The Spread Offense...

[Rocky]

Been experimenting with this lately and I love my current squad under the spread offense I'm using. I'm just wondering what other ideas I could come up with in this set.

It includes all 4-5 receiver sets with an emphasis on the short passing game but with the ability to go deep as well. The run is also excellent here because everybody is so spread out. Against man it's perfect because there is always a weak defender matched up against a legend. Against the right zone, it's tougher but still good if you can exploit the zone.

My first squad is a my all-star squad which has Staubach, OJ, Gary Clark, Irving Fryar, John Jefferson, and Yancey Thigpen. Terrific for the fact that you can create so much space for OJ and even Staubach to run but you still got receiving threats.

My second squad is my all bronze squad with Harbaugh at QB, Nathan or Floyd Little at RB, John Taylor, Rick Upchurch, Cliff Branch, and Ricky Sanders as my wideouts. Extremely efficient offense which allows me to use higher picks on my D.

Is there anyway to make Staubach more of a running threat with my first team. He's got some speed and I would like to have some more ways to utilize it. Any ideas?

[CreatineKasey]

I've ran the spread offense exclusively for the past few weeks with Marino at QB, a generic RB and 3 WR... 1 which is silver and 2 bronze. This leaves me with a LOT of talent on defense also. Gold QB's can really make some amazing things happen.

As far as Staubach running... maybe use more rollouts and just be willing to scramble to buy time?

[thejackal25]

In all honesty, you generally don't need to invest much in your HB if you're going to roll with a spread offense. I've built a few spread offense teams and I think you can get enough production out of a generic HB to be successful, especially one that's a finesse back (Bennett and Hicks are personal favorites). Using Kasey's template is definitely a good way to go. I've made an offense that routinely racks up 40+ points a game with:

Randall Cunningham at QB- Silver
James Lofton WR- Gold
Drew Pearson WR- Silver
Willie Gault WR- Bronze
Cliff Branch WR- Bronze

I've also done a "cheap" spread with:

Steve Bartkowski at QB- Bronze
Rick Upchurch WR- Bronze
Anthony Carter WR- Bronze
Mark Carrier WR- Bronze
Ernest Givins WR- Bronze

There are tons of guys that fit the spread offense mold, and I'd strongly encourage you to give Bartkowski a shot at playing QB. Other guys that fit the spread offense:

John Elway
Dan Marino
Warren Moon

Charly Taylor
Bobby Mitchell
Rocket Ismail
Alvin Harper
Ricky Sanders (who you've used)

IMO the spread works the best in the game with players that fit the mold in real life. So smaller WRs that are quick or have great straight line speed, and QBs with cannon arms.

[LionsFanNJ]

When i was still playing APF i ran with my Spread stingers that had:

Warren Moon
Herman Moore
Ricky Sanders
Todd Christensen
Alvin Harper (for the deep threat to open up the underneath crosses for Herman Moore and Christensen)
and either Roger Craig or Ricky Watters as my HB. It was great, averaged about 30 points a game. Quite fun times. At one point i tried switching out to Marino, but i couldn't get the same production as i could with Moon. No idea why.

[DocHolliday]

Personally, i call spread cheeze in APF IMHO. Like u said, its almost impossible to stop as dudes get or motion legends to a bad matchup and go from there.

Against a good player and unless u have a stacked secondary, its nearly impossible to stop.

[CreatineKasey]

Quote: Originally Posted by DocHolliday

Personally, i call spread cheeze in APF IMHO. Like u said, its almost impossible to stop as dudes get or motion legends to a bad matchup and go from there. Against a good player and unless u have a stacked secondary, its nearly impossible to stop.

I'd have to disagree. It is difficult to stop, as ANY offense with a lot of legends on it is. In my opinion it isn't so much about the secondary when facing a stacked offense, but the DL. Getting pressure takes away all that talent downfield pretty quick. Rarely will you see a stacked spread offense with legends on the OL. This is easily the best place to give these teams a mismatch.

This offense may seem unpleasant to play against for some, but I see no cheese in playing this way at all. It has its weaknesses just like everything else, it just isn't so blatant. You can't just go to matchup and call man to man all game. Remember when you are playing a loaded offense that confusion is your friend more than ever. When playing a weak offense your sheer defensive talent may be able to overpower offenses, but when you are overmatched getting him to hesitate will allow your pressure to ruin his day!

[DocHolliday]

Well thats the thing, I have trouble using legends on the D line cause I just dont see enough of an impact. though I did play a dude that had a created gold DT, shifted the other DT near him every play, and the dude did the rip move and totally disrupted and hurried me every play. I think it was more due to the shift he put on however.

Anyway, when i have used D line legends tehy just dont seem to be much different then the generics. Maybe I am using them wrong.

[RogueHominid]

Quote: Originally Posted by DocHolliday

Well thats the thing, I have trouble using legends on the D line cause I just dont see enough of an impact. though I did play a dude that had a created gold DT, shifted the other DT near him every play, and the dude did the rip move and totally disrupted and hurried me every play. I think it was more due to the shift he put on however. Anyway, when i have used D line legends tehy just dont seem to be much different then the generics. Maybe I am using them wrong.

It's so hit or miss with the DL. I just played a game using a team with a loaded DL and got 8 sacks. When they show up, it's great. When they disappear, though, and they do disappear, you're in for a loooong day.