Hey all, this is a "basic" gameplan I came up with to help anyone who is having issues still with 4.6 or wants to try something new. I'm writing this because I remember someone writing something similar to this for 4.5 when I was new and I found it very helpful. This gameplan is going to be telling you what offensive and defensive playbooks you need for this, several defensive rules, enough plays to not get hit with play overuse while allowing you to add plays you like if they are not listed, and my general thoughts behind the rules/plays and most important positions. I am currently working on a more thorough written guide for 4.6 detailing my approach to the game so this will not be extremely dense with explanations and when the guide is finished I will edit it into the post here and post a new comment when that happens.
EDIT: Here is the link to my approach, it does not really explain these rules much but talks about why I use these plays;
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tu0Sy1SbseNx_zuB-DosfgeKTJ_J35qk/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106622116482848808367&rtpof=true&sd=true.For proof of success with this gameplan I am going to link to the Colts I have in Paydirt using these defensive rules:
https://paydirt.myfootballnow.com/team/16 as well as link to the Wranglers in XFL who is using a similar offense:
https://xfl.myfootballnow.com/team/23. Special mention of the Brunei Browns who went from first overall pick to league champs using this system (granted with the flat zone):
https://victory.myfootballnow.com/team/17.
First, you will need a head coach with the playbooks of Pass Focused Offense and Heavy Blitzing (4-3). Other playbooks can work but these two are what I know will have all the plays listed. The pass focused offense gives you the 212 twin wr set which has very good passing plays and the heavy blitzing 4-3 defense gives us enough blitzes to not get hit with play overuse.
Second, your offensive plays and sliders. Set your outside run slider to 18, inside run slider to 22 , and your pass sliders to 30. Runs are easier for your opponent to counter while having good skill players and play calls will make passing more successful than running. For your formation sliders set every formation to 1. The game will adjust and you will have an equal chance of calling any play of the play types. For outside runs select: 311 HB Strong Outside, 203 Shotgun Sweep, 113 HB Counter Weak, and any others you like. For inside runs select: 212 HB Inside Weak, 113 HB Dive Strong, 203 Dive Right, 113 HB Inside Weak, 122 HB Inside Strong, 203 Shotgun Dive, 113 HB Dive Weak, 212 HB Dive, 203 Dive Left, and any other runs you like. For short passes select: SE Quick Hit, Quick Outs, Hard Slants, Backfield Drag, WR Quick Out, HB Flare, PA Flats, WR Quick In, TE Quick Out, and any others you like. For medium passes select: WR Corner TE Middle, Slot Post, HB Flare, Max Protect, TE Post, HB Release Mid, Play Action HB Downfield, FL Post, WR Deep, and any others you like. For every formation you have a run and pass selected making it harder for your opponent to key on your plays by formation. Long passes are very bad and you should not call them IMO but it is your team.
Third select your defensive plays of 4-3 Man Under 1, 4-3 WLB MLB Blitz, 4-3 Double LB Blitz, 4-3 OLB Blitz Inside, 4-3 OLB Blitz Outside, 4-3 Double WR3, 4-3 WLB Blitz Outside, 4-3 Double WR1, both 4-3 Double Safety Blitz's, and Dime Man Cover 1. The basis of this defense is that we often want to be in Man Under 1 in situations where our opponent is likely to pass the ball and we can afford to let them run into it. It is a strong versatile play that generally doesn't give up too much against almost every run. If we are not in Man Under 1, we want to be blitzing two linebackers because it will stuff almost every run behind the LoS and with competent DBs will not be detrimental against the pass. Seriously, blitzing is really good.
Fourth let's set up our defensive rules and anything needed from the misc tab in the gameplanning section. Our GP Distance Adjustment Speed will be set to 4, but you can play around with it if you like. Our Hurry Up value will be set to 3, while our Slow Down value will be 1. As I said runs can be stuffed easy and we don't want to have several three and outs at the end of the game because we ran into blitzes. A reminder all these rules are defensive rules and when I'm discussing sliders the values I'm describing apply to personnel first, then secondary, then linebackers, and finally key. When I say something should always be done that means that slider should have a non-zero value while all other sliders have zero as their value.
Our first rule is to Blitz 1 vs 113 sets as Man Under 1 does not do well against 113 runs. The conditions for the rule will be for all 4 downs, short/medium/long distances, location will be from own 0 - opponent 0, personnel 113, quarter will be All Game, time from 15:00 to 0:00, and score from down 29+ to up 17+. The sliders will be set to only use the normal defensive backfield, only use man coverage for the secondary, only blitz 1 for the linebackers, and to pass key every play. This shuts down 113 runs and generally has decent matchups against the eligible receivers. After the second time a run is called your defense will correct itself into the correct run key. We don't care though because your WLB should blow up most runs regardless.
Our second rule will be for 1st/4th down and medium/long distance. The location will be from own 0 - to opponent 0, personnel will be 113, 122, 203, 212, 221, 311, quarter will be All Game, time from 15:00 to 0:00, and score from down 29+ to up 29+. The sliders will be set to only use the normal defensive backfield, 1 deep man coverage at 80 and man coverage at 20, blitz 2 at 50 and zone in at 50, and always to pass key. At medium/long we should be able to stop the run to keep us at a good distance for 2nd down while also being in our best pass defense. You can change the blitz rate by moving the secondary man coverage slider.
Our third rule is 1st/4th down and short distance. It will use the same conditions as above as well as the same sliders for personnel, linebackers, and key. Your secondary sliders will have 1 deep man coverage at 40 and man coverage at 60. Less distance means it's more likely we can not give up the normal amount of rushing yards.
Our fourth rule is 2nd/3rd down and short/medium distance. The conditions will be the same as the 1st/4th down rule just for 2nd/3rd down and short/medium distance instead. The sliders will be set to only use the normal defensive backfield, 1 deep man coverage at 35 and man coverage at 65, the same linebacker sliders we have been using, and a pass key. If you don't want to blitz as often or this much you can use whatever ratio you want/a previous ratio from a different rule.
Our fifth rule is 2nd/3rd down and long distance. The conditions will be the same as the above rule just for the long distance instead. The sliders will be set to only use the normal defensive backfield, 1 deep man coverage at 67 and man coverage at 33, the same linebacker sliders we have been using, and a pass key. We want to blitz occasionally to take away RB routes or someone trying to catch us sleeping for a large run while still dropping back and keeping ourselves into a good down/distance.
Our sixth rule is to call our Dime Cover 1 against any pass set. We will set the conditions to all downs, short/med/long distances, location on the field from our 0 to opponents 0, personnel to 005, 104, 014, quarter will be All Game, time from 15:00 to 0:00, and score from down 29+ to up 29+. Our sliders will put us only in Dime personnel, only use 1 deep man coverage, only use zone coverage, and to pass key. In general you want CBs vs WRs defensively and to always rush the passer with four players which is why we use this dime play. There is an added bonus that the MLB and FS are playing zone coverage to help others out.
Our seventh rule is to call double safety blitz against the goal line(230) set. We will set the conditions to all downs, short/med/long distances, location on the field from our 0 to opponents 0, personnel to 230, quarter will be All Game, time from 15:00 to 0:00, and score from down 29+ to up 29+. Our sliders will be set to normal defensive backfield only, safety blitz only, man 50 and zone in 50 for our linebackers, and to pass key. These two plays will send the safeties straight to the LoS to blow up all 230 run plays. The passing play from the 230 is not dangerous enough for us to take seriously outside of pass keying.
Our eighth and last rule is a catch all rule to call Man Under 1 in the event none of our other rules apply. This happens when you accidently set up your rules incorrectly by forgetting a condition or by not having a rule apply as much as you thought. This should be unnecessary but I always use it just in case as I don't want the defensive play matrix to select a play. For the conditions you will select all downs, distances, the location from own 0 - opponent 0, all personnel groups, all game, from down 29+ to up 29+ with your sliders set to normal defensive backfield, 1 deep man coverage, zone in, and to pass key. This needs to be your last defensive rule.
Now for the important positions. Your three most important positions defensively are CB2, FS, and MLB. Your CB2 is the reason the slant route isn't thrown much thanks to B&R coverage being overpowered. Your FS will be covering primarily the TE1, WR3, and TE2 who are all currently targeted often with the best offensive plays. Your MLB is going to be the glue of your defense needing to perform a variety of roles from M2M coverage, zone coverage, and likely leading your defense in tackling. Your three most important positions offensively are TE1, RB1, and WR3. Your TE1 will be getting the lion's share of your targets and ideally should be as fast as possible. Your RB1 is obviously getting most of your carries and needs speed to hit the hole before the defense can react, but will also be a large part of your passing offense so he will need good route running and receiving courage. WR3 is the WR who is the most often targeted WR on routes that are not drags or actual hitches and also has the greatest chance of breaking a long pass should he lose his coverage.
Some quick and dirty roster rules: Once your QB has 80 pass accuracy he is start-able. However you will see better results the higher his INT, Look Off, Passing Release, and Field of View are. Offensive lineman should have greater than 80 pass blocking otherwise they are glorified turnstiles who shouldn't be rostered. Run blocking doesn't matter nearly as much in 4.6. Your WLB should have as close to 100 tackle as possible while your SLB should have as close to 100 M2M coverage as possible. All of your players should be as fast as possible. Maybe kicker and punter are the positions that don't benefit from speed, but everyone else you will see a difference. My personal preference is to not start any skill player with less than 80 speed if I can help it. If someone is in the 70s though with high acceleration/other skills they can be good too though. If you are going to start an OL with less than 80 pass blocking put him at LG. It is the only position where he will not immediately have to block someone. OL should also have at least 40 speed/acceleration to not get beaten immediately at the LoS.
You can change the down and distance rules to as you see fit, this is just what I decided on when I first had the idea of making a system for other people to implement. If you want to add more defensive plays be my guest, however I feel that most nickel/dime plays leave you too weak to the run while zone defensive plays are just garbage. If you want to add your own rules you can do so, just remember that the first rule encountered is the one that's used so put the most specific rules at the top. If you have any questions I would prefer you comment as opposed to PMing me so that everyone can see it as I want this thread to help people become more competitive at the game :)
Last edited at 1/06/2023 5:53 pm
