Building a Defense

[MrDNA]

To me, building a defense in FOF2K7 is far, far harder than building a good offense. Have others found that? Or is it just that I am particularly inept at it. I'm not even talking about making the '85 Bears here; just avoiding the '07 Dolphins.Obviously, what you look for in each particular player will be different, but can anyone share any tips or hints? Do you find player selection trumps gameplan? How much of a role does each piece play?Help!

[JetsIn06]

Form my experiences, my poor defensive gameplanning skill is making both gameplan creation as well as team building difficult. I have come to believe that in order to have a solid pass defense, your DB's have to be extremely versatile.

Sometimes some of my biggest problems are when it comes to my nickel and dime DB's. Usually, in my mind I say "I'm running a M2M defense," so I'll usually get some cheap guys that are good at M2M, and weak in other areas.

This causes problems because:

A) running to much of the same thing will KILL you, I think.
B) To me, it seems that some people have come to the conclusion that even if your in M2M defense, sometimes your CB's will be in a zone. (Maybe it's the other way around...but I seem to remember someone saying something along the lines of "CB's will have to adjust and use different ratings as the play unfolds")

So, in a way, our lack of gameplanning knowledge on this subject (I don't believe anyone has REALLY grasped this. I think a ton of people are just using Rex on defense) has made us less knowledgeble on team-building.

Aside from DB's, the other problem area in my mind is the linebackers. I know what run defense does, I know what pass-rush/pass-strength do. I think I know what play diagnosis does. But what pass coverage are they using?

That lack of knowledge has led me to not care so much about the pass coverage ratings. For example, in the WOOF, I have a 72/72 ILB.

He's a 93 in run defense, a 93 in play diagnosis....he is an excellent player in my mind. But he is a 27 in man-to-man defense and a 45 in zone defense. Quite honestly, I have no idea what that means. Does he now suck because he's giving up a ton of passes?

Because of all of this, my strategy is to acquire DB's of all around talent but maybe have them all be strongest in a certain area, and then leave it up to Rex to choose what I should do.

[aran]

In my most recent career I've had mediocre-to-poor offenses for five years and won by sheer force of takeaways. We were +20 turnover diff when we made it to the FOF Bowl (and we were favored, but lost).

Basically, I draft CBs that had moderate coverage skills and above average/high Play Diagnosis and Interceptions. We got like 2 picks a game.

Our defensive line was monstrous too, with two 10+ sack DEs that I kept around from the allocation draft. Maybe the huge hurry totals helped.

[Warhammer]

I'll toss out a few things that I have noticed about myself under FOF2k7.

1) Due to not understanding the defensive side of the ball, I have completely neglected players over there. The defensive talent on both of my teams has taken a hit and I don't like it.

2) The key to a good defense is having players that have a high run defense. I have always found that having guys that have a high run defense leads to less YAC as well as a tougher run defense.

3) Combine a good run defense rating with high play diagnosis and this means that you can sit back in pass defense and still play pretty well against the run.

[Hammer]

I'd agree with Warhammer that run defense is the single most important bar. Positions such as DT, LB and S really should be high in RD, nobody wants to get pancaked :)

I have found a LDE who is high in pass rush technique can single handedly give you a decent rush, not ideal but it appears the most important pass rushing position.

A couple of decent safeties cam work wonders I've found. They can dictate the game at times. Tell the truth though, I haven't really had the pleasure of having 2 All Pro's at other positions - so maybe I'd see a similar effect.

I have come to the conclusion that a great defense does not seem to be able to dominate games consistently the way a great offense can. Just my opinion, for what its worth.

[Ajaxab]

This discussion leads me to wonder if the game may be slightly imbalanced toward a passing attack. Given the challenges associated with trying to build a team around a stud running back (difficult to guarantee carries) and the mystifying nature of figuring out what works on defense as in this thread, the recipe for success seems to revolve around finding the best passing offense.

[Ben E Lou]

This discussion leads me to wonder if the game may be slightly imbalanced toward a passing attack. Given the challenges associated with trying to build a team around a stud running back (difficult to guarantee carries) and the mystifying nature of figuring out what works on defense as in this thread, the recipe for success seems to revolve around finding the best passing offense.Messrs. Manning and Brady might agree with you. *shurg*

[CraigSca]

Towards this discussion...

I know in baseball the old story goes that good pitching always beats good hitting. While this has been shown to be a myth, has anyone had a defense in FOF that can just completely shut down a good passing attack?

I'm not talking one-off either, but a consistent shutting down of a healthy passing attack (either MP or solo).

[Hammer]

My best pass defense was in the RDFL. We had 2 elite pass rushing DEs, a couple of average run stuffing DTs. A very good set of LBs. 3 quality CBs (87/87, 60/60, 58/58) and 2 excellent safeties, (75/75, 73/73).

On the way to a 15-1 season our pass defense stats were as follows:

53.8% completed
5.57 Avg Att
189.1 yards allowed per game
69.6 opposing QB rating


We did have the leagues leading rusher also, and the leagues leading QB ratings wise. I think the defense benefited a lot from this, and the opposition were often throwing the ball into pass defenses when behind. In that light, I don't think the above stats show a defense as dominant as you might think.

We were taken apart in the NFC Championship game against a 14-1-1 side. Our pass defense was dominated.

[Ben E Lou]

Towards this discussion...

I know in baseball the old story goes that good pitching always beats good hitting. While this has been shown to be a myth, has anyone had a defense in FOF that can just completely shut down a good passing attack?

I'm not talking one-off either, but a consistent shutting down of a healthy passing attack (either MP or solo).

I just pref-drafted for pass defense, put in the defensive game plan I've been using in MP, and go these results:



http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/fof/defense_summary.png

The starters...
http://www.younglifenorthdekalb.com/fof/arizona.png

[Hammer]

I think perhaps in MP, so many people are running effective offensive plans. Perhaps thats skewing the stats to some degree. I also think, as time goes by it appears the level of QBs are decreasing to some degree. That should further push things back towards the defense.

[Ben E Lou]

I also think, as time goes by it appears the level of QBs are decreasing to some degree.At this stage in the life of FOF, the only truly "fair" test of defense in MP would be in leagues started with FOF2K7, and with the "real" player file that comes with the game. Fictional FOF2K7 leagues are so new that defense has an extra advantage, and converted FOF2K4 leagues have significantly more talent at QB than they should. The FOFL has 22 QBs rated 60 current or higher. The IHOF has 23. Both were converted leagues. By contrast, the WOOF and the OSFL have 9 and 10 respectively.

To see another contrast in talent, as of right now, there are 11 QBs in the WOOF rated in the 20s and 30s listed as #1 in the depth chart. The IHOF is in free agency right now. There are seven QBs rated in the 30s and 40s who don't even have an offer. Yes, that's seven QBs who would probably be able to find a starting spot in a true FOF2K7 league, and they might not even get a job as a backup in a converted league.

I really wish in the conversion of MP leagues that Jim had re-calibrated the talent in leagues to match up with the FOF2K7 talent distributions, but that would have taken some real chutzpah. I suspect most of the community would have been in open revolt over it.

[OldSchool]

The FOFL has 22 QBs rated 60 current or higher. The IHOF has 23. Both were converted leagues. By contrast, the WOOF and the OSFL have 9 and 10 respectively.


Shiba only has 4 (fof2k7 league in 2009 predraft)

[Yoda]

I am on the fence about the run defense thing. In one of my MP leagues here are my run defenses:

LDE 70
RDE 74
LDT 66
RDT 65
MLB 53
SLB 68
WLB 54
LCB 66
RCB 79
SS 70
FS 84

Those aren't their overalls, that is their run defense bars. Through 6 games, they are only giving up a league low 3.45 ypc. BUT, are 4th from the bottom in pass defense, and the passing defense numbers are almost as good. And we are 1-5.