4-3 vs. 3-4

[HighCmpPct]

Hey guys been messing around with a couple teams playing about 5 weeks into a chise using good and bad defenses running both the 4-3 and the 3-4.

What i've noticed is that even with great personnel for the 3-4 I find it much more difficult to run in Madden.

For example: I played a couple weeks with the packers and wow, even with Matthews and all I just got beat down. But playing now with the jags in the 4-3 i've managed to hold the Colts and Peyton to just 3 in the first half.

So anyone else had similar or way different experiences? Maybe even a little help with the 3-4?

[seabs2]

Quote: Originally Posted by HighCmpPct

Hey guys been messing around with a couple teams playing about 5 weeks into a chise using good and bad defenses running both the 4-3 and the 3-4. What i've noticed is that even with great personnel for the 3-4 I find it much more difficult to run in Madden. For example: I played a couple weeks with the packers and wow, even with Matthews and all I just got beat down. But playing now with the jags in the 4-3 i've managed to hold the Colts and Peyton to just 3 in the first half. So anyone else had similar or way different experiences? Maybe even a little help with the 3-4?

3-4 defense in madden is broken, always has been. It's crazy that they've never addressed it, but it's the same crap every year. It basically works like a 4-3 where the DE's operate like DT's in a 4-3, but the OLB's are pretty much useless. It's very frustrating because I like to runa 3-4 but it takes a lot of edits and changes to make it work right. Most people are not willing to take the time and I don't blame them.

[HighCmpPct]

Quote: Originally Posted by seabs2

3-4 defense in madden is broken, always has been. It's crazy that they've never addressed it, but it's the same crap every year. It basically works like a 4-3 where the DE's operate like DT's in a 4-3, but the OLB's are pretty much useless. It's very frustrating because I like to runa 3-4 but it takes a lot of edits and changes to make it work right. Most people are not willing to take the time and I don't blame them.

Oh don't get me wrong man I know how defensive schemes work.(Had baseball and football scholarship to FSU till my 3rd ACL tear in 5 years they dropped me like a rock) But yeah I know what you mean about the edits and i've done all of them already but your totally right it just was impossible man. During the first game with the pack I was like okay I can tolerate this its the Saints it'll get better against the panthers. And it did get better but they still put up easy ridiculous numbers.

So long story short staying with the 4-3 like i've done sime Madden 2000 on the ps1. Also update on that Jags Colts game Won 12-10 Peyton threw 1 TD and Scobee kicked 4-4 for all 12 of our points.

[macbranson]

What's your problem with the 3-4? Are you not getting enough pressure? Cant stop the run? Or are you just saying your overall defense is worse when you run a 3-4? I use a custom playbook where I use a lot of 3 man fronts out of the Nickel formation and have lots of success against the run and the pass. You sound like you've only played a couple of games with the 3-4. Maybe get some more info using it against different teams and then draw your conclusion.

[dirtguru]

Quote: Originally Posted by HighCmpPct

Oh don't get me wrong man I know how defensive schemes work.(Had baseball and football scholarship to FSU till my 3rd ACL tear in 5 years they dropped me like a rock) But yeah I know what you mean about the edits and i've done all of them already but your totally right it just was impossible man. During the first game with the pack I was like okay I can tolerate this its the Saints it'll get better against the panthers. And it did get better but they still put up easy ridiculous numbers. So long story short staying with the 4-3 like i've done sime Madden 2000 on the ps1. Also update on that Jags Colts game Won 12-10 Peyton threw 1 TD and Scobee kicked 4-4 for all 12 of our points.

I love the 34, that said I agree some aspects of the 34 are broken.

I have stuck with it and have learned how to use it quite affectively against the cpu as well as on line.

Since your real football experience would indicate your understanding the concept I can offer some tips which you may already be using regarding using the 34 against the cpu.

Start by looking at your next opponents off playbook. I consider this to be like looking at game tapes, also, Madden 12 does a pretty good job of mixing things up so it won't play out as if you got a copy of your opponents gameplan.
This will give you a clear idea of your opponents tendencies. This will also give you an idea of how and when to make line shifts/stunts and how to adjust your LBs pre snap. I adjust 1 to 3 LBs individually as the game only allows gap adjustments/shifts as a unit. Takes some practice to make your adjustments quickly but it can be done and is very affective.

Make use of sub packages to create mismatches.

User the MIKE or WILL the most and play the run!!!! CPU has a tendency to run to the strongside, until I figured this out I was consistently getting gashed for huge gains. Sound familiar???

Try to have your other ILB in hook zone or spy if he is not assigned to RB or blitzing. This will limit big gains on Draws.

Whenever the play calls for MIKE and WILL blitz, move the ILB you are controlling back some, this will give you a clearer path into the backfield as other players are engaged, also gives you more time to react if the play goes away from the blitz or you have to pick up the checkdown.

Good cpu QBs will send a reciever into the area vacated by ILBs if you do this a lot, so mix it up some, put one of your ILBs in hook or spy from time to time on MIKE/WILL blitzes.

Sometimes I will user the Jack or Sam on blitzes. On occasion the OFF will present you with an opportunity to grab an OLB assigned to zone and blitz instead. You will recognize it when it happens, very affective.
Moving/spreading your SAM or Jack or both of LOS and into space can often provide them with better angle to ballcarrier and more time to react to play/less likely to get sucked into blocks.
I don't use nano's, I mostly stick with the plays as designed except for an occasional switch to zone/spy and blitzing an OLB from zone when opportunity presents itself.
All of the above works against humans as well except you have to recognize tendencies in game.

Try to stay of the sprint button until you have a clear path to the ball or when in coverage.

I strongly recommend adjusting your priority and position style settings for user vs cpu games. At the least this will somewhat nueter an overly effective 34 Dline and allow your LBs to lead in tackle stats and flow to the ball much more realistically. Details can be found in "Examining franchise elephant in the room" as I can't get the link to work for some reason.

[nl15]

Seriously? In my franchise I had thebest defense in the league running a 3-4.

[PGaither84]

You can't run a 3-4 like they do in the NFL, but the 3-4 in Madden, in my opinion, is far better than the 4-3. You just have to run it differently and not expect realistic results.

In Madden, most 3-4 linemen have 90+ block shedding making them beastly against the run. Against the pass though, they don't draw a double team. You have to force the double team with your power moves as a user.

I was playing Madden 11 together with a new friend of mine and was explaining what he should do. He was the Patriots and I told him to be the NT Vince Wilfork. I told him that once the bloking animation starts, to flick the Right thumb stick left or right to try and shed the block. If the animation fails, try and try again. He didn't shed instantly and on every try, but with Wilfork's 90+ Power Moves and 90+ block shedding, he broke off of a lot of blocks.

After a little while he was getting frustrated that he would keep getting blocked by a second and sometimes even a third offensive player on the way to the QB. I pointed out in replay that by occupying so many blockers, that when one of his team mates broke free, there was no lineman to pick them up and they had a free shot at the QB. Also, on a 5 or 6 man zone blitz, there was no second lineman to pick him up and it was straight shot at the QB.

Sure, that isn't exactly how it works in real life, but that is how it works in Madden and it is effective. When I used to play OTP a lot, one of my other friends that I showed this to used to play D-line for me while I was the linebacker. We would cause so many problems for people online. It was a ton of fun. We would get called nano blitzers for sending 5 and sending a block, or sending 6 and getting a free rusher at the QB. People don't know the difference between scheme, being good at the game, and nanos where you take advantage of the AI.

I love the 3-4 and all of the various zone blitzes you can send while still having a stout run defense. I would much rather have a 3-4 block shedding run stuffing line than the Colts D-Line in Madden.

[baller7345]

If you want to run a 3-4 that utilizes the OLB's as pass rushers then you are going to have to employ a Dom Capers/Dick Lebeau style of defense that involves a lot of zone blitzing. It can be done though, as I run that exact style of 3-4 with great success. I get about 2 sacks a game with Mathews using that style of defense.

The link I'm going to post is about 90% of the scheme I run from the 3-4, the rest of my defense revolves around the nickel 2-4-5 so it only uses 2 of the formations. There is one more play on the 3rd page of the thread.

http://www.madden-school.com/forum/m...-4-scheme.html