Need your football iq's fellas

[simgameonly]

Fellas me and a buddy are totally straight, simulation sports gamers. He has my number in football because he knows a little more in real life football about the defensive side of the ball than I do. I need some help generating pressure on the quarterback, not sacks per say, but just for him to know have to be aware of the pressure. Any plays, formations appreciated, want honest strategy only no cheese tactics, any help appreciated.

[CoffeyN]

Part of it depends on what team(s) you use.

[cliburn]

Well, I always put a lot of pressure on my friend (we're the same way) by disguising coverages, blitzes, zones. For example, if you are going to be in straight man coverage are rushing seven men, don't just FedEx him the call by bringing you secondary up, showing blitz, etc. Fool him. If you are going to a full zone, bring up the secondary, scoot your linebackers up to the LOS, show blitz. He will hurry himself up and make the decision too soon. That will result in an incompletion, or, if you're lucky, an interception. Don't ever make it a distinguishable pattern, but be sure to mix it up play a mind game with him.

[roy4heisman]

Good points by short soldier. Also, learn to select your defensive plays by not being on the screen. (i.e. by using the L1 and L2 bluff feature--it will keep him from seeing man lines or zone yellow circles when you pick your play. I don't know his playing style in terms of throwing deep, but the cover-2 blitz packages like monster and fire work well. You can further aid your blitzers by moving your defensive lineman around to do things like drawing an offensive tackle inside before an outside blitz. The typical player will have used inside blitz in the nickel as his sole defensive formation for the last five years. But against someone who knows how to hot route for maximum protection, that won't work. You have to confuse him with different coverages and blitz schemes, all the while leaving some help deep to keep from exposing yourself. You also need to make sure and match-up defensive formation with offensive personnel. If he had four wideouts, don't run the 4-4 or even really the 4-3 or 3-4. Against four wides, run something like crash gold and bring the dime back from the side opposite the running back. Control your blitzers yourself. You will make a better angle, use speed burst, and get those big hits.

[simgameonly]

thanks guys appreciate the knowledge very much, keep it coming!

[cliburn]

Good point about "bluffing" your play calls. Another thing to remember is that "Quick Audibles" work both ways. So, theoretically, how I would use QA on defense against a person is this: Let's say you select 4-3 Cover 2 Man as your defense and 4-3 Cover 2 as your QA. When you go the LOS, your buddy motions one WR across the formation, taking your CB with him and shifting the strength of the offense. You are now vulnerable on the side with no CB to outside runs. If you now QA to your 4-3 Cover 2 Zone, your CB returns to his side of the field and you are in a better position.
It would be great to always have a Man/Zone or Blitz/Cover combination of Quick Audibles on defense and make your call once you get to the LOS and make your reads (as I'm sure you know your buddy's tendencies).
If you are in a cover 2, you can disguise it as man Cover 1 or a Cover 3. For example, you are in 4-3 Cover 2 and the ball is spotted on the left hashmark. Move your Leftside Safety(since the Safeties do not play SS/FS based on strength, I will just refer to them as LS and RS) up into the box, about three to four yards outside the LOLB and about four to six yards off the ball. Move your RS Safety to the Apex, the very middle of the formation, about eight to twelve yards deep. If I am your opponent, I believe you are either in man or man/blitz or cover 3. The middle of the field is not a very good place to throw the ball against cover 3, so I will throw to the flats or hook zones. Those places are not where you want to throw against cover 2. Do you get what I am saying? You pick a coverage, know the weakness in that coverage, and then work to disguise the coverage/weakness. Good luck and give me an update when you play your buddy a few times using these strategies.

[NorthHusker]

These are good pieces of advice -- particularly the bit about disguising coverages. ... My two cents: consider making your standard defense the 3-4, or at least using it often. The 3-4 normally features a blitzing LB, and it's hard for the offensive player to correctly guess which one is coming. Also, blitzing a LB in the 3-4 does not involve a major sacrifice in pass coverage. On the negative side, I find the 3-4 to be really feeble against the inside running game -- watch out for a change of strategy here. Good luck!

[simgameonly]

thanks again guys, i will take all this good information i can get.