How Effective Are Coverage Adjustments?

[ggsimmonds]

Quote: Originally Posted by picker19

Funny, if anything, I thought over/under would impact zone more, and inside/outside would effect man more. Sounds like you're seeing the opposite. If that's true, then that makes no sense to me why it would be programmed that way. Even in the Prima guide in the Playbook section, it recommends specifically for some zone coverage plays to "adjust coverage to under" to help on 3rd and short situations. But that's not to say it actually works in practice, at least it doesn't appear to me to be the case.

I tell my defense to play underneath in certain zone coverages and I don't see any difference. It does not seem to have much of an effect. But I have noticed a significant effect on man coverage.

I'll look into this a bit more

[picker19]

Thanks, anything you uncover, please let me know. Since I mostly play zone coverage with my team (and never thought to try under/over adjustments for man), that may be why I'm not seeing anything.

Have you at least seen outside/inside work with zone coverage? Or does it, too, only work with man?

[cooper417]

Zone shading doesn't seem to do much. I've seen no significant help shading over/under or inside/outside on zones.
Protect the sticks (triangle then L1 on PS4) does make your zone defenders deep or underneath cheat to the 1st down area.

In Man 2 Man, shading seems to work better over/under or inside/outside.
I've used protect the sticks in cover 2 man & the safeties in zone do cheat down to the 1st down area. The guys in man won't change the coverage much.

Choosing over the top for long bombs, underneath for short passes or inside/outside in Man coverages can be pretty effective. You need to choose correctly for it to work.
If you choose shade inside & the WR runs an out or corner, the DB will usually cheat inside & leave the outside wide open.
It works well if you play someone who loves to run certain routes over & over then you can shade & increase your chances for an INT.

But shading in zones doesn't seem to do much. You would be better just doing 1-2 individual adjustments for guys to cover an area better.

[ggsimmonds]

Quote: Originally Posted by picker19

Thanks, anything you uncover, please let me know. Since I mostly play zone coverage with my team (and never thought to try under/over adjustments for man), that may be why I'm not seeing anything. Have you at least seen outside/inside work with zone coverage? Or does it, too, only work with man?

Quote: Originally Posted by cooper417

Zone shading doesn't seem to do much. I've seen no significant help shading over/under or inside/outside on zones. Protect the sticks (triangle then L1 on PS4) does make your zone defenders deep or underneath cheat to the 1st down area. In Man 2 Man, shading seems to work better over/under or inside/outside. I've used protect the sticks in cover 2 man & the safeties in zone do cheat down to the 1st down area. The guys in man won't change the coverage much. Choosing over the top for long bombs, underneath for short passes or inside/outside in Man coverages can be pretty effective. You need to choose correctly for it to work. If you choose shade inside & the WR runs an out or corner, the DB will usually cheat inside & leave the outside wide open. It works well if you play someone who loves to run certain routes over & over then you can shade & increase your chances for an INT. But shading in zones doesn't seem to do much. You would be better just doing 1-2 individual adjustments for guys to cover an area better.

Yeah, inside/outside is useless in zone as far as I can tell.

I have not noticed deep zones being affected by protecting the sticks and to be honest, I would rather they did not. My deep safety should not be trying to stop 6 yard curls.

Has anyone noticed/experimented with shading in situations where the corner lines up so as to already shade a certain way?
For example in Man coverage with two safeties playing deep the CBs line up using an inside technique. They should be shading inside but what happens if you shade them outside? I know they don't change their alignment, but does it also lead to poor coverage?