Coverage techniques and their uses

[aston217]

So there are three coverage skill ratings:
-M2M
-Zone
-BnR

I was wondering, when a player at various positions might be employed to use each (or some combination) of these talents. In reading past threads, I have seen some commonly held beliefs and also some things that seem to be based just on football sense. Let's try to separate the "should be" from the "known to be." Maybe I am just clueless!

Let's break this down by position.

LCB/RCB

1-deep/2-deep Man: M2M only. Seems obvious.
1-deep/2-deep Bnr: BnR only. Likewise
SSM/WSM: Zone for one corner, Man for the other. Is that right?
3-deep: It seems like the general assumption is that "deep" zone responsibilities fall to the two safeties, and either the NB or a linebacker. Correct me if I am wrong. So what are the two outside corners doing? And it seems to me that the guys who *should* be in a cover-3 are the two outside corners, plus the free safety.
4-deep: Again, the general sense I have gotten is that it'd be the two safeties plus the nickel and dime backs, or two linebackers. This makes no sense to me. I would have thought the two safeties and then the two outside corners.

Nickel back

1-deep/2-deep Man or BnR: should be self-explanatory
3-deep: See above. Zone?
4-deep: Zone?

Again, I am not sure this makes football sense, but people seem to think this is what is happening.

Dime back

1-deep/2-deep Man or BnR: self-explanatory again
3-deep: Question mark.
4-deep: Zone?

Safeties

I suspect the answer to "which safety plays zone, which plays man" in a 1-deep is one of those "nobody knows and who cares" questions...

But aside from that, do safeties ever need man or BnR? I have seen safeties with 0 zone but solid man ratings do well in pass coverage. So it must be that the man plays some kind of role.

3-4 SLB vs 3-4 SILB

I don't have much a clue here. Do LBs man/zone ratings factor into WSM/SSZ and SSZ/WSM? Are they otherwise in BnR? What are the differences between these two positions as far as coverage skill goes?

4-3 SLB, MLB, WLB

Just thought I would throw these out there. I do not run a 4-3 but if anyone knows it would be useful for those who do.

[strickzilla]

the problem with this too is that football coverages are so complicated. the terms cover 2 cover 3 are very broad in football terms. there are so many variations on those coverages going by your example assuming the coverages you mentioned then we are actually in a cover 3 man under so the cb's would still be in man and the safties/nickle back are in the cover 3 "shell" the same wousl be true of a cover 2 man under

now if were talking about the cover 2 as the bucs made famous "the tampa 2" then everyone is in a zone.

[Steel]

I'm honestly not going to try and breakdown what the cornerbacks and safeties do. I will say this about the linebackers, though. I don't really think B n' R plays a part in their coverage skills at all. I've had LBs with B 'n R ratings above 70 get toasted relentlessly, and that is in a defense in which I used that coverage quite a bit. On the other hand, when I have LBs with good zone ratings, they seem to hold their own, regardless of what the coverage is. I haven't done any studies on this, but I know this to be true on my own teams.

[aston217]

That is interesting, Steel. Do you run a 4-3 or a 3-4? In the 'offseason hints' thread, Ben lists BnR as the most important trait for a SLB.


SLB—All coverage bars, esp. BnR.

[GridGlory]

Ah man. I can't believe this thread ended that early. I was set for some good reading. If anyone knows if this topic is covered in greater length, please let me know.

[BowTieSports]

From the in-game help file...
1-Deep = FS plays zone, everyone else man/BnR
2-Deep = Both S in zone, everyone else in man/BnR
3-Deep = Both S and 1 CB (usually Nickel) in zone, doesn't clarify others, but "infers" zone
4-Deep = Both S and 2 CB (usually Nickel and Dime) in zone, doesn't clarify others but "infers" zone
1/2 Splits = Both S in zone, other based on side of field


But also consider this side-bit from the in-game help file...
We have received many questions about how a player's coverage ratings translate into these coverage options. The answer is complex. On each play, a defensive player is assigned a coverage rating based on the chosen coverage, the position he plays and the targetted receiver.

Cornerbacks, even when in zone coverage, need to have man-to-man and/or bump-and-run skills because they are almost always responsible for a wide receiver close to the line of scrimmage. And safeties, especially the free safety, even when in man coverage are often essentially playing a zone. The strong-side linebacker is often assigned to the tight end.

So it sounds like your CBs and SLB could potentially use their Man-to-Man ratings on any given pass play. And it sounds like your FS will use his Zone ratings on all passing plays.

[BYU 14]

From the in-game help file...
1-Deep = FS plays zone, everyone else man/BnR
2-Deep = Both S in zone, everyone else in man/BnR
3-Deep = Both S and 1 CB (usually Nickel) in zone, doesn't clarify others, but "infers" zone
4-Deep = Both S and 2 CB (usually Nickel and Dime) in zone, doesn't clarify others but "infers" zone
1/2 Splits = Both S in zone, other based on side of field
.

This is a good base and game couldn't possibly account for all variations, but some things I think would be neat is to have a couple options for each.

Cover 3 for example can be played a couple of ways and I will use global terminology for this.

Sky = 1 safety is down and responsible for the flats (either to the field or 3 receiver side) CB's have deep thirds hash to sideline, high safety has middle third. LB's have flat to side away from the down safety and the other 2 have hook to curl.

Cloud = Same concepts, except coverage rolls to field or 2/3 receiver side with CB to that side in the flats, safeties rolled to outside 1/3 and middle 1/3 and backside CB deep 1/3.

For cover 2 you could play traditional (CB's read number 2 receiver in and either squat or cover #1 receiver man to man) or Tampa, CB's automatically squat, Safeties widen and play halves and MLB/NB takes a deep drop in the middle of the field to rob the skinny post or dig routes.

Just a couple of variations, through I don't know if it would be more functional or cosmetic, depending on what the engine can do.

[BowTieSports]

BYU, you're talking "in real life" answers; I think the premise of the thread was how does the game mechanism utilize each position for the different defensive sets. In the game playcalling, you can't select between Sky and Cloud coverage, so when you select a 3-Deep coverage, the game mechanism is going to place a higher emphasis on the Zone ratings for the 2 Safeties on the field and 1 of the Corners (usually the Nickel CB, but presumably one of your outside Corners if you are playing 3-Deep from a base 3-4 or 4-3)

[BYU 14]

BYU, you're talking "in real life" answers; I think the premise of the thread was how does the game mechanism utilize each position for the different defensive sets. In the game playcalling, you can't select between Sky and Cloud coverage, so when you select a 3-Deep coverage, the game mechanism is going to place a higher emphasis on the Zone ratings for the 2 Safeties on the field and 1 of the Corners (usually the Nickel CB, but presumably one of your outside Corners if you are playing 3-Deep from a base 3-4 or 4-3)

I did use RL references, but it would also have an effect in game as in Sky/Cloud coverage the defenders zone attributes would come into play for defenders in a different zone.

So if I had 2 really good zone CB's I would want to play Sky cover 3 so they had deep 1/3 zones and a weaker safety was in the flat. This would presumably do a better job of taking away the deep ball.

But then, I may be over analyzing it. :)

[strickzilla]

BYU, you're talking "in real life" answers; I think the premise of the thread was how does the game mechanism utilize each position for the different defensive sets. In the game playcalling, you can't select between Sky and Cloud coverage, so when you select a 3-Deep coverage, the game mechanism is going to place a higher emphasis on the Zone ratings for the 2 Safeties on the field and 1 of the Corners (usually the Nickel CB, but presumably one of your outside Corners if you are playing 3-Deep from a base 3-4 or 4-3)

interesting i worked under the assumption it was the SLB in the base set or one of the ILB in a 3-4

[aston217]

Can't think of a real life cover 3 that would have a LB play the deep zone.

My assumption would be this: a cover-3 zone relies on *everybody's* zone skills and is just more effective at stopping long passes than a cover-2. So, exactly as BowTie says.

It does seem that even in cover 2, you're affected (to some extent) by the man and bump bars on your safeties, but I'm not too sure about that. As in a safety with a great BnR bar plays his zone in a cover-2 BnR better.

[strickzilla]

if the corner is out in the cover 3 then its basically the strong/weak man/zone. because if its the case then the question is which cb is in zone? as usual these "practical" discussions raise more questions than answers

[Sef0r]

DEF doesn't work in this game, that is all. Waiting for new game.

[BowTieSports]

DEF doesn't work in this game, that is all. Waiting for new game.

Why do you say defense doesn't work in this game? In my experiences -- and in looking around at the histories of several on-line leagues -- the average points per game most seasons ranges from 20-22 points (more often than not in 20.5 to 21.2 or .3 range). Occasionally I've found a season where the average is 22.1 or 22.2 on the high end or 19.6, 19.7 on the low end.

Last 5 seasons in the NFL the average points per game were 22.8 (last season), 22.2, 22.0, 21.5, 22.0 ... and this season is 23.4. And since the NFL expanded to 30 teams in 1995, the average has been over 20 every season.

On a macro level, it seems like the defense holds its own OK in the game. On a micro level there may be elements to creating a strong defense that don't jive with "In Real Life" game planning, but there are still ways within the game to build and scheme for more successful defenses.

[Yoda]

Defense works in the game, but a lot of it isn't quantifiable like offense is.