Cover 2 Done Right

[mmarino]

One great thing (among many others) I noticed when I played ESPN for the first time last night was how truly realistic the corner play was in the cover 2. I have played cornerback in college and I have yet to see corner play as accurately represented as ESPN.

It always bothered me that, in Madden, the corners in a cover 2, who are supposed to cover the flat (or short outside zone), almost always let the receivers go OUTSIDE them without even trying to keep them inside. The corner in cover 2 should ALWAYS try to keep a receiver to the inside because that makes it much less difficult for the safeties to come over and make a play on a fly route. In other words, if the corner keeps a receiver who is trying to run straight up the field closer to the center of the field, the safety does not have to come so far out to the sidelines to make a play. Since the corners rarely if ever do this in Madden, whenever I see cover 2, I send an outside receiver up the sideline and throw it to them before the safety can get there to help.

However, in ESPN, the corners line up outside the receivers in a cover two and make an attempt to keep them to the inside. They even use proper technique to do so. This makes the cover 2 defense much more effective and realistic.

I love this game. BTW I still like Madden, but I can't get over the details of ESPN.

[Superfly]

That's the most interesting thing I've read about the game so far. I've heard a lot of cool things, but it's nice to hear about tiny details like that from someone who knows. Thanks.

[deez]

Thanks for the very informative post on how a cover 2 should work...you should pass it along to EA so maybe they can get it right for madden 2005.

I always felt there was soemthing messed with the cover 2 in madden...now I know there is.

Thanks man!

[funkmasterdb]

Damn! No wonder I always got burned playing cover 2 in Madden! That was like my main passing defense...

Good thing I got rid of it and picked up ESPN!

[antbull2k4]

Actaully the MAN cover 2 not the zone cover2 worked well in 2k3. It works even better in 2k4...