Help me call better defense

[Gagnon39]

Are there some YouTuber’s any of you all would suggest to learn what defenses to call in certain situation? I am a long time football fan, and I coached JV football for two years, but I’m by no means an expert. I think a lot of my issue playing defense is bad play calling.

I know the basics, about when to call nickel or dime, and matching up personnel. As well as the most obvious things about the differences between zones and man coverage. I just don’t know exactly why some of the specifics are in regards to, “hard flats,” etc., and when zone coverages turn into man. I’ve watched some videos but I’l love to become much more educated on defensive play calling.

Thanks in advance.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[CM Hooe]

The pattern-matching zones in the game are:

- Cover 3 Match + Cover 3 Buzz Match (as long as each side of the offensive formation has two or fewer receivers outside of the tackles at the snap of the ball)

- Cover 4 Quarters + Cover 4 Palms (as long as each side of the offensive formation has three or fewer receivers outside of the tackles at the snap of the ball)

- Cover 6 / Cover 9 (as long as the Cover 4 side of the defense has three or fewer receivers outside of the tackles at the snap of the ball)

Note that pattern matching also turns off if you have any zone depth options configured in the play-call Coaching Adjustments menu.

—

You probably don’t want to mess with Hard Flats unless you really want to sell out against short passes.

—

I think the biggest thing you can do on defense to start with is to find one thing you absolutely want to take away from the offense and do that. Don’t want to get beat over the top? Stick with the Cover 3 family of coverages and also Cover 2 Man. Want to stop the run? You can choose defenses that load the box (Cover 3 Sky / Cover 1 Hole), you can maximize the number of defenders in the run fit (Cover 4 Quarters), or you can shoot gaps (any Man blitz). The selection of plays Madden 22 offers in the new game plan tab of play call is actually pretty decently matched up with the strategy you pick pre-game.

Against the CPU, try to avoid calling any single defensive play more than maybe once per drive, twice at most. Particularly on All Madden, the CPU play calling AI picks up on repeat play calls aggressively. Don’t be afraid to open up your playbook!

[Gagnon39]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

The pattern-matching zones in the game are: - Cover 3 Match + Cover 3 Buzz Match (as long as each side of the offensive formation has two or fewer receivers outside of the tackles at the snap of the ball) - Cover 4 Quarters + Cover 4 Palms (as long as each side of the offensive formation has three or fewer receivers outside of the tackles at the snap of the ball) - Cover 6 / Cover 9 (as long as the Cover 4 side of the defense has three or fewer receivers outside of the tackles at the snap of the ball) Note that pattern matching also turns off if you have any zone depth options configured in the play-call Coaching Adjustments menu. — You probably don’t want to mess with Hard Flats unless you really want to sell out against short passes. — I think the biggest thing you can do on defense to start with is to find one thing you absolutely want to take away from the offense and do that. Don’t want to get beat over the top? Stick with the Cover 3 family of coverages and also Cover 2 Man. Want to stop the run? You can choose defenses that load the box (Cover 3 Sky / Cover 1 Hole), you can maximize the number of defenders in the run fit (Cover 4 Quarters), or you can shoot gaps (any Man blitz). The selection of plays Madden 22 offers in the new game plan tab of play call is actually pretty decently matched up with the strategy you pick pre-game. Against the CPU, try to avoid calling any single defensive play more than maybe once per drive, twice at most. Particularly on All Madden, the CPU play calling AI picks up on repeat play calls aggressively. Don’t be afraid to open up your playbook!

The thing I want to take away mostly is the passing game, especially mid-range passes. I give up 300-500 yards a game passing seemingly every single game.

[PRBoricua]

Unless I'm mistaken right now, zone is pretty broken so I would stay away from zone all together. I tend to stick with Cover 2 Man and it shows I allow about 4 yards per play in that formation, which is about the best it gets (for me anyway).

Keep in mind I usually play the linebacker according to where I believe the play will happen so I'm pretty good at taking away anything between 5-10 yards passing-wise.

It doesn't stop the somewhat insane amount of over-the-top "goin' for it all" bombs the computer seems to be able to complete whenever it's necessary ... but I digress.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gagnon39

The thing I want to take away mostly is the passing game, especially mid-range passes. I give up 300-500 yards a game passing seemingly every single game.

So an important thing to remember is that the NFL is a passing league and you can't just take away all intermediate passing. There are too many horizontal stretch concepts which conflict underneath zone defenders, and (in Madden at least) an average receiver generally beats an average cornerback in man coverage.

There are some things you can do, though:

- Stick with your gameplan plays. You only the the player ratings boosts provided by your gameplan when calling those plays.

- Know what your opponent is trying to do and call counters to take that away. Cover 4 Quarters can take away the Smash concept, for example; the play-side deep quarter players will double the slot corner route, and the quarter flat defender will sink to the curl / hitch. In Franchise, you are provided a breakdown each week of your opponent's favorite concepts so you may gameplan more strategically. You don't get this data in other modes, which is unfortunate, but you can pick up tendencies as a game goes on.

- Know your opponent's personnel and change your play calls accordingly. For example, the Saints only have one wide receiver with 90+ SPD, Deontay Harris. Cornerbacks are generally faster than receivers in Madden 22. As long as you keep your fastest CB matched up on Harris, you can probably get away with calling a fair amount of press Cover 1 variants, press Cover 3 variants, and zone blitzes. Dare the Saints to try to beat you over the top with their personnel that will struggle to do so. Do watch out for Alvin Kamara working against linebackers underneath when you blitz, though; he's got the Backfield Mismatch ability which basically guarantees he'll get open in man coverage against any linebacker.

- Rotate your defensive linemen. Your DLs can't use pass rush moves or shed run blocks (assuming they don't have the Run Stopper ability) once they run out of rush move points. Players generally recover one rush move point at the end of every play, but might use multiple in a play, so they will run out. Rotate guys in regularly before they get fatigued so you always have a chance to stop the run and/or pressure the quarterback.

- Know which calls you are comfortable with against trips sets. Passing out of trips formations is very common in the NFL nowadays. Unfortunately Madden doesn't offer many good options for defending trips. Cover 4 Quarters / Cover 4 Palms / Cover 6 have built-in trips checks. Depending on the play call, I find that Cover 3 Cloud / Cover 3 Buzz can also be useful. Figure out what plays you want to use to defend trips and really focus on knowing your assignments in those calls.

- Understand that each coverage you call gives up something/. There is no coverage that takes away everything or is entirely foolproof, otherwise every NFL team would just run that defense. Understand where you are vulnerable in each coverage when you call it so you can control your user defender appropriately.

- Find a base defensive play call you are comfortable with and just get that down-pat. For a lot of teams, this is Cover 3. For some teams, it's Quarters. A few still base out of aggressive press-man. Point is, find one base call you like, know how that works like the back of your hand, and build off that.

- I said this before but I'll say it again to reiterate: mix up your play calls. It's my strong impression that the CPU aggressively picks up on repeat play calls this year.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

- Rotate your defensive linemen. Your DLs can't use pass rush moves or shed run blocks (assuming they don't have the Run Stopper ability) once they run out of rush move points. Players generally recover one rush move point at the end of every play, but might use multiple in a play, so they will run out. Rotate guys in regularly before they get fatigued so you always have a chance to stop the run and/or pressure the quarterback.

Yeah this is important. If you have depth, I think it's best to treat different formations within a package like hockey lines. Use the formation subs to put in different dudes and definitely flip your best rusher back and forth between the sides.

[RogueHominid]

Is there a place on OS where the match coverages are diagrammed out or spelled out long-form?

[Jagsfan24]

There is zone adjustments on defense where you can set how deep your defenders play the zone. Granted I don't suggest using that as last year I got burned every time I called it. If I had my players playing 5 yards deep I would get burned over the top