Whats the best defense

EazyBreezy said:

just curious how long did this take and really helpful information btw

How long did it take to type up the stuff and add a couple pictures / hyperlinks?  Uhhh, maybe ~5-10 minutes, perhaps less (or more)... but that's a rough estimate.  I wr0k remotely, so while i'm toiling away, or in between tasks, i often find myself trolling these boards.  So many people helped me when i was just starting out, trying to pay it forward, as the in-game explanations are often wildly insufficient.

I guess if a person were so inclined, they could tally up the total number of words above and assume i perhaps type at roughly ~100-110WPM, so definitely took me a few minutes, but not nearly as much as it may seem.  I could have never made that post from my phone... well, it would have taken me forever.

EazyBreezy said:

because it seems like you know ur defense can you help with mine 

ive been considering moving from 6-1 to dollar because I always get cooked with corner routes and Rpo’s

if the outside corners are in a curl flat or whatever flat I its called, why do they need DOZKO? 
 

and because there is only 3 d linemen in dollar what would the best adjustments to stop the run? 
 

thanks

Fantastic questions, i already started to answer your question in a follow-up post i just made.  In order to improve and increase the effectiveness of the these lighter packages and formations (such as Dime/Dollar), i find it's best to make sure both safeties are walked up into the box.  The best/most efficient way i've found to achieve that is to use the various Dbl Safety Go package, then quickly audible over to your desired play.  Just be careful, DO NOT press your defense once you audible, as it'll revert to base/default alignment and ruin the HEAVY BOX (the technical term for what i'm trying to achieve here) setup.  Hop into practice mode and tinker with it, or play 1 Solo Battle against the CPU (on Veteran) and you'll have the adjustments committed to muscle memory in no time flat.

The plays i am currently using in my Dollar audibles are as follows:

1. DB Fire 2 -- Triangle, then Down to Shade underneath
2. Spinner (almost never run this, but nice to have a Cover 0 Man Blitz, if necessary)
3. FS Zone Blitz -- Triangle, then Up to turn the Seams into Curl Flats
4. Cover 4 Quarters

I'm not particularly great at the game, but i would liek to think I have at least slightly better than average conceptual understanding of how things work, even if i fail to implement or execute at times.  Remember, abilities are EVERYTHING.  To hell with running free Pick Artist, you want to prioritize various Zone KOs, especially Deep + Mid, that is the most elite combination, IMO.  I continue to tinker while i get this new "heavy box" defense dialed in, but so far, so good.  You can throw four wildly different plays at your opponent all from the same exact initial setup.  Barely any adjustments required, i'd say it's almost as quick and easy to set up as Even 6-1, but not quite.  WAY more flexible and versatile, though.

And for heavy sets, i will often trot out this slightly more unique Cover 4 Quarters, out of 3-4 Odd Normal, just to give my opponent a wildly different look.  These one-dimensional, roll-out or Angry Runs toters, typically don't do well if you confuse them.  They're expecting (or hoping) that everyone will be running the same basic Cover 3/4 Zone defense and they've built a scheme to nullify that and evade any X-factor pass rush type pressure, just getting creative is often enough to throw em for a loop and force rage-quits.  Hope something in there helps, please feel free to ask more questions.

peatrick said:

I'm actually coming out in this default Dbl Safety Go formation and then immediately audibling over to my desired play, such as the FS Zone Blitz, or DB Fire 2, perhaps even Cover 4 Quarters, because we can't blitz on every single down.  This is a tremendous help in my experience.

I feel ya on the undecided future.  I bought a second (Digital Edition) PS5 console late last summer, once i figured out that the versions of the game had been fully split between last generation and current consoles, uggh.  For how much i've pissed away on this darn game, i could have a brand new OLED television in my bedroom.  Things aren't getting any better, i'm not convinced EA is capable of improving the state of the game, they prioritize all the wrong things (greed over gameplay).  Truly unfortunate, but nothing can or will change until that exclusive NFL license expires in May 2026.  If EA renews or extends that, uggh we're all doomed.

Oh yeah I’ve played against this but never actually tried using it. Definitely seems like a good way to disguise what you’re doing and get tons of pressure from stacking the box.

I honestly came very close to finally buying a PS5 when all of the Combine Bo Jackson’s came out. He has always been one of my favorite players and the thought of having him in 3-4 different positions just sounded too fun to me. Fortunately I fought the urge and have read so many negative things here in the forums recently to keep me from spending the $$$. EA doesn’t deserve more of  my business with how MUT continues to get progressively worse each year.

the dude with the dollar 3-2 plays is basically all u need to be good on defense to be honest it's realllly not as hard as people make it out to be. But yea u can't just spam YouTube plays u gotta know the explanation behind everything which he provided

peatrick said:

Fantastic questions, i already started to answer your question in a follow-up post i just made.  In order to improve and increase the effectiveness of the these lighter packages and formations (such as Dime/Dollar), i find it's best to make sure both safeties are walked up into the box.  The best/most efficient way i've found to achieve that is to use the various Dbl Safety Go package, then quickly audible over to your desired play.  Just be careful, DO NOT press your defense once you audible, as it'll revert to base/default alignment and ruin the HEAVY BOX (the technical term for what i'm trying to achieve here) setup.  Hop into practice mode and tinker with it, or play 1 Solo Battle against the CPU (on Veteran) and you'll have the adjustments committed to muscle memory in no time flat.

The plays i am currently using in my Dollar audibles are as follows:

1. DB Fire 2 -- Triangle, then Down to Shade underneath
2. Spinner (almost never run this, but nice to have a Cover 0 Man Blitz, if necessary)
3. FS Zone Blitz -- Triangle, then Up to turn the Seams into Curl Flats
4. Cover 4 Quarters

I'm not particularly great at the game, but i would liek to think I have at least slightly better than average conceptual understanding of how things work, even if i fail to implement or execute at times.  Remember, abilities are EVERYTHING.  To hell with running free Pick Artist, you want to prioritize various Zone KOs, especially Deep + Mid, that is the most elite combination, IMO.  I continue to tinker while i get this new "heavy box" defense dialed in, but so far, so good.  You can throw four wildly different plays at your opponent all from the same exact initial setup.  Barely any adjustments required, i'd say it's almost as quick and easy to set up as Even 6-1, but not quite.  WAY more flexible and versatile, though.

And for heavy sets, i will often trot out this slightly more unique Cover 4 Quarters, out of 3-4 Odd Normal, just to give my opponent a wildly different look.  These one-dimensional, roll-out or Angry Runs toters, typically don't do well if you confuse them.  They're expecting (or hoping) that everyone will be running the same basic Cover 3/4 Zone defense and they've built a scheme to nullify that and evade any X-factor pass rush type pressure, just getting creative is often enough to throw em for a loop and force rage-quits.  Hope something in there helps, please feel free to ask more questions.

I tried doing what you recommended last night and it’s just too inconsistent for me, is there any recommendations you have in 6-1 especially stopping corner routes?

EazyBreezy said:

I tried doing what you recommended last night and it’s just too inconsistent for me, is there any recommendations you have in 6-1 especially stopping corner routes?

I haven't run a ton of Even 6-1 this year, but it's up there as far as defenses go.  Usually fairly simple to set up.  Get a few (3-4) plays from this formation you enjoy, but as far as trying to defend against those corner routes, i'd probably come out in Tampa 2.  Turn your Vert Hooks (yellow/greenish color on Slot corners) into Curl Flats, then manually set your Hard Flats for the outside corners, probably to 25-30 yard depth, while keeping the Curl Flats at 5 yards.  This should essentially give you the much desired double-mable style coverage that many/most are using to defend the corners.

peatrick said:

I haven't run a ton of Even 6-1 this year, but it's up there as far as defenses go.  Usually fairly simple to set up.  Get a few (3-4) plays from this formation you enjoy, but as far as trying to defend against those corner routes, i'd probably come out in Tampa 2.  Turn your Vert Hooks (yellow/greenish color on Slot corners) into Curl Flats, then manually set your Hard Flats for the outside corners, probably to 25-30 yard depth, while keeping the Curl Flats at 5 yards.  This should essentially give you the much desired double-mable style coverage that many/most are using to defend the corners.

this will be my final question

what about rpos? I think I got some of it down but sometimes it’s inconsistent 

and the stretches with 2 or 3 TE’s on the field, when it happens I allow like 8-10 YPC

EazyBreezy said:

this will be my final question

what about rpos? I think I got some of it down but sometimes it’s inconsistent 

and the stretches with 2 or 3 TE’s on the field, when it happens I allow like 8-10 YPC

I am hardly the authority on anything MUT-related, but please do not hesitate to ask as many questions as you feel are necessary.  SO many folks in this community helped bless me with knowledge a little over a ~year ago when i first started going down the Ultimate Team rabbit hole.  Trying to pay that forward.  Not to mention, this is how i continue to learn, as well.

The RPO cheese is a massive problem, that i'm also attempting to solve, but has been fairly inconsistent.  My latest approach is to come out in Dime Normal, which can be found in a ton of playbooks, choosing the Cover 3 Buzz Press play that i find works well in both run and passing situations.  Pinch your entire defense, Base align, Man up the (weakside) Slot corner on the receiver that you are expecting the quick pass to go to.  Having one or both DTs with Inside Stuff is helpful to ensure they insta-shed on inside run plays.  Versus the HB Stretch, you should see a gaping hole open up, which will allow your USER to shoot the gap and get a quick diving tackle (by pressing Square on PlayStation), perhaps with Bo (ROLB) as your primary USER/MLB, as he gets both LurkArtist and Secure Tackler for 0AP.

peatrick said:

I am hardly the authority on anything MUT-related, but please do not hesitate to ask as many questions as you feel are necessary.  SO many folks in this community helped bless me with knowledge a little over a ~year ago when i first started going down the Ultimate Team rabbit hole.  Trying to pay that forward.  Not to mention, this is how i continue to learn, as well.

The RPO cheese is a massive problem, that i'm also attempting to solve, but has been fairly inconsistent.  My latest approach is to come out in Dime Normal, which can be found in a ton of playbooks, choosing the Cover 3 Buzz Press play that i find works well in both run and passing situations.  Pinch your entire defense, Base align, Man up the (weakside) Slot corner on the receiver that you are expecting the quick pass to go to.  Having one or both DTs with Inside Stuff is helpful to ensure they insta-shed on inside run plays.  Versus the HB Stretch, you should see a gaping hole open up, which will allow your USER to shoot the gap and get a quick diving tackle (by pressing Square on PlayStation), perhaps with Bo (ROLB) as your primary USER/MLB, as he gets both LurkArtist and Secure Tackler for 0AP.

so after EVERYTHING you said about 6-1, what is the best playbook for it? 
 

also thanks for all this ur one of the most helpful people on this site for this

EazyBreezy said:

so after EVERYTHING you said about 6-1, what is the best playbook for it? 
 

also thanks for all this ur one of the most helpful people on this site for this

If you have the Superbowl - Chiefs playbook, that's almost certainly the one I would (and have) used for 4-3 Even 6-1.  My preference is simply to get more Zone KOs on the field, possibly/probably why I favor Dime Normal versus say, Even 6-1.  I find that the 4-3 Even 6-1 has a glaring weakness against passes over the middle AND especially against defending RPOs.

If you can get a Flat Zone on one (or both) of your Slot corners, that will enable you to use Hard Flats instead of straight up Man to Man on the Slot corner (or outside LB, if using Even 6-1).  You are most welcome, i hope something i've rambled about here is useful to you, or anyone else in the community.  I very much enjoy debating MUT skills and abilities, etc. not to mention theory-crafting strategies with you guys.  "Simulation" fatball SHOULD be a chess match.  Understanding your opponent's tendencies and knowing how to adjust to take those away, if not outright counter them, is absolutely crucial and sets the elite players apart from the rest who are merely running one or two plays they found on whatever e-book or YouTube video.