Just curious, what's the best defense against the Fl Hitch? Any thoughts?

Praying for Drops ;-)

https://victory.myfootballnow.com/community/3/6525?page=1#40120

This might be the right thread for you.

setherick made an own thread for the Hitch

https://german-nfl-league.myfootballnow.com/community/3/6525?page=2#40602

imo, you can't defend it, you try to minimize the damage done

- Put your best CB at CB2
- have speed (85+) at CB and FS

- the best play statistically is the OLB Flat Zone with a fast WLB with good zone coverage. However, FZ has no deep SF, so if the Slant hits, a fast WR with high BC will be gone
- A safer option is to always have a deep SF on the weak side. like in all 2-man coverages, or man, QB Spy (but not Man Under 1, because the wrong SF is deep)
- Doubling the WR2 should be a good idea, but does not work in MFN, as I had both the SF and the CB in bad position and let the WR2 get behind them

thanks for the responses.

Confirming what holly said... double WR2 is actually the worst play against FL Hitch.
I'm just getting done with analyzing 200 games worth of plays and will post that spreadsheet once it's done.

Suffice it to say that FL Hitch works in every league with a 3:1 TD:Int ratio no matter the skill of the QB and WR (or the defense).

Best strategy is to scout it in every game (even if opponent doesn't use it much) to get your team's familiarity up. And then hope for some drops!!

There are two good strategies for the Hitch, but in 0.4.5 backside coverage is jacked.

1) Put a player in a zone in the passing lane. - The only play that does this effectively (read is M2M) is the 4-3 Flat Zone. There are some other zone plays that "work", but get shredded by almost everything else.

2) Put a safety over the top. - The best plays for this are the 46 Heavy (2 deep safeties), some of the 4-3 SLB Blitz plays, and the Nickle/Dime defenses. The Nickle/Dime Double WR1 defenses work particularly well as prevent defenses by putting two on the WR1 and a safety over the top of the WR2.

UPDATE: In 4.6, the Hitch (really all slants) are not the game breakers they are in 4.5. It will make game planning interesting again. No more three or four play game plans.

Is there an expected release date for 4.6?

JDB said it will be awhile in another thread. It was close to release but I think something in beta didn't sit right with him so he needs to do more work on it.