Defending 4 Verticals on All-Madden

[jhigginsluckow]

Have any of you had success defending four verticals consistently versus All-Madden? Cover 2 and Cover 3 are automatically beaten, which makes sense. But against Cover 4 the CPU just waits for the exact moment for their guy to get past the linebackers and in front of the safety because human-team linebackers never drop deep enough (of course though, the CPU's defenders always do). I've even tried 3 Man under from Quarters-Deep package - 3 rushers, man coverage across the board, 3 deep safeties - and still, it seems like the CPU almost forces my defenders to play from a trail position immediately so their offense can drop it over the top.

I lost 4 games this past season on last minute drives by the CPU because I can't find a way to stop 4 verticals this year. Literally, 4. This isn't meant to be a complaint thread (although it probably should be). I always pass commit, I back my players up, and nothing works. Any of you have better luck?

[wellendowd72]

I get killed using cover 2 and 3 as well. I'd appreciate any Intel here.


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[jhigginsluckow]

Quote: Originally Posted by wellendowd72

I get killed using cover 2 and 3 as well. I'd appreciate any Intel here. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Getting beat while in Cover 2 or Cover 3 doesn't bother me so much because 2 or 3 defenders should not be able to cover 4 receivers on a regular basis. Though, it would be nice if it worked the same while I was on offense. I can run 5 verticals against a Cover 2 zone and somehow they are all covered still.

[Senator Palmer]

Cover 3 shouldn't be an automatic win, especially if the verts is coming out of trips, now a spread 2 by 2, that's a bit different. The single high safety should split the difference between the #2 running the vertical and the #3 running the post and break when the ball is thrown. Instead, as it is now the safety will instantly take the post.

What I do, which is not totally sound is take the playside linebacker, and match the vertical route. Typically my linebacker doesn't have the speed to keep up, but he does have just enough to make the throw more difficult, which gives the corner and the safety time to break.


I also found this video from ny_kia that has a few nice tips.



Cover 4 has more and more become my go-to call against 4 verts, and I have had pretty consistent success with it. Sure every now and again my safety or corner will stop and watch the ball, but that's not the norm. This game still functions on the dice roll, so I don't expect anything to work 100% of the time.

[RogueHominid]

Yeah, quarters seems like the obvious decision here.

[jhigginsluckow]

Quarters is what I would have expected to work as well, but for whatever reason it doesn't for me. My hook defenders don't drop far enough and the safeties drop back too deep too quickly, leaving a huge gap that the computer exploits when it wants to. Whereas when I'm on offense, the hook defenders go all the way with the inside receivers.

My safeties aren't elite (Eric Reid and Antoine Bethea), so I'm not expecting to stop it every time. But I'd expect to stop it at least once in a while.

It also sucks that Cover 4 isn't a choice to audible to. I don't want to have to choose Cover 4 every time they show they'll have 3 receivers and a tight end (or 4 receivers), and have very vanilla plays to audible to if the offense doesn't come out in a 4 verticals look.

[misterkrabz]

Quarters Cover-2 Man, Pass commit, shade inside, QB spy the LE. Works more often than not. Matter of fact, I love it when I come across the "4 Verts" players....Only down side to this is you can get ran on...and for big gains. If you "user" the MLB and miss the tackle on a draw or off tackle run play you're in trouble.

[Jm0ney2001]

Blitz blitz blitz. If they are running verticals the routes won't develop bf you get to the QB