How do you play great defense?

[doctorhay53]

I play 85% man coverage, because the zone coverage is still terrible.....to be more accurate I think it's because the QB can throw the ball way too fast which doesn't allow zone defenders to get in position to make a play, plus they never have to worry about getting the ball tipped by my LB's or anything. Cover 2 with the CB's in the flats is the worst base play in the game on defense. Expect the CPU to hit corner routes and to bullet-pass go routes into the soft spot behind the corners, at way-too-high of a rate. Cover 3 is very weak in the middle because the LB's are terrible in coverage.

I run almost exclusively man; I mix in zone when I'm not afraid to get burned to keep the CPU honest and I throw in a robber when they start to hit too many slants. I press about 20% or less to keep them from getting too many easy short passes.

I went from 100's in pass D to top 30 by ditching zone, with no slider changes.

[bjensen366]

The multiple D playbook is really good and especially the dime 1-5-5 if you have a good rated defense (-A at least) or i suppose if you are playing with a non BCS team then your defense should match up to the grade of the opposing teams offense at least. The 2 plays at the bottom of the first page of the 1-5-5 are really good.. I cant remember if they are cover 2 and cover 3 or what.. but they work well. Try also recruiting really fast DE's and use the dime 3-2-5.. you only need to rush the 3 DL's and alot of the plays in the 3-2-5 package have a line backer blitzing as well.. the fast DE's can move around the O-line really quick and get the QB from behind, or if the o line starts to pick you up then jump the snap and immediately do a finesse move. this will give you the inside and you should be able to get by the tackle bringing you to the guard who may or may not be engaged by the DT or LB at the time.. either way this will put pressure on the QB and force bad passes and sacks. Also try using the 1-5-5 with those 2 plays i mentioned before, use those 2 plays for a while and throw in the man coverage plays from that same package (cover 1 i think) and when the QB starts to figure out your zone because he has too much time scroll through to the left in the 1-5-5 package and you will find some blitz' where your mid zone is still covered by 3 and you have 2 or 1 safeties over the top. So you are all of a sudden going from a 3 man rush to a 6 or 7 man rush. This catches the QB off guard and he usually goes down. It all comes down to getting good pressure with the front 3 or 4 though. I usually have trouble getting through with my DT's so thats why i like the fast DE's to come around the sides. Look to see what your DL mens best moves are (power move or finesse) and try using that to your advantage. DT's usually have good power moves so you push the center or guards away and when you get to the second OL man blocking you try your finesse move at first contact, alot of times you get by him or you can at least jump and swat the pass down. Another package i like to use is the 4-3 over i think it is, the one where you have your 4 DL's and a LB is on the line as well usually in coverage though. anyway the cover 1 and 2 from this formation work pretty well on first down because they are good against the run as well as the pass. On second down if you scroll over you will find some zone blitz'. some of them have all 4 DL's rushing but some have one of the ends back off into coverage. This confuses the QB, you can mix it up. when you do blitz try blitzing from one side from relatively the same position like say 2 of the linebackers are blitzing from the right side and the RE goes into coverage or something, so keep doing that for a while and then all of a sudden throw in a safety blitz or corner blitz. You shouldnt blitz that often though. The point of it is to throw the OL off guard with just a 3 or 4 man rush and then blitz 6 or seven. On 3rd and short alot of times they pass the ball so call a zone blitz with your LBs and some DL's like maybe a 5 or 6 man rush. Before the play make your gameplan call for short zone coverage. That way when the pressure gets there, hopefully quickly the QB throws it fast and if hes throwing over the middle it will get swatted down. But honestly i have found NOTHING better than the 1-5-5 if you have a good D. I actually just discovered this not too long ago and my pass defense went from like 42nd to 16th hope that helps. The 1-5-5 sucks against the run though FYI but if your tackle is good then that makes up for alot of the run deficiency.

[Maxattax3]

4-2-5

[TheTum09]

What you gotta understand is that vs. the CPU, on heisman level especially, there is one constant rule.... "IF THE CPU WANTS TO SCORE, THEY WILL SCORE".... we have all had those complete shut-down performances all throughout the game and regardless of the competition, if they have the ball, they will somehow pick your pass d apart for an easy score... nothing you can do...

I actually spoke to a person at EA at a sports gaming show a few months ago... not sure how much truth there is to this, but here is what he told me... i will para-phrase:

"if you are running up the score on an opponent, and the system (i.e. herbie or corso) gives you grief about doing so, your squad, in that particular dynasty, is tagged, for lack of a better term. in the weeks following, you can rest assured that your team will get a dose of what you were dishing out...."

i have heard herbie say, in game, "this may come back to haunt them later" (when i am running up a score), or something to that affect and sure enough, the game or two after, i cant stop a highly inferior team...

that said, i find that picking a 5-2 and playing zone against a 2 or 3 wide receiver route gets the offense all out of sorts... they think you are gearing up to stop the run and when you drop 8 into coverage, it gets them most of the time.. especially if you have fast DE's that can get pressure with only 3....

[dghustla]

I had the same problem #1 in run stopping #119 in pass def. here are a few signs that i noticed.

A: My db's werent as good as i thought there were.
B: Lack of pass rush on plays that weren't obvious passing situations.
C: Poor play calling in passing situations.
D: Big Hit gameplanning making my cb's miss tackles.

Solution: Mix up coverage, turn big hits to conservative so a 5yrd slants doesnt become a 70yrd td. And as someone else said dont take risk when someone goes 3 or 4 wide. put 4 or 5 db's on the field.