Heisman Difficulty Defensive Strategies ?

[Knight9299]

Quote: Originally Posted by SA1NT401

Switch to VARSITY, and use Playmakers sliders. You will get a game that is MORE competative than Heisman but without the BS....With some minor tweaking myself, i get beat by good/great teams, but have also beaten them. Hell, i went to Triple OT with Colorado St. in the pouring rain. They sure as hell played above their C+ rating. Players play to their ratings WITHOUT boosts to the CPU ratings. PLays a fairer game overall. Heisman just gives you the illusion of a challenge...Varsity will have every team playing to their ratings. Give it a shot. I laughed when i saw the difficulty setting of Varsity, but it is NO JOKE. And i am not a amateur NCAA player (hello Bill Walsh COllege football).

Could you let us in on your slider settings? I've tried Heisman, but making the game harder simply because the AI cheats, is not making the game harder. It's CHEATING!

[ggsimmonds]

Heisman is great this year. The cpu doesn't "cheat", you just have to play smart.

Know your team. A 3-4 is not inherently better than a 4-3; it depends on your personnel.

Know who your best pass rusher is and call plays designed to get him after the QB.

Mix up your playcalling! If you constantly call the same plays you will be destroyed.

Use man blitzes. Most of the time the Ai has no problem with zone blitzes.

Check your safety's ratings. See who is better at man coverage/ zone and playcall accordingly.

I generally control the DT and typically do a great job of disrupting runs. May not get the tackle but do alter the RBs route.

If you think they are running to a certain side call a overload blitz.

Know your audibles!

If you want any specific advice, I need to know what team you are using.

[ruiz00tx]

Quote: Originally Posted by ggsimmonds

Heisman is great this year. The cpu doesn't "cheat", you just have to play smart. Know your team. A 3-4 is not inherently better than a 4-3; it depends on your personnel. Know who your best pass rusher is and call plays designed to get him after the QB. Mix up your playcalling! If you constantly call the same plays you will be destroyed. Use man blitzes. Most of the time the Ai has no problem with zone blitzes. Check your safety's ratings. See who is better at man coverage/ zone and playcall accordingly. I generally control the DT and typically do a great job of disrupting runs. May not get the tackle but do alter the RBs route. If you think they are running to a certain side call a overload blitz. Know your audibles! If you want any specific advice, I need to know what team you are using.

I'll take some advice, I use Houston. They have 1 impact player on defense, MLB #55. They have some speed at DB, don't the the d-line is much to speak of. Right now I play mostly 2 Man Under because if I blitz I usually get burned. I have been choosing the Multiple D playbook since it has 4-3, 3-4 and Nickel Normal, 3-3-5 and 2-4-5. I usually play as a d-lineman. What are some good Man coverage blitzes?

[mrpotatohead5]

I absolutely cannot find effectiveness out of zone defense on Heisman this year. I have completely abandoned it for anything besides coming out in it and then using an audible to get out of it. Man to man is the only way to go. I've found you have to watch your players a lot too because a lot of the time a CB will just float in the middle of the field instead of lining up on his man and you get destroyed. But for the most part for me running man to man on D all the time, don't blitz to often and really play with the dline adjustments, they are critical when it comes to getting to the qb.

[khaliib]

Unfortunately you have to tweak the sliders somewhat to get gameplay that fits your perspective. At default on "ALL" settings, the game will not play how you think it should play. Default settings were develope by someone who has his own perspective of what plays close to realistic. That's he good thing about sliders, you can tweak to what your looking for.

Heisman is what I use after trying the other levels and other gamer slider suggestions. I watched Versuz2 slider video, read Playmakers thread and others and just took what I felt was right and tweaked to my liking.

Using Versuz2 OL/DL slider suggestion on Heisman, the player attributes come to life, and there is an actual pass rush by my DE's. So depending on your player's attributes, your DL will perform various rush moves to get to the QB.

LB's will chuck WR/TE/RB's on crossing routes and cover their zones properly (depends on attributes)

In a nutshell, there is no strategy for settings at the default level because they are not done properly so player attributes can come alive on the field.

Your right, you can spend forever tweaking sliders. And some gamers spend $60 just to tweak and/or find flaws in a game, but your going to have to if you want to enjoy the game the way you want to.

Also, if your using default rosters (not good) most WR's have high Release/Route Running ratings while LB's have low zone coverage ratings that make is seem like you can't stop over-the-middle passes.

[erickonasis]

Heisman is a beast to beat. Between broken tackles and defending the pass it can be a nightmare and i use Penn State. So man coverage is the way to go?

[haze56]

- 2 WR set, come out in a 4-4. Blitz both MLB's and put them in the middle. Make sure you have one set at both sides of the center.

- 3 WR set, 3-3-5 defense. Blitz both outside LB's and your MLB.

- 4 WR set, 3-2-6 defense, rush 3 guys and control your MLB.

BTW these are all man to man

[sheisty]

I refuse to adjust sliders......It just doesn't seem right to me. The only way I would adjust them is if it would give the computer the edge.

With that said, The gap between AA & Heisman is insanely wide. But I must said thats partially because Heisman is much harder now. Last year and years before I would beat any CPU team using Rutgers by 2-4 touchdowns.

Defensive alignment is#1. Ever notice on defense how even if you do man align the guys don't match up correctly? As quickly as you can adjust them!!! Also on offense if read the field as best as you can BEFORE the snap. You can get an eye for short wide open routes or even exploit holes in zones you have 3 eligible receivers in a general area and only a DB and linebacker are around look to that side as soon as you hike the ball. AND KNOW YOUR ROUTES!!!

What makes the game so hard for me this year is the fact that it seems impossible to break through the O-Line with a D-Line man. Usually I could hurry up the CPU QB enough now, its like old days when the CPU would get all the time of the world on madden and vice versa on offense. Perhaps I just haven't figured it out yet but its definately a problem (that I refuse to fix by adjusting a slider).

Ball control is imporant as well. Don't throw 3 passes and go three and out.....your defense would be spent. Or if you know your defense is over matched for a team ..... keep your offense on the field as much as possible. Milk that clock.

Yo wont win if you commit a bunch of turnovers. The tipped at the O-Line passes or when a D-Line man jumps 2 yeards in front of you and intercepts the ball are the worst!!!! Especially when you were throwing to a wide open receiver lol