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Rob.
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The defensive playbook and tactics can be a bit overwhelming and downright confusing for most people. I'm going to try to clear things up.

The major issue DC's face is that the playbook is formation specific, but the tactics are not. The key to making this work is by trying to synchronize all of your formations.

Here is a very basic set of plays and tactics to face a balanced offense:

Goal Line:
5-2 Man Base (Short Pass/Run Man Defense) *5 priority*
5-2 Cover 1 Man Under (Short Pass/Run Man Defense) *1 priority*

2TE:
5-2 Man Base (Short Pass/Run)
4-3 Cover 2 Man Under (Medium Pass/Run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

2WR:
4-4 Zero Edge Blitz (Short Pass/Run Blitz)
4-3 2 Man Under (Medium Pass/Run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

3WR:
Nickel 3-3-5 Man Base (Short Pass/Run)
Dime 2 Man Under (Medium Pass/Run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

4WR:
Dime Cover 1 Lurk (Short Pass/Run)
Dime 2 Man Under (Medium Pass/Run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

5WR:
4-4 Zero Edge Blitz (Short Pass/Run Blitz) *5 priority
Nickel 3-3-5 Dogs All Go (Short Pass/Run Blitz) *1 priority


As you can see, in most formations we have a short pass, a medium pass and an inside run play.

Now let's look at our tactics and see how we can get the right plays called in the right situations.

Here is the priority in regards to tactics and the plays that will be called:

1. Pass Short/Pass Medium/Pass Long/Run Inside/Run Outside
Most tactics decisions are decided right here.

2. Zone Percentage
If and only if you have two plays with the same tag, like short pass, and one is a zone and one isn't, this setting will come into play.

3. Blitz Percentage
If and only if you have two plays with the same tag, like short pass, and one is a blitz and one isn't, this setting will come into play.

Now let's fill out some tactics.

1st down:
I am going to put 100 in the short pass box.
With this setting, these plays will get called:

Goal line - 5 of 6 times it will call 5-2 Man Base. If you look at the two plays in the goal line formation, they are both tagged exactly the same (Short pass/run Man). If you put only two plays in against one formation and they are tagged exactly the same, you are essentially bypassing the tactics. So you can control play calling with the play priority boxes. Since we set Man Base at 5 priority, it's going to get called the majority of the time.

2TE - 5-2 man base is going to get called. It is the only short pass in the playbook against that formation.

2WR - 4-4 Zero Edge Blitz is going to get called. It is the only short pass in the playbook against that formation.
(This play is a blitz, but the blitz setting doesn't matter since this is the only short pass option)

3WR - Nickel 3-3-5 man base is going to get called. It is the only short pass in the playbook against that formation.

4WR - Dime Cover 1 lurk is going to get called. It is the only short pass in the playbook against that formation.

5WR - Just like goal line formation, we picked two plays that have identical tags, so the play priority is going to force ZEB to get called the majority of the time.

What we have accomplished is a decent run stopping defense on first down.

Now let's look at 2nd and very short. Generally this is set at 2nd down and 3 yards or less, but you can adjust it to be smaller or larger. Most balanced teams will want to pick up the first down in this situation by running inside.

So we will put 100 in the inside run box. Against most formations this is going to call Middle overload since it is the only inside run defense in the playbook.

For the rest of our tactics we can set the numbers based on what we want called based on the opposing offenses tendencies. We will probably call "short pass" plays in shorter distances, "inside run" against very short distances and "medium pass" against longer distances.

For example on 2nd and very long, we put 100 in medium pass, these plays will be called:

Goal Line: Mostly 5-2 Man Base
2TE: 4-3 Cover 2 Man Under
2WR: 4-3 Cover 2 Man Under
3WR: Dime 2 Man Under
4WR: Dime 2 Man Under
5WR: Mostly ZEB

As you can see, this is quite simple if you align your playbook and tactics. You can add even more dimensions by mixing similar tagged plays with some being blitzes and some not.

Everything I just outlined is probably still confusing for most, so please ask questions below and I will try to help.

Here is Paraboon's Guide: http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/forum/thread/5230999

Another Good Discussion: http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/forum/thread/5224667

The breakthrough: http://glb2.warriorgeneral.com/game/forum/thread/5230939

Originally posted by Rob.
First, the sim will check the boxes for Pass Short, Pass Medium, Pass Long, Inside Run and Outside run and make a choice.
Which choice the sim picks is based on the numbers in these boxes. If 100 is in the Pass Short Box, it will pick Pass Short
every time. If you have 30 Pass Short, 30 Pass Medium and 40 Inside Run it will pick Pass Short 30% of the time, Pass Medium
30% of the time and Inside Run 40% of the time.

Once the sim decides what type of play it is looking for, it will look at your playbook and see if you have any matching plays.
Let's say it chooses short pass, and you are currently facing 3WR offense. It will look at your 3WR plays and pick a short play.

If you have only 1 play labeled as short pass against that formation, then that play will get called every time.

If you have more than 1 play labeled as short pass against that formation it will then check your zone settings.
If you have 100 in the zone box and 1 of your short passes is a zone and one isn't then the zone play will get called every time.
If you have 50 in the zone box, then the plays will get called equally
If you have 0 in the zone box, then the man play will get called every time

Now let's say you have 2 short passes in your playbook and they are both man to man, but one is a blitz and one isn't.
Once short pass is selected it will look at zone, but it won't matter what is in the box since neither are zone, so it will
move to your blitz percentage and if you have 100 in that box then it will call the blitz play every time. If you have zero in
that box it will call the non-blitz every time and if you have a 50 in there it will call them equally.

Now let's say both plays are short passes and neither is a zone and neither is a blitz. In this scenario, once short pass is
selected it won't matter what is in the zone or blitz box, both plays will get called based on the way you set the "Play Priority".
Those are the little blue boxes underneath the play.

There will also be times when the sim will choose what type of play it is looking for and you won't have that type of play available.
Here's what happens in those situations:

Let's say you have 100 in the Long Pass Box, so the sim decides it is looking for a long pass. It checks your playbook and
sees that none are available. It will then move to your zone box. If you have 100 in the zone box it will check if you have any
zone passes regardless of distance, if you have 1, it will call that every time. If you have more than 1 then it will check your blitz
setting. Let's say you have 1 Medium Pass Zone and 1 Medium Pass Zone Blitz. Since both are zone, it moves to your blitz percentage and will call them at whatever rate you have in the blitz box.

Now let's say it picks Long Pass, you have none and you also have no zone plays either. It will check your blitz setting.
If you have 100 in the blitz box and only one available pass play that is a blitz, that will get called every time. If
you have more than one, those plays will get called determined by your play frequency boxes.

Now let's say it picks Long Pass, but you have no long pass, you have no zone and you have no blitzes. It will pick at random
from any of the pass plays against that formation.

Rough draft: http://i.imgur.com/42iZd4A.png
Edited by Rob. on Sep 1, 2015 21:04:03
Edited by Rob. on Sep 1, 2015 21:02:41
Edited by Rob. on Sep 1, 2015 20:55:54
Edited by Rob. on Jun 7, 2015 00:49:24
 
Rob.
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Okay, now let's get into a little bit more complicated stuff. I am going to add some more diversity to my playbook.

Here are the plays:

Goal Line:
5-2 Man Base (Short Pass/Run Man Defense) *5 priority*
5-2 Cover 1 Man Under (Short Pass/Run Man Defense) *1 priority*

2TE:
5-2 Man Base (Short Pass/Run)
4-3 Cover 2 Man Under (Medium Pass/Run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)
4-4 Zero Edge Blitz (Short Pass/Run Blitz)
4-4 Engage 8 (Inside Run Zone Blitz)

2WR:
5-2 Man Base (Short Pass/Run)
4-3 2 Man Under (Medium Pass/Run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)
4-4 Zero Edge Blitz (Short Pass/Run Blitz)
4-4 Engage 8 (Inside Run Zone Blitz)

3WR:
Nickel 3-3-5 Man Base (Short Pass/Run)
Dime 2 Man Under (Medium Pass/Run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)
4-4 Zero Edge Blitz (Short Pass/Run Blitz)
4-4 Engage 8 (Inside Run Zone Blitz)

4WR:
Dime Cover 1 Lurk (Short Pass/Run)
Dime 2 Man Under (Medium Pass/Run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)
4-4 Zero Edge Blitz (Short Pass/Run Blitz)
4-4 Engage 8 (Inside Run Zone Blitz)

5WR:
4-4 Zero Edge Blitz (Short Pass/Run Blitz) *5 priority
Nickel 3-3-5 Dogs All Go (Short Pass/Run Blitz) *1 priority

As you can see, we left 5WR and Goal line the same, but added a little bit of diversity to the rest of the formations. We now have the following options for each formation: Short Pass, Medium Pass, Inside Run, short pass blitz and inside run zone blitz.

So on first down, like before we put 100 in the short pass box(and leave everything else at zero) and get the following plays:

Goal line - 5 of 6 times it will 5-2 Man Base. If you look at the two plays in the goal line formation, they are both tagged exactly the same (Short pass/run Blitz). If you put only two plays in against one formation and they are tagged exactly the same, you are essentially bypassing the tactics. So you can control play calling with the play priority boxes. Since we set 5-2 Man Base at 5 priority, it's going to get called the majority of the time.

2TE - 5-2 man base is going to get called. It is the only short pass in the playbook against that formation.

2WR - 5-2 man base

3WR - Nickel 3-3-5 man base is going to get called. It is the only short pass in the playbook against that formation.

4WR - Dime Cover 1 lurk is going to get called. It is the only short pass in the playbook against that formation.

5WR - Just like goal line formation, we picked two plays that have identical tags, so the play priority is going to force ZEB to get called the majority of the time.

On 2nd and very short, we put inside run and get middle overload.

Now here is where we add a new dimension. Maybe we want to put some pressure on the QB. Maybe we have found some tendencies where they always pass and we think we can get a sack.

On 2nd and very long I'm going to put 100 in the short pass box AND 100 in the blitz box. With these settings it will call Zero Edge blitz against all formations except for goal line and 5WR, which are unique.

After further scouting I have discovered that this team I am facing always passes the ball on 3rd and very long. I want to make them pay, so this is what I do:

Set very long at 14 yards, and in my 3rd and very long settings I will put 100 in inside run, 100 in zone and 100 in Blitz. This will result in engage 8 getting called against all formations that engage 8 is an option and will result in a sack 90% of the time.


Now with this new knowledge I am going to set up a rookie/sophomore run stopping playbook.
*Rushing Has Changed. I'll need to update this section*

Here's my plays:

Goal Line:
5-2 Cat Blitz Roll (Short pass/run Zone Blitz)
Dime 3-2-6 Edge 2 Buzz (Medium pass/run Zone Blitz)

2TE:
5-2 Cat Blitz Roll (Short pass/run Zone Blitz)
Dime 3-2-6 Edge 2 Buzz (Medium pass/run Zone Blitz)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

2WR:
5-2 Cat Blitz Roll (Short pass/run Zone Blitz)
Dime 3-2-6 Edge 2 Buzz (Medium pass/run Zone Blitz)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

3WR:
5-2 Cat Blitz Roll (Short pass/run Zone Blitz)
Dime 3-2-6 Edge 2 Buzz (Medium pass/run Zone Blitz)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

4WR:
5-2 Man Base (Short pass/run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

5WR:
5-2 Man Base (Short pass/run)
4-3 Middle Overload (Inside Run Blitz)

As you can see, we have a short pass, medium pass and inside run against most formations. Even though we are facing a running team, we are still going to worry about the pass tags. Our 5-2 cat blitz roll is a good play against inside runs, our dime 3-2-6 edge 2 buzz is good against outside stuff and middle overload is really good against inside runs. I don't put middle overload against goal line, because it's too dangerous if the opposing team calls a QB rollout.

On first down, we put 100 in the short pass box and get the following:

Goal Line - 5-2 cat blitz 2 roll
Only short pass play available

2TE - 5-2 cat blitz 2 roll
Only short pass play available

2WR - 5-2 cat blitz 2 roll
Only short pass play available

3WR - 5-2 cat blitz 2 roll
Only short pass play available

4WR - 5-2 man base
Only short pass play available

5WR - 5-2 man base
Only short pass play available

Now on 2nd and long and 2nd and very long I have a strong feeling this team is going to run to the outside, so I put 100 in the "medium pass" box and here is what will get called:

Goal Line - Edge 2 Buzz
Only Medium Pass available

2TE - Edge 2 Buzz
Only Medium Pass available

2WR - Edge 2 Buzz
Only Medium Pass available

3WR - Edge 2 Buzz
Only Medium Pass available

4WR - 5-2 man base
Only pass play available

5WR - 5-2 man base
Only pass play available

Also, if this team shows a tendency to run inside in short yardage, I will put 100 in the inside run box and get middle overload called against that. For the rest of my tactics, I will adjust them based on when I think they are most likely to run inside or outside.

Edited by Rob. on Sep 1, 2015 21:10:01
Edited by Rob. on Sep 1, 2015 21:08:57
Edited by Rob. on Mar 6, 2015 07:52:39
Edited by Rob. on Mar 4, 2015 23:38:28
Edited by Rob. on Mar 4, 2015 23:11:09
 
DeeVee8
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Nice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYt0WbDjJ4E
 
Rob.
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I will get into further detail when I find out what questions people still have. So if you have any questions, ask away.
 
Absolut Zero
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Rob is the hero GLB needs.
 
dredgar
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rob. for mod! rob. for mod! rob. for mod!

so serious he helps out that game with this alone so much.
 
dredgar
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oh and you guys should stick this shit
 
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I know I've asked similar, but if I have a setting for like 50% zone and the roll comes up for a zone play but I forgot to put one in the formation does it then select a play based on priority since there is no zone there?
Edited by Myrik_Justiciar on Mar 5, 2015 13:36:27
 
TxSteve
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I'm not sure what it will offer -- and also not sure whether it is good (or bad) for the game - but I believe Stobie is working on a playbook/tactics exporter that could help with this discussion.


As Rob has done above (some sample playbooks) it could be that a library could be created for coordinators (old and new) to be able to essentially add to the default playbooks -- or open up and study themselves -- which could make communicating the 'how' simpler.
 
Rob.
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Originally posted by Myrik_Justiciar
I know I've asked similar, but if I have a setting for like 50% zone and the roll comes up for a zone play but I forgot to put one in the formation does it then select a play based on priority since there is no zone there?


If you have no zone plays, the zone setting means nothing.
 
InRomoWeTrust
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Originally posted by Myrik_Justiciar
I know I've asked similar, but if I have a setting for like 50% zone and the roll comes up for a zone play but I forgot to put one in the formation does it then select a play based on priority since there is no zone there?


In short form, it moves on from that criteria. If you roll zone and there are no zone then it will basically look at man plays with the rest of the criteria in line there.
 
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Originally posted by Myrik_Justiciar
I know I've asked similar, but if I have a setting for like 50% zone and the roll comes up for a zone play but I forgot to put one in the formation does it then select a play based on priority since there is no zone there?


If none of your tactics match any of your plays then the blue dots will be used.

Ex: if short pass, blitz, zone comes up and you have no short pass, blitz, zone plays in that section, then the blue dots will be used. Easy way to remember how plays are picked, it goes from left to right.

1. distance/run/pass
2. zone/man
3. blitz
 
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So based on that, if you set everything in your tactics to zero it would then just pick based on blue dots?

I'm not being obtuse, I really curious how the sim works when asking these very specific questions.
Edited by Myrik_Justiciar on Mar 5, 2015 20:25:16
 
Rob.
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Originally posted by Myrik_Justiciar
So based on that, if you set everything in your tactics to zero it would then just pick based on blue dots?


That completely takes the situational tactics out of your hands, but if that's what you desire I guess you can try it. I have never personally set all tactics to zero, so not sure how it would react.

Generally if I want a play to be forced to be called, I would do the following:

Let's say I want Zero Edge Blitz to get called almost always against 3WR.
I will put in ZEB(short pass/run blitz) and then pick another play with the same (short pass/run blitz) tag.
A play like Nickel 3-3-5 Over Will Mike Blitz will do the trick.
Then I put ZEB at 5 priority and put Over Will Blitz at 1 priority and then I will get ZEB called the vast majority of the time no matter what my tactics say.

Edit: If you told me which plays were in the playbook and their priority I could give an exact answer. But with zero across the board it will normally call plays randomly.
Edited by Rob. on Jun 7, 2015 02:38:07
 
Galithor
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If you set it all to zero, it role the non blitz/ zone criteria as if it were all even. So the blue dots would only come into play if you have two plays that match a criteria.

Like if it picks medium pass, and you have two eligible medium pass plays. Then it'll blue dot between those plays.
 
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