Okay, so in MFN-7 I went Defense with a 'Ball Control' (code word, Sucky) Offense.

In MFN-73, I went All Out Pass Offense.

The idea in MFN-73, at least as I build the roster (1-15, now 8-6 with a likely 9-7 finish) is to Get Ahead Early, forcing teams to Throw.

Since I want them to Throw... I only play Nickel and Dime Sets. I'll say it again, my only Defensive Plays are Nickel and Dime.

Insanity, I know. HOWEVER... I think it's working. Which is insane, because I went deep Drafting Offense... so my Defense only has like 2-3 guys on it that 'matter'. I don't even really have my 'Coverage Guys' in place... and that's the majority of the Defenders I'll be relying on.

But I've found something interesting... my DL somehow still manages to produce.

In 14 Games I have a DT with 12 Sacks and 48 Tackles, an LDE with 14 Sacks and 34 Tackles, and a RDE with 14 Sacks and 39 Tackles. My Rotational DT has 5 Sacks and 16 Tackles. That's 45 Sacks from my 3 Down Lineman Set.

And somehow, despite not having 100 SPD or 100 M2M or anything like that... my Catch Allowed : Thrown At Ratios are really good.

Roland Kern (CB) 95 Tackles, Thrown At 111, Catch Allowed 44 (KD9, INT 3). 39.64% CAR.
Thomas Hill (FS) 72 Tackles, TA 105, CA 34 (KD 7, INT 1). 32.38% CAR.
Richard Adams (CB) 57 Tackles, 103 TA, 42 CA (KD 6, INT 0). 40.78% CAR.
Domingo Hartle (SS) 68 Tackles, 101 TA, 32 CA (KD 2, INT 2). 31.68% CAR.
Angel Woodward (CB) 45 Tackles, 89 TA, 34 CA, (KD 5, INT 0). 38.20% CAR.
Adam Werner (SS) 33 Tackles, 76 TA, 33 CA (KD 3, INT 0). 43.42% CAR.
Kevin Hester (MLB) 67 Tackles, 67 TA, 22 CA (KD 7, INT 2). 32.84% CAR.
Floyd Johnson (FS) 27 Tackles, 55 TA, 20 CA (KD 1, INT 1). 36.36% CAR.
Rudolph Egan (WLB) 36 Tackles, 43 TA, 14 CA (KD 0, INT 1). 32.56% CAR.
Manuel Lawrence (MLB) 17 Tackles, 32 TA, 11 CA (KD 4, INT 0). 34.38% CAR.
Enrique Grove (SLB) 18 Tackles, 16 TA, 3 CA (KD 0, INT 1). 18.75% CAR.
Ian Cook (SS) 3 Tackles, 5 TA, 0 CA (KD 0, INT 0). 00.00% CAR.

I mean, NONE of these guys are 'special'... Kevin Hester is likely the best of the bunch and he's just a Fast LB with limited Tackle/Coverage.

But some how... that CAR. They don't allow Completions.

Now, I know 'Thrown At' and 'Catch Allowed' are said to be broken... but it lines up a bit with what is happening in the Games, my D forcing 3 and Outs despite being all in Dime and Nickel... and ESPECIALLY while not being particularly Talented.

I just blanket the field with Coverages and try to get ahead to induce more passes... then hope my Front 3 can wreck some havoc and get the Run Game from exploding.

this is interesting. I stopped using 8 guys in coverage because I was getting killed on the run, but what you say makes a lot of sense. If they aren't running the ball, the run won't kill you...

Feel free to check out Cleveland in MFN-73. You can go over all the numbers and such yourself, watch the Games.

I'm in my 2nd Season (well, the League is actually) and was 1-15 last year. I'm 8-6 with 2 games left, but will likely miss the final Wild Card slot. So that's a pretty good jump.

This team was all about Passing... the Defense was really just glossed over. I got a good DE and DT, and a fast MLB... and that's really it.

Some how sucky players are producing well, and I can only assume it's because I have so many guys back in coverage with the addition of some really good pressure (not great, but good) from my 3 Man DL.

It's a concept I want to test further.

But yeah, if I don't get a lead I likely get controlled that game. I'll have to go back and check tape when the Season is done.

Could be very 'live by the sword, die by the sword'.

This is how the game works. Still, a normal QB would just make a smart decision in many of these sacks or incompletions. Another tell to look at the db/ WR interactions, but why not timing too!

I think it has to do more with the play familiarity bonus you're getting due to playing the limited amount of plays/formations. This is something to look out for going forward after the new update.

I just recognized that the really good Defense i faced, run mostly just 2 Plays. In the last 2 Games they have 2 Plays (Both CB3 Blitzes) with over 210 Calls(last 10 Games) and the 3rd most Play has just 15 Calls. It's impossible to Gameplan against this in MFN cause just 1 Midweek isn't enough. Maybe you should possible gameplan 5 Times against 1 Play to be at 100% good against this Play. Because that is what i would Do in Real Life. They would never have a chance with just 2 Plays. I think this is the way to cheat this Game in the moment.

Bye the way. I lost the Game and they sacked me 9 times...

This is something that is being worked on right now. The bonus of play familiarity has been overpowering the penalty of over using a play. The penalty will be increased in the mfn 1 (test league) but I can't remember exactly by how much or when it'll be pushed through all leagues. I know it's a b.s. move and have seen teams won championships cause of it.

These numbers can throw you off a little bit when judging your defensive performance as a whole. A couple of your high thrown at dbs are 40 percent which isn't all that good when you take in consideration that your 31st in yards a completion.

So instead of all the dink and dunk catches that hurt your dbs stats but helps your defense its ***** being completed downfield at that percent is gonna result in the 30th ranked pass d in yards. The real number that tells the whole story is comp. percentage as a team. Your defense was 31st in that category. So as I break this down not to prove your wrong but because it's one of my favorite stats that can make absolutely no sense sometimes. But keeps me intrigued.

So all that pass defense and personnel on the field you would hope for better passing ranks for the three most important categories. On top of it your rush defense is 32nd.

I would argue the reason for these numbers is a lot of shootouts because your a heavy pass offense. Also your probably not getting the pressure needed, on top of the 40 + from your DL you need another 40 + from your backers to really cut comp percentage down. Ecspecially with as many drop backs there qbs are taking you have to account for the increase of attempts with increasing your Sacks.

That does help put things into a greater perspective.

But we also have to consider that my DBs are really trash, really garbage players. So I'm hoping the YPA can go down, and the Sacks can go up, as I add actual Quality DBs in the mix (more coverage sacks, better Coverage Deep).

Either way, it's the path I went and it's showing some good things... can't exactly reverse course entirely at this junction.

Now I'm wondering where the most impact in Coverage might be made by Position. Grabbing that CB1 that can attempt to lock down a WR1 (had some go BIG against me), or a FS to help put a cover on it... or a SS that can help stick the run while taking away more TE/RB receptions.

We'll see how it goes... but I know that I'll be looking for about 7 Deep at DE, with only 1-2 'real' LBs, and about 4-5 DL that can rotate.

Ya when I took my old team back over I dident realize I was gonna have to win out to get in the playoffs. 8 in a row seems like a stretch and what do you know I have to finish it out against that exact defense we're talking about. So you can be the ultimate spoiler. With that said... we're on a mission.