Jesus, why even put defenders on the field when they have a gold RB.

[M.10.E]

tgfdfdfdfddf

[nepharius4]

because if youre good at defense then you can stop them.

[Njake.]

You probably just suck. I have little to no problems with any RBs.

[tpaterniti]

Why are you asking me? I don't know.

http://www.luisprada.com/Protected/IMAGES/jesus2.jpg

[Numbski]

Anymore if they field a gold running back, and I *must* play them, I've taken a very simple mentality - let them have the big play. It doesn't matter. Sell out on the run. Bring pressure out the wazoo, blitz, put people in the flats, leave the deep ball wide open. Let them have it.

Get the ball back, and keep them on the sidelines. Nick them for 3-4 yards per play. Tire out THEIR defense, keep your defense rested, and when it comes down to crunch time, see if they can execute. Even better, don't give them the chance to execute. The only way I know to cope honestly. :(

[tpaterniti]

I am telling you, call a bunch of zone plays and assign both OLBs to the HB and stunt your line accordingly and it will shut down all but the fastest Gold Backs (Sayers and Simpson). For them go to 4-4 Full Zone and assign the CBs to Deep Zones. From 4-3 you can also call Gap Stunts in the direction of the runs and blitz in the same direction. The Gap plays allow the D-line to occupy the O-lineman leaving the blitzing LBs free to fill the gaps and shut down the run. The three tips I just gave you really work so TRY THEM before you write anything else.

I will say that to play really good defense both assigning defenders to men manually and assigning defenders to hot zones must be second nature. If you don't know how to do this, you should start learning YESTERDAY because you are already behind the curve. Not trying to be insulting, trying to be helpful.

[Reed#20]

Anymore if they field a gold running back, and I *must* play them, I've taken a very simple mentality - let them have the big play. It doesn't matter. Sell out on the run. Bring pressure out the wazoo, blitz, put people in the flats, leave the deep ball wide open. Let them have it.

Get the ball back, and keep them on the sidelines. Nick them for 3-4 yards per play. Tire out THEIR defense, keep your defense rested, and when it comes down to crunch time, see if they can execute. Even better, don't give them the chance to execute. The only way I know to cope honestly. :(


Blitzing against the run is a mistake in VC's game. They don't quite have the concept of run blitz down so you always get punished if you blitz the run.

[Phillip A Bole]

Pretty sure you missed his point. He doesn't care. His gameplan is to get back on offense, eat clock on long drives and score and get the guy out of his rythm.

[sweetnessX32]

Joe Schmidt gold middle linebacker can run down OJ Simpson and Gale Sayers. He flies sideline to sideline and i do very well against fast backs with him. For power backs like campbell, just stack the box. put 8 men in the box instead of 7. campbell can break 1 or 2 tackles but not 4 or 5 at a time.

[Numbski]

Pretty sure you missed his point. He doesn't care. His gameplan is to get back on offense, eat clock on long drives and score and get the guy out of his rythm.

Bingo. This works beautifully presuming the computer doesn't sabotage you. Was playing Valdarez earlier and he has Jerry Rice in our league, which is another one of those unstoppable beasts. He kicked to me. I didn't cheese, I didn't intentionally run down the clock. I just took a little here, a little there. I took some shots downfield even. Those failed. I ran something absurd like 20 plays on my first drive. He got to start his first drive with 2:45 left. In the first half. He drove to my red zone, and I got lucky making the stop on 4th down since he opted not to kick a field goal. So I was up 7-0 going into the second half.

Second half starts, he comes out in onside kick return formation. ??? I kick it off near the sidelines, and his returner blows past my entire kick coverage squad no problems. Touchdown. :(

He kicks off to me, my returner fumbles, he takes it in. Touchdown. He kicks off to me, I fair catch it. I throw a short pass, intercepted, he takes it in, touchdown. He put up 21 points on me in under 30 seconds. That is the computer sabotaging you. My short pass wasn't badly thrown, misplaced or anything. Willie Wood just decided he'd run up and jump the route. :\ So....at that point I was so hacked off I just started letting him score. I gave up. That kind of stupidity is frustrating. Valdarez didnt' do anything wrong, and I took my frustrations out on him, but geez. You execute, execute, execute, and then the computer decides to but it's head in and say, "no, no....you're not going to win", and that's it. End of story. :(

[Valdarez]

Second half starts, he comes out in onside kick return formation. ??? I kick it off near the sidelines, and his returner blows past my entire kick coverage squad no problems. Touchdown. :(Only reason I came out for the onside kick was because yesterday you surprised me with one at the start of the 2nd half in our first league game. I tried to audible out of it into regular formation, but wasn't fast enough by the time I realized it was a normal kick. I should have just let the comp pick the play for me, but I'm an impatient man. :)

[M.10.E]

I can understand saying I suck if I had no stars and called a bad play but he broke tackles from Butkus, Waters and Lloyd.

1 gold 1 silver 1 bronze.

I'm sorry but that is just stupid.

[tpaterniti]

Run blitzing DOES work on this game. As I said in my last post, you have to call Gap Right or Left stunts so that your D line occupies the O-line and frees up the LBs to fly through the gaps. The Razor plays do not work very well because one of the DTs attacs the center head on, where as in the Gap stunts he slants across his body and often draws a double team. If you have a Silver DT he will often not only draw a double team but bust right through it. I do it all the time and it works. Also you need good personnel. If you have generic LBs of course it will not work. I think you need 2 legend LBs to be effective against the run and obviously the higher the level the more effective they will be but you also have to call the right plays for them. Go into practice mode on defense and call the plays your opponent uses for the offense then practice different defenses until you find some that work.

I am trying not to be annoyed, but I posted 3 tips that really work at stopping the run and instead of trying them and seeing you people just want to argue with each other. Maybe I'll just keep the info to myself from now on and let you go on thinking it is impossible.

[Reed#20]

Run blitzing DOES work on this game. As I said in my last post, you have to call Gap Right or Left stunts so that your D line occupies the O-line and frees up the LBs to fly through the gaps. The Razor plays do not work very well because one of the DTs attacs the center head on, where as in the Gap stunts he slants across his body and often draws a double team. If you have a Silver DT he will often not only draw a double team but bust right through it. I do it all the time and it works. Also you need good personnel. If you have generic LBs of course it will not work. I think you need 2 legend LBs to be effective against the run and obviously the higher the level the more effective they will be but you also have to call the right plays for them. Go into practice mode on defense and call the plays your opponent uses for the offense then practice different defenses until you find some that work.

I am trying not to be annoyed, but I posted 3 tips that really work at stopping the run and instead of trying them and seeing you people just want to argue with each other. Maybe I'll just keep the info to myself from now on and let you go on thinking it is impossible.


It works if these fools ACT right. Stupid idiot is blitzing and his dumb***** decides to loop outside instead of going inside where I told him to blitz. The random gap blitzing can ruin good things that a person can run in there Defense. I want to know who's idea it was to have random gap blitzing and linebackers that have brain farts. I got a belt LOL.

[Numbski]

tpat - that last post is the most useful info you've ever posted regarding run stopping and blitzes. I hadn't noticed the behavior difference on the stunts as you describe. I'll check that out next time I'm on. That actually explains why Art Donovan seemed to be such a waste of a pick for me. I'd get him because gold hb's were destroying me up the middle, and the only difference the guy made is that he would get a couple of sacks per game. Never occurred to me that my typical line stunts vs. the run were taking him out of the play before it even got started. Something to think about since my default lineup these days has 2 gold linebackers to help slow down these gold backs.

[pairunoyd]

I think you should also have an option that allows you to juice your team for certain expectations. By that I mean if you're expecting a run then you should be able to get juiced attributes if a run occurs, depending on your level of expectation. If you wanna go all in, 100% keying on the run, then maybe your entire team could get a 5-10 pt overall attribute boost IF the run occurs. But the downside is you get an equal or greater DROP if it ends up being a pass.

I dont know how deep it should go, but things to consider might be:

How much do you commit: Attributes +3/-3, +5/-5, +7/-7, +10/-10, more?

How detailed is your commitment: Run, Run Left/Right, Pass, Pass
Short/Med/Long/Left/Right/Middle???

Is there a limit to this or do you have to build adrenaline or be in the zone or does the coach have to earn charisma or respect or ????

Also, should certain plays have an effect on your commitment? Can you call Prevent but commit all-out to a run play?

I think what's in your head should be better transferred to on-field action. Also, even though certain Defensive plays SHOULD work better against certain Offensive plays, this doesnt always pan out in reality. I think it's worth considering an attributes boost for good play-calling. Nothing big, but just slightly significant. Also, maybe calling a succession of good counter plays could be an additional small boost.

[Njake.]

Bingo. This works beautifully presuming the computer doesn't sabotage you. Was playing Valdarez earlier and he has Jerry Rice in our league, which is another one of those unstoppable beasts. He kicked to me. I didn't cheese, I didn't intentionally run down the clock. I just took a little here, a little there. I took some shots downfield even. Those failed. I ran something absurd like 20 plays on my first drive. He got to start his first drive with 2:45 left. In the first half. He drove to my red zone, and I got lucky making the stop on 4th down since he opted not to kick a field goal. So I was up 7-0 going into the second half.

Second half starts, he comes out in onside kick return formation. ??? I kick it off near the sidelines, and his returner blows past my entire kick coverage squad no problems. Touchdown. :(

He kicks off to me, my returner fumbles, he takes it in. Touchdown. He kicks off to me, I fair catch it. I throw a short pass, intercepted, he takes it in, touchdown. He put up 21 points on me in under 30 seconds. That is the computer sabotaging you. My short pass wasn't badly thrown, misplaced or anything. Willie Wood just decided he'd run up and jump the route. :\ So....at that point I was so hacked off I just started letting him score. I gave up. That kind of stupidity is frustrating. Valdarez didnt' do anything wrong, and I took my frustrations out on him, but geez. You execute, execute, execute, and then the computer decides to but it's head in and say, "no, no....you're not going to win", and that's it. End of story. :(


Im almost positive that Willie Wood wouldn't just miraculously jump the route. He probably called that play because you were doing oodles of passes to flats in the first half....

[Valdarez]

Im almost positive that Willie Wood wouldn't just miraculously jump the route. He probably called that play because you were doing oodles of passes to flats in the first half....I can tell you exactly what happened. His WR ran a straight up the field route. I had the CB in a short zone, no bump, so the WR ran right by him. Numbski tried to fire the ball in between the CB who was on a short zone and the safety (good ole Willie) who was in the deep zone. The problem was Numbski hit the button just a little to late, and then just a little too hard. So his WR was closer to the safety (button late), and the WR had to try to slow down to catch the ball because it was behind him (short because too hard). The WR's momentum was carrying him forward and away from the ball, where as the safety was just sitting there and pounced (move forward). If the safety didn't make the INT, that ball might have hit the WR, but whether or not the WR could have caught it is questionable based on how the WR had to slow down and turn around to make the catch.

[Njake.]

Oh, I thought is was some type of short pass to the flats. But the play he ran, wasn;t a very smart one, if he was trying to get it by Willie Wood.

[Valdarez]

Oh, I thought is was some type of short pass to the flats. But the play he ran, wasn;t a very smart one, if he was trying to get it by Willie Wood.If the pass was thrown just a little sooner, with just a little less juice, he would have completed it. It would have been a tight fit, but there was room based on the zone coverage.

[Azn_Essence]

Im almost positive that Willie Wood wouldn't just miraculously jump the route. He probably called that play because you were doing oodles of passes to flats in the first half....

No plays has the safety covering the flats
lol

[thePLAGUE]

Anymore if they field a gold running back, and I *must* play them, I've taken a very simple mentality - let them have the big play. It doesn't matter. Sell out on the run. Bring pressure out the wazoo, blitz, put people in the flats, leave the deep ball wide open. Let them have it.

Get the ball back, and keep them on the sidelines. Nick them for 3-4 yards per play. Tire out THEIR defense, keep your defense rested, and when it comes down to crunch time, see if they can execute. Even better, don't give them the chance to execute. The only way I know to cope honestly. :(


that strategy almost worked on me...i started sweating bullets but u choked in the 4th quater...good strategy though

[Njake.]

No plays has the safety covering the flats
lol

True, but can't you do some sort of DB adjustment to have a safety cover the flats?

[Numbski]

Given that I hadn't tossed a single pass to the flats in the first half....no. :P

[Numbski]

If the pass was thrown just a little sooner, with just a little less juice, he would have completed it. It would have been a tight fit, but there was room based on the zone coverage.

Yeah, again...I don't blame you on any of that. I was just so dumbfoundedly frustrated by that point that I wasn't thinking straight. Not every day you cough up 21 points in 30 seconds, after successfully managing the game up to that point. One would expect there to be a bit more...oh, I don't know, difficulty, in wresting momentum away from me after that. :P The game just decided, meh....methodical dominance is boring, let's let HIM have the lead instead. Or something. The INT falls square on me I guess. You're right, it probably came out just a bit too late. I was trying to keep you honest out there since you kept running 4-3 on me. Didn't work. :P

[tpaterniti]

tpat - that last post is the most useful info you've ever posted regarding run stopping and blitzes. I hadn't noticed the behavior difference on the stunts as you describe. I'll check that out next time I'm on. That actually explains why Art Donovan seemed to be such a waste of a pick for me. I'd get him because gold hb's were destroying me up the middle, and the only difference the guy made is that he would get a couple of sacks per game. Never occurred to me that my typical line stunts vs. the run were taking him out of the play before it even got started. Something to think about since my default lineup these days has 2 gold linebackers to help slow down these gold backs.

Numbski, if you run a 3-4 with a Gold DT, a Gold ILB, Karl Mecklenberg (Silver ILB) and Carl Banks (Bronze OLB) and set your other LB to Run Coverage, and if you use Gap Stunts only and Blitz the hole where you think he is running, you will DOMINATE the run. With this squad, Gap Right All Blitz 1 will destroy almost any run, even from a Big Jokers/Jacks set no problem. Even Better would be Joe Smidt and Singletary, with a Silver DT Jerome Brown and Banks. These ILBs will Dominated the run, but either lineup will work with the Gap stunts.

Take A Crazed Psycho. He comes out in Weak I TE Flex and either runs a counter weak (to the left) or if he sees you defending this a pitch right. So call a 3-4 Gap Left Double Shoot, which blitzes the LILB (for the Counter) and the ROLB (for the pitch) and it's game over (for that play at least).

[Njake.]

Well, you said short pass, so I was assuming the flats. But I get now that you ment just a quick 3 step drop and fire to the receiver running the seem.

Or am I still wrong?

[Numbski]

Nope, you have it right. The corner was in close, waited for him to clear the corner and release prior to reaching the safety, so I'd call it a 7-10 yard pattern.

[Njake.]

One of my favorite routes to run.