Abstract Run - This is basically a sweep. The RB goes all the way to the outside and then cuts. It takes the longest amount of time to develop and doesn't work that well on great defenders, but it can still get the job done.
Accel - (Acceleration) This determines how quickly a player will reach his maximum speed. For this catergory the lower the rating the better. Almost every offensive player in the game has a 3 rating, while defenders are usually 8 or 9, with the star defenders getting a 7.
Arm - You won't find the arm catergory on the Tecmo Bowl rom manager. I created this catergory by simply taking the average special rating for each team's receivers. For example Miami's wide receivers both have a 14 special rating, their tight end has a 14 rating and their running back has a 14 rating. Add it together to get 56, divide by the 4 receivers, and it averages to, surprisingly, a 14 rating. This represents the average throwing speed for the quarterback. The higher the better. Marino is the highest with 14, Trudeau the lowest with 8.75.
Bionic Playpick - This is simply the defence call the right play 3 times in a row and effectively ending the drive. It is a very sweet feeling to get it all 3 times, evil-ly laugh and shout Bionic! as you get the ball back. No one Bionics you like the New York Giants.
Busted - Basically not having run called and the run comes towards the defender you are being. This can be some dangerous stuff if it's a quality running back, resulting in huge gains. Standard now seems to be about 8-10 yards on your normal getting busted. Probably should be a little higher.
Cheating Up - You Cheat Up when the offense has a WR deep down field open and a short man open. Since most of the time the QB will just play it safe and go short the defender naturally starts coming in long before the ball is thrown to cut down on the yards after the catch, or even in some cases, an INT. This is cheating up. Called as such since you should be covering that deep man step for step, it takes a couple of getting burned deep to learn you. And even then it hard to resist cheating up. Very hard.
Corpse - A computer controlled defender that has dove or has been blocked to the ground but still manages to trip up or popcorn a blocker or the ball carrier. Called a corpse since the player is down on the ground when he makes a play.
Everytime - Everytime occurs when you finally decided to switch your defensive play calling (say you are calling a ton of Run 1, but the offense keeps going to Pass 1) and get busted by the offense. (You finally switch to Pass 1 Defense and here comes Run 1.) It never fails. Thus, Everytime.
Gang Probed - If you get a huge return against you on special teams, you got gang probed. LA used to be known for this, but it just never happens anymore, which is sad. Now the team with the worst coverage is probably Dallas, they get gang probed a lot. It's not fun to get Gang Probed, not fun at all, since it basically ends the game if you aren't a great team, it usually results in a frozen game or broken stuff.
Generic Run - This is the standard run in the game, the RB powers through the tackle and center. Generally this is the most effective run since it gets you out of the backfield the quickest. It's a very good run to have, possibly the best one.
Ghost - Some times in Tecmo Bowl the man with the ball will inexplicably have the ability to seemingly RUN RIGHT THROUGH A DEFENDER without getting touched. Extra devastating stuff for the defense who clearly should have the man wrapped up but is forced to watch the ball carrier run through your team. Literally. Noted Ghosts include, but are not limited to, Hershal Walker, Eric Dickerson and Bo Jackson. Yes fast guys definitely have a much better chance of being a ghost. Walker remains the original and main ghost.
Hitting a Wall - God no. This is THE worst when you are playing defense with a marginal defender. Everything is going smoothly as your defender is tracking down the ball carrier when SUDDENLY you make a cut and YOUR GUY DIES. Like from 60 to 0 in 0.0 seconds. This is hitting a wall. When you've hit one you'll know, and it ain't no fun. Watch as the guy with the ball FLYS by you and picks up monster yardage. Funk & Wagnell's is thinking of putting hitting a wall in as the definition of Not Fun. Common Wall-Hitters: The Jeffcoats, Bosa, Hand, even a pretty ok guy like Doleman has been known to hit a few walls in his time.
How Do You Like Your Kicks? - An evil phrase designed to fluster the team about to kick-off. Usually met with answers like Returned.
Hybrid Run - This is exactly that, a hybrid, a combo of the generic and abstract runs. The guy still runs out around the line but he starts on the same side of the field he is running to instead of the oppostie side like on a sweep. This makes the play develop much faster. You can also get better blocking patterns on this play, usually this play can devastate MLB if it goes to the weak side, becasue they will still be blocked, a very useful play to have.
Initial - (Starting Speed) This is how fast a player will run before they reach top speeed. The higher the better, as players with high ratings are more able to cut and juke without slowing down. Most players have 0 or 1 in this catergory. The better running backs and kick returners have a 4, while the best defenders (Taylor and Lott) have a 3.
Magic Coverage - Magic coverage is what happens when the defense receives better then normal pass coverage on any given play. Magic coverage usually occurs when the defense has called the opposite pass to the one the offence called and a defender covers a eligible receiver that he normally doesn't. Magic coverage really breaks an offenses' back seeing as 9/10 the whole play is ruined. Beware of magic coverage in pivotal situations, as it seems to always pop up when it matter most.
Max - (Maximum/Top Speed) This is simply the player's maximum running speed. The higher the rating the faster. Bo Jackson has the highest max rating out of the offense players with 11. The highest for a defensive player is 18, with six players tied at that mark.
Negative 4 - You experience the dreaded Negative 4 when you kick a FG and the promptly have the ensuing kick-off returned for a touchdown on you. Gentry and McNeil are the Negative 4 specialists.
Only Miami - Only Miami can score touchdowns. Standard Tecmo Bowl stuff. See, with Dan Marino throwing the ball Miami is able to force in a pass in the endzone for the touchdown. Other Non-Marino teams struggle to score touchdowns since gunning it in is risky; endzone overthrows are known to occur, there is less area for the defender to cover, and in general non-Miami teams are happy to come away with 3 points, like they should be.
Popcorn - This is the term used to describe when a player gets run right over. He will be hit and fly up in the air and bounce around, looking like popcorn is being made. Mack on Cleveland makes popcorn, almost everytime he hits a defender. Mack is the definitive maker of popcorn in Tecmo Bowl. Bo makes popcorn too, he just never gets a chance to showcase his ability because you know, the defenders are always behind him. The human defender can get popcorned too, if you grab say the RB and the RB has a blocker he will come over and popcorn you letting the RB free. The most vicious popcorn ever was Bo against Indy in 1-player mode, it looked like Bo kneed his face in, he sent the guy flying across the entire screen and basically ended his career in that instant. Bo was tired of all the talk about how Mack makes popcorn so he just wanted to make a statement.
Popped - Basically the act of being popcorned, but is more generally applied to when the place holder on a field goal attempt is sent flying by the oncoming blocker. This is as close as you can get to blocking a field goal without getting it blocked. Popping the holder has negative affect on the field goal attempt despite the fact that the ball is kicked after the holder has been sent flying. Tecmo physics at work.
Power - This determines the player's ability to make popcorn and break or make tackles. The higher the better. Kevin Mack is the most powerful offensive player with an 88 rating. Lawrence Taylor has the highest rating for a defensive player with 86.
QB Decisiveness - This is how quickly and accuractely the QB is able to land the pass to the correct receiver in a short amount of time. Some offenses rely heavily on good QB decisivness, such as Miami, Washington and San Fran. The rule of thumb is that the quarterback should never really make a mistake as ALL PASSES are completable when more then 1 receiver is open. All bets are off if Jack Trudeau and his woman arm of lobs and rainbows is involved though.
Special - For offensive players this rating determines how quickly the quarterback will throw the ball to that plyer. All wide receivers on the same team usually have the same special rating, so the rating is determined by the quarterback. What this catergory does for quarterbacks is a mystery. Only John Elway has a different rating then the rest. For kickers and punters this determines how far they can kick/punt the ball. The higher the better. Dean Biasucci and Kevin Butler have the best rating for kickers with 10, while Sean Landeta has the best rating for punters with a 14.
Strong Side/Weak Side Runs - The strong side run is the run that goes towards the main defender. So if the defence does not pick this run they will be blocked and the run will go, or should go, for big yards. Most of the time the strong side run is the top run because almost all the good defenders in the game are on the top, with a few exceptions. Weak side run is just the opposite, they run away from the defender, often the defender will not have to pick run and can still stop this play becasuse there is no blocker on him. This run in general is good for 2-4 yards depending on the defenders position and your RB's speed. However if your RB has dekeing ability then he can turn this into a big gain. Basically if your weak side run is working for more than 5 yards per carry everytime the game is over becasue they won't be able to stop your offense.
Swine-bagging - Term used to describe a diving tackle. Usually a tactic only employed out of desperation to stop a running play you're not prepared for. If you make the diving tackle it's a swine-bagging. The guy who got tackled got swine-bagged. And so forth.
Terrified - You're terrified when you are too scared to even select a play since the defense is going so crazy on playcalls on you. A bad case of terrified can also hit you in key situations, which is never a good thing. The New York Giants do a lot of terrifying.
The Call Run University - If the defense is sticking to the game plan of calling tons of run, then it can be said that they attended The Call Run University. Read same as The Ohio State University. You really can't go wrong attending The Call Run University.
The Lure - Ah, The Lure of a First Down. No one can resist. When that WR is just at or past the 1st down marker there is no resisting not passing to him, no matter where the defender is, you will wait until that defender gives you enough space to complete the pass, even if you have men open way down field out of interception range. The morale of the story is no one can resist the lure of a first down. Come on, it's a 1st down.