stats (maybe 20-8-5?) that would make him even more appealing as an asset.
The team may as well aim high to start. Buddy Hield may be on the market, and Portland may be frustrated enough to consider trading C.J. McCollum for a package that would include Gordon. On the lowemore realistic end, the team could consider a deal for Minnesota SG Malik Beasley (a restricted free agent right now), or something with the Phoenix Suns (both Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson have good shooting potential). In terms of the draft, the Magic may be able to get something in the 5-10 range if they deal Gordon now, but should be able to fetch a solid R1 pick or more if they wait until Gordon starts putting up better numbers.
The Magic can consider a future without Gordon for a few reasons. Jon Isaac should be the future at forward, of course, but I'm also high on the potential of current rookie Chuma Okeke. He's been out all year with an injury, but at Auburn he looked like a dynamic threat that may end up being as good as Gordon himself.
step three: check the sportsbook to see if your bets paid off
The Orlando Magic have taken some big swings over the last few years, primarily with upside plays like Markelle Fultz and Mo Bamba. In both cases, the team needs to determine if they ended up cashing in - or crash 'n burning.
Let's start off with Markelle Fultz first. The Magic made a low cost move to acquire him (in terms of assets) and that looks like a smart move at the moment. With a longer leash and the ball in his hands more often, Fultz is starting to resemble a key player again. This past season (Year 3 for him), he averaged 15.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per 36 minutes. He's still a bad shooter (27% from 3, 73% from the FT line), but he's improving there. He's also taken massive leaps in his ability to slash and convert inside the arc. His FG% in the 3-10 foot area has gone from 21% to 30% to 42% over the last few seasons. He's showing glimpses of the talent that made him the # 1 pick.
The problem is: while Fultz was low cost in terms of assets, he's not low cost in terms of salary. Because he had been the # 1 pick, he'll be paid $12M next season, and then have a qualifying offer of $16M for 2021-22. If the team doesn't think Fultz justifies that type of commitment, they may not retain him at all. Given that, it'll be critical that the team can make a decision about Fultz based on his play this upcoming season. In a lot of ways, it's a make or break year for his Magic career.
The team has a longer window regarding Mo Bamba. He's under contract for the next two seasons before his own restricted free agency. That not-so-coincidentally lines up close to Nikola Vucevic's three years remaining ($26M + $24M + $22M). Over the next year or two, the Magic need to determine whether Bamba is going to be ready to take the mantle at center, at which point they can either trade Vucevic or let him walk at the end of his deal. Right now, it's very hard to know. Bamba didn't show much in Year 2, but sometimes it takes players with his unique frame extra time to develop their bodies. If Bamba turns out not to be starting material, then that will set the franchise back in the long term. Getting a decent starter is the least you can expect out of a # 6 overall pick.
step four: you play to win the games (but it never hurts to have a Plan B)
Even with Jonathan Isaac's injury, the Orlando Magic aren't going to throw in the towel and tank next season. The roster is too solid for that, and coach Steve Clifford is too motivated for that. You're not going to convince an old veteran coach -- entering Year 3 -- to took his foot off the gas.
Orlando doesn't have the cap space to go off on a shopping spree, so retaining their own free agents may be the most prudent step. Swingman Evan Fournier has a $17M player option that he may be inclined to pick up. That said, he's coming off a strong year -- 18.5 points and 39.9% shooting from deep -- and may want a longer-term commitment. If Fournier demands a longer deal, the Magic should probably give it to him. He's one of the more underrated scorers in the league right now.
Midseason acquisition James Ennis also has a player option (for a modest $2M). The team shouldn't bend over backwards to bring him back, but it'd be nice to have him around. He's an experienced vet capable of playing the 3 or 4.
Backup PG D.J. Augustin represents a trickier negotiation. He's ceded his role as a starter to Markelle Fultz, but he still played 25 minutes a night and contributed 10.5 points and 4.6 assists. He's a steadying presence on the court in addition to being one of the better shooters on the team. As a 12-year veteran, he's also a good mentor to a young guard like Fultz. That said, the 32-year-old Augustin may not want to come back to play for a middling team. He could chase a ring somewhere else like L.A. or Brooklyn. It doesn't make a load of sense for Orlando to overpay to bring him back given his declining role and their modest expectations for this next season. Hopefully the two sides want to keep their partnership going. If not, the Magic should eye other solid backup PGs who can take some pressure off Fultz and allow him to play some SG as well. Among the names that may fit this bill would be Shabazz Napier (WAS), Yogi Ferrell (SAC), or Matthew Dellavedova (CLE.)
I tend to think the Magic can make tweaks on the margins, "run it back," and still contend for the 7th or 8th seed in the East. That said, if they get off to a nightmare start, they should have a Plan B in their back pocket. We've already mentioned a possible Aaron Gordon trade, but they would have to consider trades of Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier, and Terrence Ross as well. While Coach Clifford may not want to blow it up and rebuild, he may not have a choice if the season starts to slip away from them.
previous offseason blueprints
ATL, CHA, CHI, CLE, DAL, DET, HOU, IND, GS, LAC, MIL, MIN, NYK, POR, SA, SAC, UTA

Los Angeles Rams (1-0) at Philadelphia Eagles (0-1)

The 2020 Philadelphia Eagles season didn’t have the start they were looking for week 1 as they opened the season without their starting LT, RT, RG, RB, DT and WR and struggled against the Washington Football team to open their season with a loss. Luckily they will get two of those starters back this week in running back Miles Sanders and RT Lane Johnson. Both will be welcome additions as the Eagles struggled to block anyone against the Football Team both on the line and from the running back position. Additionally, getting a running game going will greatly help slow the pass rush which will be impressive as the Rams posted one of the best pressure rates last week led by All-Pro Aaron Donald. Hopefully Doug Pederson learns from his mistakes of last week and gets Carson moving with some designed rollouts and mixes up his play-calling more to establish the run. If Doug tries to do the same thing as last week it will be a long day for Carson and Donald will feast. On the other side of the ball, Schwartz had Slay follow McLaurin last week and it worked as Slay shut McLaurin down, but that is more difficult this week as the Rams have two talented receivers in Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. The Eagles will need to see how Maddox holds up on the outside with a bigger challenge this week. With the struggles of the Eagles offense and their injuries on that side of the ball, the Eagles will need their defenses to limit the quick scoring Rams offense or it will be a long day. Should be a good test for the Eagles to rebound after falling flat out of the gate last week. Go Birds!

General Information
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Score Prediction Contest

Date
Sunday, September 20th, 2020

Game Time	Game Location
1:00 PM - Eastern	Lincoln Financial Field
12:00 PM - Central	1020 Pattison Ave
11:00 AM - Mountain	Philadelphia, PA 19148
10L00 AM - Pacific	Wikipedia - Map

Weather Forecast
Stadium Type: Open Air
Surface: Grass
Temperature: 62°F
Feels Like: 62°F
Forecast: Clear. Clear throughout the day.
Chance of Precipitation: 0%
Cloud Coverage: 0%
Wind: Northeast 10 MPH

Betting Odds
Oddsshark Information
Favorite/Opening Line: Even
OveUnder: 45.5
Record VS. Spread: Philadelphia 0-1, Los Angeles 0-1

Where to Watch on TV
FOX will broadcast Monday’s game to a national audience. Kevin Kugler will handle the play-by-play duties and Chris Spielman will provide analysis. Laura Okmin will report from the sideline.
TV Map - Week 2 TV Coverage Map

Radio Streams
List of Eagles Radio network member stations with internet broadcast availability
Radio.com 94.1 Desktop Streaming

Listen to Merrill Reese and Mike Quick
Calling the game on 94WIP and the Eagles Radio Network will be Merrill Reese, the NFL’s longest-tenured play-by-play announcer (44th season). Joining Reese in the radio booth will be former Eagles All-Pro wide receiver Mike Quick, while Howard Eskin will report from the sidelines.

Location	Station	Frequency
Philadelphia, PA	WIP-FM	94.1 FM and 610 AM
Allentown, PA	WCTO-FM	96.1 FM
Atlantic City/South Jersey	WENJ-FM	97.3 FM
Levittown, PA	WBCB-AM	1490 AM
Northumberland, PA	WEGH-FM	107.3 FM
Pottsville, PA	WPPA-AM	1360 AM
Reading, PA	WEEU-AM	830 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD	WAFL-FM	97.7 FM
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA	WEJL-FM	96.1 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD	WAFL-FM	97.7 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD	WEJL-AM	630 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD	WBAX-AM	1240 AM
Williamsport, PA	WBZD-FM	93.3 FM
Wilmington, DE	WDEL-FM/AM	101.7 FM
York/LancasteHarrisburg, PA	WSOX-FM	96.1 FM

Philadelphia Spanish Radio
Rickie Ricardo and Bill Kulik will handle the broadcast in Spanish on Mega 105.7 FM in Philadelphia and the Eagles Spanish Radio Network.

Location	Station	Frequency
Philadelphia, PA	LA MEGA	105.7 FM
Allentown, PA	WSAN	1470 AM
Atlantic City, NJ	WIBG	1020 AM; 101.3 FM

Rams Radio
Rams Radio J.B. Long will handle the play-by-play duties and former pro bowl running back Maurice Jones-Drew will provide analysis. D'Marco Farr will report from the sidelines.

National Radio
N/A

Satellite Radio

Station	Eagles Channel	Rams Channel
Sirius Radio	SIRI 98 (Streaming 825)	SIRI 156 (Streaming 818)
XM Radio	XM 231 (Streaming 825)	(Streaming 818)
Sirius XM Radio	SXM 231 (Streaming 825)	SXM 386 (Streaming 818)

Eagles Social Media	Rams Social Media
Website	Website
Facebook	Facebook
Twitter	Twitter
Instagram	Instagram
Snapchat: Eagles	Snapchat: snaptherams

NFC East Standings

NFC EAST	Record	PCT	Home	Road	Div	Conf	PF	PA	Net Pts	Streak
Football Team	1-0	1.000	1-0	0-0	1-0	1-0	27	17	+10	1W
Eagles	0-1	.000	0-0	0-1	0-1	0-1	17	27	-10	1L
Cowboys	0-1	.000	0-0	0-1	0-0	0-1	17	20	-3	1L
Giants	0-1	.000	0-1	0-0	0-0	0-0	16	26	-10	1L

Series Information
The Philadelphia Eagles lead the Los Angeles Rams (Philadelphia Eagles lead series, 22-19-1)
Series History
Head to Head Box Scores
First Game Played
September 21, 1937 at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, PA. Cleveland Rams 21 Philadelphia Eagles 3
Points Leader
Philadelphia Eagles lead the Los Angeles Rams (843-842)
Coaches Record
Doug Pederson: 2-0 against the Rams
Sean McVay: 0-2 against Eagles
Coaches Head to Head
Doug Pederson vs Sean McVay: Pederson leads 2-0
Quarterback Record
Carson Wentz: Against Rams: 1-0
Jared Goff: Against Eagles: 0-2
Quarterbacks Head to Head
Carson Wentz vs Jared Goff: Wentz leads 1-0
Records per Stadium
Record @ Lincoln Financial Field: Eagles lead Rams: 2-0
Record @ Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: Rams lead Eagles 5-4-1

Rankings and Last Meeting Information
AP Pro 32 Ranking
Eagles No. 21 - Rams No. 09
Record
Eagles: 0-1
Rams: 1-0
Last Meeting
Sunday, December 12th, 2018
Eagles 30 - Rams 23
Nick Foles filled in for the injured Carson Wentz, taking up his spot under center after three months without game action. Foles promptly recaptured the magic, passing for 270 yards and confidently leading the Eagles to a 30-23 win over the Rams on Sunday night with plenty of help from his defense and his playmakers. Foles got plenty of help from his running game as Wendell Smallwood rushed for two touchdowns and rookie Josh Adams ran for another score as the Eagles (7-7) kept their playoff hopes quite viable with a gritty victory over the Rams (11-3), who lost consecutive regular-season games for the first time in coach Sean McVay's tenure.
Click here to view the Video Recap
Click here to view the Stats Recap
Last Meeting at Site
Sunday December 10th, 2017
Eagles 43 - Rams 35
Carson Wentz threw for 291 yards and four touchdowns before leaving with a knee injury and Jake Elliott kicked the go-ahead 33-yard field goal with 3:45 left for the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Los Angeles Rams 43-35 in a thriller Sunday to clinch the NFC East title.
Click here to view the Video Recap
Click here to view the Stats Recap

Last 10 Meetings

Date	Winner	Loser	Score
12/16/18	Eagles	Rams	30-23
12/10/17	Eagles	Rams	43-35
10/05/14	Eagles	Rams	34-28
09/11/11	Eagles	Rams	31-13
09/07/08	Eagles	Rams	38-3
12/18/05	Eagles	Rams	17-16
12/27/04	Rams	Eagles	20-7
12/01/02	Eagles	Rams	10-3
01/27/02	Rams	Eagles	29-24
09/09/01	Rams	Eagles	20-17

Injury Reports	Depth Charts
Eagles	Eagles
Rams	Rams

2020 “Expert” Picks
Week 2 - "Expert" Picks

2020 Team Stats
Eagles Season Stats
Rams Season Stats

2020 Stats (Starters/Leaders)

2020 Stats (Starters/Leaders)

Passing

Name	CMP	ATT	PCT	YDS	TD	INT	RAT
Wentz	34	42	57.1%	270	2	3	72.5
Goff	20	31	64.5%	275	0	1	79.4

Rushing

Name	ATT	YDS	YDS/G	AVG	TD
Scott	9	35	35	3.9	0
Brown	18	79	79.9	4.4	2

Receiving

Name	REC	YDS	YDS/G	AVG	TD
Goedert	8	101	101	12.6	1
Woods	6	105	105.0	17.5	0

Sacks

Name	Sacks	Team Total
Sweat	1	3
Donald/Floyd/Brockers	1.0	3

Tackles

Name	Total	Solo	Assist	Sacks
Gerry	10	5	5	0.0
Fuller	8	5	3	0.0

Interceptions

Name	Ints	Team Total
N/A	0	0
N/A	0	0

Punting

Name	ATT	YDS	LONG	AVG	NET	IN 20	TB	BP
Johnston	5	268	62	53.6	50.2	3	0	0
Hekker	3	142	58	47.3	40.7	2	0	0

Kicking

Name	ATT	MADE	%	LONG	PAT
Elliot	2	1	50.0%	38	2/2
Sloman	3	2	66.6%	35	2/2

Kick Returns

Name	ATT	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
NA	0	0	0	0	0
Webster	1	20.0	20.0	40	0

Punt Returns

Name	RET	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD	FC
Raegor	2	6	3.0	6	0	2
N/A	0	0	0	0	0	0

League Rankings 2020

Offense Rankings

Category	Eagles Stat	Eagles Rank	Rams Stat	Rams Rank
Total Offense	265.0	29th	422.0	5th
Rush Offense	57.0	30th	153.0	6th
Pass Offense	208.0	T-21st	269.0	8th
Points Per Game	17.0	T-23rd	20.0	T-19th
3rd-Down Offense	35.7%	23rd	52.9	8th
4th-Down Offense	0.0%	T-17th	100.0	T-1st
Red Zone Offense (TD%)	50.0%	T-18th	40.0%	T-25th

Defense Rankings

Category	Eagles Stat	Eagles Rank	Rams Stat	Rams Rank
Total Defense	239.0	1st	380.0	22nd
Rush Defense	80.0	5th	136.0	22nd
Pass Defense	159.0	3rd	244.0	20th
Points Per Game	27.0	T-21st	17.0	T-8th
3rd-Down Defense	27.8%	5th	25.0%	T-3rd
4th-Down Defense	50.0%	T-19th	33.3%	T-17th
Red Zone Defense (TD%)	75.0%	T-20th	50.0%	T-9th

Team

Category	Eagles Stat	Eagles Rank	Rams Stat	Rams Rank
Turnover Diff.	-3	31st	-1	T-19th
Penalties Per Game	3.0	T-2nd	5.0	T-8th
Penalty Yards Per Game	20.0	T-2nd	34.0	6th

Recap from Last Week’s Games.
Eagles - In a near-reversal of the previous season's opener, the Eagles scored the first 17 points, only for the Washington Football Team to then shut their offense out for the remainder of the afternoon. Meanwhile, Washington's offense scored 27 unanswered points, and the defense sacked Carson Wentz eight times, recorded two interceptions, and forced three fumbles. With the loss, Philadelphia's six-game winning streak against Washington was snapped dating back to Week 14 of the 2016 season, and the Eagles lost the first game of the season since 2015.
Rams - Playing their first game ever in their brand-new home at SoFi Stadium, the Rams held off the Cowboys in a close battle of NFC contenders. Receiving the opening kickoff (from former Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein), Los Angeles drove 75 yards in seven plays, with Malcolm Brown scoring the new stadium's first touchdown on a 1-yard run. Rookie kicker Samuel Sloman missed on his first field goal attempt, a 29-yard try that bounced off the left upright near the end of the first quarter, but later was successful on field goals of 35 and 31 yards in the second quarter. However, Dallas took a 14-13 halftime lead as Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott scored on both a touchdown run and a touchdown reception. The Rams reclaimed the lead as Malcolm Brown (who finished with a team-high 18 rushes for 79 yards) scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run midway through the third quarter to put Los Angeles ahead 20-14. Zuerlein converted a 33-yard field goal late in the third quarter, but it would be as close as the Cowboys would get. Rookie safety Jordan Fuller led the Rams with eight total tackles, including a key tackle of Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb on a fourth-and-3 play at the Rams' 9-yard line, just one yard short of a first down to kill a Dallas scoring drive.

Connections
Rams QB Jared Goff and Eagles QB Carson Wentz were selected 1st and 2nd in the 2016 NFL draft after both teams traded up.
Eagles S Rodney McLeod played for the Rams from 2012-16.
Eagles CB Nickell Robey-Coleman played for the Rams from 2017-19.
Eagles LB coach Ken Fajole was defensive coordinator of the Rams for three seasons from 2009−2011.
Eagles TE Zach Ertz went to Stanford (2009-13) and is from Orange County, CA.
Eagles Director of Sports Performance Ted Rath worked for the Rams from 2017-2019 as their Strength and Conditioning Coach (2017) and Director of Strength Training and Performance (2018-2019).
Eagles Special assistant to the general manager Connor Barwin played for the Rams in 2018.

2020 Pro Bowlers

Eagles	Rams
DT Fletcher Cox (Starter)	DT Aaron Donald (Starter)
OG Brandon Brooks (Starter)	CB Jalen Ramsey
C Jason Kelce (Starter)
LS Rick Lovato (Starter)
TE Zach Ertz
SS Malcom Jenkings (1st Alt)
OT Lane Johnson (1st Alt

General
Referee: Brad Allen
Philadelphia has produced a 22-19-1 (.536) record in the all-time series vs. Los Angeles. The Eagles own a 6-game winning streak against the Rams, scoring 30+ points in 5 straight contests.
Philadelphia is 15-8 (.652) in home games vs. Los Angeles, with victories in each of the last 2 such meetings (last: W, 34-28 on 10/5/14 at Lincoln Financial Field).
The Eagles are 23-9 (.719) at home in the regular season under head coach Doug Pederson, which marks the 5th-best home winning percentage in the NFL since 2016, trailing only New En-gland (.818, 27-6), Baltimore (.758, 25-8), Kansas City (.758, 25-8) and New Orleans (.727, 24-9).
Philadelphia has captured all 4 of its home openers with Doug Pederson at the helm (since 2016). Pederson is one of only two head coaches in Eagles history to win each of their first 4 home openers with the team, joining Joe Kuharich (1964-67).
In Week 1 at Washington, Philadelphia allowed only 239 total yards (80 rushing, 5th; 159 passing, 3rd), which were the fewest by any defense in the NFL during kickoff weekend. The Eagles limited Washington to just 27.8% (5-of-18) on third downs, which was also the 5th-best mark in the league.

Draft Picks

Eagles	Rams
WR Jalen Raegor	RB Cam Akers
QB Jalen Hurts	WR Van Jefferson
LB Davion Taylor	OLB Terrell Lewis
S K’Von Wallace	S Terrel Burgess
OT Jack Driscoll	TE Brycen Hopkins
WR John Hightower	S Jordan Fuller
LB Shaun Bradley	LB Clay Johnston
WR Quez Watkins	K Sam Sloman
OT Prince Tega Wanogho	G Tremayne Achrum
LB/DE Casey Toohill

Notable Off-season Additions

Eagles	Rams
S Will Parks	DT A’Shawn Robinson
DT Javon Hargrave	OLB Leonard Floyd
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman
CB Darius Slay
	S Sean Davis
	WR Cody Latimer
	CB Kendell Fuller
	RB JD McKissic
	G Wes Schweitzer

Notable Off-season Departures

Eagles	Rams
S Malcom Jenkins	DE Dante Fowler Jr.
CB Ronald Darby	RB Todd Gurley
RB Jordan Howard	WR Brandin Cooks
WR Nelson Agholor	LB Cory Littleton
OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai	S Eric Weddle
LB Kamu Grugler-Hill	CB Nickell Robey-Coleman
RB Darren Sproles	WR Jojo Natson
DT Timmy Jernigan	WR Mike Thomas
LB Nigel Bradham	LB Clay Matthews
	QB Blake Bortles

Milestones
Eagles QB Carson Wentz (99) needs 1 passing TDs for 100 career passing TDs.
Eagles WR Desean Jackson (6322) needs 145 yards to move up to 3rd on the Eagles all-time receiving yards list all-time passing WR *Mike Quick
Eagles WR Desean Jackson (34) needs 2 TDs to move into a tie for 7th on the Eagles all-time receiving TD list tying WR Jeremy Maclin
Eagles DE Brandon Graham (51) needs 3.5 sacks to move to 4th on the Eagles all-time sack list tying DE Hugh Douglas
Eagles DT Fletcher Cox (48) needs 2.5 sacks to move up to 6th on the Eagles all-time sack list tying DE Greg Brown
Eagles DE Vinny Curry (27) needs 1 sack to move up to 19th on the Eagles all-time sack list passing DT Darwin Walker

Rams WR Cooper Kupp (2636) needs 28 yards to move up to 16th on the Rams all-time receiving list passing WR Carroll Dale

Pro Football Focus Matchup Charts courtesy of PFF Edge (join.profootballfocus.com/edge/)
WDB Matchups (CAPS = expected shadow coverage)

Stats to Know
Pressure Rate
It doesn’t take advanced stats to know that Wentz spent most of Sunday under significant pressure. Washington sacked him eight times behind a makeshift offensive line that struggled to contain the Football Team’s pass rush. The Eagles allowed a 34% pressure rate Sunday, according to ESPN Next Gen Stats. That was the third-worst in the NFL. Five different Washington players generated at least four pressures. And it doesn’t get any easier against the Rams. The Cowboys allowed a 40.5% pressure rate Sunday night in their loss to the Rams, which was the second-worst mark of Week 1. And a big reason for that was Rams star Aaron Donald. Donald — the six-time Pro Bowler, five-time All-Pro and two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year who has 44 sacks over the past three seasons — posted a 28.6% pressure rate on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott himself. He pressured Prescott 10 times for 35 pass rushes and finished with four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss and four quarterback hits. According to Next Gen Stats, Donald’s pressure rate over the past three seasons is 13.5%, 13.9% and 14.6%. The Eagles offensive line is going to have to be ready or it is going to be another long Sunday for Carson Wentz.

Matchups to Watch
Carson Wentz vs. Himself
I note this matchup not to downplay the Rams and what they bring to the table, but to note that Wentz had plenty of mistakes that ultimately cost us the week 1 matchup. Change nothing of the game last week, bad OL, questionable scheming especially in the second half, Carson Wentz playing better wins us the game. Things were bad around him and he actively made them worse at times. These two things can be true: Wentz cost us the week 1 game and he should bounce back because he is a really good QB. This isn't the sky is falling, #TankForTrevor blurb, it's simply acknowledging the biggest change from week 1 to week 2 that would aid in a victory - Carson Wentz returning to form. There was also a lot of good last week, namely the first half! Check out the first TD throw to Ertz. Short, compressed field where he needs to make a snap decision and he comes off his first read (JJAW) and hits Ertz for 6. This is a great play by Wentz where he showed how good he is capping off a great drive. We need more of this consistency. Wentz was even missing on staples of the offense. He was erratic in the pocket and regularly off target. I love hero ball, I hate when QBs play scared, but better urgency and avoiding negative plays in the pocket would go a long way in smoothing out the rough edges of his game. It's infuriating to have some of the same issues he had in year 3 continue in year 5. Regardless, Wentz is a really good QB, so he should be expected to bounce back from a bad game every QB has once in a while. It just needs to happen quickly so the Eagles don't fall behind in the young season. This Rams secondary has a phenomenal CB in Jalen Ramsey and a really good young safety in John Johnson III; they aren't slouches. Wentz needs to be better and it would be surprising if he isn't.
Eagles (downright) Offensive Line vs. Aaron Donald and the Rams Pass Rush
Washington may have a better, deeper defensive line but they don't have Aaron Donald. He is so good he lifts a pass rush up to the top tiers of the league on his own given his dominance and versatility. Donald isn't just a Defensive Tackle; he'll line up inside and outside while wrecking every part of the OL he can along the way. Just look at what Baldy has in his review for him this week. This is a problematic matchup for Philly given their patchwork offensive line. Even though there were positive things some of the new guys did, they made a lot of mistakes, and will continue to do so in their young careers. The last time the Eagles played the Rams in 2018, Philly held Donald to 2 total pressures in probably his most ineffective game during the course of his DPOY season. The difference between that Eagles OL and this one is the health. Philly won't have a healthy Brandon Brooks; while they'll have Lane Johnson again it'll be in his first start of the season, he's coming off a late summer ankle procedure. So his effectiveness is still TBD. JP, who also played in that game, has also declined a considerable amount since then. One player returning to the field Sunday that should also give the Eagles a boost in pass protection is Miles Sanders. Not only is Sanders the best runner on the team, he's also the best pass blocking running back on the team. This alone won't stop Donald, but it should help. This defensive front from the Rams can get pushed around in the run game (more on that later) but can absolutely get after it in the pass rush department. Dallas doesn't have the line it used to either and Dak was under pressure at a roughly 42% rate, among the worst in week 1. The return of Lane Johnson should increase the effectiveness of this OL a considerable amount but given the new parts there will still be an adjustment period. This unit needs to come together quickly and the coaching staff needs to actually focus their game plan on helping their OL much more so than they did in week 1. Otherwise, expect Donald and his homies to bring the pain up front.
Eagles Pass Rush vs Rams OL
Even with some of the sustained injuries on this roster, the Eagles still have a formidable pass rush and flashed it quite a bit in week 1. The box score stats are highly deceiving in this area as Washington shifted their game plan quite a bit as the game went along. Philly pressured Haskins at a 30% clip last week. That number isn't great considering the state of Washington's offensive line. However, Haskins had the quickest time to throw in the NFL in week 1 with an average time to throw of 2.13 seconds. It's extremely difficult to pressure QBs when they get the ball out that quickly. Last week, Jared Goff was 8th in the NFL in this category, which will present some challenges for the Eagles. Dallas pressured Goff at a 20% clip last week, which is a horrendous number. Goff is a good QB and will slice you up if you don't get to him. But when you do, oftentimes he's effectively standing in quick sand as he was a bottom 8 QB under pressure (by Rating) in 2019. It's imperative this defensive front plays well this week. We already saw Malik Jackson return to form, now we need Fletcher Cox. Philly should get Brandon Graham (concussion) and Derek Barnett (hammy) back this week which should increase the effectiveness of the pass rush. Josh Sweat has also shown tremendous growth in year 3 having the best game of his career this past Sunday with TY McGill flashing in limited snaps. This offensive line from the Rams underwent a mini make-over this offseason but still has some question marks up front. This will be a real test for them as the Eagles pass rush is much more formidable than the one Dallas offers. Furthermore, this is a defensive staff that has consistently gotten to Goff of late. Given the changes on both squads, this is a good measuring stick game in the trenches.
Eagles Coverage vs Rams Receivers
Jim Schwartz had Sean McVay's number in their most recent matchup in 2018 so I am curious to see who gets the upper hand this time around. The Rams have a really good WR room with Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson, and Josh Reynolds. They also have a good tight end in Tyler Higbee. Philly has their work cut out for them this week as the Rams are much deeper than Washington. The Rams passing attack was predicated on the short, quick game with a lot of motions and play action last week. Carson Wentz led the NFL in Average Intended Air Yards while Jared Goff was last. Goff's Average Intended Air Yards were 4.3 per attempt with roughly half his passing attempts coming within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Getting the ball to Goff's first read and out of his hands quickly is key as he can be an adventure when he is forced to hold onto the ball. McVay is really good at disguising what the Rams will do running multiple plays out of similar looks. Lastly, their receivers are great at getting quick separation and great getting yards after the catch. The defensive game plan for Philly in the secondary should look quite different this week than it did last week. There isn't one receiver the Eagles can key on for Slay to take away. I'd bet Schwartz moves him around quite a bit but with Woods as the primary recipient of special attention. Slay looked every bit as good as you'd expect last week and that's a huge addition to this secondary. One area of concern I have for Philly is the middle of the defense. This Eagles LB group is among the worst in the NFL in coverage; McVay is going to look to attack that relentlessly all game long. He did the same thing to Dallas last week. It was encouraging to see Rodney McLeod bounce back after a poor 2019 as he was every bit as spry as he once was. The rest of the middle of this defense leaves a lot to be desired. Either way, this is a deeper Rams receiving room, with a creative play-caller, and a better passer than the Eagles just faced. There was a lot of good to take from the defensive performance last week but they face a significant test Sunday in the Rams.

Special thanks to MikeTysonChicken and abenyishay for their help in creating this Game Preview.

Indianapolis Colts

Division: AFC South

Coaching Changes

Colts lost defensive line coach Mike Phair to the Panthers and replaced him with Brian Baker who is most recently out of Alabama. Mike Groh reunites with Frank Reich as he was hired as wide receivers coach, while Patullo moved to the role of pass game specialist to accommodate. Tyler Boyles was signed on as the assistant to the head coach to replace Parks Frazier who is moving to offensive quality control coach.

Free Agency

Players lost/cut

Name	Position	New Team
Adam Vinatieri	K	Free Agent
Clayton Geathers	S	Free Agent
Joe Haeg	T	Buccaneers
Jabaal Sheard	DE	Free Agent
Eric Ebron	TE	Steelers
Devin Funchess	WR	Green Bay
Pierre Desir	CB	New York Jets
Quincy Wilson	CB	New York Jets

Adam hasn’t officially announced his retirement, but I doubt he comes back to the NFL. He struggled throughout the year before going on IR. Geathers is a great character guy who began the season as the starting strong safety, but slowly lost reps to the impressive rookie Khari Willis. Haeg is the only guy the Colts probably wanted back as he’s a capable backup at all five slots on the line. Sheard is getting up there in age, Ebron seems to have made a business decision, and Funchess was the worst affected in the week one Claviclysm when injured his clavicle alongside Hill and Foles while being the only one to miss the rest of the season. Pierre Desir was an unexpected cut this offseason after playing well enough through the year despite playing through an injury. Quincy Wilson was traded to the Jets after a few disappointing seasons.
Players signed

Name	Position	Old Team	Length	Money
Philip Rivers	QB	Chargers	1 Yr	25 Mil
DeForest Buckner	DT	49ers	5 Yr	21 Mil/Y
Sheldon Day	DT	49ers	1 Yr	1.75 Mil
Xavier Rhodes	CB	Vikings	1 Yr	3 Mil
Trey Burton	TE	Bears	1 Yr	.91 Mil
Roosevelt Nix	RB	Steelers	1 Yr	.96 Mil
TJ Carrie	CB	Browns	1 Yr	1 Mil

Let’s start with Philip Rivers. It’s clear that Jacoby Brissett is not the guy and the Colts had to make a choice. They went with a player that both head coach Frank Reich and offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni have worked with previously, which may be quite valuable as we implement the offense during a shortened offseason. Regardless, Philip underwent a dramatic statistical drop last year. I think he’s still got juice left in him and can make a great deal of good throws if he has a decent amount of room in the pocket. If you have some time, I recommend this video by The Scouting Academy featuring former offensive coordinator turned quarterback guru Steve Fairchild.
While DeForest Buckner was not technically a free agent, he was a massive departure from the Chris Ballard modus operandi of building through the draft. The team desperately needed a 3T and they traded their first round pick for one of the best in the league. Joining him will be recent teammate Sheldon Day who will likely take over quite a few snaps at the 1T.
Xavier Rhodes was signed on almost immediately after cutting Pierre Desir. He certainly seemed physically incapable of doing what was asked of him last year. Some players have called out the scheme change as a reason that Rhodes might return to form. Personally, I don’t quite see it and think his primary value on the team might be on using his intelligence as a veteran presence in a young CB room.
Of the remaining three, Trey Burton seems like a lock at TE2 after an injury filled stint with the Bears. Roosevelt Nix is an interesting choice as I expect him to continue his heavily blocking role he played with the Steelers as well as pick up a few more rushing snaps than he did with the Steelers as we lack a true fullback. Carrie is a guy that has a chance at being the backup slot behind Kenny Moore, but I don’t think he’s secured a spot yet.

Draft

Round	Pick	Name	Position	College
2	34	Michael Pittman	WR	USC
2	41	Jonathan Taylor	RB	Wisconsin
2	85	Julian Blackmon	S	Utah
3	122	Jacob Eason	QB	QB
4	149	Danny Pinter	G	G
6	211	Robert Windsor	DT	Penn State
6	211	Isaiah Rodgers	CB	UMass
6	212	Dezmon Patmon	WR	Washington State
7	213	Jordan Glasgow	LB	Michigan

Michael Pittman Jr, WR, USC 2.34 Grade: A
This man just feels like a Colt. He’s a physical player and will immediately slot in as Philip River’s YOLO target. He’s got great size and uses it well both in positioning himself against a receiver to win the ball as well as using his frame and forcing his way down field. Even on truly contested catches, he has great hands with only 5 drops against 176 catchable targets in college. Lastly, his frame and hand usage make him a valuable blocker, which is particularly valued by Frank Reich as he plans to run the damn ball.
Jonathan Taylor, RB, Wisconsin 2.41 Grade: A-
This man is going to run the damn ball. Let’s start by mentioning his toughness, with nearly 1000 rushes through three years. The man’s body doesn’t show any sign that it will ever give up. He has enough cutting ability to dodge the occasional tackle, but excels at using his physique and contact balance to force his way through a tackle. If the defense fails to collapse on Taylor quickly, they’re at risk of him taking off. Taylor was the fastest running back at the combine running a 4.39 at 225 pounds. Going 1-on-1 with him nearing full speed is almost a futile prospect. As he finds lanes behind probably the best run blocking line in the league, he’ll be plenty of trouble. Not without flaws, he’s had a somewhat questionable history with fumbles that will likely lead to plenty of time with Tom Rathman. He also has limited experience in the passing game.
Julian Blackmon, S, Utah 3.85 Grade: C+
Perhaps I’m being a bit too harsh on Blackmon because I’m slightly addicted to watching Pittman embarrass the Utah defense in the Utah vs USC game. Perhaps it’s just because I’ve watched limited tape and safeties struggle with getting on tape for failing in coverage more often than being particularly good in coverage. Either way, as the heir apparent to Malik Hooker’s starting free safety position, Blackmon feels in a way like the opposite player. While both players had an eye for the ball coming out of college, Blackmon feels overall much more inconsistent in coverage, but he also feels like a much more solid tackler. Blackmon is also a recent convert to safety from corner, so perhaps what I’m seeing is simply growing pains especially because my reviewed games are from early in the season.
Jacob Eason, QB, Washington 4.122 Grade: C+
Jacob Eason was a surprise drop for many who considered him a second round prospect. His arm is an absolute cannon belonging right in that Josh Allen tier of pure arm strength. Of course, he’s a fourth round pick for a reason. He struggles to work through his progressions, he can’t consistently throw with touch, and there are some huge question marks regarding his work ethic. There’s a whole lot of potential, but I’m not going to call the future franchise QB spot secured for the Colts yet. For the time being, I’ll call him a fine backup for a team that didn’t otherwise have a QB rostered for 2021.
Danny Pinter, G, Ball State 5.149 Grade: B-
Danny Pinter is an undersized prospect that is moving in to play guard after most recently playing as a tackle. As a tight end convert from a small school, he still lacks a lot of the technique and strength and conditioning that you would hope for in an NFL O-line prospect. I’ve seen him be pretty weak with his hand placement and he’s let the defender get into his chest a couple times. The upside here is Pinter’s mobility. He ran the second fastest 40 of all offensive linemen at the combine at 4.91 seconds at 306 pounds and put up respectable numbers for the remaining footwork related drills. Altogether a fine pick for a team with a solid offensive line that will hopefully have time to develop their rookie.
Robert Windsor, DT, Penn State 6.193 Grade: C
Robert Windsor has a good first step and a motor that doesn’t stop. That’s all the good I can say about him. Windsor doesn’t have the strength, length, or technique to make an impression. With the potential of Denico Autry moving to the edge, it seems like they might be looking at Windsor as a backup for Buckner. If Tyquan Lewis continues to be a disappointment in the limited camp, Windsor might just sneak onto the roster by need alone, which is the only reason I can bump my grade to a C, though perhaps I’m a little too critical as I felt there were a couple of other players that are more roster worthy.
Isaiah Rodgers, CB, UMass 6.211 Grade: A
Isaiah Rodgers is an absolute burner. His pro-day speed was 4.28. Admittedly hand timed is always faster, but he’s clearly quick on tape. A bit undersized at 5’10”, he’ll likely be relegated to the back end of the cornerback depth chart until he can develop into an NFL level corner, but his immediate value seems very obvious on special teams. His speed makes him a threat at kick returns and he’ll likely get tried out as a backup punt returner. As a gunner, he will gladly hit you with everything he’s got. Check this hit.
Dezmon Patmon, WR, Washington State 6.212 Grade: B+
Patman is an intriguing prospect. He’s got a great combination of size and speed. While easily compared to second round pick Pittman because of his physical traits, Patmon lacks a lot of the polish. Worse hands, worse route running, and doesn’t quite play to his size like Pittman does. Regardless, I expect him to find production in his rookie year as Frank Reich was playing with the most injured wide receiver core in the league last year and has proven an ability to scheme depth players open consistently. Lastly, I think his size and River’s tendencies towards giant players is going to come into play fairly often near the redzone.
Jordan Glasgow, LB, Michigan 6.213 Grade: B+
Glasgow isn’t a guy I want to see playing a lot of defensive snaps in a game. He’s technically refined enough, but physically doesn’t seem to have a very high ceiling. During the Middle Tennessee State game that I reviewed for him, Michigan used him plenty to blitz the quarterback where he was plenty effective, but I won’t pretend that he was up against top tier opponents. Ultimately Glasgow is going to be a special teams specialist after a college career where he excelled at special teams, which at the end of the 6th round is all you can ask for.

Roster

QB: 3 Rivers, Brissett, Eason
Things are pretty straightforward for the Colts this year. There aren’t any preseason games, so nobody can retire after one. Rivers is the starter, hoping to prove that his career isn’t over after a down year last year. Brissett is a capable enough backup. Eason is the team’s insurance for 2021 when no other quarterbacks are on the roster and will hopefully not have to start during what is sure to be an odd season. First man out is $wag Kelly, who seems mainly to hold a roster spot as a favor between Frank Reich and his old friend Jim Kelly.
RB: 4 Mack, Taylor, Hines, Nix
For a while at least, Mack gets to hold the starting job. It’s certainly a competition with Taylor’s level of talent and I expect a pretty even split over the course of the year. Despite some competition at the position, Hines may have his best year considering River’s appreciation for receiving backs. Rosie Nix is the new fullback from the Steelers who might get a few touches here and there, but exists primarily for his blocking ability. First man out is Jordan Wilkins. This is a contentious cut for Colts fans. Wilkins has an unusual level of highlight type plays that lend to his 6.0 yards per attempt over 51 carries last year. Alas, roster spots are at a premium and running backs are not.
WR: 6 Hilton, Pittman, Pascal, Campbell, Marcus Johnson, Dezmon Patmon
Hilton’s the obvious choice. After two years struggling with health issues, Colts fans are hoping their WR1 remains healthy for the whole year. Pittman comes in as a fairly polished candidate from the top of the second round in a stacked receiver class. He’ll hold down the X receiver immediately. Zach Pascal was a pleasant surprise for Colts fans last year. With a list of injuries above him, Pascal did his best as WR1 for several games last year and led the Colts in receiving yards. As a WR3, he’ll get less focus and still be fairly valuable. Campbell has shown plenty of big play ability, what he needs to show is durability. He suffered four separate injuries last year including training camp. Hopefully, it was just a fluke and he can show off more of what he can do with a ball in his hands. Marcus Johnson is a fan favorite after his Tampa Bay showing last year. After starting the season on injured reserve, he returned to the practice squad and eventually made the roster last year. Colts fans are hoping his 16.3 yards per reception last year and 17 yards per reception in 2018 weren’t flukes and can be duplicated on more snaps Rivers. Dezmon Patman comes in as a somewhat unrefined option. I’ve already mentioned his physical traits. With a little bit of help from Reich’s scheming, I think he’ll find a handful of receptions this year, particularly towards the red zone. The first man out here is Daurice Fountain. After moving to the active roster in mid-2018, Reece was a training camp hit in 2019 until suffering an ankle injury in camp. While he might compete for the position, I haven’t seen enough from him in the first two years to give him right of way over Johnson and the rookie Patmon.
TE: 3 Jack Doyle, Trey Burton, Mo Alie-Cox
Jack Doyle has been a reliable pass catcher and mauling run blocker for years. He’s solid in his position as a starter. Trey Burton reunites with Frank Reich and is only two years removed from having a 569 yard season with the Bears. After struggling with injuries last season, Burton is hoping for a return to form this season. Mo Alie-Cox was a bit disappointing as many were expecting more receiving stats, but he’s still a talented run blocker with plenty of potential for next year. With Rivers having an appreciation for big bodied receivers, perhaps the 6’5.5” receiver with a 7’1” wingspan will find a few jump balls his way.
OL: 9 Castonzo, Nelson, Kelly, Glowinski, Smith, Clark, Patterson, Pinter, O’Donnell
The Colts are lucky enough to return all 5 starting offensive linemen this year. Castonzo played some of the best football of his career last year and signed on for two more years after considering retirement for a while. Quenton Nelson is coming off his second First Team All-Pro year. Kelly is a great Center coming off a fairly healthy season and going into a contract year. Glowinski is the weak point of the line, but that’s not so much an insult to Glowinski as it is a credit to the rest of the team. He’s still a very serviceable guard. Braden Smith is surpassing my wildest expectations from the day he was drafted as a guard. With early 2018 injuries to the tackle position, Smith made the shift and has been great at the position. Beyond the starting five, things get a bit more questionable with a significant loss of depth this past year. Clark returns on a one year contract and will be taking over the swing tackle position now that Joe Haeg has left. Patterson suffered a torn ACL in his rookie year, but is the only center on the roster behind Kelly and not including Nelson who only holds the position so he can keep 56. Pinter seems like the obvious option as a backup guard. O’Donnell is a Canadian football prospect that I assume the Colts found at the East-West Shrine bowl where he played fairly well. The Colts need depth at tackle and I can see O’Donnell doing that. First man out is Eldrenkamp as a backup guard.
DL: 9 Autry, Buckner, Day, Houston, Turay, Stewart, Muhammad, Lewis, Banogu
Autry has largely played DT the past couple years and done a fine job of it. With Sheard leaving in free agency, I currently have Autry slotted as the guy to move outside and take over the job. Buckner is our 3T we’ve been looking for. I hopefully don’t need to say anything else. Sheldon Day is competing with Grover Stewart for the 1T spot. I’ve got Day listed as my starter, but for a position that will see plenty of rotation I don’t think it matters either way. Turay is the “if only” story of 2019. Houston had a surprisingly healthy year and racked up 11 sacks, tied for second most in his career. Turay showed a ton of talent in his few snaps prior to injury in 2019. Over the five weeks he played, he ranked second in PFF’s pass-rushing grade and pass-rush rate with a 22.9% pressure rate. If he can build on these past two years, Turay may be a monster. Tyquan Lewis is the disappointment of Chris Ballard’s 2018 draft. He’s struggled with a couple of injuries and he’s had a few healthy scratches that I haven’t heard anything verifiable to explain away. Alas, I’m leaving him in the lineup as a guy who is flexible enough to back up Buckner, but also play outside as need be. Banogu is another guy that has shown flashes here and there. First one out is Robert Windsor, who might take that 3T spot if Lewis doesn’t shape up in camp.
LB: 6 Leonard, Walker, Okereke, Speed, Adams, Glasgow
13 games, 5 Int, 2 FF, 7 PD, 5 Sacks, 121 Tackles. Darius Leonard put up some impressive stats last year and he’s aiming for the top. If he can pull off a 16 game season with similar stats, he’ll have an argument for DPOY. Walker is a smart player, if a little limited athletically and in coverage skills. I’ll keep him as the starter, but many fans are arguing for Okereke to take over the role. Okereke was PFF’s top ranked rookie linebacker last year, particularly for his athleticism and strength in coverage. EJ Speed had some limited play last year while Leonard was dealing with a concussion. He played fine, but has yet to show anything to get excited about. Glasgow takes the final spot primarily for special teams value. Adams has played a handful of snaps here and there, but is primarily going to be a special teams player. First man out is Zaire Franklin was only getting special teams snaps anyways.
CB: 5 Rhodes, Moore, Ya-Sin, Tell, Rodgers
Rhodes is hoping for a resurgence in a different scheme. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and give the former first team all-pro the nod as CB1. Kenny Moore II has been a great slot corner for the Colts these past couple years. He struggled with injuries for a long while to end out the year last year, but I fully expect him to continue his efforts to make himself a household name this year. Rock Ya-Sin was our rookie pick last year near the top of the 2nd round. He had some common rookie CB mistakes, but showed enough talent and growth to believe he has a high chance of taking over the CB1 role. Marvell Tell is an incredible physical specimen that the Colts took last year with the expectations of moving him to CB from Safety. With injuries to the cornerback position, he got a few more snaps than we were hoping, but he flashed a great deal. If Xavier Rhodes’s physical decline last season continues, I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see Tell starting over a healthy Rhodes. Rodgers is still very developmental as a corner, but holds plenty of value for special teams. First man out is TJ Carrie who would have been a fine slot backup in case Kenny Moore went down.
S: 5 Hooker, Willis, Odum, Blackmon, Milligan
Malik Hooker is entering the last year of his contract with the Colts after having his fifth year option declined. Hooker lit up the stat sheet his rookie year, but ever since the scheme change, has struggled to prove he was worth the draft position. With an improved pass rush this year, perhaps his sixth sense in finding the ball will come into play more often. Khari Willis was a pleasant surprise last year. It was clear the Colts liked him when Ballard traded draft capital to move up, but I wouldn’t have expected him to so clearly take over the starting strong safety position. On top of that, Willis played reasonably at free safety during Hooker’s injury last year. Odum is a solid backup who can play at both strong and free safety. Julian Blackmon is the new rookie who I assume is intended to be Hooker’s successor next year. For the time being he’s coming back from an ACL injury and may not be available until midyear, but as the successor to the starting position, I think it’s important to at least give him a spot for now. Milligan is a versatile player. He’s really a free safety, but played a bit of slot corner last year when Kenny Moore went down.
ST: 3 Blankenship, Sanchez, Rhodes
Hot Rod is my guess to be kicker. While McLaughlin played well enough for the Colts. Even with a 100% hit rate on extra points, there’s plenty of room for more consistency as he ranked 22nd overall in field goal percentage last year. It’ll be a tough contest in camp, but if I’m calling my shot with Hot Rod. Sanchez hasn’t played his best football these past couple years. I’m hoping someone else takes over kickoffs and Sanchez can focus entirely on punting in hopes of returning to form.

Position Group Strengths and Weaknesses

QB
The Colts QB room seems solid. I’m expecting Rivers to return to his typical self that still throws a decent amount of interceptions. Regardless, a quarterback that doesn’t constantly hold onto the ball for 3+ seconds playing behind this line is going to have plenty of opportunities to make great plays. For this year of all years, it seems like the value in having backup quarterbacks is going to be at an all time high and I don’t feel so bad about what the Colts have. I’ll call it a fairly average group until Rivers can prove his career isn’t over.
Backfield
The Colts have a group of good backs, but lack an elite option particularly when considering that none have proved themselves a threat in both the rushing and passing game at the moment. As a group, I’ll call it borderline top 10 in large part because any one of these players could get injured without it feeling season ruining as may be true with a few of the teams with top running backs.
OL
I have no complaints about the starting offensive line, the huge question mark is about the depth. The Colts were lucky enough to start the same five men all season last year, but one injury to Anthony Castonzo and Colts fans will have flashbacks to the five game stretch he missed in 2018 where Luck suffered 10 of the 18 total sacks on the season. Alas, many teams struggle with depth and I hope I don’t have to argue too much about this being one of the best groups in the NFL.
Pass catchers
By Adjusted Games Lost, the Colts had the single most injured wide receiver room last year. The single biggest thing that needs to be proven is that we can stay healthy across the board. If they stay healthy, the Colts are a mid tier group, but under the assumption that TY’s health issues these past two years continue, I’m forced to assume they’re a bottom third group until we can trust someone to be a true WR1 in most games.
DL
The Colts starting lineup seems pretty strong, but for a position group that we want to rotate with depth players on, I’ve gotta question what kind of play we’re going to see out of guys like Tyquan Lewis and Ben Banogu. As such, I’ll call this group middling overall.
LB
It’s just a solid group all around. The fact that we can’t decide between Okereke and Walker as starters is primarily a question of which is better, not which is worse. Behind them is plenty of serviceable depth that holds an important role in special teams.
Secondary
This is the one group with question marks at basically every spot. Can Rhodes return to All-Pro form? Was the apparent growth for Ya-Sin real and can it continue? Can Moore stay healthy? Can Tell develop into a starting safety? Can Hooker stay healthy after missing significant time these past two years and can he prove he’s worth his draft position?
Special Teams
What just one year ago felt like a solid group for kicking and punting, now feels a bit questionable. I don’t want to get so down about Rigo’s down year as it was still overall decent. With the new search for a kicker, I can’t complain about either of the current options and I don’t believe either will get nearly the leash that Adam Vinatieri got last year, so I’d say the floor there is much higher. The returning seems like it’s best in years after Hines has impressed and our return team overall just seems to be getting stronger. With the addition of Isaiah Rodgers, this may be a group to beat.

Schedule Predictions

Week 1: @ Jaguars (W)
Ah yes, the Jaguars. An eternal question mark for the Colts. Generally believed to be one of the worst rosters in the league, I’d have to agree. There are plenty of question marks on their defense that they’re hoping will be filled in by rookies. I would expect them to have growing pains even without a shortened offseason. Week one, this seems to weigh heavily with the Colts who’ve added strong veteran talent in Rivers and Buckner.
Week 2: vs Vikings (W)
Despite having one of my favorite drafts of the year, the Vikings have many of the same struggles as the Jaguars. First, we must accept that moving from Diggs to Jefferson isn’t likely to be a smooth transition in Jefferson’s first year. Just as notably they’re losing their two corners that put up the most snaps for them in 2019. While neither of their 2018 corners were playing at their best, it currently looks like they’ll have two rookie starting corners with Gladney and Dantzler and I think all of reddit knows to expect cornerbacks to have rookie year struggles.
Week 3: vs Jets (W)
Can TY play corner? The Jets draft is another one of my favorites, but they’re still not quite there as a whole. Despite my love for Becton, I don’t think their list of offensive line changes have turned into a complete group. On top of that, I’m still not quite happy with their weapons. Bell looks like he’s still got mileage left in him if only he had a better line. Their tight end group is highly dubious, and their wide receiver group has really better hope Mims can actually play like a WR1. I think it’ll be a better game than some might assume based on a lot of opinions I hear on the Jets, but I’ve got the Colts with the edge.
Week 4: @ Bears (W)
As a fan of watching line play, this will be a game to remember. The Bears d-line is arguably the best run defense in the league and they’re not bad against the pass either particularly when backed by a good secondary. Unfortunately for the Bears, I’m expecting their weaker offensive line to struggle vs the Colts defensive line more than the opposite.
Week 5: @ Browns (L)
Ah, yes. I get to another one of my favorite offseasons. Just about everything the Browns did seemed like a good move. On paper, the Browns offense is scary as hell and I just don’t have any arguments for why they would be worse. Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills are going to be great additions to fix that line, then you go and add Hooper as if you didn’t have enough weapons. With even half-decent coaching this team can be dangerous and I can’t trust the Colts secondary to handle every weapon.
Week 6: vs Bengals (W)
After five straight years of the Bengals losing their first round pick for a significant amount of time due to injury, maybe this year will be an exception. With the return of Jonah Williams, perhaps that line can actually have a half decent year, but I’m not going to bet the house on it. For the time being, the Bengals are still working on their rebuild.
Week 7: Bye
Week 8: @ Lions (W)
What little I watched of the Lions last year seemed like a decent quality team. As rarely as I like to bet on rookie corners, Okudah is as complete as any college corner I’ve seen. I’m not ready to call them a strong team, but they don’t seem weak by any means. A return from Stafford could make the NFC North one of the most internally competitive divisions to watch. Regardless, I feel like the Colts have a somewhat stronger roster.
Week 9: Ravens (L)
If only I could go to this game in person. I’d love to see how the Colts defense matches up against that Ravens offense in person. Top to bottom the Ravens have one of the strongest rosters in the league, so they get the strong edge.
Week 10: @ Titans (L)
I hate Thursday night games. The home team has a huge statistical advantage. Going into Tennessee tired after a tough Ravens game certainly isn’t going to do the Colts any favors when they’ve gotta try to tackle Derrick Henry.
Week 11: vs Packers (L)
This is just a long stretch of teams asking a lot of the Colts physically. Stopping the run week after week with the Ravens then Derrick Henry then Jones/Dillon is just going to be physically brutal. Luckily, the Colts are coming off a ten day bye at home, but the Packers are just an overall solid team all around and I think they’ll still be very competitive at every phase of the game.
Week 12: vs Titans (W)
I don’t think the Colts will be happy with their string of losses. I think they’re coming back hungry and trying to prove themselves against a divisional opponent at home.
Week 13: @Texans (W)
After the Texans split games in 2018 and 2019, the Colts are going to get the first win of 2020. For two closely matched teams in 2019, the Colts have lost nobody of any particular importance and purely added more talent, while the Texans sold off Hopkins in hopes that Cooks and Cobb will somehow elevate their offense. It’s a risky bet.
Week 14: @ Raiders (W)
Last year’s Raiders led the Colts by 7 points with just over 2 minutes to go in the half prior to Brissett’s pick 6. Looking at things from a clean slate, I’d fully expect the return of previously inactive Hilton, Leonard, and Hooker to cover the gap between the two teams and I have the Colts winning next year’s game.
Week 15: vs Texans (L)
Let’s not underrate Deshaun Watson. Having watched Luck carry a questionable offense for years, I think Deshaun’s got enough talent to pull some wins out of his ass. I’m certainly not so low on the Texans roster to believe Deshaun can’t push it to a win.
Week 16: @ Steelers (W)
Last year’s game was a 2 point Steelers victory after an Adam Vinatieri kick went awry with about a minute left in the game. So, they question is, were the Colts offseason improvements worth 2 points on the Steelers? Both of these teams are expected to improve greatly with the return and hiring of 2004 quarterback legends, but I’d have to give a slight nod to Big Ben as the greater improvement from Mason Rudolph vs Rivers replacing Brissett/Hoyer. For remaining Inactives, I’d have to credit the loss of TY Hilton as a more significant factor than that of James Connor. What I think finally takes the Colts over the top is the combination of their first round pick for DeForest Buckner as well as a stronger pair of second round additions with Pittman and Taylor vs Claypool.
Week 17: vs Jaguars (L)
If you don’t like the look of that L next to the Jaguars game, you don’t like AFC South football. The Jags always seem like a much better team about once a year. I’m looking at you 2018 Jags. At 10-5, I think the Colts have a good chance at being guaranteed a playoff berth and the Jags probably just want to prove themselves more.

Schemes

Offense
If you’re looking at last year’s team as a model for this year’s offense, you’re probably missing something. To quote Ozzurip from last year’s review, “The point is that there isn’t a specific scheme.” Frank Reich isn’t beholden to doing one thing every week. He wants to find every mismatch and exploit it to the best of his ability by using a diverse set of tools. Jacoby’s limitations as a player saw the passing offense get unnecessarily flat last year. Philip Rivers is the bet to run Frank Reich’s offense properly.
This starts by looking at your traditional West Coast offense utilizing a lot of nickel and dime throws in order to set up a rush. Of course with the Colt’s power running and more modern RPO usage, the run game is setting up this short passing game just as well. When teams are playing too close to the box, Frank will call up a play to push the ball deep where his new quarterback is more than willing to follow through. Ultimately, Reich will push whatever works. If the Colts are running over the opposing team, he won’t be afraid to lean into the run, but I personally believe the Colts will want to be a pass first offense once again. This is admittedly not a commonly agreed upon point among Colts fans. Feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt.
The Colts have a diverse set of weapons that allow them to play just about any game they want to and will gladly lean on certain weapons to target specific weaknesses in the opponent’s defense. You want big guys? Let’s throw Doyle, Alie-Cox, Pittman, and Patmon out there. This not only puts out a selection of big bodies to have to defend against, but also a good list of run blockers for whichever running back they’re throwing out. Want speed? Hilton, Campbell, and Hines are each capable of stretching the field vertically. The last note I want to add would be a likely increase in 22 personnel. Just toss out Patmon and mix and match some running backs. Reich has mentioned seeing Mack and Taylor on the field at the same time, but I would fully expect plenty of plays with Nix holding a lead blocker role or even a more Tom Rathman-esque fullback that pulls in passes in the short game.
Defense
The Colts defense is a pretty simple scheme based on a 4-3 Tampa 2 defense. Despite some excitement after the Chiefs game where the Colts played man on 73.3% of snaps, expect for the Colts to play a vast majority of their snaps in zone coverage. Playing man for that one game was likely just taking advantage of a weakened receiving core than it was a proof of the Colts sudden willingness to move to a different scheme.
The Colts are heavily reliant on the front four to generate pressure and do so by rotating through 8-9 defensive linemen with the goal of keeping players fresh. The Colts defensive lineman with the highest snap count last year was Justin Houston who only played in 65.18% of snaps. Perhaps bringing in Buckner will cause the team to add a bit more consistency after Buckner’s 78.72% snaps on the 49ers last season. This focus on the front 4 is accentuated by the 6th lowest blitz rate in the league in 2019.
Part of what helps the defensive line be effective is their ability to focus on the passer while the linebackers work heavily to stop the run. The Colts run a lot of a concept called patterns where the play side linebacker’s goal is to control the offensive line and push the run outside where the other linebacker is meant to be athletic enough to cross the line and stop the run. For a more detailed look at the Colts implementation of this concept, read Zach Hicks’s writeup on this
Behind the linebacker group is typically a Cover-2 whose primary goal is to cover the deep zones and prevent any big plays. The idea is that forcing a team to dink and dunk down the field forces the offense to be successful on more plays to reach the end zone. More plays means more opportunities on each drive for interceptions, sacks, forced fumbles, and simply missed passes in order to set the offense back. The Colts were ultimately tied for 10th in the league at 13.1 percent of drives ending in a turnover.
Shoutouts to those who helped:
Ozzurip
Link to hub

Hello, I'm Reikai_, Grand Champion in Rocket League (3v3) and a previous mid-Master League player in Starcraft 2. This guide contains is the most comprehensive approach to get you to Grand Champion in 3v3 quickly on the subreddit to date.
I used mental models (in particular, frequency, detailed later) as well as previous comprehensive posts to rank myself up. Now, I'd like to give back and help others rank up, especially with Rocket League now going free-to-play.

Goal setting

I imagine since you're reading this post, you'd like to make it to Grand Champion. I think that's a great goal at 0.77% of the player base. However, I've noticed that when people try to get better at anything (RL included), there tends to be a gap in goals and practice.
Do you want to be the flashiest, fanciest player possible? Then practice Air Dribble and it's variants (Flip Reset, Musty Flick, Double Tap) the whole time, and then head to 1v1. You can't even get to GC in 3v3 doing this, I think. Your skillset would be too lopsided and/or unbalanced.
Do you want to be the best player you can be? Then practice becoming skilled and comfortable in all phases of the 3v3 game. Currently, the best players for 3v3 are the pros playing 3v3. They're the ones pushing the boundaries and showing the best possible way to play 3v3 at any given moment.
By trying to be as good as possible, you'll improve much faster than saying, 'What can a player do that's 1 rank above mine?' You'll skip over lots of stop-gap, waste-of-time skills and go straight to what the pros are doing. The essential skills that is, not the flashy ones. More below on that when I explain Frequency.

Watching Pro Games

Speaking of pros, watch the best current pros you can possibly find. Replays, Youtube, and past stream videos are all excellent sources of material. Old replays actually aren't that good because this game has evolved so much. For example, going back too far in RLCS (the Rocket League pro scene) and you get pros that aren't even as good as some 'average joes' today. You also want RLCS matches, or 'tryhard' games, where a streamer isn't necessarily just screwing around. If there's money on the line or the pro is playing with their team, you can almost bet that the pro will be trying his/her hardest and showing you the best stuff.
Another reason you want to watch pros: Their gameplay is -packed- with 2 lists. The first list is full of things you MUST do (score goals, pressure the other team, be in position, etc.). The second list is full of things you should NEVER do (concede goals, play slow, be out of position, etc.). Watching pros constantly and picking up those patterns of what to do and where is crucial, and there's no place that happens faster than going straight to the source. For example, watching a content creator's Rocket League youtube will give you a new concept, but seeing that concept implemented (close to) perfectly really only happens in pro matches. Here's a link to the replays from the latest RLCS season (#9): RLCS Season 9 Both NA and EU are good, but I'd say NA is ahead right now. Start with them.
Bottom line, find your favorite RLCS pro who's style inspires you and try copying what they do (decisions they make, mainly).

Improvement Mindset

This, along with dedication to spend time improving are the big, overarching themes that need to be in place for you to make it Grand Champion. If you embark on this path, you need to know that you will -not- be the same player at the end that you are at the start. You need to embrace that and be willing to destroy/remove your old ideas of how to play the game. This will make room for the new (Grand Champion-level) ones.
Aspects of this mindset:

* I will learn the best way to perform the skill in question. * If there is a better way, I'll use my old method while practicing using the new method in training. * Once I feel confident to perform the new skill in ranked, I will use only the new method and completely abandon the old method. * I take my information from the best sources available, and critically think about any secondary sources (non-pros, content creators). * I will take no excuses from myself as to why I 'can't' perform a certain skill. Someone else did it, so therefore I can too. 

Common mistakes that stop you from improving:

* Being tilted or upset at something, whether that's in the game or outside of it. * Thinking you're trying to improve, but actually staying in your comfort zone and simply pushing your current skills to current limits * Not pushing yourself beyond current limits and getting uncomfortable * Letting your brain quietly switch out goals when you get impatient * Gunning for the next rank NOW instead of just trying to improve, even if that means losing as you try a new skill * Getting convinced somehow improvement isn't worth it because of some external factor * Bad teammates, matchmaking 'errors', other excuses * Not dedicating enough time/energy/effort to this. * Not a total showstopper, but will slow you down. * If you don't have a lot of time with the game, simply make sure you focus and actually improve. You'll still see results. 

Frequency, or what ideas at the Grand Champion level are actually the most important?

Frequency means, what gets used the most at the level you're trying to achieve? What concepts are game breakingly advantageous, and which ones don't really matter at all? Which skills are a total must-learn, and which ones can you let slide for now, and come back for later? In order to improve quickly, pick the most important skills to learn first and spend most of your time on.

2 quick definitions:

Jumpshot means some combination of jumping, boosting, and dodging into the ball. It doesn't always mean as hard as you can, but rather making the ball do what you want. In a lot of places, it's known as 'power shot', but Jumpshot includes the less powerful, more accurate version. This Kevpert tutorial has the shooting version, but you should play around with it. See how long you can hold the jump, how fast you can do it, try it off the wall, combine it with air roll, etc.
Fast Aerial is the fastest possible double jump aerial variant with regards to gaining altitude quickly. If you're wondering, there are 3 total double jump aerial variants, and all 3 are good. See this Kevpert Tutorial. I'm mainly referring to the 3rd variant, but all 3 are good for different scenarios. You'd use this to beat your opponent to a ball that's higher up than a Jumpshot could reach. Make no mistake, a Jumpshot can reach a ball slightly higher than the crossbar (with dodge!).
Mechanics

* A (Essential) * Jumpshot * Fast Aerial * Reading the bounce from any and all walls, and being able to play it * This is a great use of freeplay, if you were wondering what you should do in there. * Use the D-pad with BakkesMod installed to practice random scenarios. * Powerslide (correct powerslide, not the incorrect tutorial version.) * B (Good to add in, but not at the expense of above) * Recovery (not landing on your head, not landing sideways and stopping) * Expert boost management * You need less than you think; 33 + 1 pad (12) = 45 boost can almost reach the ceiling with Fast Aerial! * Dribbling or flicking * C (Extra stuff) * Air Dribble * Flip Reset * Musty Flick * Etc. 

Strategy

* A (Essential) * Prediction * What's probably going to happen next? * Is there a shot opportunity for us? For them? * Remember, unless the ball is on target already, only an opponent car can score your goal. Look for the shooter. * Who's car is closest to the ball? * What team has better position right now? What should I prepare for? * Positioning * Understand rotation, especially back post rotations (See the guide below in Training Material) * Knowing to make saves by starting on the back post and not in the middle * Know where to be to score easily/find shooting opportunities easily * Use the camera to see where your teammates are to know what to do/where to go * Understanding when to challenge and when not to challenge * Be aware of what each position should be primarily and secondarily concerned with * I may write up a guide on this too if there's enough interest, it's somewhat deep * B (Good to add in, but not at the expense of above) * Adapting to the game you're playing * Did your teammate cut rotation? Fill the last position. * Is the other team too aggressive? Punish them with power clears (Jumpshots aimed deep into your opponents half, preferably on target to the goal). * Is your team too aggressive? Play third man and babysit the match on defense to win. * Is there a weak player in the match? Can you gamble and make a challenge on that player? It might be a goal. * Playing to the scoreboard/time remaining * Don't challenge as 3rd man if you're up 1-0 and there's 30 seconds left, stall and delay and let your teammates help. Only make a save if necessary. * If you're down by 2, start getting aggressive now. Don't forget to actually try the skill you were working on! * C (Extra stuff) * Boost stealing/demoing/bumping (Only do this stuff opportunistically. The other points above are so much more important.) 

Mental

* A (Essential) * Focus/Effort/Trying as hard as you can * Avoiding at all costs being mentally lazy for the duration of the match. * Actively trying to win the game and improve in the same match. * More on balancing these two mindsets below in Competitive Mindset. * Thinking of the right thing at the right time * Think of the next ball in the match, and watch the replay after. * Don't think of the ball you just missed now! You'll miss the next one. * B (Good to add in, but not at the expense of above) * Never giving up/always doing something with the current match * Sometimes, at 1-5, there's a reason to forfeit, but you don't have to. You can use the rest of the match to practice. * However, at 1-3, go for it and try to win. * C (Extra stuff) * Keeping your teammates pumped up with compliments/jokes 

Mechanics Explanation

Why are Jumpshot and Fast Aerial listed first in mechanics? Because they are the 2 most used mechanics in the game when it comes to playing the ball. Most goals in GC aren't great goals. Most are mistake punishing or loose ball opportunity recognition. Usually you don't pick up the ball, grab 100 boost and clip on your opponent. At the same time, the save is usually also made using these two skills. Either the ball is reachable with Jumpshot, or it's high up and you Fast Aerial.
The target is different, but each mechanic is about the same: reach the ball before you opponent and hit it where you want. To the goal for offense, into the corners (which makes the ball temporarily unshootable due to angle) or ceiling in the opponent's half on defense. Same with 50/50s; you generally Jumpshot the other car as hard as you can (there are exceptions to this). Same with power clears used to build up your team's attack or relieve pressure; it's generally a Jumpshot focused on power.
Still not convinced?
If you're still not sure that most goals in Grand Champion are boring goals, consider this evidence. I went back and rewatched the last 10 games that I played to get GC. I counted the goals that were scored (both mine and opponents).

 * Total of 54 goals scored. 66.7% of goals scored were Jumpshots, usually from the ground, usually front bumper (it's an easier version than the air roll shot). * 25.9% of goals scored were Fast Aerial, and usually resulted from a ball off the backboard or a floating midfield ball. * Only 7.4% of the goals used another mechanic other than Jumpshot or Fast Aerial. * On top of that, only 4 out of 54 goals scored had 'quality' to them, or made me go, 'wow, that was a great goal.' * The rest? 92.6%, or 50 out of 54 goals were some type of tap in, long shot, or defensive mistake. Something preventable. 

Given the above, we can make a few takeaways.

 * Jumpshot and Fast Aerial are the 2 most frequently used mechanics in Rocket League. * Thus, we should practice those the most given we'd get the most mileage out of them. * Other things can and should be practiced, and even along side the above, but the majority of practice time should go to those 2 until mastered. * Practice fun shots if it keeps you inspired (I practiced flip resets and double taps when I started feeling bored or stuck) * The number of 'lame' or 'non-wow' goals means that defense is -sorely- lacking at ALL levels. * Focus on your defensive predictions and backpost rotations and you should see a jump in your win rate. * Getting the ball up on your opponents backboard is an easy way to score goals. It causes all sorts of havoc to their formation. * Grand Champion is mainly speed and consistency: Being able to shoot the ball hard and on target will get you goals, period. * Predicting these hits from opponents is the defensive flipside of this. 

Strategy Explanation

Why is Prediction and Positioning #1 and #2 on the list above? That's because 87.0% or 47/54 goals scored had some type of prediction/positioning element to help the goalscorer. The player who scored was either predicting that a loose ball might pop up or sitting in a position to score while another car covered the goal.
Bottom line, you want to be constantly thinking about all the possibilities of what could happen in a current situation. Cover first the ones that are risky to your team (losing a 50/50), but also position to take advantage of that same 50/50 going your way.
Data/spreadsheet: Reikai_'s GC Goal Histogram
10 GC Reward games: Reikai_'s 10 GC Reward Replays (Once downloaded, put them in this folder (your equivalent) to watch them: C:\Users\reikai!\Documents\My Games\Rocket League\TAGame\Demos)

Learn new concepts for fun

Here's a exhaustive list of most mechanics in the game from milesAKAkilometers. Most are more flashy or showy. Use this list to learn something fun when you get stuck or get bored (but don't shirk your real practice, lest you lose progress). Real practice defined here as the A and B list items detailed above.

Training + Practice + Implementation

Download BakkesMod. This allows you to skip around training packs, mirror shots left to right, and have free play ball commands. This allows you to practice custom training shots from different angles and quickly practice what you want to practice without wasting time.
Implementing a skill basically follows this cycle:

* Discovery of that skill * Training/workshop attempts, then success * Freeplay or Unranked game attempts, then success * Ranked attempts, then success 

Most importantly, you should be pushing to do that skill in the most pro form possible. Shots are taken as hard and fast as possible. Aerials are done as quickly as possible. Saves are as shooting-angle-deleting as possible, and as far from your goal as possible.
Once you can do something in freeplay or training to a consistent level, go try it in ranked. For Jumpshot and Fast Aerial, I practiced shooting consistency by making 3 shots in a row before moving to the next shot. You'll probably start off by just making one, and not making it full speed. That's OK. Just keep pushing for better every time.
I list 3-shot consistency for my training because that's what it took for me to make Grand Champion. Even if you can't do that, stressing yourself to do that will make every ball you deal with at your rank feel and look easy. If you don't want to be too stressed, feel free to choose a lesser consistency (2-shot or something). Just know you'll have to probably up it later.

Training Material

I sifted through tons of training packs and Workshop maps looking for the ones that would make a big difference in my game. After looking through all of those, here is a short list of the ones that were most impactful for me. Practice these exhaustively and you'll see a significant difference in your game as well.

Custom Training (Main menu, go to training, custom training, then copy these codes in):

* Shooting #1, WayProtein: 4912-A5C9-9A56-555D (3 shot consistency) * Shooting #2, Biddles: 27FE-E3D7-7FB5-7F43 (3 shot consistency) * Shooting #3, Sebbl: 7656-D60E-ED55-FF20 (even higher level pack, did not finish) * Goalkeeping, WayProtein: 776F-E2BB-2993-78D7 (3 save consistency) * Backboard reads, Rizzo (G2 pro): 07E1-81BC-DD2E-BF8C (3 save consistency, 1 exception) * Wall shots, Poquito: 9F6D-4387-4C57-2E4B (3 shot or pass consistency) 

Workshop (PC only) (Click these links and subscribe with your steam account. Then, main menu, extras, workshop.):

• Dribbling/first touch control (Glass Wheels Digby): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694288506
• Car control in the air (Dreale): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=821751580 (specifically level 1.11, slalom)
  • Kevpert tutorial to go with this map.
  • If you want to practice car control and are not on PC, he has drills for non-PC in freeplay.

Miscellaneous links:

• Jumpshot/Long Shot/Air Roll by Kevpert (Same as above)
• Defense by Kevpert
• Rotation guide by Virge
• Setting guide by Ungoliant0
  
  • "The important part is that you should not be hindered by your controls." - Ungoliant
  • "But once they're set and you're pretty happy with them, don't continuously change them either." - reikai

Watch your replays, reflect and learn

Right after a ranked match, open the replay while the match is still fresh in your mind. I used to think that my teammates were often to blame when I lost, but here is where I found I usually made just as many mistakes as they did. You don't have to watch the whole match, but make sure to pick out mistakes you made, and think of a plan right then and there of what you'll do next time to fix this. Otherwise, you'll tend to end up in next match's replay, going, 'yep, there's the same mistake...'.
Reflecting like this is key; your decision making actually may never improve without looking at what you're doing wrong and changing that decision.
Something strange you may find: doing the right thing feels weird, but doing the wrong thing feels 'right' since it's habit. Thus, most improvements will feel strange at first.

Competitive Mindset + Improvement Mindset

This is the mentality you need to play ranked when you want to improve, and is basically it's own skill. It's the drive to win and fight as hard as you possibly can. To give you an idea of what it's all about:

* Play games with the mindset of turning the game into a 5-0 blowout. * Salivate at the chance to score or pass to a teammate so they score. * Sweat blood saving goals for your team. * A 50/50 is a chance to hit your opponent so hard they feel scared the next time you approach them. * You want to make them scared to ever play against you again. * You want them to be relieved when you're on their team and not against them. 

Ok, what's wrong with the above? The improvement portion is missing. The majority of the time, this Competitive Mindset is where you are probably about 75% of the game. The remainder is where you implement the mechanics you learned and trained above, for about 25% of the game.
Change the percentages to what you feel is right. Just know that too much Competitive Mindset means no improvement, and too much Improvement Mindset means frustration and losses.
A bit more on this; this is only how you're playing. Never be toxic to anyone, teammates or opponents. That only makes your opponents play harder and your teammates play worse. Even worse than that, you're basically tilting yourself. Admit fault when it's your fault and try harder next match. Praise teammates when they do well, and say Sorry! when you mess up. It happens.
Alternatively, you can just turn off quick chat entirely (it's in the pause menu settings). This helped me a lot, as it didn't do much for me to see 'Nice shot!' when I scored as much as it hurt to see 'What a save!' when I missed.

General Tip Log

This is an accumulation of random things that dramatically helped me once I implemented each tip. Try your best to implement all of these one at a time. The closer you get to Grand Champion, the more people adhere to these ideas (and their exceptions). This list is intended for you to get instant value out of reading this post.

* If your opponent is closer to the ball than you, don't challenge him. You'll get beat. * If you're the first car in rotation, you can be more aggressive and consider (fake) challenging. * If you're the last car in rotation, and you know you have no help coming, you can either challenge or wait. * The lower rank you're in, the more you want to wait, as people's consistency just isn't there yet. * Higher ranks you just want to challenge because more time and space means a more likely good shot on your goal. * Try not to jump unless you have to; you have much more control on the ground. That being said, don't avoid jumping if that's easier. * For 50/50s, you basically always have to jump and dodge into them. *As you get better, you want to be doing the skills as fast, hard, and accurately as humanly possible 100% of the time. * Strive for that, but know that literal 100% is impossible. Even pros are probably 95% or so. * Further refinement of an old skill (particularly a key skill) can be more important than learning a new one. * If your teammate is cutting rotation/not following it, it's up to you to adapt and play to HIS game. * No way you can force him to play better by taking his ball and making him mad. * You have a higher winrate if your teammates are playing their A-game rather than you taking them out of their A-game, even if their A-game is subpar. * Stay in prediction/positioning mode until it's your turn to hit the ball, and then switch all of your focus over to nailing that mechanic. Then switch back. * Being adamant here will prevent silly mistakes like looking at other cars when you have a free ball to score. * Never, never, never give up on your own improvement. You can and will improve, but it will take time, and in the short run you can lose rank. * If you remove a bad habit or crutch from your play, it's possible you DERANK instead of improve. That's because the crutch is gone. * As you stick to the new skill, you'll re-rank up, and probably beyond that as the new skill is better for a reason. * It takes a while to integrate new skills into your play, even if you can nail them in training. * You're just not used to using your new, shiny, butt-kicking skill yet. * Dealing with tilt: avoid getting tilted as much as possible * Tilt is a mindset where the emotional part of you is currently stronger than the logical/improvement part. * If you're tilted, chances are no improvement is happening. * Take a break or distract yourself to make the negative emotions subside, then come back once you're positive (or at least neutral) and focused. * Zoning out: don't do it * While grinding mechanics, you may find that you're hitting the same shot 1,000 times and it never goes in. * You've zoned out, and need to refocus/reflect on what's going on. What is your car currently doing? What needs to happen instead? * Sitting there and thinking about what went wrong is much more helpful than doing the shot wrong another 1,000 times * Not to mention building bad habits/wrong muscle memory * Reflection is key; no improvement can happen without it. 

A comprehensive improvement plan so you can put all of this together

* Spend 30%-50% of the time training the A and B list mechanics above (75%/25% split), and do this at the beginning when you're fresh. * Don't do more than an hour of mechanics at a time. * Ranked: Play 5 games, reviewing the replay immediately after each one. * This will decrease chances of tilting and improve odds of reflection/adjustment/improving. * Once that 5 is finished, take some kind of break for 5-10 minutes. * If you're concentrating on improving, 25 minutes of ranked + replay analysis should wear you out. * Do as many 5 game sets as time allows or you have patience for, and don't be afraid to call it quits and go back to mechanics. 

Reasoning for a training plan like this:

* Mechanics are something that have to be improved over time. Never skip mechanics, as you can't make up the muscle memory later like you can decision making. * If you'd like to watch pros or think about/review your training plan, take time out of ranked, not mechanics. * Ranked is basically for implementing what you already know. You're converting the mechanics training you did previously into a higher rank. * Consider drastically changing any previous training plans you had, including this one. * If it's not working for you, switch, but only after giving it a good shot (at least 5-10 sessions to see if you don't see improvement). 

References

Older GC Post by inthedark72 How to Improve by Ver

TL;DR:

I spent about 1,100 hours getting to Diamond and just having fun. I spent another 1,000 hours intentionally improving to Grand Champion. If you take your improvement seriously, I believe you too can make Grand Champion and join the top 0.77% of the player base. Learn from this post and take your improvement seriously and it shouldn't take you as long as it did me. Why? That's because you're using the best drills and most frequently used mechanics, guided by the pro scene from the start.

* Building a learning road map from this post, taking insight from your favorite pro * Objectively looking at what you should work on (what are you bad at?) * Doing difficult things constantly and repeatedly exiting your comfort zone * Implementing the new mechanic in Ranked and not falling back to old habits and mistakes * Reflect every chance you get (ranked replays, pro matches, in training). * Only when you change your thinking do you ever improve. 

Please let me know any questions/comments/concerns you have on this document; I'd be happy to answer in the comments below. Is there interest in a Completely New Player's Guide? What about that question on your mind right now? :D

Road to Grand Champion, 2v2?

While making Grand Champion in 3v3, I thought some people might be interested in watching a Road to Grand Champion for 2v2. I decided to stream to answer in depth questions about this post and 3v3 in general and see if I can't repeat it for 2v2. I currently plan on streaming Monday/Wednesday/Friday at 2PM-5PM Central Time, putting these concepts into action.
If you click the stream link below, it has my schedule in YOUR time zone so you don't have to convert. Hope to see you there!
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Reikai_'s Stream Link
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Note: I did get mod permission before posting my link, so please ask them if you're thinking about posting. Thanks for reading!