Analysis: The Fangio Defense

[run pMc]

Where the duck is Nutz? I think he’s defensive coordinator for an all-white suburban Wisconsin high school.

I’d like to ask him about the “pistol force” and why defensive coaches refuse to take out inside linebackers are obvious passing downs. There are rare exceptions but inside linebackers are usually slow and can’t cover. Having an inside linebacker in on an obvious passing down is just asking to be exploited.

On Madden, my “nickel” consists of Gary Ligtbody, Wyatt, Cletidus and Vanilla Ice in the trenches. The DBs are J-Alex, Stokes, Nixon, Savage and Ford. The “linebackers” are Owens and Zayne Anderson.

My “dime” consists of all of the above except sub Clark and Wyatt for P-Smith and Enagbare, and sub Anderson for Valentine.

I am allowing less than 12 points a game against online opponents while blitzing on 82% of the downs.

You're running a pressure defense with a blitz rate higher than anything done in the NFL currently. Very risky, especially if your job depends on it. Still, I kind of like it.
There's some talk that the pendulum will swing away from zone coverage that forces long drives down the field back to pressure defenses.

I agree playing 2 ILBs in nickel on a 3rd and 12 is iffy -- I'd think you'd want speed and coverage ability on the field.

The danger of taking your backers off the field is something like a screen where they can get 250-300 pound blockers on your 200 pound CBs. That's a mismatch. Still, I'd think you'd play more dime than nickel in those situations. Barry likes nickel.

[texaspackerbacker]

You're running a pressure defense with a blitz rate higher than anything done in the NFL currently. Very risky, especially if your job depends on it. Still, I kind of like it.
There's some talk that the pendulum will swing away from zone coverage that forces long drives down the field back to pressure defenses.

I agree playing 2 ILBs in nickel on a 3rd and 12 is iffy -- I'd think you'd want speed and coverage ability on the field.

The danger of taking your backers off the field is something like a screen where they can get 250-300 pound blockers on your 200 pound CBs. That's a mismatch. Still, I'd think you'd play more dime than nickel in those situations. Barry likes nickel.

Good analysis of APB's Madden D. I never played Madden, but since it's just regular people playing mostly, I suspect they pass at a higher rate than the real NFL - hence the reason for APB's Madden success. I suspect he also benefits from having Jaire, Stokes, and Savage healthy and playing the way they are supposed to play in the Madden game.

In the real world, though, it's even more iffy having ILBs who can't cover guarding the short middle zone or worse yet, manning up with a WR or even a quality TE.

Assuming you're correct about LaFleur demanding Barry play that semi-Fangio scheme, it appears we're sort of stuck with the same thing even if we get a new guy. The even bigger problem with Barry, though, is his apparent inability to adjust. Hopefully we get somebody better that way.