Hi all, trying to gauge what the most common defensive schemes are.

 Right now I'm going for 4-3, 4-4 and nickel to deal with balanced situations, running and passing

What are some other ideas? Anyone use just one scheme? Any theories, advice appreciated! Thanks,

4-4 and Nickel is all you'l every need. One to stop the run and one for stopping the pass

Last 2 seasons I have used the 3-4 exclusively and have had favorable results. I recruit LB's with speed and use them in coverage in passing situations. Using the advanced settings I created 5 defensive schemes and implement them according to the situation. For example, in a passing situation I drop the LB's into coverage. Conversely, in an obvious running situation I move the LB's on "line" . Even though I use one formation, the advanced settings allow flexibility in "play books". Hope this helps!!

For my D3 team I run a 3-4 full time.  Never switch to another formation.

For my D1AA team I'm still with 4-3/Nickel package with a bit of 4-4 thrown in at times.

I use the 3-4 exclusively as well.

I run a kind of unusual defense, using the 5-2, Nickel, and Dime to overplay either the run or the pass depending on the situation and opponent.   All of these formations use only 2 LBs, so I only keep a small number of LBs on my roster, and instead load up on DLs and DBs.  That way, I have the depth to sell out to stop the pass or the run for an entire game if needed.    A downside is that its often easier to recruit LBs than DLs or DBs.  But, I've had a lot of success with this defense, so I have stuck with it.   A nice wrinkle with 3.0 is that when I want a more balanced alignment, I can drop my LBs into coverage in the 5-2 or put them on the line in Nickel.  

It depends on my personnel. If I have more top tier DLs than LBs, I run the 4-3 and Nickel. If I have more top LBs than DLs, I run the 3-4 and Nickel.

Ive done fairly well using the nickel formation pretty much full time. This season I was in the top five in pass defense and also stopped the run pretty effectively also. I was ranked among the top run defenses. The only time I don't use it is short yardage situations. Then I use the 5-2.

I do think that this engine provides a lot more flexibility to use various defensive formations in more/different situations than might have been appropriate under the 2.0 engine.

I use everything but the 3-4

with pretty good results in the new engine
(aka glaity)

Posted by guano92 on 4/17/2014 5:17:00 PM (view original):
I use everything but the 3-4

with pretty good results in the new engine
(aka glaity)

me too.

Posted by tigerpark135 on 4/17/2014 10:41:00 PM (view original):

Posted by guano92 on 4/17/2014 5:17:00 PM (view original):
I use everything but the 3-4

with pretty good results in the new engine
(aka glaity)

me too.

Really, I don't know that it matters too much with this engine, as long as you have good players playing their position.

I run 4-4 against all formations but trips and shotgun due to its flexibility. Equal numbers of DL for pass rush and LB for coverage. LB can certainly cheat up to help stop the run as well. Nickel against trips and shotgun to put more DB's on the field.

I like to match my DBs to the number of WRs, so I run 3-4/4-3 against Pro/I, 4-4/5-2 vs NDB/WB, and nickel/dime vs trips/SG. It worked well in 2.0, but 3.0 seems to run the pass defense a bit differently. I don't know if you can exploit the speed difference between a LB and a WR (at least I haven't had the personnel to prove or disprove the idea).

Posted by scrodz on 4/18/2014 10:50:00 AM (view original):
I like to match my DBs to the number of WRs, so I run 3-4/4-3 against Pro/I, 4-4/5-2 vs NDB/WB, and nickel/dime vs trips/SG. It worked well in 2.0, but 3.0 seems to run the pass defense a bit differently. I don't know if you can exploit the speed difference between a LB and a WR (at least I haven't had the personnel to prove or disprove the idea).

Its not clear to me how pass defense actually works either.  Its also not at all clear that you can exploit any speed differentials between WRs and LBs in coverage.

D3 mind you, but my 3-4 absolutely shut down a very high powered passing offense a season ago in the playoffs.  I had STELLAR DBs, and my LBs are pretty much all OLB types with speed..

The point is:  I don't really think that I should have been able to have that success, but with this engine, it seems you can find a wrinkle that works (for no apparent reason).