How to play
Second Season
Pro Football

Second Season Pro Football Game
is easy to play!

Here we'll show you how to play Second Season Football using the fictional players from the 2000 Los Angeles and Detroit teams.

First, we'll look at the offense and set up a play...

We'll start with the Detroit offense on the field, facing the Los Angeles defense, first and ten at its own twenty yard line.

You'll notice that each player is given a numerical rating, expressed as a fraction. The top number represents the player's ability on pass plays, the bottom number his ability on run plays. "2" indicates superior ability, "1" average ability and "0" indicates a deficiency. Note also that there are various symbols appearing after some players' ratings. These are additional ratings that further alter play, depending on field position and time left in the game. (All ratings are fully explained in the instructions.)

1) To begin, you'll select the offensive play and intended receiver or ball-carrier. There are six basic offensive plays--inside run, outside run, screen pass, short pass, medium pass, and long pass--and several limited-use plays such as a bootleg or trick play. Since it's first down, we'll keep it simple and call an inside run, giving the ball to the fullback, Curtis McCoy.

2) Next, we roll one die to determine which of the four basic defense settings Los Angeles has called: pass, safe, run or blitz. The solitaire defense table is printed on the playing field for easy reference, but you'll quickly memorize it!  You roll a "2,"

which indicates a "safe" defense has been called.

(Yearbook partial page team sample.
All platoon members are visible on the full page.)

Now we'll check the game book...

3) To resolve the play, you turn to the "Inside Run vs. Safe Defense" page of the Second Season game book. (The pages are color-coded for easy reference.) You roll the dice, reading the result as a two-digit number--the black die first and the white die second. Thus, a "5" on the black die and a "6" on he white die is read as a "56."

...and the defensive response...

4) Checking result "56," we are directed to defensive player "J," the left defensive tackle, Greg Baldinger. The game book asks us if Baldinger is a superior run defender--and we see that he is! That means that Baldinger breaks into the Detroit backfield and hauls down McCoy for a three yard loss!  (Had he not been a superior defender, McCoy would have slipped past Baldinger for a six yard gain!)  Baldinger gets a high-five as the players un-pile, and Detroit now faces second and thirteen.

(Yearbook partial page team sample.
All platoon members are visible on the full page.)

You decide to test the airwaves with a short pass to Detroit's wide receiver, Eddie Yarber. Los Angeles rolls another "2" on defense, still playing "safe." You roll both dice for the play result--a "13." Turning to the "Short Pass vs. Safe Defense" page, the game book directs you to check the quarterback's CMP grade, which is a measure of his passing accuracy. Detroit's Bruce Davis rated "C," which in this case means the pass was incomplete.

Now it's third and thirteen. It's an obvious passing situation, and you decide to send the tight end Jeff Jones (not pictured) on a medium route over the middle. The Los Angeles defense--with a die roll of "1"--is in the pass defense.

You roll both dice, a "34." The game book asks you to check both Paul Wenzel, the left tackle (TA) and the center, Eric Gaas (not pictured), to see if either is a deficient pass blocker. You discover to your dismay that Wenzel IS deficient, and that he just let Los Angeles defensive end Ozell Parker through to sack Davis for a ten-yard loss. If he had been just average, the game book tells you, Wenzel would have been able to hold that block long enough to allow Davis to scramble out of danger, perhaps for the first down.