Cover 4 Palms

[edgevoice]

Quote: Originally Posted by DSonTL

All this is amazing information. I’ve been playing this exact way.. I’m a huge Tampa 2 fan being a Bears with Urlacher, Briggs, Lovie fan so I wanted to play a real T2 scheme but that’s borderline nonsense the way players and the computer abuse post routes.. I enjoy scheming and hybrid looks so this 2 High.. Cover 4,6,9 scheme is going to be my new thing. I was just really confused about the difference with Qtrs and Palms. I already knew QTRs but I never knew wat Palms did Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

I still like to mix in some Tampa 2 on occasion, but only when it situationally makes sense to me. Mid-read Mike backer not as assignment-sound since latest patch dropped for me. Having said that, Cover 4 quarters has been cleaned up however and working well for me.

Overall, I am playing more Cover 3 Match/Base and Cover 1 Press with manual leverage assigned pre-snap.

[UtahUtes32]

Quote: Originally Posted by k1ngofny

Just wanted to add that NFL teams that play zone out of 2 high safety looks in the modern NFL will generally be some form of Cover 4. The fact that it can look so different from play to play depending on what the offense runs is a big advantage. You rarely see the old spot dropping Cover 2 (or Tampa 2) anymore.

I'm not sure I totally on board with "... NFL teams that play zone out of 2 high safety looks in the modern NFL will generally be some form of Cover 4..."

This doesn't really match with what I'm seeing from nfl defenses. But I will meet you halfway and agree that in actual cover 2 looks, they give up the flat, rather than the seam between the CB and Safety. The flats are open in the NFL if you want to attack them against cover 2 teams.

Almost no teams are running cover 2 "hard flat" is what I'm saying lol

[UtahUtes32]

There are some good comments in this thread! Keep it coming.

[GameBreaker35]

Quote: Originally Posted by stinkubus

Cover 6 puts the Tampa 2 to the strong side and Cover 9 puts it to the weak side. This lets me keep using auto flip and always know I'm going to have the coverage I want on the right side of the field without compromising run D. Making use of this ability is another way to leverage these defenses and ensure you always have help over the top against the top end speed guys. You just call either Cover 6 or Cover 9 - whichever gets the Tampa 2 to their side of the field.

Good information that you’ve provided for everyone — we need more content like this. I use Quarters and Palms exactly as you do, so I think we think a lot alike.

I will say that I haven’t played C6/C9as much as I would like. I tend to create the C6 by hot routes within Palms because there seemed to be an issue earlier in the year with matching out of the stock C6/C9. Are the the match rules working correctly? I haven’t tested this throughly against different sets, and you seem like you are a trustworthy source.

[Coach Captures]

You have to base align the palms in order for it to play correctly. If you don’t the conversion dealing with a vertical from #1 and a quick out from #2 will burn your secondary. If you base align it, it will work as intended.

[stinkubus]

Quote: Originally Posted by GameBreaker35

Good information that you’ve provided for everyone — we need more content like this. I use Quarters and Palms exactly as you do, so I think we think a lot alike. I will say that I haven’t played C6/C9as much as I would like. I tend to create the C6 by hot routes within Palms because there seemed to be an issue earlier in the year with matching out of the stock C6/C9. Are the the match rules working correctly? I haven’t tested this throughly against different sets, and you seem like you are a trustworthy source.

I haven't noticed any game-breaking errors in coverage logic, but I will be the first one to tell you that I am not a huge labber or game tester. I play and make adjustments by induction as I go. This was far easier than trying to actually memorize all the rules plus exceptions and bugs.

One thing that was done this year was that the deep half zones in the Cover 6/Cover 9 plays no longer have any match principles so crossers and posts can be an issue.

Last year you could play the crosser/post until he could be passed off to those zones and then you would attack check downs like drags. This year if you want to stop the crosser you must concede the drag and rely on sure tackling to minimize the gain.

Like the guy above me said your deep safety can also have some problems in Palms when #1 and #2 switch. Since most of my usage of Palms comes vs. Trips this isn't a big issue for me as neither humans nor CPU favor concepts that exploit it. The next time someone calls Flood Switch against me will be the first.

If you are like me and want no part of base align (EA if you are reading this every single corny defensive tactic in this game is enabled by base aligning - take it out!) you can get the safety to play the vertical better by manually moving him.

From default alignment I'd be pretty pissed if a safety could get to an outside vertical from a receiver aligned to the field, anyway. That's too much ground for anyone to cover especially if you don't get a successful jam on the #1.

[PDuncanOSU]

Quote: Originally Posted by stinkubus

Base Calls would be Quarters vs 2x2, Palms vs open Trips, Cover 6 or Cover 3 Cloud vs. Trips sets where the #1 to the weakside is an in-line TE, and Cover 9 against bunches. These are *not* hard and fast rules. They are, IMO, the best default options to keep yourself safe deep without giving up too much underneath and all of them can be played with anywhere from 5 to 9 men in the box. This allows you to match up with any offensive formation in the game. Take Bunch for example. Cover 9 is great until they start hitting you with comebacks and out routes from their solo receiver. If you want to stay in this defense now you *must* press him and expose yourself vertically because that CB will be 1-on-1 on sideline routes. If you can't safely press you can play Cover 6 (to bracket verticals - always change the cloud to a soft squat) or Cover 6 Invert (so the FS will muddle the read on anything out-breaking) instead. Some formations like Gun Trips TE or good tight 2x2 sets (there's more than a few) are almost like 5 dimensional games of Rock, Paper, Scissors because you could either want to be in a certain defense on any given snap or also pay dearly for it. Quick example - Against most tight 2x2 Quarters does an amazing job of locking up Bench all by itself - you get the luxury of playing the checkdown and spying the QB. The corner route gets bracketed. If they run china or smash off that corner instead you're cooked because the safety is 1-on-1 with him and literally cannot line up in a good position to play it.

I'm hoping to use a 2-high defensive scheme in my Madden '21 franchise. Enjoyed finding this old thread. Plan to use Cover 4 Quarters & Palms, Cover 3 Buzz & Cloud, Tampa-2, Cover 6 and Cover 9. Any advice on these coverages in '21?

[CM Hooe]

As an addendum to great information in this thread, I highly recommend the coverage breakdowns on NYKia31's YouTube channel. They're very informative about how each coverage call in Madden is supposed to work, current in-game strengths and issues with the coverages specific to Madden, and how as a user to work around those weaknesses.