Help me build a defense

[maskedmarvel]

Howdy. Looking to build a 6 bronze, 1 silver defense. I'm not a great playcaller, nor am I great with the sticks (in fact, I've neglected the defensive side of my game).

I guess I'm looking to run a 4-3, but mostly, I'm looking to build a defense that is FUN to play with, even if it isn't the absolute best value for the picks I have.

I'm currently using Butz and Manley on the DL, Brazille and Van Pelt at LB, Lewis and Barney at CB, and Cromwell at FS.

I like the CPU controlled production I get out of Brazille and Van Pelt -- they are surprisingly good at getting to runners, and even when they get beat on passes, they make tackles after the catch. Big, sturdy, rangy guys.

Lewis is like Brazille and Van Pelt , but at CB.

Cromwell, I hardly notice. I usually use him with Lewis to double gold receivers. Barney is a good returner, and I like that he can cover one-on-one, which lets me do more with my generic SS.

Butz is really destructive on the CPU Indians team, but he makes NO impact for me. Bummer. Manley is great running down ballcarriers, but never gets to the QB, and I can't get the hang of his swim move to do it myself.

I've used Greg Lloyd at LB in the past and loved him. I tried Bethea at DE and had the same problems as Manley.

Suggestions?

[Valdarez]

Re: Help me build a defense

Silver CB - Lem Barney
Bronze CB - Terry McDaniel
Bronze FS - Eugene Robinson
Bronze SS - Charlie Waters
Bronze ILB - Peppar Johnson
Bronze DE - Dexter Manley
Bronze DT - Dan Saleaumua or William Perry

If you play to play a line man, then just get Manley and get another LB, my preference would be one with Quick Feet, such as OLB - Otis Wilson (though many folks on here will probably tell you to get Brad Van Pelt for the pass coverage). Personally, I like having Otis as he's a better pass rusher.

[CreatineKasey]

Re: Help me build a defense

Just an idea:

3-4 D

Silver OLB- Greg Lloyd
Bronze DT - Dan Saleaumua/Butz/Perry - or whoever you want to eat space!
Bronze ILB -Ken Norton JR, Offerdahl, Pepper (BALL STRIP!) or Spielman (in my opinion)
Bronze CB - Terry McDaniel
Bronze FS - Fred Marion
Bronze OLB - Otis Wilson/Lamar Lathon/Bryce Paup
Bronze SS - Charlie Waters OR CB Brookshier (Don't need Lewis- you have Lloyd's leadership!)

- Lloyd plays strong side OLB - he can do everything - rush, stop run, be cool
- You have a bronze pass rusher OLB
- You want a strong, good tackler at ILB because he WILL be taking on blocks.
- Run coverage is big for your NG in the 3-4..especially with the bronze ILB.

Your playcalling will revolve around soft zones and smart blitzes. Rush 4 and 5 often.. with twists and clever overloads. Sub your OLB's into DE's in nickel and dime to make use of those legends! You will need to call successful blitzes because a comfortable passer will pick you apart in time. Pick your spots as to when to play pressure D. People will try to pick on your generic CB, but if you give him help and then leave him alone sporadically you can easily get away with him doing fine. It comes down to pressure with this D.

The reason I put this together is because you wanted a D that's FUN! This is fun... not calling 4-3 cover 3 the whole game... especially if you are playing a pass rusher. This way you can control a OLB and mix in your blitzing with maybe some coverage. It's fun!!!

[bakesalee]

Re: Help me build a defense

I got help for you on having your D-lineman actually get to the QB, and maybe this is obvious but someone had to tell me this recently or otherwise I'd have no lineman as they were useless otherwise.

Hold the A-button when the ball snaps, as soon as the player is "charged" - hit the Swim (RT button) button. As long as you're not facing off directly with another legend line player from the O-line, you should break right through nearly every time.

[MORElandBROS]

Re: Help me build a defense

Here is 1 silver 6 bronze defense I'm running right now

S-Greg Lloyd-OLB
B-Brad Van Pelt-OLB
B-Albert Lewis-CB
B-Terry McDaniel-CB
B-Nolan Cromwell-SS
B-Eugene Robinson-FS
B-Charlie Waters-Nickle back

Predominately Nickle Defense
It works good for me

[Valdarez]

Re: Help me build a defense

Hope you play the ILB yourself, otherwise you're going to have a lot of trouble with anything up over the middle in the passing game, at least in a 4-3, which is what I typically run. ILB, SS, and CBs are the positions on defense that I personally consider the most important.

[NFLHITMAN]

Re: Help me build a defense

If it was my team this is how I would do it...

S- Greg Lloyd and put him as ILB, Set your generic LB's as Coverage since Lloyd's run leadership will help them against the run.
B- Dexter Manley
B- Clyde Simmons Use both of these guys to help stop the toss runs and off tackle runs along with QB pressure when they pass.
B- Fred Marion and put him at SS since Waters doesn't have any coverage attributes he is also great against the run and hits hard so he is a good fit at SS
B- Eugene Robinson
B- Albert Lewis
B- Tom Brookshier I like these CB's more than McDaniel simply because of the height and there play against the run.

[ANDROMADA 1]

Re: Help me build a defense

I would go Albert Lewis moved to SS (set to pass coverage)
Mel Renfro Corner (set to Run coverage)
Carl banks OLB Otis wilson Olb (set to balanced)
Dave Butz DT William Perry DT (set to Pass Rush or Balanced)You could also move one od the De's to DT
Use Charlie Watters in nickle.

[thejackal25]

Re: Help me build a defense

Based on what it seems like you want to run, I'd suggest:

S: Lem Barney CB
B: Dan Sal DT
B: Dexter Manley DE
B: Clyde Simmons DE
B: Albert Lewis CB
B: Robert Brazille OLB
B: Ken Norton, Chris Spielman ILB, or Pepper Johnson

This team has the flexibility to run both the 3-4 and the 4-3 relatively effectively, and hybrid Ds can really confuse your opponent if you have the correct personnel.

In your 3-4 alignment, move Dexter Manley to the weakside OLB spot. He's the exact type of tweener that would play the rush backer spot nowadays. Given the coverage guys you have at the corner position and with Brazille, you can get pretty creative with your blitzes in the 3-4.

I've always found that bronze safeties don't produce for me significantly more than generics like Romo or Martinez, and can't justify spending the picks on them, especially if I invest in the CB spots.

Another build that would be straight 4-3 would be:

S: Lem Barney CB
B: Albert Lewis CB
B: Dexter Manley DE
B: Dan Sal DT
B: Robert Brazille SOLB
B: Otis Wilson WOLB
B: Chris Spielman ILB

With coverage safeties and Manley and Sal providing a pass rush you should be able to sit back in zones a lot of times. The addition of Otis Wilson gives you athleticism to track down ball carriers sideline to sideline and also provide a good pass rush when you bring 5.

[topdowninvestor2023]

Re: Help me build a defense

Just an idea:

3-4 D

Silver OLB- Greg Lloyd
Bronze DT - Dan Saleaumua/Butz/Perry - or whoever you want to eat space!
Bronze ILB -Ken Norton JR, Offerdahl, Pepper (BALL STRIP!) or Spielman (in my opinion)
Bronze CB - Terry McDaniel
Bronze FS - Fred Marion
Bronze OLB - Otis Wilson/Lamar Lathon/Bryce Paup
Bronze SS - Charlie Waters OR CB Brookshier (Don't need Lewis- you have Lloyd's leadership!)

- Lloyd plays strong side OLB - he can do everything - rush, stop run, be cool
- You have a bronze pass rusher OLB
- You want a strong, good tackler at ILB because he WILL be taking on blocks.
- Run coverage is big for your NG in the 3-4..especially with the bronze ILB.

Your playcalling will revolve around soft zones and smart blitzes. Rush 4 and 5 often.. with twists and clever overloads. Sub your OLB's into DE's in nickel and dime to make use of those legends! You will need to call successful blitzes because a comfortable passer will pick you apart in time. Pick your spots as to when to play pressure D. People will try to pick on your generic CB, but if you give him help and then leave him alone sporadically you can easily get away with him doing fine. It comes down to pressure with this D.

The reason I put this together is because you wanted a D that's FUN! This is fun... not calling 4-3 cover 3 the whole game... especially if you are playing a pass rusher. This way you can control a OLB and mix in your blitzing with maybe some coverage. It's fun!!!

Calling 4-3 cover 3 all game is fun when you're shutting down the other team's offense and forcing turnovers. Just ask the Legion of Boom Seahawks!

What's also fun is when you have two shutdown corners and a good pass rush. If you have Willie Brown or Mike Haynes as your #1 corner and Lem Barney as your #2 corner with Bethea subbed in as a DT in a Nickel 4-2-5 and some bronze pass rushing linebackers you can play cover 1 (bring 5) all day and force lots of sacks and turnovers. If they start calling screens, you can start calling zone on first and second down then blitz on third down passing situations (or just do that from the start if you're risk averse).

Alternatively you can get Derrick Thomas, 2 silver shutdown corners (Barney and Renfro or Barney and Wehrli) along with Bethea (again subbed in as a DT) or even Lem Barney and Terry McDaniel (a bronze cover corner) with Bethea and Thomas and get similar results.

IMHO Derrick Thomas is the most fun player to use in the game - on first and second down I'll play cover 3 or cover 4 zone out of Nickel 4-2-5 then if it's a passing situation on third down I'll blitz - he racks up a lot of tackles and sacks with this strategy. The only times I don't blitz is if they have a beast of a receiver like Rice or Lofton, if they have a mobile QB that's burning us on runs, or if they start calling screens on third down and burn us - in any of those cases I'll just call zone.

Here's a potential team you can use with the method I just described:

Gold: Fred Biletnikoff, Derrick Thomas,
Silver: Ken Stabler, Lem Barney, Elvin Bethea (sub him in as a DT in a Nickel 4-2-5)
Bronze: Cliff Branch, Dwight Clark, Tony Boselli, Carl Banks, Terry McDaniel, Christian Okoye

[topdowninvestor2023]

Re: Help me build a defense

Howdy. Looking to build a 6 bronze, 1 silver defense. I'm not a great playcaller, nor am I great with the sticks (in fact, I've neglected the defensive side of my game).

I guess I'm looking to run a 4-3, but mostly, I'm looking to build a defense that is FUN to play with, even if it isn't the absolute best value for the picks I have.

I'm currently using Butz and Manley on the DL, Brazille and Van Pelt at LB, Lewis and Barney at CB, and Cromwell at FS.

I like the CPU controlled production I get out of Brazille and Van Pelt -- they are surprisingly good at getting to runners, and even when they get beat on passes, they make tackles after the catch. Big, sturdy, rangy guys.

Lewis is like Brazille and Van Pelt , but at CB.

Cromwell, I hardly notice. I usually use him with Lewis to double gold receivers. Barney is a good returner, and I like that he can cover one-on-one, which lets me do more with my generic SS.

Butz is really destructive on the CPU Indians team, but he makes NO impact for me. Bummer. Manley is great running down ballcarriers, but never gets to the QB, and I can't get the hang of his swim move to do it myself.

I've used Greg Lloyd at LB in the past and loved him. I tried Bethea at DE and had the same problems as Manley.

Suggestions?

Gold: Fred Biletnikoff, Rod Woodson
Silver: Ken Stabler, Lem Barney, Greg Lloyd
Bronze: Cliff Branch, Dwight Clark, Tony Boselli, Clyde Simmons, Dexter Manley, John Offerdahl

Set your generic d-line to run support and everyone else on defense to coverage. Make your home stadium a dome to make it easier for your offense as it is built around the pass.

On defense just call cover 3 and/or cover 4 every play and your defense should force a lot of turnovers and shutdown most offenses and your own offense will be dominant if you just throw it deep all game.

[topdowninvestor2023]

Re: Help me build a defense

Here's another easy setup:

Gold: Fred Biletnikoff, James Lofton
Silver: Ken Stabler, Lem Barney, Roger Wehrli
Bronze: Clyde Simmons, Dexter Manley, Brad Van Pelt, Robert Brazile, Dwight Clark, Tony Boselli

Set your generic d-line to run support and everyone else on defense to coverage. Make your home stadium a dome to make it easier for your offense as it is built around the pass.

On defense just call cover 3 and/or cover 4 every play and again your defense should shutdown most offenses and your own offense will be dominant if you just throw it deep all game.

Biletnikoff and Lofton are pretty much unstoppable together especially with a good QB throwing to them like Stabler or Cunningham.