Oneback's Under Front Defense

[Oneback]

Man Pressure

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[Oneback]

Zone Pressure

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[Oneback]

holding place 2

[Oneback]

holding place 3

[Oneback]

Q&A

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[JeffHCross]

Nice write-up so far, Oneback. Though you may want to emphasize that it's a 43/34 joint philosophy. That part wasn't immediately clear to me. I know you say it, but somehow I overlooked it several times.

[Oneback]

I have updated player alignments.

[Oneback]

Updated determining strength

[Roy38]

I'm using the 4-3 defense this year in my online dynasty, so I'm interested in what you're coming with. I typically use "glamour" defenses such as the 4-2-5 and 3-3-5, but I didn't have the personnel on my team to utilize those defenses, so I went back and dusted off my 4-3 skills. Entering season #3, I don't know if I'll make the switch back because I'm liking what this playbook has to offer. In my opinion, the 4-3 is one of the most fleshed out defensive playbooks of the bunch. However, I have a question in regards to your defense (which I'm sure can be answered as you complete this project).

From my understanding, the SDE and NT serve as cloggers, while the DT and WDE or Buck are your primary pass rushers. That being said, how are you able to put pressure on the QB using your front four? Are you getting pressure primarily from the WDE and DT? From my experience, the SDE (lined up over the RT) generates the most pressure along with the NT while the DT and WDE are rarely able to make plays. I don't know why this occurs, but it does. When I run my defense, I place my best DE over the LT because of his responsibility to cover the weak side (which you also outlined in this project) and my second best DE over the RT as he has more help in shutting down strong side runs. I determine my best DE as the player who has the highest Awareness coupled with the best Block Shedding, Power Move, and Finesse Move rating as this End plays on an island and needs to be able to get past his blocker to shut down plays to the weak side before they turn into big gains. In doing so, I've accumulated this following stats the last two years (stats listed are year#1, year #2):

SDE: 21 Sacks, 16 Sacks
NT: 9 Sacks, 7 Sacks
DT: 4 Sacks, 5 Sacks
WDE: 3 Sacks, 6 Sacks

Added to this, I swapped out my DE's in season #2 as the SDE improved over the WDE to the point I flipped their positions, so I had the same players on the field, just different positions from one year to the next.

This is also one of the reasons I place my best T at the RT position as this position gets abused regularly. For me, having the best T at LT is wasted because the WDE is unable to create consistent pressure. If you're getting better pressure than I am from what should be the best pass rusher on the team, I'm all ears.

[Oneback]

My first question would be what alignment are you using? The under front? The only reason I ask is in testing out all this real world stuff in the game I found that the SDE didn't need to have as good finesse move ratings because he was lined up more inside where the power move ratings became more of a factor. The WDE or Bandit needed to have good finesse move and block shed ratings to get a consistant pass rush even when coming from the wider alignment.

Now when I started testing 43 normal the same was true of the SDE but the Bandit was unable to get around the LT...I assume this is because left tackles typically have better pass block ratings and better acceleration which negates the better pass rush abilities of the Bandit.

Now the load up UCF on defense and their RDE is almost unblockable...he's got 90+ Finesse Move and Block Shed with good Speed and Accleration. There is a freshman RDE on Florida's team that has 89 speed, low acceleration, high finesse move and average block shed who will start to cause havok as well but is still capable of getting blocked (low block shed rating).

In the under front you really want to find a RDE that has good speed, great acceleration and great finesse move and block shed ratings...he will be almost unblockable. On the strong side you can get away with a guy that has decent finesse move and good power moves to generate pressure.

Same goes for DT, you need a guy with goot power moves, finiesse moves and block shed....Marcel Dareus is a perfect example of this and he is virtually unblockable.

It may be partly your sliders as well as I will admit EA gives a boost to the LT to keep the Bandit down, but if he's got good to great ratings at least under my sliders he can start to create havok.

This has all been tested in practice mode under strict guidelines (same defensive play/same offensive play) over numerous plays then verified in play now games.

I will be able to give you more feed back in dynasty as I have just now been able to land the type of players to make this work.

[Roy38]

My first question would be what alignment are you using? The under front? The only reason I ask is in testing out all this real world stuff in the game I found that the SDE didn't need to have as good finesse move ratings because he was lined up more inside where the power move ratings became more of a factor. The WDE or Bandit needed to have good finesse move and block shed ratings to get a consistant pass rush even when coming from the wider alignment.

I wouldn't say I catered to one defensive front over another as I used the 4-3 Normal, 4-3 Over, and 4-3 Under all equally. Each provides their own unique advantages and disadvantages.

Now when I started testing 43 normal the same was true of the SDE but the Bandit was unable to get around the LT...I assume this is because left tackles typically have better pass block ratings and better acceleration which negates the better pass rush abilities of the Bandit.

I would assume this to be true also, but I have played numerous games with a superior WDE over an inferior LT and still had difficulty creating pressure. This may sound strange, but I feel the shortest point to the QB exists between the SDE and the QB.

It may be partly your sliders as well as I will admit EA gives a boost to the LT to keep the Bandit down, but if he's got good to great ratings at least under my sliders he can start to create havok.

My sliders are as follows:

Difficulty: All-American
Quarter Length: 8 minutes
Game Speed: Slow
Player Min Speed Threshold: 15

Sliders (User / CPU):
QB Accuracy: 45 / 45
Pass Blocking: 55 / 50
WR Catching: 50 / 55
RB Ability: 50 / 55
Run Blocking: 50 / 50
Pass Coverage: 35 / 40
Pass Rush: 50 / 50
Interceptions: 15 / 20
Rush Defense: 45 / 55
Tackling: 45 / 40

I am using Southern Miss in my online dynasty and using Fairdale Kings roster set. If I remember correctly, I was using Deddrick Jones at SDE and Cordarro Law at WDE year #1, then flipped year #2.

[Oneback]

Not sure what the level of OT's your facing are, being that you I assume you are in C-USA they are probably decent. Cordarro Law on Iron Dragon's rosters has 72 spd, 74 acc, 75 fmv and 80 bsh...none ove those ratings will get him around the LT in any sort of time to make an impact. Deddrick Jones looks much the same at 72 spd, 72 acc, 65 fmv, 74 bsh.

Those ratings just aren't going to get the job done on the left side. Based on the stats above you are getting sacks but how are you getting them? Are you bringing pressure then one of your guys come free or are you just rushing 4? I can understand Cordarro Law getting more sacks on the right side as he is more of a pmv player depending on your alignment.

[Roy38]

Not sure what the level of OT's your facing are, being that you I assume you are in C-USA they are probably decent. Cordarro Law on Iron Dragon's rosters has 72 spd, 74 acc, 75 fmv and 80 bsh...none ove those ratings will get him around the LT in any sort of time to make an impact. Deddrick Jones looks much the same at 72 spd, 72 acc, 65 fmv, 74 bsh.

Those ratings just aren't going to get the job done on the left side. Based on the stats above you are getting sacks but how are you getting them? Are you bringing pressure then one of your guys come free or are you just rushing 4? I can understand Cordarro Law getting more sacks on the right side as he is more of a pmv player depending on your alignment.

In my online dynasty, the user teams don't play each other during the season. We play through our schedules and let everything shake out at the end of the season. As commissioner of our dynasty, I attempt to schedule at least an A- schedule for all teams. This is difficult for Southern Miss because of their conference, so I schedule several strong opponents (TCU, Boise State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Florida State come to mind) to beef up my schedule strength.

My team is definitely lacking in talent especially on the defensive side of the ball. This was one reason why I chose the 4-3 defense as their roster is ill-suited for anything else and can be used more conservatively. I do bring pressure from all over the field, but I would say I lean more towards bringing more pressure from the weak side which should allow for improved numbers from the WDE, Will, and Mike, but I'm not seeing it. Based on the numbers, Deddrick Jones had the best sack stats as he generated 21 sacks at SDE and 6 sacks at WDE. Cordarro Law had 3 sacks at WDE and 16 sacks at SDE respectively those seasons. I will add I like to user a DL, but 90% of the time it's with a DT as I like to control the middle and limit interior running.

[Oneback]

I have updated Cover 6 and Zone Alert, I am in the process of typing up the full breakdown of both while watching the Jets/Phins game.

[JeffHCross]

After looking at Cover 6, I now understand why you were asking about giving additional time for defensive adjustments.

Your choice on whether or not to answer this, but did any of the formations I ran in our game provide difficulty for your defense, or did I just get lucky?

[Oneback]

When I was asking for additional time to make adjustments I had some more complex things I wanted to do, however since no one bit I started to really simplify it so I could get the adjustments done quickly.

The biggest problem I had with your offense was my lack of talent at linebacker, after the current recruiting class that shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Early in the game when my highly rated defensive line was making plays I was at least making you work. Then as the game went along and my line wore down it really started to expose my linebackers which is when you really started to run the ball well/the broken tackles started to mount. Combine that with the complete opposite ways our teams were playing with your defense batting down every ball that was within a 5 yard radius to a defensive player and the lucky breaks you got a few times in the passing game (tipped/batted ball that would go straight to one of your recievers), I started getting frustrated and it got me off my game.

Against that Ace Jumbo look you threw out for the entire first drive I really should have gone to a bigger front instead of staying in the 43, however they were holding up pretty well, but I had to commit too much to the run to cover both sides of that formation which opened up the passing game, knowing that your QB wasn't exactly good I knew you'd be throwing underneath and my linebackers again just weren't able to make plays.

It was really the #1 weakness of my team this season, I only have 2 true linebackers (all the reast are basically strong safeties, thanks Rich Rod) and only one of those is any good (JB Fitzgerald), last year I had 4 true linebackers, next year I should have 5+. If I played in the Pac 10 or ACC with those spread offenses I would be fine, but in the Big 10 where you, g and snoop like to play smashmouth it showed in both of my losses this year.

[JeffHCross]

My QB is just fine, but otherwise I agree with everything you wrote. The underneath throws are less about my QB and more about my confidence in throwing the ball.

[Roy38]

Suggestion #1: When discussing personnel to fit the Under front, you might want to highlight in detail the minimum attributes you're looking for. For example:

WDE:
Speed - C+
Agility - C+
Acceleration: - B-
Strength - C+
Awareness - D- (the higher the better)
Block Shedding - B-
Power Move - C-
Finesse Move - B-

This would help us "see" what you looking at and what players you are recruiting to fit your scheme.

[Roy38]

Suggestion #2: When implementing your defensive plays (Cover 6, Zone Alert, etc.), indicate your base formation and the subsequent hot routes to set up these defenses. For example:

Cover 6:
Base Formation: Cover 3
Hot Routes:

• Sam - Flat
• Mike - Hook
• Will - Hook
• Rover - Flat

Or whatever you're doing (I don't remember off the top of my head each players assignment on a cover 3 as I'm only assuming these are your coverage changes).

[Oneback]

Will do, I am still working on the full write-up for both plays. Finding time can sometimes be difficult with work and a kiddo.