Pressure in the 3-4: OLB or DE?
 

Almost all of the teams I create run the 4-3 defense because I can never get pressure from the 3-4 (I even made a Cowboys team with a 4-3). However, I recently made a Ravens team with Haloti Ngata (Strength Bonus, Run Coverage) and Terrell Suggs (Club, Pass Rush Bonus) over on the right side pass rushing, but I get a lot more pressure from Ngata than Suggs.

Now I know that the principle of the 3-4 is that you can bring the 4th pass rusher from anywhere and that the DL are mainly supposed to eat up blockers an space so that the LBs can make playes, but I've noticed that my DL are still mostly blocked 1-on-1 and that the defense I run (mainly man coverage) has the ROLB blitzing 95% of the time (hence why I invested a Silver pick there in Suggs). My question for others who use the 3-4 is this: where do you get more pressure on the QB from, the OLBs or the DEs?

Re: Pressure in the 3-4: OLB or DE?
 

I get more from OLB's if I blitz them and mix up the gap. I have a 1990 Chiefs team with a gold Neil Smith and Derrick Thomas. On that team I'd say Neil gets more pressure, but people worry about DT more so it's tough to say.

In the past I've always had more success getting pressure with a great ROLB.

Re: Pressure in the 3-4: OLB or DE?
 

In my experience, must of the disruption In the 3-4 in APF is cause by my Legend NT, and Rush LB, in that order.

Re: Pressure in the 3-4: OLB or DE?
 

I try to hot route my olbs to take a more direct route.

Re: Pressure in the 3-4: OLB or DE?
 

Simply put for me I can't get any pressure without a dominate DT playing on either the 3-4 or 4-3. The best bang for you buck is Jerome Brown (Silver) due to his quickness and having both Pass Rush Bonus & Run Coverage Abilities which makes him a dual threat.

When running a 3-4 I simply change my blitzes as much as possible and make sure to have the offense forced to read and take into account my players. I will flip them to the other side of the field, play a OLB at the DE position (only in 4-down linemen sets to give me a bigger 3-4 playbook), flip my DEs & DT's and the players in my secondary. Keep the opponent guessing and never be afraid to sell out. As stated above, I do place an OLB with pass rush abilities at the DE position in 4-down linemen sets (4-4, 4-3, Bear, Nickel & Dime) simply so that I can have a larger 3-4 playbook, and this works well in confusing the offense because essentially they are the same plays but a different formation.

Pass Rush Bonus is a beautiful thing because even if the player doesn't reach the QB he will bring the pressure which either results in bad passes (incompletions or INTs) or a Generic rusher getting through and cleaning up for the sack. I've tend to notice the more PR Bonuses you can have on the roster, the better.

Re: Pressure in the 3-4: OLB or DE?
 

I've actually had some of my most dominant pass rushers be DTs. Actually, it's really only one, I have a 2010 Draft team with Ndamukong Suh as one of the Golds, and he is unblockable in 1-on-1 situations. He generates pressure on almost every pass play and can get sacks almost at will. The only other pass rusher I've had that was more disruptive than Suh is Demarcus Ware created as a DE in a 4-3 defense.

Re: Pressure in the 3-4: OLB or DE?
 

You usually get better results from the left side on a 4-3 because the Offensive line lines up their starters from left to right.

By default the line up is...

DE1 DT1 DT2 DE2
OT1 G1 C1 G2 OT2

So if you switch your star defensive guys over to the left side, you can get:

DE2 DT2 DT1 DE1
OT1 G1 C1 G2 OT2

Re: Pressure in the 3-4: OLB or DE?
 

The only downside to this is if you have a DL with "ball strip". This ability only triggers when you hit the blindside of a QB. If your opponent has a right-handed QB, you'll never get the animation. That was always my motivation for leaving my guys at RE or ROLB. If they don't have the ability, yeah you can definitely move them over to the other side and probably get more production.