Is Defense Back in a Big (Bad) Way?

[Citrus Dad]

A couple of points of how defense differs this year from the 2012-14 period. The first is that it is much more difficult to flow from offensive to defensive ends of the field. A robot is less likely to spend time defending as part of their scoring cycle. With a good HP feed, they may not need to go beyond the neutral zone, and may be able to poach balls in the front court.

The second is the limit of one defender. A 3 on 1 attack will minimize defensive effectiveness. Yes the defender might focus on the best scoring robot, but the truth is that the better scorer will be able to outdrive the robot left behind to defend. (The only exception might be in the Champs Subdivision finals and on Einstein. But then all 3 offensive bots will be highly effective.)

We'll see how the defenses play out. This will be a much different flavor than recent games though.