Playing online with Linebackers

[NYJets]

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seanmac said:
Basically, I'm just getting my practice in to play with the Jets next year, because I'm pretty sure they're going to have a swiss cheese secondary.

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And no more overated linebackers. But I'm looking forward to seeing what their defensive playbook will be like next year. Should be a lot more creative than this year. I'll probably have to learn how to play man defense too.

[BigTigLSU]

This is somewhat off subject but I found something interesting about the Lions secondary. Dre Bly was pro bowler which means either the NFC was really lacking in quality corners or I really underestimated Bly because all those darn corners on the Lions

[LBzrule]

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seanmac said:
I wouldn't worry about Gary Baxter being underrated this year.

You make a key point when you talk about how you approach defense mentally. Because I generally like playing with weak teams, I have no problems giving up yards, just as long as they don't come in chunks. When you are running with Detroit for instance, your goal isn't so much to get stops every time out as to make the other player work for his points. I'm usually effective enough on offense that I can count on scoring on just about every drive of the game, so it almost becomes like basketball where I try to manage the clock to give myself one or two more possessions and hope that makes the difference.

Basically, I'm just getting my practice in to play with the Jets next year, because I'm pretty sure they're going to have a swiss cheese secondary.

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I have the Jets in a league next year and I am kinda nervous about their D. But it shouldn't be too bad. Eric Barton from the Raiders should be in the 80's, Cowart will be in the 80's, Vilma won't be in the 80's but I bet he'll have some speed and tackling ability which is really good in this game (check out the Saints man, that team can be killer on D with their speed especially at LB, most of their LB's have 80's for speed). But the secondary is what I'm afraid of for the Jets, although they picked up David Barrett who will be somewhere between 79-81 and Reggie Tounge at Safety who will be around the same probably 81. So that leaves, Derrick Strait, Donnie Abraham battling for that one CB spot in my base D and then I don't know if I want McGraw at the other Safety spot or not. Dline should be pretty good with Abraham and Ellis on the end. LOL we will have to make them good somehow.

[hotadef]

havent played in a while but man cover 2 and bump in run. this works great if you have decent cb

[seanmac]

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LBzrule said:

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seanmac said:
I wouldn't worry about Gary Baxter being underrated this year.

You make a key point when you talk about how you approach defense mentally. Because I generally like playing with weak teams, I have no problems giving up yards, just as long as they don't come in chunks. When you are running with Detroit for instance, your goal isn't so much to get stops every time out as to make the other player work for his points. I'm usually effective enough on offense that I can count on scoring on just about every drive of the game, so it almost becomes like basketball where I try to manage the clock to give myself one or two more possessions and hope that makes the difference.

Basically, I'm just getting my practice in to play with the Jets next year, because I'm pretty sure they're going to have a swiss cheese secondary.

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I have the Jets in a league next year and I am kinda nervous about their D. But it shouldn't be too bad. Eric Barton from the Raiders should be in the 80's, Cowart will be in the 80's, Vilma won't be in the 80's but I bet he'll have some speed and tackling ability which is really good in this game (check out the Saints man, that team can be killer on D with their speed especially at LB, most of their LB's have 80's for speed). But the secondary is what I'm afraid of for the Jets, although they picked up David Barrett who will be somewhere between 79-81 and Reggie Tounge at Safety who will be around the same probably 81. So that leaves, Derrick Strait, Donnie Abraham battling for that one CB spot in my base D and then I don't know if I want McGraw at the other Safety spot or not. Dline should be pretty good with Abraham and Ellis on the end. LOL we will have to make them good somehow.

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They should be doable. They'll at least have decent depth in the secondary, but no one who you can count on to shut anyone down. I get the feeling that I'll spend a lot of time running out of a 3-4 set to get Vilma and Hobson on the field, and possibly to have Abraham rushing out of a linebacker spot as the team is planning. I'm hoping Strait will turn into a Rhonde Barber type in the slot, but we'll wait and see. At least the offense won't be undermanned this year.

[wwharton]

lbz, i'm at work now and i don't know the names of plays as well as you. i'll take a look the next time i get on (probably tonight) and let you know.

important though is that i mix it up. i think mostly zone OR mostly man gives the opponent a chance to gameplan vs the one you lean towards and use it against you. all the things you say about zones are true just like man is easier to hit hooks, curls, flats, outs, etc. they both have goods and bads against the run. the key for me is to keep people guessing. cuz there are things i would try against a man that i wouldn't against a zone and vice versa so if you become predictable in that way it makes calling plays much easier for me.

i use a lot of the 3-4 (recently the 4-3 bc i have the ravens in a throwback league which is why i need to refresh my memory a bit) and send the blitzing lb from different spots along with mixing man and zone and it works pretty well.

[azn_essence]

PA plays eat zones alive in 2k4 because glitch of lack of pressure

man, run tosses in formations with huge lines, or screen passes, or stupid slants

defense this yr is non existant

[sixone]

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LBzrule said:

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bigtiggalsu said:

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LBzrule said:

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seanmac said:
There are a few reasons why I shy away from playing predominantly man defense. For starters, I find it susceptible to outside running, as the backers always tend to get sealed inside. Against a pro set or even an ace set, a soft cover two where the strongside linebacker is repositioned just outside the tight end and then the corners get pinched inside does a good job of stringing out and stopping outside runs. I do run some Bear Man One against running teams, repositioning the blitzer close to the line and then taking over whoever is covering the tight end and setting him up a shade outside. The safety blitz can also be effective out of man when stopping the run, but if you rely on it you are pretty much guaranteeing you'll give up at least one big run for a touchdown if not two, as there is no one left to stop a back that breaks initial contain.

The other reason I like zone is that I find it is more likely to produce interceptions, especially with an otherwise weak secondary. If you are able to get quick pressure from the DT or off the edge, a quarterback is much more likely to misread a zone and throw into coverage than with straight man coverage. So while there are some zones that are more exploitable than others, I find a steady rotation will usually net me a pick or a well-timed stop, as I try to never let the other guy settle into a rhythm where he knows what he's looking at next.

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I can understand that, but I'm just saying, man can be better than given credit for. When I played Wayne last week I used a Nickel Base Man coverage vs him EVERY TIME he lined up in pro formation and he can tell you what his rushing yards were like. The base coverage with the Shifts that I make and movements covers the flats, outside run and the line stunt that I call covers the inside run. All running lanes are covered, passes to the flats by the HB are covered. The corner routes might be about the only problem and I say might because if I were to run this with Say the Dolphins, Eagles, or Pats, it wouldn't be a problem at all. But I ran it with the Ravens, with 1 good CB and an atrociously underrated CB in Gary Baxter. I'll look into more zones, probably not vs Pro set though, I have one zone vs that and it's OK, 4 Cloud, but I don't find myself running it very often especially if I have to bring that one CB down, that's annoying and time consuming. I might run some Double Hard 2 every now and then vs Scrambling QB's but outside of that not much.

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I can't remember what Defense you ran on me the other day but outside of that BS run I got with Bettis I was shutdown Passing and Running. Mind you that was my first time playing with the ******** but either way it was hard to move the ball.

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It was a 34 man scheme. That's the one I keep describing here. You throw to flats, we got that covered based on matchups and personell swaps. You run we got an 8 man front the middle is guarded by me (Lewis) and Hartwell. YOu run weak Hartwell is shooting weak gap anyways untouched with Boulware and myself helping on the outside. You run strong my hybrid Safety down on the LOS covering TE takes the outside Toss, I never get blocked so I come help him out plus we got the FS still hanging back just in case. Against pro it is golden. That's why when people persist in lining up in Pro, I get a big ole smile on my face. Versus the pass, throw it flats and it's covered by the OLB's. Throw that quick slant, I'm already looking for it since I'm assigned delay blitz I can choose to do what I want, blitz or help in coverage. Throw TE I'll help there too. It's a really nice defense and my base scheme vs Pro. Thing that makes me mad, I have 1 more 34 man scheme that is low risk covers flats and I can do all the same things, but that one is in a different playbook. If it was in the same playbook that would be great.

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I've had ZERO success using man against the run vs. online gamers. When I'm in zone I can handle the run but the last 2 games the guys I played PA RO me to death with multiple corner and post routes .

LBz, I'm gonna shoot you guys friend invites on Live if that's cool. We seem to be on the same wavelenght with D, even if I am fairly behind you. I use my Raiders or the Ravens.