78 Johnathon Schiffer LT 2 6' 3 312 Out (Concussion) -
#66 Thomas Scriven LG 12 6' 1 308 Doubtful (Concussion) -
#63 John King C 11 6' 3 283 Questionable (Arm) - 2 weeks
#58 Daniel Scott C 6 6' 2 283 Doubtful (Ankle) - 8 weeks
#71 James Martinez C 2 6' 3 283 Healthy
#69 Terry Whiddon RG 6 6' 2 316 Probable (Arm) - 1 weeks
#77 David Hall RT R 6' 5 319 Healthy
#65 Sherman Patterson RT 6 6' 6 319 Probable (Foot) - 2 weeks

And then there is this. Cincinnati has very little depth on offense . So they are running a strict 2-1-2 offense to nice success . Injuries have to catch up with them soon . Or line play doesn't matter.

Same goes for the injuries . ...why are the olineman so beat up in comparison to the skill players? Fatigue due to size? More contact senerios ? It doesn't make sense besides the oline is being used as recivers as well.

And crazy is running mainly a one deep/blitz one defensive scheme. Carefully done has his team reaping the #1 defense in the league . It's the best defense for 4.6. Imo, only cause reads get wackier. His cb is averaging 3.5 knockdowns a game.

#62 Elmo Berube RT 3 6' 3 319 Questionable (Ankle) - 7 weeks

Touching on the defense again in reference to newer qb algorithms and man updates . The reason defense should be highlighted is the discrepancy in value of schemes. Most notably the man under senerios vs. Zone. Deep Zone isn't perfect but is functioning better.

One major switch for us was going away from zone under and strictly playing the non- broken man under plays to avoid the holes left by the curl/flat assignments .

5 games of zone were torched in comparison. 5 games let up 114 points...20 plus per game . I thought is was a legit plan as its has done well for 2 seasons now. Still, I think I just out scored opponents to win, but the defenses was still suspect .

Recent changes to off ball defenders has hurt zone in general when comparing it to last season . But man hasn't taken the same hit in effectiveness .

9 games with a man under plan we have allowed 76 points ....under ten points a game. My team is better at zone but they don't play like, and really no team ever would with our set of available plays/ code.

Tightening up man has opened up the effectiveness of a qb hitting the open holes in zones in order to be effective . ....for the stats to fit or look good . Still, playoff caliber owners defenses, will tend to this defensive stragety release after release , cause they function properly and win games .

And for stats to fit it will be overpowered cause zone is under powered and the cat and mouse game of effective plays will continue .

I like what we have now for the offense except certain reads at certain times. Defensively , though is the part that changes stats widely for the offense . If zone was looked I think the qbs and receivers in man coverage could be opened up a bit, but the deep zone can't keep give up position so easily either .

What is worse about this is a newer owner might think there is a balance of the two, but there just isn't . ..never has been . Not only is man under over,powered it's the limited defensive plays and players that is Squewing success to an owner with knowledge of this gained by playing the game overtime. Or they just like man on the outside and got lucky .

There's definitely other missing key parts of a successful 4.6 release , but this zone discrepancy top the boards in my opinion . I haven't scouted, keyed, or even cared who is was playing these last nine games. Just set it and for get it has been the defensive strategy applied. It's not perfect but 10 points a game allowed, low completion rates, alot of ints , and we had 20 knockdowns last game alone.

It's probably not going to win the super bowl but its whacky

Thanks for the analysis - keep it coming! My plan right now is to make a tweak to the zone coverage - I like the 'magnet' idea, and am going to implement that - but I'm going to wait until the season ends and roll it out for the start of next season.

Playing 4.5 right now and comparing to this version of our current version of 4.6 I think another thing that stands out is the reaction of the off ball defenders .

I feel like it was turned down some which helps, but I would like to see a player with a zone assignment be more than likely to react well when playing off the ball. And for man assignments I would like to see players that are more than likely NOT to react well .

Off ball defenders reactions would fall in to two categories for me, because of this base concept of both styles. To my knowledge this isnt how it works here, but it should help zone and put man more in lines nfl effectiveness. (Recognition of play actions , fakes, and run plays meant to stretch dbs positioning should act similar )

"The difference between zone and man coverage at a very basic level when playing corner is where you have your eyes trained.

In zone schemes, the corner is usually playing the quarterback, watching his eyes for the signs that point to the pass location and using his peripheral vision to locate the threats in his zone and break on the ball accordingly.

In man-coverage schemes, a corner’s eyes are locked on the receiver, playing his movement with the added knowledge of route combinations, tendencies and down and distance to get a feel for what route he is running"

thats good news

thread = https://mfn1.myfootballnow.com/community/3/5818?page=1

JDB, is there a setting that helps enable teams to come back from double-digit deficits? It seems that when a team is winning convincingly, the opponent has an uncanny ability to make a comeback.

Actually, no, there is not. The only explanation I can come up with is that the offense goes into a more aggressive gameplan when they get behind.