I think in every game I've played against a human I've given up 2 50+ yd passing touchdowns each game.  How can these be avoided?  Do I need to gameplan different or recruit certain traits in my DBs?  This this just a result of the other teams having talented WRs?

At first glance, I don't think your starting DBs are all that good.  I have not really looked at the opposing team talent.  Could be your defensive settings...too aggressive or too close to the line (with the speed you DON'T have at DB).

Looks like 40+% of your passing yards allowed are coming after the catch. Try shifting your gameplan to more conservative on defense. You'll probably give up more completions, but it should reduce the run after the catch.

Just pass more than the other guy and dont worry about it.  Ha

It is all about talent, just like in real life.  If Alabama had told Notre Dame what plays they were running in the national championship game, it would not have mattered.  You need 5 DB's with speed to match the WR's you are defending and high GI and Technique.  If you don't have that, your only chance is to have luck on your side and pick off some passes.  People get ticked off when they get beaten by an all pass team, but if I am in D3 and my 4 starting receivers are all top 20 overall in the GUESS ratings and my opponent only has 3 upperclassmen DB's and they are 15 points slower than my WR's...there is no way to stop that other than luck...in this game, and in real life.

Posted by zharkins on 2/8/2013 10:43:00 AM (view original):
It is all about talent, just like in real life.  If Alabama had told Notre Dame what plays they were running in the national championship game, it would not have mattered.  You need 5 DB's with speed to match the WR's you are defending and high GI and Technique.  If you don't have that, your only chance is to have luck on your side and pick off some passes.  People get ticked off when they get beaten by an all pass team, but if I am in D3 and my 4 starting receivers are all top 20 overall in the GUESS ratings and my opponent only has 3 upperclassmen DB's and they are 15 points slower than my WR's...there is no way to stop that other than luck...in this game, and in real life.

A lot of what you say seems to be true in my limited div 3 experience, but people also get upset when their defensive backs are as good or better than the opposing recievers running trips, yet the individual matchups lead to big plays.  Instead of my top 3 corners covering the recievers, with help over the top from safeties, it is outside linebackers or defensive ends.  We have no way of understanding if our guys are playing zone or man.  I assume it is zone, and sometimes I think perhaps my defensive ends are dropping in coverage because my linebackers are blitzing, yet other times, with the exact same settings, my linebackers are in coverage, so then I wonder where my defensive backs are if I am only keeping 2 guys in the front 7 to rush the QB, and I am still occasionally giving up the big play. 

Defense against the pass is hard to work with the way it is right now because all the inherent strategy is mysterious.  We can't plan to double team, or set individual matchups, or move our cbs close to the line while keeping out safeties deep, or vice vera, or control who is blitzing, when and why, or choose zone vs man.  It all is done without our input, and it is hard to interpret what went on during the play after it is completed.  Was the pass rush too slow?  Was there a blown coverage?  Did my cb miss the tackle so someone else made it making it appear that player was in coverage?  The only control we have is moving the entire defense up to the line or moving it back, and playing safe or aggressive.  Perhaps all the answers are in those settings, but they are not always intuitive or very clear.  It seems playing the run is easier because you bring everyone up to the line, and generally, the group with the higher attributes wins the "scrum" (at least untill they get tired).  That same can't be said for defending the pass with regularity, at least with the nickel package anyway.  I have not used the dime enough to make any comment on that package.      

Posted by samson75 on 2/8/2013 11:10:00 AM (view original):

Posted by zharkins on 2/8/2013 10:43:00 AM (view original):
It is all about talent, just like in real life.  If Alabama had told Notre Dame what plays they were running in the national championship game, it would not have mattered.  You need 5 DB's with speed to match the WR's you are defending and high GI and Technique.  If you don't have that, your only chance is to have luck on your side and pick off some passes.  People get ticked off when they get beaten by an all pass team, but if I am in D3 and my 4 starting receivers are all top 20 overall in the GUESS ratings and my opponent only has 3 upperclassmen DB's and they are 15 points slower than my WR's...there is no way to stop that other than luck...in this game, and in real life.

A lot of what you say seems to be true in my limited div 3 experience, but people also get upset when their defensive backs are as good or better than the opposing recievers running trips, yet the individual matchups lead to big plays.  Instead of my top 3 corners covering the recievers, with help over the top from safeties, it is outside linebackers or defensive ends.  We have no way of understanding if our guys are playing zone or man.  I assume it is zone, and sometimes I think perhaps my defensive ends are dropping in coverage because my linebackers are blitzing, yet other times, with the exact same settings, my linebackers are in coverage, so then I wonder where my defensive backs are if I am only keeping 2 guys in the front 7 to rush the QB, and I am still occasionally giving up the big play. 

Defense against the pass is hard to work with the way it is right now because all the inherent strategy is mysterious.  We can't plan to double team, or set individual matchups, or move our cbs close to the line while keeping out safeties deep, or vice vera, or control who is blitzing, when and why, or choose zone vs man.  It all is done without our input, and it is hard to interpret what went on during the play after it is completed.  Was the pass rush too slow?  Was there a blown coverage?  Did my cb miss the tackle so someone else made it making it appear that player was in coverage?  The only control we have is moving the entire defense up to the line or moving it back, and playing safe or aggressive.  Perhaps all the answers are in those settings, but they are not always intuitive or very clear.  It seems playing the run is easier because you bring everyone up to the line, and generally, the group with the higher attributes wins the "scrum" (at least untill they get tired).  That same can't be said for defending the pass with regularity, at least with the nickel package anyway.  I have not used the dime enough to make any comment on that package.      

Big plays are just the nature of the game.  The same could be said of picking always run on defense with a 4-4 defense when you know someone is going to run out of trips on 1st and 10.  A good team is still going to break a 50 yard run every once in a while.  To me, as long as over time the number of interceptions are close to the number of big plays (>30 yards) on offense in an evenly matched game, I don't think it is a problem.

As for control, it is a double edged sword.  If you want that much specific defensive control, then the offense needs to have to tools to audible and change what they are doing in response.  So if my gameplan is to always pass short, you shouldn't be able to call a pass defense with your safeties 5 yards off the line of scrimmage without my team recognizing that and audibling to a draw or a deep pass. 

And all teams run zone pass defenses all the time.

With the state of the game right now, there IS no right or wrong answer. Long term, zharkins is right: if you're giving up a huge talent advantage, you're gonna get torched. You can only recruit to eliminate the advantage. Short term, the only thing you can do is alter your game plan, but that cuts both ways: If you go more aggressive, you're more likely to get INTs, but more likely to get burned long. I like this option when I have DBs "better" (whatever that means...) than my oponents WRs. If you go more conservative, you're less likely to give up the long passes, but will tend to give up more completions, and won't have as many INTs. This is a good option if your DBs aren't as good as his WRs. Note that for the conservative option, you'll need decent stamina in your DBs, otherwise that AC recruited freshman will end up on the field when you're in the red zone. The "Always Pass" defense is also an option, but I wouldn't recommend it unless your opponent doesn't actually have any RBs, and even then it might backfire (I remember a game where my QB scrambled for two 60+ yd TDs. Don't let that happen to you.).

Just a note: If you're playing an all pass team, you might consider reviewing your depth chart before the game, especially if you have good ILBs. If you don't run anything but nickel and dime, they'll never see the field.

"As for control, it is a double edged sword. If you want that much specific defensive control, then the offense needs to have to tools to audible and change what they are doing in response."


Well you have a point, and I wouldn't mind seeing the offense get more ability to customize the gameplan.  I don't think audible is comparable because that is an in game change, while we are talking about gameplans before the game starts and at halftime.  The control is not neccesarily making the defense any better, it just is making it more coachable for lack of a better word, and more options for offense would be great too.  I do understand your point, and I imagine it is difficult to maintain or create balance between offensive and defensive strength.  I am aware that finding a way to allow for these options while maintianing that balance is much more complicated than mentioning them....  I just wish my def end wasn't 20 yards down field trying to cover wide recievers.  There is no setting I can think of that would equalize a guy in coverage who is half the speed of the recievers, without allowing qbs and rbs to run wild.  I know def ends cover in zones at times but it is usually pretty shallow coverage. 

Scrodz - excellent advice!!!  Your break down helped me a lot this season to make sense of how to deal with a relentless trips attack.  The answer was partially in the settings like you suggested, but prior to reading your post, I was really lost and getting torched regularly.  Using more conservative settings helped a lot.  Thanks again!