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Ohio State
- Thread starter Flanntastic
- Start date
Offense
Full on gun spread, balanced run/pass but all but one of his snaps were from the gun.
A shit ton of talent and trying to tackle the guys on his team is like trying to tackle a freight train going downhill at full speed. Doesn't matter if it is his QB or HB or WRs or that fat fuck Cardale Jones lined up at TE. I lost track of the number of times I hit a guy only for him to drag bodies for a few more yards, happened twice for touchdowns including the game winner. Better have some tacklers on D if you want a shot at stopping him.
Pass game is fairly simple, mostly screens and quick throws to get guys in space. Will take the occasional shot down field vs press coverage but DO NOT play press coverage vs his team. Unless your corner is just a physical monster, his guys will beat the press every time and he'll roast you. Man coverage in general is just not a wise idea against flann, I managed an INT in man coverage but it was me manually jumping the route not the actual coverage. His team is just too athletic to man up.
Loves the various Split Offset/Y Offset/Big formations but will run and pass equally out of them so don't just assume two backs in the backfield means run. His quick passing game to the backs out of the backfield is deadly, the ball gets out quick and those guys are tough to bring down. Would recommend aggressive zone defense just so the zones are tight to the LOS. 99% of his pass game is inside of 10 yards, make him beat you deep.
Flann is one of the few people to use the HB auto-motion plays out of Split Offset/Split Y Offset effectively. He uses all the plays from the screen to the inside zone belly play to the swing pass. Don't cheat towards that motion because he'll throw and run away from it.
Run game is also simple but so tough to stop. Inside zone, inside zone read, wrap, counter plus the occasional sweep play. He breaks a lot of tackles and falls forward almost every play so it is just really difficult to stop him. Even when you have it bottled up, he usually gains yards.
I would recommend aggressive option defense against Flann. You just cannot let him beat you with the QB. I know that means Elliot and friends have the ball, but don't let him burn you with the QB. There were a few plays that I think he intentionally misread read option in order to let his QB keep despite the aggressive option defense and he still managed to gain yards from it.
He throws a lot of bubble screens, whether the receiver is covered or not. He knows most people are in zone against him and will throw the bubble regardless. His receivers block incredibly well.
When he gets in trouble, he has a tendency to go to compressed bunch formations. Either Gun Bunch or 5WR Tight. It is really tough to D up those compressed formations because you just cannot man up his athletes and zone has a lot of holes for his quick game to find space.
Defense
335, every down, no matter what personnel you are in.
The majority of the time, he is in 335 Stack with the DL spread wide, LBs pinched and manually controlled FS walked down directly behind the MLB.
Aggressive option defense most of the game, but he caught me with a switch to conservative midway through the game that led to some misreads and TFLs. It was only one or two possessions before he ended up back in aggressive, but don't assume he's in aggressive just because he was before.
Felt like he was in man defense a lot of the game, but he likes zone in & Long situations. It is tough to beat his man coverage because those corners are beasts, but if you have an athletic slot receiver or HB who can catch some passes out of the backfield, you may find success throwing. His strong safeties in the 335 are not as good defending in man coverage as his corners. In our first game pre-disconnect, I completed 2 or 3 passes to a HB motioned out of the backfield because the SS couldn't cover him. He adjusted for the 2nd game, but that's the best way to attack him through the air. In key 3rd down situations, he's probably in press man.
When he went to zone defense, his hook zones felt abnormally deep, as if he was in conservative zone defense. He got beat underneath with slants and snags because of it. It's tough attacking him deep though, those corners are tough and his safeties recover very quickly even if they get burned initially. I did hit a few deep shots, one just before halftime and once on a skinny post up the seam. Both off of PA. PA is a good way to attack him through the air because he will take himself out of position manually, but you have to set it up with your run game which brings me to...
His run defense is unbelievably good. The way he aligns defensively completely jacks with AI run blocking. The double team rotations just aren't there and you inevitably get at least one, maybe two linebackers running free through the gap to blow up the run. The guards just don't rotate to the second level like you'd normally anticipate and when they do, it is usually opposite of how you'd anticipate. Normally I would suggest the perimeter run game to attack that, but unfortunately the widened DL and tight SS alignment sucks up blocks and sets the edge very well.
The best way to attack his defense with the run is using interior zone runs where you can cut away from the unblocked LB. You have to work against muscle memory running between the tackles against Flann, how you'd normally cut back against most defenses just isn't going to work against him. Anything that gets you going east-west is going to end in disaster, even if you happen to get the edge there is just too much speed to out run it. I felt like I was running for my life trying to run the ball.
The one weakness in his run defense is his tendency to dive for a runner's feet trying to manually tackle. He anticipates you cutting upfield and will dive at your feet for the shoestring tackle/trip up. If you continue laterally an extra step or two, you may be able to avoid some tackles and get some extra yards. Same goes on perimeter throws to receivers, one or two extra steps laterally my spring your receiver on curls/outs.
Special Teams
Both of our kickers were launching kickoffs out the back of the endzone. When he punts, it is a very high punt in an attempt to get coverage and he users tackles incredibly well.
One thing of note on special teams is that I could not access my defensive special teams menu against him. If that happens to you, back out and go to the choose plays by play type menu and move left to Special Teams. Not sure why that happens but if you're someone who has a tendency to quickly select special teams plays by muscle memory, make sure you are actually in the special teams menu.
Overall
Flann is by far the defensive user in the league and he has the best team in the league to go with it. You MUST attack him through the air if you want to win. There is no choice in the matter, you have to throw the ball. He susceptible to slants and snags and various quick hitches/curls and if you have athletic slot receivers/pass catching HBs you can attack his strong safeties in man coverage but you HAVE to beat him through the air and take away his passing game. The passing game on both side of the ball is the key to beating flann.
Full on gun spread, balanced run/pass but all but one of his snaps were from the gun.
A shit ton of talent and trying to tackle the guys on his team is like trying to tackle a freight train going downhill at full speed. Doesn't matter if it is his QB or HB or WRs or that fat fuck Cardale Jones lined up at TE. I lost track of the number of times I hit a guy only for him to drag bodies for a few more yards, happened twice for touchdowns including the game winner. Better have some tacklers on D if you want a shot at stopping him.
Pass game is fairly simple, mostly screens and quick throws to get guys in space. Will take the occasional shot down field vs press coverage but DO NOT play press coverage vs his team. Unless your corner is just a physical monster, his guys will beat the press every time and he'll roast you. Man coverage in general is just not a wise idea against flann, I managed an INT in man coverage but it was me manually jumping the route not the actual coverage. His team is just too athletic to man up.
Loves the various Split Offset/Y Offset/Big formations but will run and pass equally out of them so don't just assume two backs in the backfield means run. His quick passing game to the backs out of the backfield is deadly, the ball gets out quick and those guys are tough to bring down. Would recommend aggressive zone defense just so the zones are tight to the LOS. 99% of his pass game is inside of 10 yards, make him beat you deep.
Flann is one of the few people to use the HB auto-motion plays out of Split Offset/Split Y Offset effectively. He uses all the plays from the screen to the inside zone belly play to the swing pass. Don't cheat towards that motion because he'll throw and run away from it.
Run game is also simple but so tough to stop. Inside zone, inside zone read, wrap, counter plus the occasional sweep play. He breaks a lot of tackles and falls forward almost every play so it is just really difficult to stop him. Even when you have it bottled up, he usually gains yards.
I would recommend aggressive option defense against Flann. You just cannot let him beat you with the QB. I know that means Elliot and friends have the ball, but don't let him burn you with the QB. There were a few plays that I think he intentionally misread read option in order to let his QB keep despite the aggressive option defense and he still managed to gain yards from it.
He throws a lot of bubble screens, whether the receiver is covered or not. He knows most people are in zone against him and will throw the bubble regardless. His receivers block incredibly well.
When he gets in trouble, he has a tendency to go to compressed bunch formations. Either Gun Bunch or 5WR Tight. It is really tough to D up those compressed formations because you just cannot man up his athletes and zone has a lot of holes for his quick game to find space.
Defense
335, every down, no matter what personnel you are in.
The majority of the time, he is in 335 Stack with the DL spread wide, LBs pinched and manually controlled FS walked down directly behind the MLB.
Aggressive option defense most of the game, but he caught me with a switch to conservative midway through the game that led to some misreads and TFLs. It was only one or two possessions before he ended up back in aggressive, but don't assume he's in aggressive just because he was before.
Felt like he was in man defense a lot of the game, but he likes zone in & Long situations. It is tough to beat his man coverage because those corners are beasts, but if you have an athletic slot receiver or HB who can catch some passes out of the backfield, you may find success throwing. His strong safeties in the 335 are not as good defending in man coverage as his corners. In our first game pre-disconnect, I completed 2 or 3 passes to a HB motioned out of the backfield because the SS couldn't cover him. He adjusted for the 2nd game, but that's the best way to attack him through the air. In key 3rd down situations, he's probably in press man.
When he went to zone defense, his hook zones felt abnormally deep, as if he was in conservative zone defense. He got beat underneath with slants and snags because of it. It's tough attacking him deep though, those corners are tough and his safeties recover very quickly even if they get burned initially. I did hit a few deep shots, one just before halftime and once on a skinny post up the seam. Both off of PA. PA is a good way to attack him through the air because he will take himself out of position manually, but you have to set it up with your run game which brings me to...
His run defense is unbelievably good. The way he aligns defensively completely jacks with AI run blocking. The double team rotations just aren't there and you inevitably get at least one, maybe two linebackers running free through the gap to blow up the run. The guards just don't rotate to the second level like you'd normally anticipate and when they do, it is usually opposite of how you'd anticipate. Normally I would suggest the perimeter run game to attack that, but unfortunately the widened DL and tight SS alignment sucks up blocks and sets the edge very well.
The best way to attack his defense with the run is using interior zone runs where you can cut away from the unblocked LB. You have to work against muscle memory running between the tackles against Flann, how you'd normally cut back against most defenses just isn't going to work against him. Anything that gets you going east-west is going to end in disaster, even if you happen to get the edge there is just too much speed to out run it. I felt like I was running for my life trying to run the ball.
The one weakness in his run defense is his tendency to dive for a runner's feet trying to manually tackle. He anticipates you cutting upfield and will dive at your feet for the shoestring tackle/trip up. If you continue laterally an extra step or two, you may be able to avoid some tackles and get some extra yards. Same goes on perimeter throws to receivers, one or two extra steps laterally my spring your receiver on curls/outs.
Special Teams
Both of our kickers were launching kickoffs out the back of the endzone. When he punts, it is a very high punt in an attempt to get coverage and he users tackles incredibly well.
One thing of note on special teams is that I could not access my defensive special teams menu against him. If that happens to you, back out and go to the choose plays by play type menu and move left to Special Teams. Not sure why that happens but if you're someone who has a tendency to quickly select special teams plays by muscle memory, make sure you are actually in the special teams menu.
Overall
Flann is by far the defensive user in the league and he has the best team in the league to go with it. You MUST attack him through the air if you want to win. There is no choice in the matter, you have to throw the ball. He susceptible to slants and snags and various quick hitches/curls and if you have athletic slot receivers/pass catching HBs you can attack his strong safeties in man coverage but you HAVE to beat him through the air and take away his passing game. The passing game on both side of the ball is the key to beating flann.
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