How to balance the defense

[aswell]

Hey guys,

I am quite new to the game, and am not an expert at football. I am doing great managing the offensive side of the game (except for drafting quarterbacks), but struggle in defense a bit.

So I noticed that my defenses are often imbalanced towards either the run or the pass. How do I manage? How many of my front 7 should I devote to run-stopping, and how many to pass rushing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[jokr29]

I always try to get guys good in both pass rushing and run stopping. But best is to get linebackers with good run defense as well.

[aswell]

So the goal would be to have, in a 4-3, the whole d-line good at both and some linebackers good at pass rush? Don't I need a rusher or two in the LB position?

[jokr29]

I never get linebackers getting alot of sacks, I always figure thats what the D-line will do. My defensive ends usually get between 10-18 sacks each but linebackers I only see get 6 or under. Ive only had a couple linebackers with 6 or more sacks in my 4-3 defense.

[aswell]

Hm, interesting. in my 3-4, I had top linebacking rushers. i guess in a 4-3 it also depends on how many Blitzes you run (and in which situations).

[nexttwelveexits]

As a super generalization, in the 4-3 your primary pass rush should be coming from your defensive line and in a 3-4 it should be coming from your outside linebackers. Having strong pass rushing from other players will certainly help your defense in general, but if you're running a 4-3 and your premiere pass rusher is your middle linebacker, your pass rush is going to be suboptimal.

[aswell]

As a super generalization, in the 4-3 your primary pass rush should be coming from your defensive line and in a 3-4 it should be coming from your outside linebackers. Having strong pass rushing from other players will certainly help your defense in general, but if you're running a 4-3 and your premiere pass rusher is your middle linebacker, your pass rush is going to be suboptimal.

Oh that made alot of sense, thank you so much! I did not really grasp that, I guess.

[aswell]

As a super generalization, in the 4-3 your primary pass rush should be coming from your defensive line and in a 3-4 it should be coming from your outside linebackers. Having strong pass rushing from other players will certainly help your defense in general, but if you're running a 4-3 and your premiere pass rusher is your middle linebacker, your pass rush is going to be suboptimal.

Oh that made alot of sense, thank you so much! I did not really grasp that, I guess.

[bdubbs]

Oh that made alot of sense, thank you so much! I did not really grasp that, I guess.

Just to clarify the philosophy for you a 43 defense and a 34 defense are fundamentally different. For the purposes of FOF the roles are much less strictly defined in my opinion, but since nobody else has done it yet let me break them down.

In the NFL a 43 defense you have 4 defensive linemen with their hand on the ground with 3 linebackers. They have 1 gap responsibility and are also expected to be the primary source of pass rushing. They do get active in the run, particularly the tackles but pass rush skills should be considered a must for all DL. Linebackers main responsibility is run support and pass coverage.

An NFL 34 defense has very different roles for the players. There's 3 defensive linemen with their hand in the ground who have a 2 gap responsibility and their primary role is run support. The DL typically doesn't have stats that jump out at you but it's because their main purpose is to eat up blocks and keep the inside linebackers free to make tackles. The 34 is all about the linebackers being your stars. The inside linebackers are your main tacklers and run stoppers, and the outside linebackers are responsible for doing the heavy lifting in the pass rush but they are also expected to get into the mix in run support and pass coverage.

Now as far as this applies to FOF the roles aren't as rigid. If you have a true superstar DE (80+) he's probably going to have great pass rush skills and still be strong in run support and would be effective at the DE spot in either system. I've had DE's in a 34 system put up 20+ sacks in a season in FOF which is something you're not going to see in the NFL.

With that said depending on your defensive system (which is determined by your defensive coordinator) There are different optimal heights and weights for your defensive linemen. These optimal heights and weights can be found in the help section. So lets say that same defensive end I mentioned earlier weighs 280lbs. If you play a True 34 defense the optimal weight for a DE is between 295-304lbs depending on which side of the line he's playing. Since your DE is undersized for the scheme it may have a negative impact on his performance but it is unlikely to hurt his production to the extent that you wouldn't want to pay big bucks to keep him on your team.

On the flip side if you run a 43 under scheme that same player would be the perfect weight to play right end at 280lbs. So theoretically the same player should be more productive in a 43 under than either 34 scheme but the negative impact of playing him in a sub optimal scheme is not so drastic that you need to make all your decisions based off of height and weight, its simply another factor to consider when evaluating a player.

There's also a few things worth knowing about changing player positions. A DE who is fast, has good pass rush skills and some coverage skills converts well to a 34 OLB position. This can be an especially useful move if that player is significantly undersized as a 34 DE. In the reverse a linebacker who is in the 270lb range and has good pass rushing skills would convert well to a 43 defensive end. (Depending on which 43 scheme)

There may be exceptions but linebackers are basically interchangeable between WLB SLB WILB SILB and MLB without a ratings loss. You can just play them where you think is best. Typically you want your best tacklers in the middle and pass rush specialists on the outside in a 34, and run stopping lbs with coverage skills in a 43

I think scheme fit becomes much more important when it comes to your weaker starters. A star player is a star player, but if you have a starter with a 30 overall rating and he doesn't fit your scheme he's going to be a bigger liability than if he fit the scheme. Since there's typically much more of an abundance of "role players" available in the draft and free agency this is where I'd recommend getting more picky about height and weight, as well as which bars the player specializes in.

Everything you need to know about optimal height and weight is in the help files, hope the info is helpful

Edit: Quickly on defensive gameplanning: it's worth getting to know how your players perform in man, zone, and bump and run coverage. If your corners have good bump and run but aren't great in man then you might want to run more press coverage. If your corners are strong in man coverage but weak in bump and run its better to stay in man. Try to scheme to what your players are good at.

[aswell]

Thanks, I appreciate that post. For me, it's mostly hard to get what the different LB positions are supposed to do, and you helped me a lot.

So would I do well with an SLB (main rusher?) who is only really good in the pass rush? Or should he also be able to cover a zone every now and then?

Thank you also for the weight issues. I've seen it and used training camp accordingly (though not so much FA and the draft) and got burned badly once in the first round of the draft, having a way undersized tackle (for whatever reason) who never even realized his potential... all that dead cap money going down the drain.

[wustin]

Depends on your gameplanning.

[aswell]

Depends on your gameplanning.

What would you mean with that, if I may ask?

[wustin]

What your linebacker does on defense is dependent on whatever your defensive gameplanning is. If you let the game generate your defensive playbook then I wouldn't worry too much about it, just draft and sign the best linebackers you can find.

If you do however make your own defensive gameplans, then you should already know what you're looking for in a linebacker (or any defensive player).

[aswell]

OK thanks, that helps!

[nexttwelveexits]

As an example, if you decide to sign pass-rushing linebackers with no coverage skills, and then put together a game plan with very few blitzes, you're emphasizing your players' weaknesses, which is never good.

You want to do your best to make sure your players are being utilized properly, and that includes developing a game plan that plays to their strengths. Usually REX will do a reasonable job of this but it's always good to make sure. And watch your results. If it's three games into the season and your top pass rusher has no production, you need to start checking on your game plan and depth chart to figure out how to get him involved.

[Sharkn20]

As an example, if you decide to sign pass-rushing linebackers with no coverage skills, and then put together a game plan with very few blitzes, you're emphasizing your players' weaknesses, which is never good.

You want to do your best to make sure your players are being utilized properly, and that includes developing a game plan that plays to their strengths. Usually REX will do a reasonable job of this but it's always good to make sure. And watch your results. If it's three games into the season and your top pass rusher has no production, you need to start checking on your game plan and depth chart to figure out how to get him involved.

Good heads up :popcorn:

[bdubbs]

As an example, if you decide to sign pass-rushing linebackers with no coverage skills, and then put together a game plan with very few blitzes, you're emphasizing your players' weaknesses, which is never good.

You want to do your best to make sure your players are being utilized properly, and that includes developing a game plan that plays to their strengths. Usually REX will do a reasonable job of this but it's always good to make sure. And watch your results. If it's three games into the season and your top pass rusher has no production, you need to start checking on your game plan and depth chart to figure out how to get him involved.

Just to add on to this great point one way to get your best pass rushers involved from the LB position if you go into your game plan details on the right hand side there's a drop bar that says "Blitz choice based on pass rush ability" and if you turn that up you should get more blitzes from your best pass rusher. I just noticed this option the other day so I can't be sure but by turning it up you should have less corners being sent on blitzes.

Your linebackers are going to have to play in coverage though no matter what defensive system you run so ideally you'd like your linebackers to have coverage bars high enough to keep them from being a complete liability.

As far as game planning to your strengths though I personally like to game plan more around my secondary because they are still going to be doing the heavy lifting in pass coverage. Corners that are strong in bump and run are better at press coverage, and I think it's self explanatory which coverages the man and zone ratings bar correlate to.

Same as I mentioned before I think these are all things that help you make decisions when it comes to starting guys with low ratings, or choosing between two back up players when you have to cut one. For example if you already know you run a lot of man coverage then you might be more inclined to keep the player with the better man coverage bar if they seem like fairly even run defenders.

Star players are easy to deal with because they are basically going to thrive no matter how you game plan (with some exceptions). Finding a way to get the most out of average players is where effective game planning comes in

[Mobarak]

The issue I'm trying to solve is, say you run a 4-3 and all three linebackers are fairly close in pass rush ability/strength... however the MLB has a bit more pass rush tech but can't really play the SLB... How can you still get the SLB to be the primary rusher most of the time?

The reason I ask is it's difficult to blitz from the 43 with an LB thats not the SLB as he plays so close to the line anyway, it makes sense he should be rushing more often.

It kind of seems like the game functions more efficiently in terms of control on defense if you just have the right players with the right skill sets in the right place. If you are forced to say, start your better pass rushing tech LB at MLB due to weight or speed etc.. then you are in a situation where you lose a lot of control on who is going to be blitzing the passer. If you just have a monster pass rushing/strength SLB and set the control in Game Planning to "Generally", He will almost always be the one blitzing giving you more reliable control.

[nexttwelveexits]

Why do you want the SLB to be your primary blitzer if all your LBs have similar pass rush? If it's because he is a liability in coverage, consider replacing him with a better coverage guy in your nickel and dime packages.

[Mobarak]

In a 4-3 the SLB comes out in those packages anyway... When running a 4-3 under the SLB plays very close to the line when on the field, making it much easier for him to get to the QB first, that's why you might need him to be the first option for blitzing.

If it's 1st or 2nd down and the offense is in a 2W set my SLB will be on the field. If they are passing and I'm blitzing, I would prefer it be the SLB in that situation.

[bdubbs]

I don't think there's any game mechanics that allow you to decide your blitzer on a positional basis. I'm pretty sure the only way to influence who your blitzers are specifically is through the blitz based on pass rush ability option.

Do we even know for sure if the game accounts for how close a blitzer is to the line of scrimmage? Because if it doesn't then it would only hurt you if the MLB blitzed more than the SLB if the SLB is a coverage liability.

[Mobarak]

in a 4-3 under alignment, the SLB is already lined up closer to the line of scrimmage than the MLB or WLB.... it's the natural position.

[bdubbs]

No what I'm saying is just because your SLB naturally lines up closer to the line of scrimmage do we know that the game gives him some sort of pass rush advantage compared to your MLB who is 2 yards deeper. In real life that obviously a big difference, but I'm not sure how linebacker depth translates to this game.

I did just find this in the help file in the defensive philosophy section which should hopefully clear this up

"Any non-lineman rushing the passer is a blitzer. In the 34, you usually have at least one linebacker blitzing – often the weak-side linebacker. In Front Office Football, you don’t decide specifically who blitzes on a play, but when a blitz is called, blitzers are assigned based on their position and their skill in rushing the passer. You can “tilt” the assignment by asking it to more heavily favor skill over position, the downside being that this may make you more vulnerable to passes aimed at receivers on that side of the field"

My interpretation of this is if you set "blitz choice based on pass rush ability" to rare then the game will select the blitzing player more based on the natural blitzer based on position in the formation.

So assuming FOF considers the SLB the most natural blitzer in the 43 under then you should actually be able to get more blitzes from that position by lowering your blitz settings to rare. It seems that raising those settings is more useful when you want to get more blitzes out of a linebacker that would typically be blitzing less than another based on his position in the formation.

[Mobarak]

That's what I'm assuming as well. Do we know how the game calculates blitzing ability for a safety or corner?

[nexttwelveexits]

Yeah, I was running off the assumption that there is not an appreciable difference between linebacker blitzes in the 4-3. I could be wrong about that, but remember that in a real football game blitzing linebackers and safeties often cheat toward the line before the snap.

[Mobarak]

Where I'm at is just trying to find the best setting to get my SLB to be the blitzer "most" of the time while having the second best PRT of the three LB's, while also preventing the safeties and corners from "over-blitzing".

It's already difficult to blitz from a 4-3 but when you do, you need a little more control of who it is as you leave the backfield a lot more vulnerable than in a 3-4.