man defense - working solutions to flat coverage

[marcus82]

Ok so we know the game has some major issues, let's work on some solutions.

The only one I can't forgive is the way man coverage works.

How are u all ensuring the flat is not exploited while running man. In my mind this is the single largest issue in the game but I don't see nearly enough conversation on how to address this as the game is "today".

I currently only run 3 types of man defenses. 2 man under, cover 1 (sometimes w/ blitz), and man nanos. I personally would like to stay away from the nanos simply b/c I hate having to make a thousand adjs before each snap, but if that's ur thing by all means, do you!

Any time I run man unless its 3rd and long I ultimately wind up playing a cover 1 because I always user the extra deep safety and either coverage audible him to the flat to the open side of the field or double the most dangerous HB out of the out field.

The major issue with my strategy is that unless I nano I don't feel comfortable bringing more than a 5 man rush. I typically get decent results with this strategy but its not consistent enough for me.

Also, I found that any man coverage that has safeties manned up on RBs will get torched everytime. Without the man align feature working properly, and no ability for the safeties to get in better position to cover the RBs, these defenses feel very risky.

Let's share some solutions rather than adding to the long list of complaints.

[NINERZ#1FAN]

if im in man cover 2 i will usually hot route my fastest LB to cover their TE and user whoever is covering the RB. This works for me a good % of the time.

The thing that gets me is when the RB is all the way at the sideline and turning upfield sometimes we are both of the screen and its hard to judge if i got him well covered. The other thing is the TE lol.. if hes one of the better TE's you're opponent will most likely complete a short pass to him, but you just gotta make sure you tackle him.

i only use this strategy if my opponent is in a 2 RB 2WR set.

[marcus82]

Quote: Originally Posted by NINERZ#1FAN

if im in man cover 2 i will usually hot route my fastest LB to cover their TE and user whoever is covering the RB. This works for me a good % of the time.

thanks for the perspective. I didn't realize you could hot route specific defenders to guard a specific receiver using the hot route. how do you do it?