As my trusty Laptop is now to be retired, I sorted throught the masses of random txt files that I have started at some point. I found a piece I wrote about 3 years ago for the FUMBBL academy. I don't know, if it has been published yet, but before it gets lost im my archive forever, I decided to share it:
OK.. so I have been asked to write abit on playing defense. General stuff it should be.. so lets see.

General thoughts:
I think there is one goal you have everytime you play defense:
Take away from your opponent the control over the drive.

If you opponent has control, he can score when he wants to. This is the worst thing to happen. It`s OK if your opponent scores. Often you cannot prevent it. But you should control or at least influence when he scores. So an important thing is to consider, which goals you have for the defensive drive and sort them by priority according to your gameplan. These goals can be:
1) Turn the ball over and score yourself.
This is of course the ultimate aim of each defensive drive. For some teams though, it`s not needed and occurs rarely. Take for example the standard 2-1 basher grind. It wins without a defense TD. In fact, alot of bashers have an extremely hard time to reliably steal the ball on defense. Keep in mind, that you often don`t need to go for this option and doing so often gives you a harder time to reach other goals as you players are out of position.
2) Prevent the opponent from scoring.
This seems to be another no-brainer. But again you have to think about you whole gameplan. There are two drawbacks with this option. For one, it might be extremely costly on your players depending on the lenght of the drive and your race. You have to play full contact more likely than not to stall him throughout the drive. In addition, if you opponent wants a slow score, your tries to prevent the score could backfire if he manages his T8 touchdown.
3) Try to force a quick touchdown.
This is usually the case if you go for the 2-1 grind. You want him to score fast, leaving you the maximum amount of time to score back. For this you usually have to spread out and send one or more likely two blitzer after the ball to harass. Leave a path of low resistance, that your opponent can take without much risk but don`t make it too obvious not to give your opponent extra incentive to stall. The trick is, especially for slower races, that you have to make it more risky to keep the ball than to score.
4) Try to delay the touchdown.
This is a rare case. Usually when you are up 2-0 after halftime and now have to bring your victory home over the time. The more time goes by before he scores the better. Blitz/mark reciever, slow his advance, but never attack the ball. You simply don`t need to.
5) Maximize damage dealt to your opponent.
This is very often a secondary goal. In some cases - especially in tourney games with overtime - this might become your primary goal. Field up your DPs and single out the most valuable player you can isolate. Foul, repeat. As it doesn`t matter when or if your opponent scores. Use your players to split your opponents team so you can pick off and foul players more easily.
6) Minimize the damage taken.
This is often a secondary consideration, though if you have taken alot of damage it can often become wise to make this your primary goal. Cut your losses on this drive, run, refuse to stand up and wait for reinforcements in the next drive.

Getting your priorities straight:
So while you are setting up, think about what you are trying to archieve. Try to think about what your opponent wants to do. It is usually pretty obvious from the racial constellation. Look at both the teams about to take the field. What option do you think you can realistically manage. What is your worst case. Then pick your priorities for the drive and set up accordingly. The way you set your priorities is what makes out your style of play. It`s influenced both by the game situation and your personal preferences to varying degrees. Here a few pointers to help you with your decision making:
1)Sometime you have to do..
There are times, when your hands are bound. You must turn over the ball or prevent the score. These are usually situations, where the game has gone in another direction as wished but you have to win (tourney or league). In this case, scrap the rest, you know what you have to do.
2)Keep it real
You might say that you always want to turn over the ball and score on your defense. But that`s why I said 'realistically manage'. If you try for the steal and fail, you are very often in a worse spot than if you had aimed a little lower. Most of the time you have to use your most precious players, because that`s what they are for. But if things go wrong - and they WILL at some point - your favorite St5 orc blitzer or ST4 wardancer will fall down in the middle of your opponents. Or you end up with several players upfield far away from the action if a pass or handoff moves the ball into your half.
Know your team. Know what it can do given average luck. Go for it.
3)Clock is ticking
Some options are harder or easier depending on the time left. To turn over the ball you often have to focus your whole team on the task from start, if you try to force a reasonably quick TD, you might as well go and hunt down a victim to foul first. In general, if your primary goal only uses up few players, go for your secondary targets with the rest.
4)If things go your way, take your chance
Bloodbowl is never the same. Each match different stuff happens. If you opponent fails or you get lucky, take a moment to revise your plan. Can you now blitz the ball free? The ball is free, can you go for the score yourself? Have you eliminated that many players, that you can now prevent a TD for sure? This is where you exploit coaching errors of your opponent.
5)Stay cool
Sometimes your team fails to do what it should be able to do. Know when you have to give away the drive and cut your losses. Comebacks do happen, so don`t throw away your chances by putting your last 3 guys into contact in a vain hope that your opponent might fail blocking them. You still have secondary targets.


Umpf.. I realize everything above might be somewhat abstract. So let me try to illustrate abit. Let`s look at a game from the GLT qualifier. http://fumbbl.com/FUMBBL.php?page=match&op=view&id=2680479
My game plan consisted of turning him over once and making my offense for a 2-1 win. So on my defense drives I made the turnover first priority, damage minimization second as elves are skilled enough to manage this. You can see that I encircled him to be able to attack from all sides and minimized the contact at first until I saw an opening. When his ball started to become unsafe, I moved into contact increasing the pressure. This cost me a few KOs (lucky me, could have been worse) and I failed the 1d block that would have allowed me a 2d blitz on the ball. He in turn made his handoff rolls and I wasn`t able to prevent his stall.
Second half I decided to score quickly and to try my luck again in the defense. Same priorities, but this time I could afford more contact, as it was second half - losses wouldn`t have been that bad. And finally in T4, he rolled below average and I could attack the ball and score myself. The last turn I had only damage minimization on my mind. But when the injury time came up, priorities changes to 'prevent score at all cost'.