With Secure Protectors across the O-line - are abilities on the D-line worth it at this point?

Seems you can't get the insta-sheds on with inside stuff, no outsiders, etc.

Are things like Edge Threat or ETE even viable?

haroongto said:

Seems you can't get the insta-sheds on with inside stuff, no outsiders, etc.

Are things like Edge Threat or ETE even viable?

While Secure Protectors can, will and do prevent the insta-sheds, there's still potential for other types of "super-wins" in both pass and run defense.  For example, you can still see the player's star light up when abilities activate, even if they are being directly countered by SecurePro, at least initially.  As with many things, it depends.  Due to all the Bo Jackson QBs everywhere, for a brief moment the meta sort of shifted to where you'd want Edge Threat Elite or something that could help to generate the "Under Pressure" style misthrows that Bo would often suffer from.  For that very reason, YES i've been running ETE on JJ Watt for a minute, although it's not super effective.  Hard to recommend anyone waste 1AP on it, when you could add another Mid Zone KO which would actually be effective or useful.

That being said, i feel liek we've got SO much AP on defense now, i'm still running a couple Inside Stuffs and No Outsiders on my D-line.  They definitely will not be as effective as in the past, prior to SecurePro -- but they still offer benefits.  I would encourage everyone to prioritize various Zone KOs before investing into D-line abilities.  From there, go nuts, once you have at least 6 Mid Zone KOs on the field, then go D-line, perhaps.

Once you have gotten KO's on everyone in your secondary then you can start to worry about your D-Line's abilities.  D-Line should be the last thing you put abilities on. The way I view it is that if you don't have the abilities you have no chance of anything good happening because of secure protector.  But if you have some D-Line abilities there is at least a chance of frequent sacks or pressures.  But remember, not everyone has secure protectors on every lineman, so you should have one or two D-Line abilities.

BasketballQB1 said:

Once you have gotten KO's on everyone in your secondary then you can start to worry about your D-Line's abilities.  D-Line should be the last thing you put abilities on. The way I view it is that if you don't have the abilities you have no chance of anything good happening because of secure protector.  But if you have some D-Line abilities there is at least a chance of frequent sacks or pressures.  But remember, not everyone has secure protectors on every lineman, so you should have one or two D-Line abilities.

I mean it's pretty late in the year, and I already got my secondary stacked out with all the KO's. Pretty much everyone I play in h2h has SP across the line. Maybe once a blue moon I'll come across one who doesn't, but that's because they are low OVR and will get stomped anyhow.

No idea what to do with the leftover AP i got

haroongto said:

I mean it's pretty late in the year, and I already got my secondary stacked out with all the KO's. Pretty much everyone I play in h2h has SP across the line. Maybe once a blue moon I'll come across one who doesn't, but that's because they are low OVR and will get stomped anyhow.

No idea what to do with the leftover AP i got

If you still have extra AP to spend, i'd definitely consider running one or two Inside Stuffs and/or No Outsiders across your entire D-line.  I've kept Christian Barmore around for that very reason, he's super versatile.  He's been an interior lineman next to Warren Sapp since Easter promo dropped, it's kind of incredible how often those run defense abilities trigger, even if they are initially countered by Secure Protectors.

If all else fails and you still have more AP to invest, i'd consider trying to acquire any player with the Momentum Shift ability, which is still ridiculously expensive.  I haven't had much success getting Lawrence Taylor to reactivate, as it required multiple (2) successful Hit Sticks in order to re-activate.  I could keep him hidden on the bench and bring him in once I see my opponent has X-factors about to trigger, but i'd prefer to use him as a primary edge rusher, opposite JJ Watt, for now.

All of your DBs have both Mid + Deep Zone and Pick Artist?  I am overpaying for Tariq Woolen's stack, he's got 5AP for Universal Coverage, Mid Zone, Deep Zone & Pick Artist.  Nine plays feels liek an eternity to go without Mid Zone on Riq at outside corner.

Yeah D-Line x-factors are dead, it’s all about coverage x factors now

The only DL x-factor worth running is momentum shift on Donald/Fridge. With SP and All Day stacked on OL, the DL x-factors are much, much less effective.