[jello1717]

Here's a little background on me. It's not bragging (as I don't think I'm all that good and I know I have bad stick skills), its just me telling the facts. Over on TSO I was in one of the premiere dynasties for the last 4 or 5 years (since '10 i think) and no one won more national titles than I did (and we had 12 guys 95% of the time). I ran a spread option attack which was good, but my calling card was always defense. I don't think I ever won a title where I didn't have one of the best defenses in the country. I know this isn't because I'm sick on the sticks with my user controlled defender (because I'm not and there are at least 7 of the 11 other guys that are better). It's because of my defensive scheme and my play calling.

Anywho, I always run a 3-4 scheme. I prefer this because you can rush 3 and cover 8 when you want. More importantly when you rush 4 or 5 (which I do probably 65% of the time that 4th and 5th rusher can come from anywhere in the front 7 so it's not nearly as predictable as a 4 man front. This is good against the CPU, but its great against users.

1 thing that really differentiates me from the vast majority of people I've played is that most play predominantly man. I think that most people even feel that zones are broken. I play zone probably 80-85% of the time. I just laugh at people who cry about ins, outs, corners, and curls as there are zone coverages that can stop any of those.

I recruit great LBs so I generally don't match personnel and go 1 less than my opponent (IE base 3-4 against 3 wide, nickle against 4 wide, etc). I usually have no issues with a LB covering a slot WR in zone. If I played man mostly I might not feel this way.

I love the 3-4 because they have great zone coverages and there's TONS of variety. IE in my 3-4s I have 6 different cover 2s (and that doesn't count any cover 2 sinks, of which there are 2 or maybe even 3 varieties). They've all got 2 deeps and 2 flats, but some rush 3, some rush 4, some have 2 buzzes, some have 1 buzz, and some have no buzzes. And that's just cover 2s!!! 3-4s also have some really awesome and creative zone blitzes.
By mixing up your zone coverages you can keep your opponent guessing. I mix in man coverage from time to time (mainly as a change of pace to keep them guessing, but almost all of my INTs come from zones.

I'm also fairly conservative on D. I usually rush at least 4, but I rarely rush 5 or 6, VERY rarely rush 7, and I don't even have any engage 8s in my CPB. There's also a 3-4 (over ED) which has a 4-3 look (with 3-4 personnel) that has an AWESOME cover 3 with 2 buzzes instead of flats and 3 very nice zone blitzes that are AWESOME for stopping options.

Also, 3-4 odd has 3 awesome cover 3s, cover 3 sink, cover 3 buzz, and a man coverage with 3 deep zones.

Oh yeah, I always control MLB1 on D.