Today I don’t answer the headline’s question but I answer a few others. I talk about my defensive scheme, predict games today and read off new of askreddit.
Alternate title: PUT HIM IN THE HOLD WITH THE CAPTAINS DAUGHTER
Today is my pack wager with ThatDudeSly. Part 2 will be released shortly. This is the same wager video on Sly’s channel so if you saw it there you can ignore today’s video.
Today Embry and I go through the 46 playbook and talk a lot about how to play the Dime Flat vs various offenses. We also go through the 46 normal and 4-4 defense.
The Dime Flat is only in the Gold playbooks, the 4-3, 46 and Cover 2
Embry is a top 20 player on Xbox One currently and has a deep knowledge of the game. I was #blessed that he agreed to do this video. Thanks Embry!
Today I have a special guest star on a long testing video. ThatDudeSly stops by and we look into style bonuses on Man Defense and Zone Defense. We test out the press and man coverage ratings and their numerical values with each bonus above 60. Some interesting results are found.
The 4-3 has 4 defensive linemen and 3 linebackers. The defensive tackles are in the middle to stuff the run with the ends outside the offensive tackles to contain the run. In the NFL, teams like to have a defensive tackle to rush the passer and one big boy to stop the run. In Madden its a little different. The pass rushing DTs are too big of a liability against the run so I like two players in the middle to stop the run.
The defensive ends on the other hand will be responsible for both stuffing the run and rushing the passer. So I want guys with good speed to be able to get to the outside to contain both the run and any mobile QBs. You don’t want someone with 70 speed trying to chase down Mike Vick. So guys with good speed and pass rushing moves are needed at the ends.
The linebackers in the 4-3 do not rush the passer as frequently as those in a 3-4. The linebackers tend to play more pass coverage and let the D-Line do the pass rushing. So you want high zone coverage and play rec out of your linebackers in the 4-3.
So here is the optimized gold lineup for the 4-3, if you run any exotic blitzes where you drop a defensive lineman into coverage or rush a linebacker, adjust accordingly.
LE – 84 overall Jadeveon Clowney – 4-3 Defensive ends are terrible. Put linebackers here for better production and this Clowney is one of the best in the game at getting to the QB. His speed and acceleration will chase down a lot of scrambling QBs. He also holds up okay in the run game with 87 blockshed. (Backup Dan Williams 84 overall DT for run stuffing situations or opponents that exclusively run the ball)
RE – Anthony Barr 84 overall – Great Speed and power move to hunt down those mobile QBs (Backup Michael Brockers 83 overall DT for run stuffing situations or opponents that exclusively run the ball)
DT – Damon Harrison 83 overall. Some people love a pass rusher and a run stuffer for their DTs. In real life I support this. In Madden I want two run stuffers with high blockshed.
DT – Brandon Williams 84 overall. Same reasoning as above.
LOLB – Nigel Bradham 80 overall
MLB – (USER) Nate Askew (25 coins from EA marketplace) or Telvin Smith 83 overall.
ROLB – Sean Lee 83 overall or Telvin Smith 83 overall for more speed but less play rec
I would not suggest basing your scheme on man coverage with gold players. But it is good to mix it in to confuse the opponent. I am basing these recommendations on you playing zone cover 2,3, or 4 80% of the time.
CB – Ladarius Gunter 84 overall. Tall, decent speed, zone coverage and the second best blockshed for gold corners which is very important with the amount of outside runs this year.
CB – Darius Slay 81 overall – Tall, fast, okay zone. I heard that he plays above his overall.
CB – Quinten Rollins 84 overall – Good blockshed and tackle for an inside corner. Also his zone coverage is pretty good.
CB – Bradley Roby 81 overall – Usually a man specialist because I like to call cover 2 man out of Dime or Quarters in long passing downs.
FS – Dwight Lowery 84 overall – Good speed, zone and play rec. Ideal for a deep defender. (Jimmy Ward if you run a lot of man)
SS – Nate Allen or Ron Parker both 84 overall. You can’t go wrong with either of these playmakers. I’ve heard great things about both.
If you want to put together a very run heavy offense on a budget, get the below players.
I have placed players in order they should appear on your depth chart. So the number 1 WR should be in the number 1 WR spot, 2 in 2, etc. If you want to sub in guys to get your styles above 90, then go right ahead! Have fun building your team.
QB – Johnny Manziel 84 overall is the top option here for running QBs but he’s 15k, Cam Newton’s 84 is great for the option offense and so is Marcus Mariota’s 76 if you promise me you’ll always slide with your QB and not take a hit. Otherwise get Matt Stafford for pocket passing situations.
HB – 1. Duke Johnson 79 overall – First down runner. OR Charcandrick West 82 overall TOTW has 93 speed with 92 elusiveness, 96 accel and 93 juke and would be a good alternative. OR Karlos Williams 84 overall TOTW if you want more trucking in your back but still great speed.
Dri Archer 70 overall MF if you can afford it –For outside runs and tosses. If not his base silver does a good job getting out wide.
Chris Ivory 84 overall TOTW for inside runs and short yardage
Reggie Bush 77 overall for catching passes out of the backfield
Don’t let Duke get fatigued. Use Archer and Ivory generously.
FB –Patrick DiMarco 81 overall RTTP. After playing the game for a while I’ve come to realize awareness at this position is most important. A TE will suffer an awareness drop when moved to FB. All FBs are expensive but get Patrick DiMarco’s 81 overall RTTP card which has 82 awareness with 83 run block and 80 impact.
WR – You must get 91 Amari Cooper. Either do Journey 2 for him which isn’t too tough or scrape enough coins together. He is a gamechanger. You will get production from him that you won’t get from other players around his price level. He’s the game’s best value right now.
Amari Cooper 91 overall (replace with Dorial Green-Beckham 83 overall until obtainable. Huge deep threat this DGB is.)
Michael Floyd 84 overall TOTW
Keenan Allen 83 overall 95 route running 93 CIT. Great for 3rd downs.
Tavon Austin 75 overall – 95 speed for drags and beating man coverage with speed. Also should be your kick and punt returner.
sponsor: surprise guests. The last sir prize I got ended up causing a confusing time in my life.
This dude is the journey 2 reward and should be the first major purchase for any team looking to compete. More important than a QB, HB or defensive player is a cheap, reliable and speedy WR. (foxy gut) They usually only come in 2 of those 3 categories. To find one in all three really makes a difference for your offense. If this guy was rated 95 overall I wouldn’t question it. (foxy gut)
Cost: 37k on the xbox one
Stats:
Physical – 6’1 211 pounds (foxy gut)
95 speed – This is what really makes this card special. There are only 5 elite cards faster than this one. One of them is 2 million coins, 3 of the others are over 100k and the other is Tavon Austin’s 86 overall who is only good with the ball in his hands and not so great when it is coming at them. Amari Cooper is the cheapest elite WR you’ll get over 91 speed with the exception of Martavis Bryant’s 85 card with 93 speed.
91 accel – Now this is a little low and he’ll take time to get moving like I do in the morning but 91 is nothing embarrassingly slow like my reactions to an insult. (foxy gut)
96 agility – This is for moving side to side like a politician, perfect for changing direction like Shia LaBeouf’s career. This combines with the juke and spin to make him hard to take down and allows for better control with the thumb sticks.
90 jumping – We’ll get to this more when we talk about spec catch and his weakness on jump balls. (no, talk about it now, you always procrastinate, like that one time you didn’t wash your cloths so you had to wear mine) But dat silk on my skin doe. Okay we can talk about it now. Well, jump balls aren’t his greatest asset. But height doesn’t seem to play as big a factor in it this year but for some animations jumping definitely does. Relatively low jumping when compared to other elite WRs and a short stature and spec catch means you need another card like either of Martavis Bryant’s TOTW cards if you’re looking for that type of role. (oh, and why do you never roll play with me? I asked you to be the bad boy once and you pushed milk off the table and started crying) That’s what bad boys do.
Catching:
95 catch – Catching happens when no one is around the player. (you’re the only player that nobodies is around) At 95 catch you won’t have any issue with drops.
96 catch in traffic – This is so money( how money is it?) It’s so money I could finally buy liquor in bottles bigger than my hand. (How money is it?) It’s so money I can finally pay off your pimp. (How money is it?) It’s so money I can buy vegetables with all the extra money. I won’t but I could.
93 spec catch – This goes with his lack of jump and height. He’s not a receiver you send into the corner of the end zone for a jump ball. But he’ll still get some animations, not all of them lion king quality like Fitz’s 94 overall.
94 route running – His route running combined with the speed will get separation like my father from this family. (what are you talking about, your father isn’t separated from this family, he just told you to leave the house, you were 38 and still living there) Corner, C-routes, posts to beat man, he can do them. Wonderful route running and speed makes him John Wayne Gacy. A man killer
90 release – Pretty good but he’ll get jammed for a little while by top tier CBs and my grandmas’ bumble berry breakfast jam toast. When I’ve played against Amari he was able to break the press on my Jonathan Joseph and DC Pat Pete and beat them deep for a TD a couple times. Both with a +5 to press with 90 man defense style. (90 style, that’s why you play video games, to escape from your lack of style)
75 awareness – He won’t turn his head early in the play. Just like I won’t turn my head up from my phone when listening to foxy gut ramble about her day. Just like I won’t take my lips off that glass of whiskey when you are telling me about yours. Gulp, gulp
Running with the ball
90 elusiveness
91 ball carrier vision
92 spin
94 juke move- Great all around, he’s no Tavon Austin but can shed a tackle from a DB nicely. He breaks tackles like foxy gut breaks hearts.
Run blocking:
60 run block
60 impact block – Not a great run blocker but will shut down and lock up DRC and other low blockshed cbs
His biggest limitation is his lack of height, jumping and spec catch ability. That just isn’t the strength of his game. But overall he’s phenomenal for a short to medium passing game and can burn some of the slower and even some of the faster DBs on streaks. (He’s very well rounded with his only weakness the jump ball.