For play selection strategy. One can look at the presnap alignment and assignments.

For running the ball. Specifically the right defensive tackle as he is shaded towards the center leaving a large hole to his right. Play over use is going to change the results but running at that gap off the left shoulder of the left guard is the defenses weak point.

Passing is trickier due to the fact base defenses (ones with no blitzes) are not calculated for the overuse penalty, which is actually a ratings boost for the other teams skill ratings.

The outside linebackers drop at angle into the hook zone…. pending it’s a quicker pass. 4.6 has some effective offensive plays that are such but these OLBs take away from hitches, slants, outs and even deep posts with maximum effect .

But here I would look at the responsibilities of the cover guys and With the OLBs acting as safeties the weak spot is over the middle. But the key it to clear that middle linebacker out.

And you do that by noting his assignment which is wr5. In a 2-1-2 that would be the FB. Say it was a 3 wr set with two backs it also would be the FB who would to be going out into the flats. He is the one to open up the middle of the field for another receiver who is going to be the actual target where the MLB once was.

Noting the names of the offensive play along with the distance of the routes denotes the primary and secondary receivers. Still randomness is thrown in to there by the code but one can “work” OLB zone flats. It’s just tough do to the because of how tough passing is in general.

Great info guys, thanks!

AG or anybody else who feels like commenting -

Are there any other defensive plays that have this same negative familiarity penalty against your offense that flat zone did? Noticing a few specific nickel plays that have high negative familiarity by my offense and just wondering if I should not bother scouting those plays either. Thanks.

Not sure about negative familiarity plays but 3-4 man cover 1, 4-3 under cover 1, and dime normal man cover 1 are used frequently by many owners to great effect. I typically don’t use nickel unless I have to as it is too susceptible to the run against 113 and 23 formations.

I'm not a fan of nickel either because it can give up those gash runs, but it's the price of doing business against the owners who can still consistently get 250-300 yards passing in 4.6. I was just worried about hurting my offense further by scouting plays with -10 or -15 familiarity already and compounding the problem like with flat zone.

Yeah, again, I'm not sure. I haven't noticed anything with the scouting on my end. It's possible the analytics experts have found plays that can do that.

As an owner who can get 250-300 passing yards consistently in 4.6 you should use defensive plays that have the least yards lost per-average

Any play that does not designate LBs or DBs blitzing does the trick. Obviously some plays that fit this designation are garbage, but the lack of a LB or DB blitzing solely means the play can be used without worry about an overuse penalty. According to seth, it's not even really negative familiarity but just a glitch in the site, but JDB set it for such plays to not gain familiarity that plays with blitzes can.

The reason that blitzing plays have become important (as I am sure AG alluded to in his guide) is because they prevent you from being run all over if you solely call something like a 3-4 Man Cover 1 or 4-3 Man Under 1 (just to name some of the more popular examples).

I'll also add: none of these other plays are as effective as OLB Flat Zone was.

Another addendum: designated as blitzing is not the same as actually blitzing sometimes. For example, 3-4 Man Cover 1 has the WLB blitzing on the play but when you click on the play card or scout the play, it'll say "LB: Zone In". 3-4 Double WR 2 has the same WLB blitzing but if you click on the play card or scout the play, it'll say "LB: Blitz 1". What this means is that 3-4 Man Cover 1 will never get an overuse penalty against it but 3-4 Double WR 2 will despite the same guy blitzing on both plays.