DISCLAIMER(S)
If you are looking for free nice blitzes, then you are looking in the wrong place. Nice blitzes with great coverage and pressure from everywhere are hard to find (as they should be). Defense is in this year's game, you just have to really work for it.
Now on to the Show
Coverage Tips
Default hook zones vs. playmakered hook zones.
These behave very differently so you should know the difference between them. From now on, I will refer to playmakered hook zones as orange zones and hook zones as yellow zones.
A player in yellow zone will play almost like good man coverage. He will dip underneath slants and intermediate ins, follow players half way to the flats, etc. He focuses on the closest player to him, regardless of where you put him. This is very good when you want to dissuade someone from throwing to the flats or throwing a slant.
A player in orange zone will ignore players around him until he gets to his depth, which is about 10-13 yards. It won't matter where you move him, he will try to go to his designated spot and won't react very (players or the ball) well until he gets there. The exception to this is a spotlighted receiver near him. Don't expect this to stop in, slants, or even hooks and curls. This is good for stopping intermediate post routes and intermediate corner routes (of the CB's are in orange).
Some more clarification on hook zones
Yellow (DEFAULT)
- better for covering shallow
- more responsive to guys entering their zones (which can be good or bad)
- tighter coverage
- plays about 3-8 yards from the LoS
Orange (PLAYMAKERED)
- better for covering intermediate routes
- more likely to stay in their zones (which can be good or bad)
- plays about 8-13 yards from the LoS
It depends on the play you are calling and what you want that defender to do as to which one you should use. If I call a Cover 2, I will often make the MLB do an orange zone so he can take some post routes away. However, I then have to accept the fact that he won't do a good job covering underneath.
Pinching the safeties in a Cover 2
Another thing I will sometimes do is pinch the safeties. This is coverage audible down. This helps shut down deep and intermediate post routes. Here are the situations you want to use them in:
1) QB has bad THP
- If the QB has a weak arm, then the safeties will have more time to cover that ground anyways.
2) Opponent doesn't throw corners routes (or never has enough time for them to develop)
- Why defend something that he won't do? And let's face it, unless you have a purple at that corner, chances are a good player will complete that pass anyways with or without the safeties near by.
3) You have fast people at safety (even if you used Subs to put corners there)
- This allows your safeties to cover more ground if your opponent throws to the outside.
4) You have purple routes to help against outside throws
- If he throws intermediate to the outside, the purples will pick it up. If he throws deep to the outside, then the safeties should be able to cover the ground anyways. He may even even have time to throw deep outside anyways.
Putting outside CB's in purple
Yes, there is a slight difference in these as well. Playmakered purple routes will bump outside receivers if you call bump and run. This can really delay certain routes and route combos.
Spotlighting receivers
I prefer to not spotlight guys who are in traffic, unless they are only throwing to that guy. The reason for this is that it can really open up huge holes in your defense. Instead, I like to spotlight isolated receivers (like the X receiver in I Form Pro). What it does is make defenders cove him better.
I also pair this up with myself covering underneath. By doing this, you effectively take away two options from your opponent, giving you more time for the pressure to get there.
SPD vs AWR
Some people believe that speed is everything in Madden. I am not one of those people. To me, it depends on what that player is doing. If a player is in a yellow zone, I would rather have AWR. Basically, the more a person has to move, the more I want him to be faster. But if he is already near where he will end up, I would rather have AWR. If I have a MLB covering a purple zone, I want him to have SPD because he has to get to his spot to cover it. If he is in yellow or orange, sometimes I would rather have AWR. Also sometimes, you want less SPD because the defense takes longer to unravel. It depends on what you do on defense.
Blitzing Tips
Use the Subs feature
I rarely run a play on defense where I haven't used the Subs feature in the formation. DE dropping into coverage? Sub a LB for him. Want a pass rushing line on passing downs? Sub OLB's in at DE (if you have slow DE's) and DE's at DT. Last year, the Giants had there pass rushing line on passing situations and it worked. You can do the same. Is the CB1 blitzing, sub someone fast for him and put him somewhere more useful (perhaps FS).
Use the Yellow zones to make the QB hold the ball a little longer
If you have a yellow zone at SS, you can put him right overtop the TE to take the TE away and sometimes also the slant from the WR1 as well as the flats. If you can stall three different receiver with one defender, you have a massive advantage. This is why the spread offense is so popular in college, because the defense has a much harder time accomplishing this.
Look over overloads in the plays
Find a play in which you have LB's taking unique outside blitz angles and then re-blitz the DE's and DT's on that side. By doing this, those guys will take on the OG and OT leaving your LB's to cause havoc.
Feel free to leave the short side flats open
When I say short side, I mean the side of the field has has less room. If they throw too early, the defenders not covering the area are still close and can make the tackle. If they throw to late, they will throw it out of bounces or just in bounds enough for them to maybe even lose yards trying to turn upfield. If your opponent throws to the flats and loses 5 yards, then that's like a sack anyways. Your opponent may not even bother looking to his flats anymore, giving you one less area to worry about.
Send heat up the middle
It make take more guys than you are willing to send but you have to let your opponent know that he isn't safe in the pocket. Also sometimes, one of his linemen will have a brainfart and just not block an oncoming pass rusher. This will make your opponent uncomfortable in the pocket and start rolling out frequently and sometimes even into your overloads.
Send pressure from your opponent's favoured side
If you can send pressure from the area where he wants to pass to, you have stopping rolling out there and shortening his throws and getting passing lanes, thus increasing the likelihood of a pick (you still want coverage there). Some people favour a side based on the QB's dominant hand, some people always favour the right side, some people favour the side with more receivers and some people favour the wide side of the field. Figure out where your opponent wants to throw the ball and prevent him from comfortably getting the ball there.
TO BE CONTINUED...
FAQ's:
What audibles do you use?
1 Blitz that doubles as a run stuffer
1 Max Coverage (245 Velcro)
1 Dime Blitz
1 Corner Blitz
1 other Blitz
Should this teams use a 3-man front or a 4-man front?
Look at the SPD and STR of your DE's. If they have strong and slow, they should be in a 34. If they are fast, 43. I also think it is easier to turn a 34 team into a 43 than the other way around. That's because you can't make your fast DE's into OLB's. Also, if you are running the 34, you better than fast LB's if you wanna bring heat.
What playbook has this formation...?
Playbooks and their formations:
http://www.savefile.com/files/1879760
How do I stop slants and drags?
Any play that has 3 LB's doing hook zone without adjustments should do a good job stopping short patterns. Plays like Nickel 245 Cover 2 Sink, 43 Normal Cover 2, defends underneath stuff well but can get beat deep.
Also try this: Nickel 335 CB Dogs Blitz and make the blitzing CB's do purples zones or light-blue zones. This way you get good coverage underneath and 3 guys deep. Fox Blitz works too.
Subject: Guide to Defense 
Fri May 22, 2009 3:24 pm
