TCY Defensive Adjustments

[JoeReymann]

I don't know if this has been addressed before, so let me throw this out. What sort of defensive adjustments do you make in TCY depending on the offensive strengths and weaknesses of your opponent combined with the defensive strengths and weaknesses of your own team?

If I'm going up against a great run team, what options do I have other than, say, switching over to a 5-0 or 4-6 defense and changing the run percentages?

If I'm going up against a team that passes for 400 yards per game, what kind of formation tendency and pass coverage changes might help out?

Offensively I can make changes that seem to work, but I'm a defensive idiot. Can any of you defensive geniuses help me out?

Joe

[Icy]

I'm interested on this too, i allways set my own ofense but click on recomend for defense. I'm not sure if when you click on recomend, your scout sets the strategies better suited for your players or he also takes on acount the team you're going to play against.

[Celeval]

He does take into account the team you're playing - simply because it'll change (sometimes drastically) week to week. I haven't done research to see if that's based on the TEAM, or just their offensive formation, however.

[Vince]

For the most part, I pick a defensive scheme at the beginning of my career based upon my personnel (either the 4-3 or 3-4, usually the 4-3), and then try to stick to that formation as my base formation.

After I've set my defensive formation, I usually try to recruit to that formation...very rarely do I have trouble recruiting the personnel to run my defense. Anyhow...to adjust on a game-by-game basis, I usually set blitz percentages at the beginning of the year, and it is very straightforward in my case. I take a look at my starters, and see if any of my DBs are obnoxiously good at blitzing. If so, I'll jack up their blitz percentage a little...but usually I keep their blitz percentage at 12% or lower. Then I find my best blitzing LB, decide where he's playing, and make sure that that LB position has the highest blitz %. Once I've done this initially, I leave it alone.

After that, the only changes I make on a week-to-week basis are the tendencies, really. Every once in a while, if I'm playing a team with just a ridiculous running game, I'll stack up in a 46 as my base defense, but only against the best running teams. From there, it's just knowing your personnell. I'm a huge fan of the blitz, so my tendency there is usually pretty high. Depending upon what kind of mood I'm in, and how much I want to scout out my opponent, I'll check their offensive line, and see how good it is. If it isn't amazing, I like to jack up blitz tendencies even higher against passing teams.

If you've got depth in your secondary, up your Nickel and Dime package tendencies against passing teams. That way you benefit from the extra DB in there more often.

It's been a while since my last TCY dynasty, so I'm just culling from memory here...but make sure you recruit to your tendencies. If you like a good, run-stuffing D, make sure you go after that MLB who can plug the hole in the middle (Strength in Stopping the Run) and that you have your huge DT's in place as well. If you're more of a speedy type of D, go after those pass rushing DEs and cover CBs...there were a couple of GREAT threads on building defenses in FOF back on the old board, not sure if they were salvaged. If so, they'd be in the stickied thread in the General forum, and they're definitely worth a read.

[JoeReymann]

Has anyone been able to determine what represents the DBs' blitzing skill, or exactly which personnel get moved in/out for GL, Nickel, and Dime/Prev packages?

I know that a couple DL's replace LB's in GL, a CB for a LB in Nickel, and a CB and a CB/S for a couple LB's in Dime/Prev. But do we know how the computer determines these positions along the depth chart? Would DE3 and DT3 come in to replace ILB2 and OLB2 for GL? Would CB3 take over for ILB2 in a nickel package? Would CB3 and S3 come in for ILB2 and OLB2 in a Dime/Prev?

Also, what if my linebackers are just studs compared to my DL and DB's? Should I set my DL,Nickel, and Dime/Prev packages way down so my LB's don't come out for "inferior" players?

Thanks for any help. I just don't know how to set all the numbers if I don't really know how they will affect the game.

Joe

[Vince]

I don't know about the Dime package's second DB, but I DO know that CB3 takes over for the first LB in Nickel plays.

As for DB blitzing skills, I usually (and probably incorrectly) rely on Run Defense skill for blitzing ability. I wonder if a statistical test on blitzing only DBs and comparing their success rates would help determine who's better at what...

[Mark]

Based on my testing of the 4-2-5 made popular by Okalhoma with Roy Williams, the #3 CB replaces the WLB in the nickel package in TCY. How do I know this? I played a safety at starting WLB and at #3 CB. The results: he played in the most running and passing plays on the team. In other words, he was on the field for most if not all of the game. I'm thinking the #4 CB comes into the game in dime packages for the SLB, but I could be wrong about that.

In terms of base defenses, I made a post regarding a couple of the popular variations of the 4-3 (Cover 2, Baltimore Middle Stack, and the Bears Run Stuffer). I'll try to dig those up and post them again. They were based around FOF 2. I haven't really had time to put together defensive plans for FOF4 yet.

[The Orange Man]

I have found the 50 defense to be the best. There came a point a number of seasons ago where I switched to that exclusively (unless I am very weak at LB, which I happen to be in the current season) - at the same time (and this is the real important part) I switched to playing only man-to-man defense or bump-and-run. That put my defense over the top and was the difference between winning or not winning championships.

Playing the 50 suggests to me only 3 players are rushing so I usually set both blitz percentages to 99. My belief is the game is kind of set-up with the understanding that the best pass-rushers will come from a right-handed quarterback's back-side, which makes me also think the opposing team's left tackle will be better than its right tackle. To take advantage of this, I play my best outside linebacker on my left side and rush him 99% of the time. To balance the defense, I then try to put my best inside linebacker more to the right side of the defense. In recent seasons, I've taken to putting my best pass-rushing DE on the left side of my defense as well.

If I'm going against a team with four receivers, I will set the nickel to 99.

Another thing I've been doing with seeming success is playing DE/DT, ILB/OLB, and CB/S interchangeably. I don't switch their position, I just play them in a different spot. For instance, this season I have three pretty good S and only one good CB, so I'm playing my #2 S as my second CB. First time, I've played a S at CB but have played a third CB at S a few times.

My defense is a little soft right now but about three seasons back (I'm up to 2046, I think) I had the all-time record of allowing something like 120 yards per game for the whole season.

Of course, you've got to have the players for that, too!

[OldGiants]

A few things that really work in matching up with offensive sets. This assumes that you have the depth needed to switch into any of the defensive schemes:

1) against pro offense, run a standard 4-3
2) against the the high run percentage offenses, double wing and power I, (and any other full house offense I may have forgotten) run 46. Agains veer, run 46 because veer can rip up a 50 or 34. I learned this from a Howie Long "tip" in Football for Dummies". Amazingly, it works in TCY.
3) Against standard running teams use 50
4) Against passing teams--single back, run and shoot, etc. Use 3-4 and pump up the nickels and dimes.

I'm not a blitzing fanatic, so I go with whatever is recommended.

I've enjoyed outstanding success--to the tune of boredom--using these matchup rules.