I just took over a team that uses 44 defense. Does anyone have advice on how to play pass defense with it? I have a feeling I'll get smoked against any passing offense.

I saw this team was up 31-10 in a game last season and ended up getting blown out in the second half against a passing team.

Kind of scary.

But Florida is one of my favorite teams so I went for it!

I have a bunch of 4-4 teams at lower levels. I have started to practice nickel at all of them and use it in the pass only situations or trips/shotgun. However 4-4 with the right LB's has done pretty decent on its own for me on years I haven't had the DB's to make running nickel worth it. Likely a different ball game at D1A so I would probably pick up a second defense as well. Feel like the penalty for defense has never been that much worst then if you have the higher avg ratings in your secondary with 4-4 still, others probably disagree with that statement tho. D1a you def see more offensive players exceeding top LB's rating wise comparatively to d2 where I can have a couple high Pot LB out rank most WR/TE/RB they could possibly have to cover.

I play extensively 4-4 and while it does add a level of difficulty you can certainly be competitive enough to win a title.

If you need tips or have questions feel free to Sitemail me.

There is a complete guide to the 4-4 in the Forums someone did a couple years ago Inused as my blueprint that was fantastic for starting out.

Key is Speed and GI for LB's. Do this and develop them and they should be pretty good. Almost no one passes long where DB's will probably matter more. So with right personnel I think 4-4 should work fine. I won NC's with 5-2 exclusive. If that can be done then 4-4 with more lb's should work better.

thejargon posted on 9-5-20 a four-four fantastic guide

Is TheJargon still around? Haven't seen him in any worlds lately. Great coach. He gave me lots of helpful advice even though we were in the same conference for many seasons. Of course, he still bashed my brains in almost every time we squared off.

I did pretty well with 4-4 in DII. Good DB's could counter almost all passing attacks (especially against WB and NDB), even against SG. As I moved up to D1A and D1AA the level of WR seemed to improve vs the DB difference and had to add a pass D - (Nickel) to offset those pass offenses. It will work with some tinkering, but you have more problems as the offenses get better and even your best DB are at a disadvantage.