This should be obvious, but this is the most common offensive playbook out there nowadays. The goal is to run at the CB's (usually low TKL) and OLB (typically the pass coverage LB for a basic defensive playbook). The POM playbook does a good job because it attacks a typical weak area of a defense and it creates more fatigue on the starting CB and coverage LB. This then opens up passing at the medium depth to WR (contested by CB) and RB/TE (contested by coverage LB).

You need to have a defensive playbook to counter this offense. For ease of typing, we will call this the Stop Outside Run (SOR) playbook. Here are the key components:

1. Go full SOR on 1st down and 10, 2nd down and 6 yards or less, 3rd and 3 or less. Also, set SOR for all plays inside your 20 except for 3rd and 6 or greater or 4th and 5 or greater.
2. Put your best ILB in the outside LB position and put them on the line. Put your OLB (coverage LB) in the middle (1 for a 4-3 and 2 for a 3-4).
3. Put your best DL on the outside.
4. Put your best TKL DB's in the CB slot.
5. If you like blitzing, blitz your worst S on every SOR defensive play. Sometimes, I will put my blitzing LB in the game and blitz that particular LB on a SOR down. Really depends on who the offense targets for passing plays.

So...there you go. Pretty easy to stop the POM offensive playbook. This also assume similar talent of course.

Good luck.

nitros

I received a question via sitemail regarding the coverage depth while in SOR.

You should cover short while in SOR. Coverage is a pre-snap alignment that positions your coverage LB's and your secondary in relation to the line of scrimmage. So, cover long...they are farther back and cover short, they are closer to the LOS.

While in SOR, you want cover SHORT. That places your CB's as close as possible to the LOS pre-snap.

Hopefully this makes sense.

nitros

So....... if he drops a 35 yard pass on you while in this set up....then what? ...7-0 and your getting a kick off?
While I love the all or nothing aspect of it....if you guess wrong, your done....

just my 2 cents

Posted by raginirish on 12/2/2019 1:08:00 PM (view original):
So....... if he drops a 35 yard pass on you while in this set up....then what? ...7-0 and your getting a kick off?
While I love the all or nothing aspect of it....if you guess wrong, your done....

just my 2 cents

This defensive set-up nitros is sharing is not an all or nothing defense......

I think most coaches play way too conservative defensively. I play a very aggressive defense and it seems to work for me. I'll share some data on this season's non-conference play in Wilkinson:

I played Penn State (#1 GUESS Rated roster), LSU (#7 GUESS Rated roster), and Ohio St (#21 GUESS Rated roster). I didn't play one snap against these 3 without having at least one blitzer and one LB on the line. Defense built to stop the Rush Outside and Pass Medium to WR/RB.

Here are the combined offensive results for the three elite opponents: 45 total points scored (15 PPG) They threw a combined 2 TDs and 3 Ints, with 1 rushing TD.

Reality check for peeps still playing a vanilla Cover Medium against these types of opponents..... you aren't getting more Ints than TDs and you are certainly not holding them to 15 PPG.

But who runs outside against a 3-4 D anyways? Pound that rock up the middle

A few responses:

So....... if he drops a 35 yard pass on you while in this set up....then what? ...7-0 and your getting a kick off?
While I love the all or nothing aspect of it....if you guess wrong, your done....

The SOR defense is set up to offset a particular offensive gameplan (the POM). You need to tailor your game plan and half-time adjustments to your opponent. I will note that "drops a 35 yard pass" would be a long/deep pass under the engine and would be defended solely by the safeties (not the CB or LB). If you do not blitz a S, then you lose nothing in the defensive formula.

But who runs outside against a 3-4 D anyways? Pound that rock up the middle

IRL you are correct. In GID, the POM is probably one of the more efficient offensive strategies in the game presently. To compete at a high level, you will need a game plan to counter it, or it will dominate a vanilla game plan (assuming equal talent).

POM doesn't make its money with the run game. It makes its money by getting the first string CB's/coverage LB's out of the game and dropping medium passes to the WR/RB/TE which break away from second string defensive players for TD's.

Remember, your first string CB/coverage LB's are playing every down against a fresh set of "running" players and a fresh set of "passing" players. That can create massive mismatches in talent.

Hope this makes sense.

nitros (James)

Dumb question, but what's SOR?

Dumb question, but what's SOR?

SOR = Stop Outside Run. I use the term in the first post of this thread.

nitros (James)

Dumb question, but what is POM?

Probably Pass Outside Medium ?

Title of post.

nitros

Nitros,

I was just quickly looking through some expanded play by play and I didn't necessarily see a relationship between how much stamina a player loses each play and whether or not they made the play. I'll take your word on that because I'm sure you have reviewed much more data than the 5 minute check I just did. However, in most cases for my teams ... when you factor in Formation IQ, my best LBs are usually the best at both run defense and pass defense. Should I be weighing formation IQ less on defense? My SRs tend to make more PDs/INTs/SACKS than my underclassmen regardless of talent level. I might have a Sophomore with great coverage stats, but his formation IQ is too low to be very effective.

In regards to LBs and pass coverage ... how do you determine where to play your best coverage LBs on a pass play? I usually put my best defenders on the outside because thats really the only effective place to run the ball.

JeffN: Love your posts BTW. Here are my responses:

I am probably not expressing my opinion on stamina correctly. The issue is not whether high stamina = greater chance of making a play (although I do believe that there is a negative factor put in the equation for low stamina players involved in a play). The issue is stamina decreases quicker the more a player is involved in a play.

So, POM at its most basic level:
1. i) runs outside runs that involve OLB/CB/DE and (ii) passes to the medium depth to either WR/RB/TE.
2. A POM offense rotates its offensive players such that fresh players are in the game for either (i) or (ii).
3. CB/OLB are decreasing stamina fast b/c every play involves those defensive players....therefore they are rotating out of the game faster.
4. At some point in the game, the fresh offensive players will have a distinct advantage over the second (or sometimes 3rd string) team CB/OLB players. That is the entire goal of POM...to make money with first string offensive players against second/third string defensive players.

I hope this makes more sense.

However, in most cases for my teams ... when you factor in Formation IQ, my best LBs are usually the best at both run defense and pass defense.

I specifically recruit ILB vs. OLB LB's. Unless I have an exceptional five star LB, typically my LB's fall into those distinct categories. Regardless, in order to avoid POM chewing up your first team LB's (especially if you have them in the game all the time), you are going to need to rotate the OLB's with your SOR package.

Should I be weighing formation IQ less on defense? My SRs tend to make more PDs/INTs/SACKS than my underclassmen regardless of talent level.

No. FIQ is extremely important (assuming similar talent). The goal is to have the best FIQ on the field at any given time.

If POM is cooking, you are going to be rolling out your second/third team CB/OLB which will lower your FIQ significantly. Using SOR, you are rotating SR/JR (sometimes a stud SOPH) in a manner that actually keeps your FIQ higher over the course of a game.

In regards to LBs and pass coverage ... how do you determine where to play your best coverage LBs on a pass play?

Inside or outside does not matter for pass coverage. The engine will take your coverage LB vs. the RB/TE at vs/s/med depth no matter if you locate them inside or outside. What does matter is what LB's are outside when contesting an outside run. There is some influence on pre-snap alignment. If you line up "short" then your S are in play to cover the RB/TE at medium depth. Not always, but that happens.

I usually put my best defenders on the outside because thats really the only effective place to run the ball.

Depends on the opponent. I once ran every play in the second half of a NC game with only the inside run. I rotated two "packages" into the game so I always had fresh SR/JR running the same play every...stinking...down. The sole reason was that my opponents only weakness was DT.

I also one time only kept 1 LB in coverage b/c I had previously lost to my opponent (Chetty) by 40 points primarily due to his TE killing me. I also rotated that 1 LB into the game only when I thought the offense would pass. The goal was to have my best coverage LB against his money-maker as much as possible.

Anyway...I digress.

nitros (James)

Question I may have overlooked here...do you guys rotate your OL on run/pass plays? Or just try to get your best 5 out there all the time (and sub out as they get tired)?

Hey Nitros, thanks for the reply. I understood what you were saying:

The issue is stamina decreases quicker the more a player is involved in a play.

I just took a quick look at one game (a half actually) and didn't notice anything significant there, but like I said I'll take your word over my 5 minute check.
Anyway, I understand about putting your best DL/LB in the outside spots to stop outside runs and vice versa... do the secondary starter spots matter as much? I've just worked under the assumption (with no data) that the effectiveness of your DE's would basically be determined by the average of the 2. So for example to stop an outside run, I would move my two best LBs to OLB and my 2 best DL to DE, but I interpreted your post to only move 1.

Another question: Do you view a players Stamina (the 0-100 rating in the game log) as a modifier? Just as an example ... a player with a Role Rating of 80 and a Stamina level of 90 would perform like a 72 rated player for that play?