After winning the first GOTW tournament on the PS3 side, I received the honor to play the voice of the Madden Community, Sgibs on GOTW tonight. It's amazing how much success he has in these games especially since he literally shows the world what he does on Live National Internet.
The purpose of this is scout report is to not only pat myself on the back but perhaps give a different viewpoint/strategy when playing ELITE tourney/freestyle/speed ballers like Sgibs.
Full Disclosure: I won* 27-21 (* because gibs MAY or MAY NOT have 4 seconds of that game in his pocket
I took every resource i had at my disposal to scout him before our game. I watched last weeks GOTW about 3 times, picked up on some tendencies and areas i felt i could exploit if given the chance. I DID NOT watch the live stream during the game (had 10-15 sec delay anyway, so keep from lookin over the stall people! ALso for the record, I played Gibs 3 times last season, losing 3 times by 7 or less points each time, so he owned me and would probably still would if we played 10 times.)
Hope this helps prep/play future opponents.
1.) Scout your opponent. Many of us play in leagues or have played certain people many times and can draw from knowledge in that game to formulate a plan of attack. And if you dont know, ask someone.
2.) Adjust your audibles accordingly based on the opponent you are playing. Due to my scouting, i knew gibs loves his A-gap pressure so i had 689 hook (a play i rarely use) in my set in order to power block the blitz and to have Gore's wiggle route out of the backfield.
3.) Do not allow him/them dictate the pace at which the game will be played. While I did not "milk" clock, i didnt run hurry-up all game either. A major part of what makes players like Gibs great is their ability to dictate the maddening pace of the game on offense. He cant score if his offense is not on the field.
4.) Avoid 3rd and long situations. Gibs has the most exotic blitzes in the MB community...hell he writes most of them. It's his most important part of his game. So take it away from him. I played with BIG sets. 2te's, subbed 3te,2rb strong close, compressed sets and within these sets I played smashmouth football and used protection schemes against where i felt his pressure was going to come from. But he cant blitz if you run the ball. The moment you try to get into a shoot out with his style, you already lost.
5.) Misinformation and doing the unexpected: Before the game started, i heard Farls mention that I loved to run "draws" from a scout he received from another player. I knew that Gibs could get real aggressive with his user when he plays safety so I went in knowing i was going to run play action 2-3 times to catch him off guard. When i noted the "draw" comment, i didnt disappoint. I ran up the gut early and often and sprung a play action pass for my first TD and later in the game, in my "goalline strong close" for a big game to get me into the redzone.
6.) As with MANY who blitz often, the middle of the field is often very open. Gibs is dangerous though because he WANTS you to test his user skills in the middle of the field and will often leave it open in order to bait you. ATTACK IT! But only if you know that he isnt playing phag d in 3rd and long distance situation. I focused on streaking the seams as my first read and then slant routes underneath when i did throw the ball. I tried to pass on 1st/2nd downs and run on 3rd down to keep him off balance.
7.) When you are in long passing downs, DO NOT give him time to set up his defenses. Have your stock play ready to go, make your adjustments as u approach the line and snap to try to catch him out of position.
8.) Gibs enjoys playing zone much more than man coverage. When he is in man, he tends to be a bit more vulerable to man beating gimmick routes. Use them early so he has to respect them later. I use CAR and in singleback bunch there is a wheel route that is a devastating man beater. I showed it once and he played it every time i showed the look after which meant i didnt need to expect to see heat from that side of the field in that formation because he adjusted with a purple route.
9.) ALWAYS TAKE THE POINTS. I failed on 4 tries at the 1 yard line (his Goalline Defensive Guide is Legit). Should have went up by 2 scores but got greedy. Take the points and put the pressure on him/them.
10.) Stay loose. bright lights, big cameras can be stressful!
More specific scouts for game vs gibs:
-Dont be scared to come out in base packages on defense when he comes out in 3/4WR sets. He loves to audible down to strong formations (Goalline in particular) and he will run the FB dive with a WR. YOU WANT THIS because there is a high chance you can create a fumble. Just make sure your audibles are set so you can audible down/up to match his moves. He reads defenses better than anyone so adjust when he adjusts.
-When he is in 5wr falcons bunch he has 3 reads: Sproles screen if he reads man or if you are weak on the right side, Graham on the streak if he reads zone (he will motion him in close to hit the seam for the user), Colston deep for the user. He relies on this package because he almost always uses plays that have double blue zones. DO NOT BLITZ when he is in this formation. Instead, play max coverage and take away the right side of the field first.
-When he is in his stock shotty bunch set (falcons cross), he will motion sproles out if you are in man to take advantage of the man defender doesnt follow him. Manually defend that. If he sees you are in cover 3/4 he will motion sproles to and quick throw in open space. If you take that away he will look for draging defenders crossing zones and then deep as his 3rd read. Bring heat in this formation and take away his initial read and adjust for the 2nd read. If he gets to the 3rd read, chances are u are toast.
-He didnt run it against me but when he lines up in shotty 3wr to the right, he will look for the quick motion hike route to the slot defender if you are in man coverage.
-His offense is predicated on quick initial reads so it's difficult to get heat on him. STILL SEND IT so you can TRY to bait him into a bad throw later in the game.
-He relaxes on his pass protection when he sees you come out in a 3 lineman set. Use edge heat on the weak side when he doesnt expect it.
On defense:
-You can read when he wants to bring A-gap heat pretty easily. Audible to a toss or off tackle AFTER he sets this defense up and quick hike to keep him from adjusting. If it's a passing down, Audible to a shotgun set with a RB to block. BE SURE TO HOTROUTE THE RB TO BLOCK AS THEY ARE MOVING FROM THE AUDIBLE. You will notice the blocking "route" has a different look to it when you do that rather than when the rb is stationary (pass blocking route compared to run blocking route). The middle of the field in one area or another is ALWAYS open in this formation. Just be sure not to let him bait u into phag D in this formation. If you read phag d, know he is only rushing 1 player, so you will have ton of time in the pocket.
-When he bunches his 4 down linemen he is playing the run which is also a max zone set up. run off tackles, counters and pitches and try not to give him time to set it up.
-When he bring 46 edge heat, slide line to side you think heat is coming from and block TE in the same direction as the slide. Dont be afraid to max protect. Slants and quick flats are effective when he brings this heat.
-Run play action with your TE on streaks when you see him user safety. When i had the PA dialed up, i had to wait for him to "show me" he had his safety before i hiked the ball. Just know that when you get him on it once, he wont get fooled again unless you have an elite PA QB like peyton/brady etc which holds the name graphic down much longer.
Anyway, i know it's long and im sorry for that. Hope it helps and Gibs, i hope it helps you get a read on some of your own tendencies to help improve your game. thanks again for the opportunity!
@StupidDialUp
Portal 
