Does anyone feel as helpless on D as I do right now?

Before I start, I know this thread is a little ranty but I am legitamately looking for help rather than only complaining so if anyone could help me out with any of these I would greatly appreciate it.

In 09 last year I only gave up about 15 points a game playing mostly people level 10+. This year I can't seem to stop even average players. Sometimes my playcalls are bad but other times I feel like my defenders simply don't play their assignments. I won't talk about flats coverage since I know that is being fixed whenever the patch comes out but here are a few other things that have really been irking me and if anyone can shed some light on how to improve these situations please let me know. Also I am looking for play calling or play setup, don't tell me to user something because obviously it's not like I know what play is coming. I need good general defenses that can be used on downs like 1st and 10 between the 20's.


1. Covering the middle of the field - I've run covers 2 and 3 and it always feels like my defenders simply do not want to cover the receiver. They just stand in one area glued to their little yellow circle and don't run up to hit the receiver or deflect the ball if the pass comes his way. I've tried a vast assortment of things and nothing seems to work.


2. Man coverage - Sometimes it works, but often I find that my man coverage is not just bad, it's awful. Sometimes the opponent will run a quick 7 or 8 step slant and beat my corner by 3 or 4 steps! I'm not even talking about mismatches, often times it is a receiver and corner of similar skill yet my corner barely reacts to the route at all. Is there anything that I can do to improve this?


3. Play action - My defense always seems to get fooled even if it is a down like 3rd and 6. What' worse is that not only does my D get fooled, but my linebackers totally forget to cover the TE or runningbacks and literally just stand at the line of scrimmage stupified.


4. Counter plays - this is not as big of an issue as the last few were but often times it seems like the counter play is near impossible to stop unless you are expecting it.
Again I am sorry for getting a little ranty but I just feel like the defensive A.I. does not react to anything this year. Usering will only account for one player and you can't sell out on one play because then anything else can beat you. I have some good blitzes for passing situations but I really need a good base defense to run on regular downs. Please help because I am totally lost right now on defense. Thank you in advance to anyone who has something to offer.

Bro.. you couldn't of explained the problem I'm having right now more perfectly... I am going through the same exact thing.

Yeah. I was in the top 500 last year and this year I'm only something like 140-110, my O is great but I can do nothing on D. I try to mix it up - 46, 42, nickel, but nothing works.

it looks like ur in the 46 book so my area of expertise is limited since i run BAL and 3-4.

1. Covering middle. There are quite a few routes from the slot that can exploit the middle of the field in zones. The FS seems to play too far back and u can fit a throw between the hook zones and FS. I user the FS so generally I just come up manually and cover it, generally when they see you patrolling the middle of the field they wont even look in area. The other thing u can do is highlight the slot receiver, this gets me good results. The last thing is that crossing routes take a while to develop in order to get behind the hook zones so if u bring a nano this will take away this option.

2.I'm not sure what is wrong with ur man coverage cuz i love playing man. I run a lot of man nanos with press coverage. Also bump and run or delay bump and run. I rarely run like a simply 2 deep man because this gets torn up. Another great variation is running man fag D. Call man cover 1 robber (if theres not an elite WR like moss or andre u don't really get beat 1v1 deep in man), then use ur Dline to drop into areas u know he likes to attack man coverage. The SS robber zone takes away slot crossing routes or slot post routes well which are a lot of ppl go to for simple man coverage. Put DL in flats or contains if they like to throw to the RB coming out of the backfield since it can't be bumped (i find that contains picks off those bench routes from the RB). User one of ur Dline men into coverage also. For this fag D always leave ur best pass rusher blitzing to provide pressure. U'd be surprised how quickly a guy like Mathis or freeney gets in even against 5 blockers. Mix this up with some zone and some nanos and it should work well for u. Of course i'm not advocating u sit in this all game.

3. I destroy play action by usering the nanoer. If u nano they'll go tackle the RB so i just user it and i hit the QB before his icons go up. The other thing u can do is turbo blitz from the outside. Without pass commit there really isnt much u can do other than to user the throw or user the blitz.

4. You stop counters by blitzing the guards. The pulling actions means that theres a hole in the line. If u blitz 2 LBs right on top of the 2 guards with a DT over the center u'll get penetration and hit him before he gets a head of steam. wat generally happens is when the guard pulls the line tries to compensate to pick up the LB blitzing the open hole which allows one of the outside guys to get in the backfield.


In the end one thing u said really bothered me and that's when u said to not tell u to user something because u don't know it's coming. U have to have a general idea of wats coming in order to play good defense and it's as simple as that. How do u expect to stop the counter if u dont have any idea it's coming? How can u stop the play action if u don't have any idea it's coming? The only way to play defense is to anticipate what they like to do and gear ur defense to take away what he likes to do.

People who are good at offense know how to keep you guessing though so it's important to have some kind of general bend but don't break defense.