Ebongreen's advice & observations thread

[rangerrick012]

I know this is random, but I'm in the 2016 draft in my career and there's a RB from Georgia named Reggie Bowe that tears his ACL his Junior year but still comes out for the draft. Sound familiar? Lol

[sanjisanada]

If you're still here Ebongreen and still willing to help out, I was wondering if you could give me tips on how to blitz effectively using the LeBeau 3-4 defense. I have good rushing DT-DE's and my LB's all have outstanding man and zone coverage skills, awareness, and speed. All my corners can press, do man and zone, and blitz effectively and have high awareness but I just dont get results. Anyone(and I seriously mean anyone. 350 pass yards from Jamarcus Russell's Raiders alone. )can air it out against me. My blitz can never pressure the QB or leaves too many holes open and I just get torn up. I've even tried seeing if supersim would improve my D(I'm convinced they actually perform worse in supersim)and I just can't seem to find a way to make it work.

To give more info, for starts I use standard sliders and I generally do a combo blitz if there is a good mix of personnel between WR-TE-RB, I man blitz and press at the line if there is 2 or less receivers and I zone blitz 3 or more receivers. Also I will drop the blitz altogether sometimes since it just doesn't work and play standard combo coverage with 3 man rush. I also use a wide variety of the blitz plays to keep the extra man/men hidden in most cases. I just can't get results out of my defense, not picks not sacks not even forced/hurried passes. The rare occasions INTs occur usually have no correlation to the effectiveness of the blitz and is just a poor throw from the QB since my men get picked up at the line. If you have any ideas on how I can improve or how to play this defense correctly then the help would be greatly appreciated because I'm not too sure of what I'm doing wrong.

[Mike3207]

Quote: Originally Posted by sanjisanada

If you're still here Ebongreen and still willing to help out, I was wondering if you could give me tips on how to blitz effectively using the LeBeau 3-4 defense. I have good rushing DT-DE's and my LB's all have outstanding man and zone coverage skills, awareness, and speed. All my corners can press, do man and zone, and blitz effectively and have high awareness but I just dont get results. Anyone(and I seriously mean anyone. 350 pass yards from Jamarcus Russell's Raiders alone. )can air it out against me. My blitz can never pressure the QB or leaves too many holes open and I just get torn up. I've even tried seeing if supersim would improve my D(I'm convinced they actually perform worse in supersim)and I just can't seem to find a way to make it work. To give more info, for starts I use standard sliders and I generally do a combo blitz if there is a good mix of personnel between WR-TE-RB, I man blitz and press at the line if there is 2 or less receivers and I zone blitz 3 or more receivers. Also I will drop the blitz altogether sometimes since it just doesn't work and play standard combo coverage with 3 man rush. I also use a wide variety of the blitz plays to keep the extra man/men hidden in most cases. I just can't get results out of my defense, not picks not sacks not even forced/hurried passes. The rare occasions INTs occur usually have no correlation to the effectiveness of the blitz and is just a poor throw from the QB since my men get picked up at the line. If you have any ideas on how I can improve or how to play this defense correctly then the help would be greatly appreciated because I'm not too sure of what I'm doing wrong.

This is one of EG's threads from early in the thread. It's more on how to defeat a 3-4, but hopefully it can still help a bit.

On defeating a 3-4 defense
Playing against a 3-4 defense in HC09 is very different than playing against a 4-3 in several respects. While the 4-3 has three basic front variations (standard, over, and under), there are several more variations to cope with in a 3-4: I can think of at least six 3-4 variations, and I'm probably missing several. The substitution of a linebacker for a defensive lineman means there's generally "more speed on the field", and linebackers in HC09 are generally playmakers. In man blitzes, the wider alignment of the OLBs means your guards may find themselves trying to block the Demarcus Wares of the world as your tackles get tied up with DEs, and zone-blitzing was pioneered with the 3-4 defense in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. All these things make life difficult for an offense facing a 3-4.

The aggressiveness of the AI for the 3-4 varies somewhat from team to team, but generally its goals are shutting down the run on early downs and blitzing the snot out of you on 3rd-and-long. (At least one AI for the 3-4 is set for "psychotic" - a permanent six- or seven-man blitz setting - which is very difficult to handle.) In most 3-4 schemes, the OLBs are the biggest, meanest, strongest and fastest SOBs available, so they're going to be your toughest challenge. Second biggest is the nose tackle, who'll be slower but even bigger and stronger than the OLBs and make your inside running game a living heck.

So, in HC09, how do you work it?

In the running game, multiple TEs are good for you. Most standard I-formation runs get beaten silly by the 3-4 because there's almost always an unblocked linebacker to pulverize your halfback for lost yardage. If you run inside or away from Terrell Suggs, he'll catch you in pursuit, while if you run at him he'll kick your butt directly. Having multiple TEs means there's someone in his face at the snap - and even if he's not kept for long, fractions of a second count. If you plan on running outside, these TEs must - MUST - be good at run blocking.

Second, blocking backs help a lot. The Packers playbook, for example, has a full-house formation which features three RBs, two of which can be fullbacks. You get only one true TE in that formation, but the goal is to prevent or mitigate penetration by LBs. Fullbacks will do that.

If you have plays that combine the two notions, i.e. heavy formations with 1WR-2TE-2RB, so much the better.

Third, plays featuring zone blocking are usually your best option. Getting your ball-carrier to the line of scrimmage without having his clock cleaned is Job One, and 3-4 defenses thrive on having blocker-eaters in the DL, allowing the 'backers to penetrate and drop your HB for a loss. Power runs rely on your big guys to take out their smaller guys directly, but pulling linemen create gaps through which those smaller guys run. Zone blocking became popular in part to combat twisting, stunting and slanting on the DL and prevent those gaps from opening up.

The goal-line formation play 30 Smash checks all these boxes: zone blocking, multiple TEs, and a blocking back. Visit the Play Creator and run it in demo against the 3-4 samples and see how it works (or doesn't) against the array there.

(BTW, "Smash" in the play name seems to indicate an inside run with zone blocking, while "Stretch" denotes an outside run with zone blocking. Assemble your playbooks with that in mind.)

Passing against a 3-4 is also a challenge due to the ability to drop up to eight men into coverage. (Doing exactly that went a long way towards winning my first conference championship against Gruden's Bucs and my first Super Bowl vs. the Patriots in my current career.) In order to pass successfully you need to know whether the team you're facing plays primarily zone or man in coverage, and generally how many players the AI rushes each down. Against many 3-4s, the usual number of rushers is five, and your challenge is picking up those five guys. If you can do that, everything I said here applies to what routes to run.

But which guys are coming? Against a man cover team, you can go to a spread set or shotgun and find out pretty quickly, because corners and linebackers will match up across before the snap. What's left is what's coming: adjust your RBs for protection and call short routes.

Against a zone team, you're not going to know who is coming at least half the time. Linebackers in coverage may flex out, and they may not. But the best way I've found to keep your QB upright against those teams is the shotgun, with at least one and preferably two backs you can set for pass-protection: again, you want to cope with LBs (or others) that penetrate. As usual, even-up your protection until/unless you see a pattern of weak-side overload blitzes. SS Troy Polamalu and Roy Williams are blitzers at least as often as they're in coverage, so you'd better have someone on your strong-side to account for them. I-formation or pro-set passes also work here, because you can set both backs to pass-block in the pre-snap adjustments.

Play-action can work, but only a very limited set will function well. The larger number of linebackers means that bootlegs are a great option - except for that charging OLB with mayhem in mind who will hospitalize your QB before he completes the run-fake. Only choose play-action passes with a player between you and those 'backers - and that's usually a TE. Standard up-the-gut fakes usually don't work because that same charging OLB diagnoses and redirects too quickly for most plays to develop.

Tight ends with high CIT scores are blitz-beaters, so quick passes with TE five-yard curls or outs (or option curl-outs) are must-haves. If you don't have a stud TE, you'd better have an awesome slot receiver, because he's going to get a lot of work. Third-and-long is your nightmare; third-and-five you can convert regularly.

Given the aggressive nature of most 3-4 AI schemes, I recommend playing "small-ball": the usual pass rush won't allow time for deep routes to develop. Armed with quick passes and a zone-based power running game, you should find yourself consistently in the end zone and eventually with a win.

[sanjisanada]

I guess I missed that post the few times I read through this or just didn't pay much attention to it. I wouldn't have thought of reverse engineering the post either to see how to fail on offense. After taking some time to think of it I've been replaying a franchise game to see how much I'm taking with me and my defense is definitely starting to show signs of life. Still missing key things but it is very noticeable how much my defense has improved afterwards. Went from getting stomped by Jamarcus Russell's passing game to being able to hold off on Tom Brady's bombs away for at least the first half. It's a start at least. Thank you for bringing that post to light. It really helps out. I'm really glad that there is still a community for this game after so long

[JHamilton9]

This has been one of the most impressive threads I have read on OS.

Many, many thanks to ebongreen, Mike3207, and all the others who have contributed to this thread. This had so much good information to absorb.

If there was anything that could be considered a strategy guide for HC09, this is it. Many thanks for all the testing and observations.

[Mike Lowe]

I've read some of this thread having just reacquired the game via Ebay today. I want to avoid spoilers, so I'm just skimming posts but can't figure out:

Can you fire your GM?

What's the most reliable start position? Offseason or preseason?

[JHamilton9]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

I've read some of this thread having just reacquired the game via Ebay today. I want to avoid spoilers, so I'm just skimming posts but can't figure out: Can you fire your GM? What's the most reliable start position? Offseason or preseason?

You can't fire the GM, but you may have a lot of the responsibilities anyway.


The offseason allows you to re-do the draft, and their are a lot of spoilers on who to draft and who are sleepers. The preseason start is little bit more challenging because the draft has already concluded (you may not have landed those sleeper picks) and you are thrust into the post-draft free agency period.

[Mike Lowe]

Quote: Originally Posted by JHamilton9

You can't fire the GM, but you may have a lot of the responsibilities anyway. The offseason allows you to re-do the draft, and their are a lot of spoilers on who to draft and who are sleepers. The preseason start is little bit more challenging because the draft has already concluded (you may not have landed those sleeper picks) and you are thrust into the post-draft free agency period.

Thanks that all makes sense. I was wondering whether one starting point created any glitches or anything.