General principle: Pro Elves, like other high-move, high price AV7 teams, don't want long drives. The best way to stop a drive from getting long is to score. That means penetrating the opposing backfield. MA6 and MA7 players are just barely fast enough to score in two turns from the backfield, meaning that to turn the game over in two turns, you have to either hand over your SPP to your fastest-skilling guy, or you have to consider GFIs, avoiding them or coping with them.
One way to avoid a GFI is to start one square farther forward than you normally would, one square back of scrimmage rather than two, so a MA7 player doesn't have to GFI to score, and an MA6 player can still score in two turns without GFI'ing in the first turn (you know, when you don't know if it'll matter and you'd rather not make an extraneous d6 roll). I've found that Quick Snap doesn't make a very effective deterrent, but chain-pushing does. Here's how.
This diagram is the interior of my "inverted" defense, but any defense where the inside LBs are placed one square behind LOS would serve as an example. Offense = letters, defense = numbers. O players in caps have acted. Nobody has SS, D has Grab and either has ST4 or "c" has Guard. Defensive backfield starts one square back (backers one behind the LOS, secondary two behind). I'm not including the wide zone here, as the conventional WZ setups generally don't occupy the innermost square, so as to effectively form the net. If only one of the ends has Block, it's 1. In that case, "e" ideally has either Block, Wrestle, Frenzy of Grab. If both ends have Block, E should have either Wrestle, Frenzy or Grab.
Code: Select all
Initial setup
- - - f - - -
a b - c d e -
------------
- - 1 2 3 - -
4 - - - - - 5
- 6 - - - 7 -
C blocks 1, pushes laterally. Push is better than KD in square, but push/KD is fine. Follow.
- - - f - - -
a b - - d e -
------------
- 1 C 2 3 - -
4 - - - - - 5
- 6 - - - 7 -
D blocks 2, hopefully not knocking down, but Grabbing him down between B and C. Follow only if you have Guard, and then only maybe. KD isn't as good as push. "Both Down" with Block is ok under some circumstances, depending on how the backfield is laid-out, but that's beyond the scope of this.
- - - f - - -
a b 2 - D e -
------------
- 1 C - 3 - -
4 - - - - - 5
- 6 - - - 7 -
F then blocks 2, pushing B across the line of scrimmage. Follow or don't, depending on circumstances.
- - - - - - -
a 2 F - D e -
------------
b 1 C - 3 - -
4 - - - - - 5
- 6 - - - 7 -
Then either A blocks 1 (if 1 is still standing), or A moves up, or maybe B is ST4 (which would free A to wail on 2 if he's somehow still standing). Whatever. If 1 and 2 start their turn in that situation, they're pretty much out of commission. Defensive player #4 is going to get hit with 2d by offensive player B, and unless the attempt to deal with 3 goes down in flames (again, E with Grab or Frenzy will make that unlikely), the blitz will be on one of the safeties.
Note that this takes only five offensive actions, all of them blocks against four separate defenders. That leaves one guy to get the ball, one guy to protect him, one guy to throw the blitz and front the cage, and three more guys to finish forming the cage, provide some extra support on the ball, or pull off the weakside linebacker for when E Frenzies into #3 (not obvious in this diagram, but if the inside LBs are put inside one square, with the safeties to the outside, the follow-up block on #3 will yield a defensive assist).
The offense can also support this with another guy in the second rank (directly behind A or B) to get another bite at #2 if he doesn't go down when F blocks him (if it's not relevant, he's free to move and well positioned to support the cage or lay the blitz). It's possible to game to hit the safety without blitzing too, but I've never actually done it or seen it done and it would be a lot of actions with some pretty intense positioning and skill requirements. Depending on the defensive alignment it may be even easier, by the way. Teams that put their ILBs inside one to support the LOS are more susceptible to this (at least in theory: said teams tend to have tough inside LB squads).
It's easy to stop, but only with positioning skills (or with ceding the extra square). The nose or both ends with SF or SS will shut the Grab game down. Dodge on both ends will help... unless the opponent has a Frackler. Dodge is useless on the nose, 'cause the opponent is looking to keep the nose tackle on his feet. Block and Wrestle on the D-line are cold comfort and of little use in this context, except on #3, where it's only of limited value as a Frenzy player would take a push with glee should your guy have Block. Fend on the ends is distinctly better than nothing, as it forces a burned action to fill the vacant square, and usually that requires KD'ing the end rather than just pushing. But in this context, SF and SS are better.
So if you want to threaten a 2-turner with everybody off the line, it's much easier to do it if you have one-or-more Side Steppers. In a league format, the superior TD distribution and SPP bump from starting one square back are quite noticeable.
What is Nuffle's view? Through a window, two-by-three. He peers through snake eyes.
What is Nuffle's lawn? Inches, squares, and tackle zones: Reddened blades of grass.
What is Nuffle's tree? Risk its trunk, space the branches. Touchdowns are its fruit.
, imho.
