Defensive Improvments for Madden 11 Part 3 - Game Planning Defensive Backs - LBzrule's Blog

LBzrule's Blog

Defensive Improvments for Madden 11 Part 3 - Game Planning Defensive Backs

Posted on July 24, 2009 at 05:57 PM.

Game Planning Corners

I think game planning and having an in depth game plan menu where we can save everything to a profile for online and offline play is very important. In this blog I want to talk a little bit about game planning the corners. I think we should be able to set our corners positioning based on coverage and situation. Let�s look at coverages and situations.

Ok in the Game Plan Hub we should have an option for Secondary Play. Once we select Secondary play it should take us to a menu for coverages. On that menu we should have the following:

Man Coverage

Cover 0
Cover 1

After I select a coverage, I should come to a menu that has:

Middle of the field Play
Boundary Play
Field Play

On the same screen I should have the options to check under the three options above:

Field Corner Play Inside Play Outside Press Loose Default
Boundary Corner Play Inside Play Outside Press Loose Default
Nickel Back Play Inside Play Outside Press Loose Default
Dime Back Play Inside Play outside Press Loose Default

This way we can game plan our corners with respect to coverages and not have to worry about cluttering up the coverage interface.

On the Field Game Plan

Now the on the field game plan should give us more options. One of those options should be to set our corners over for zone coverages. Corners Over is something I would love to have (bring back, it used to be man lock on/off) and it goes a very long way in disguising zone coverages. What a lot of teams do in real life with their zone coverages is call corners over. Let me see if I can draw it up here.

.................................................. H
.................................................. F

......................Z..........................Q
X......................................T...G...C.. .G...T...Y
.......................C.............L.......N.... ....T.......R
C........................................W......M. ......S
.................................................. .....................$
..........................................F

Now this zone coverage against Pro Twins. We have Corners Over here.
Let's say this is Cover 3. What happens in Corners Over is that the CB
aligned on X will drop to the deep 1/3, the Over CB will play the
flat. To simplify it for video games, $ will read TE. He takes deep
outside 1/3 but he reads TE first. F takes the middle 1/3. S is going
to drop to Buzz right, M to hook curl and W to hook curl.

If it is cover 2 Hard for instance, S has to get to the flats quickly,
M rotates over to the TE hook/curl and W is dropping deep in the hole.
F and $ are on the deep halves. Outside CB plays the flats, inside CB
drops to hook/curl.

What about motion?

If we get any motion by X or Z the Over CB will go with him. If we are in a Cover 3 call, the Over CB now plays the deep 1/3. Everyone else's assignment goes back to the default zone as if the Corner did not play over. If we are in a Cover 2 he plays either flats (2hard), or sinks to hook/curl (2 Sink). Now what you are going to need is faster player movement by defenders and better locomotion on the motion man. With Cover 3 the CB will need to deepen his motion over and on the snap drop to the deep 1/3.

Zone Brackets

Another option in the �on the field game plan� I would like to toggle on and off on a play-by-play basis is Zone Brackets. The Adaptive A.I may already take care of this. I�m not sure. If it does not it would be nice to have as an option. Our on the fly option should be.

Bracket #1�s
Bracket #2�s

Let�s describe the system first by working through an example and then talk about what these numbers mean. Let�s say the offense comes out in a Gun 4 WR set. On defense let�s say I have come out in Dollar Normal Cover 2 sink. Now I call up the on the field game plan and select Bracket #1�s. What this will do is work in the coverage. So if the #1�s run any short or medium routes they will be bracketed. Let�s take the right side of the field. The #1 is running a curl route. The CB will back pedal drop and play his outside hip. The Dime back to that side will quickly check #2 and release him. Rather than dropping straight back, he will drift over and attempt to rob the curl route from underneath. Now this does open up holes in the zone, IF the QB has time to read it. But it also does something else. Say goodbye to rocket curls.

Now suppose #1 runs a slant. The outside corner is going to ride him into the dime back and then turn his hips and get back to his area on the outside. The dime back will ride #1 into the MLB, who will focus his attention on #1 as well.

But what if #1 runs a post route? How would the bracketing in cover 2-sink work here? First the outside corner is going to ride #1 on the vertical portion of the route. The dime back is going to also drop with #1 on the vertical portion of the route. As #1 makes his cut to the post the outside CB will release and get back to his zone drop area. The Dime back will then ride #1 into the MLB who will be dropping deep into the hole because of his focus on #1. Now again, what this does is open up holes in the zone, but if the pass rush is there then reading and finding those holes will be a lot more difficult than this presentation makes it sound.

If #1 runs anything vertical, the outside CB will drop with him for 10 yards where he will then pass him on to the Safety. And since we have selected bracket #1�s the Safeties will focus on #1�s. This means if we have one of the #2�s running a deep post then it�s going to be wide open.

Now you can only choose to bracket one set of receivers on any given down. If I choose to bracket #1�s on this down, then I cannot also bracket #2�s on the same down.

How would this work if the defense is in cover 3? Let�s start back with the curl route. In cover 3 we have the outside CB dropping to the deep 1/3. The SS drops to hook curl on the right side and the dime back plays the flat. On the left side we have the left CB dropping to the deep 1/3. We have the OLB dropping to the hook curl and the nickel back playing the flats. These are the important positions. Let�s say #1 on the right runs a curl route. The dime back playing the flat is going to focus on #1 and cushion the flat and stay in front of #1 to prevent the curl route. The SS will charge on #1�s inside hip.

What if #1 runs a 10 yard out route? Again the CB is going to drop to his deep 1/3 responsibility. The SS is going to charge on the out and the Dime back is going to cushion the flats and make that throw to the out a bit harder.

Basically, if the focus WR is within 5 yards of a defender playing a short zone, that defender is going to focus on that WR while he is in the zone and ride him and pass him off to the next defender. It might open up holes in the zones, but again, if the pass rush is there, then this can work.

Recap

Off the Field Game Plan
� Set Corner Play for man coverages

On the field game Plan
� Corners Over Option
� Zone Brackets Option

Comments

# 1 Phobia @ Dec 14

I agree. Madden needs to implement some sort of gameplan interface. What could be possible with it is like a wet dream. Being able to tell my corners to play what part of the field and how is a terrible tragedy not having this in the game. LB you are the defensive guru.