Ive played the game competitively. There's a few things that drive "good" teams to play with online.
Edge rusher abilities - ours were **** last year and the rushers were slow. DT was lacking
RB - speed and abilities - ours was ***
WR - speed - ours was *** and will be again
QB - someone with good abilities and/or mobile
CB - height, speed, abilities - ours were ***
Playbook - usually trips, tight or bunch. We had trips last year but we were missing several meta plays
Im expecting us to be "***" in the game again even though we have a respectable team rating. Oregon, Bama, Texas, OSU, etc. will be the meta again.
I'll obviously play with us again, but im not good enough to overcome a handicap due to roster and playbook.