Article: Building Secondary In Franchise Mode

[TeamBuilder]

Building Secondary in Franchise Mode


When building your defense in franchise mode, start with your secondary. Unless you are amazing at manually controlling linebackers, always start with your secondary. One of the more difficult things to do in Madden this year is sacking the CPU quarterback. Whenever you decide to blitz, the CPU quarterback freaks out and gets rid of the ball as quickly as possible instead of taking a sack. One of the best ways to counter this is to have lockdown cornerbacks capable of blanketing receivers downfield, or sitting in zone coverage waiting to make a pick. When coverage is excellent, the CPU quarterback will hold the ball longer waiting for a receiver to get open. This allows you an extra second or two to get to the quarterback with your pass rush.

Building Your Secondary


Corners- First, determine if you want to play man or zone defense. Having high rated corners and safeties is worthless if you use them incorrectly. Guys like Nathan Vasher will excel in zone coverage, but aren’t particular strong when in man-to-man defense. On the flipside, DeAngelo Hall has much better man-to-man coverage ratings than he does in zone. Play to your corner’s strengths. If you have a corner on your team that is particularly weak, pay attention to calling plays that will provide him safety help on crossing routes or deep routes (depending on what your linebackers are doing).


Something else to note: If you prefer playing a bump and run style of defense, make sure your corners have good press coverage ratings (including your nickel corner). Too often players will have two high rated press corners, and have their nickel corner get beat due to poor press coverage ratings.

Tip: You don’t always have to line up your best corner in the #1 spot on your depth chart. Consider lining him up at #2 depending on who your opponent is. If you’re playing against a top flight WR like Andre Johnson, consider playing your best corner on the other side of the field and rolling coverage over to Johnson’s side. By taking away your opponent’s #2 wide receiver, you’re basically shutting down one side of the field. This will free you up to focus on taking Andre Johnson out of the game without having to worry as much about who’s on the other side.


Safeties- Most safeties have much better zone coverage ratings than man-to-man. Some guys like Ed Reed have the necessary man coverage ratings to be matched up with a tight end or slot receiver, but for the most part you may want safeties in zone coverage. Also take note of your safety’s strengths in run support. If you have a Bob Sanders or Adrian Wilson type on your team, play him in short zone coverage so he can also help in the box.


Something else to note: Take into consideration where you line your players up on the field. If you have a lockdown corner like Nnamdi Asomugha, consider putting your run stopping safety on the same side of the field as him. Asomugha won’t need much help in coverage and now you have an extra linebacker in run support. Or if you really want to shut down one side of the field, play your best corner and safety on the same side. Then you can focus manually on controlling the other side of your defense.

Tip: If you want safeties with good man coverage ratings, try converting a corner with at least a decent tackle rating to the safety position. His overall rating might change, but it’s more about how you’re using your players.


Hope you enjoyed the read

[Valdarez]

I definitely agree about the DB's, they can buy you the time you need to sack the QB. Can you give us a list of abilities to look for a CB, rate the abilities in the order of importance, and list why each ability is important? That would be helpful, because it would give readers an idea of the give and take they are making when selecting the players for the given position.

Unless you are playing Cover 1, Doubles, or using a lot of Blitzes, your Safeties are primarily going to be playing zone coverage. I can't imagine converting a CB to a safety unless they also had a high zone coverage rating.

Speaking of zone coverage, I finally disconnected my wireless card tonight so I could play a game of Madden without the overlay Ads, and I spent some time watching the zone coverage. It is some majorly foobar stuff. I ran a couple of plays, and for the life of me couldn't figure out the rules that are in play for determining how a Zone is covered. Sometimes the guy in the zone would pull down, other times up, and sometimes he would ignore a WR completely in his zone if the WR was in man to man coverage already, instead the S would pull the opposite direction, where there was no one at all.

Point of this semi-rant on zones, is that if there's any position you can play manually, and get a benefit from, it's definitely the Safety position. It can help make you lethal in your run defense, without giving up much on pass defense, especially if you have the lock down DBs you mentioned.

[TeamBuilder]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

I definitely agree about the DB's, they can buy you the time you need to sack the QB. Can you give us a list of abilities to look for a CB, rate the abilities in the order of importance, and list why each ability is important? That would be helpful, because it would give readers an idea of the give and take they are making when selecting the players for the given position. Unless you are playing Cover 1, Doubles, or using a lot of Blitzes, your Safeties are primarily going to be playing zone coverage. I can't imagine converting a CB to a safety unless they also had a high zone coverage rating. Speaking of zone coverage, I finally disconnected my wireless card tonight so I could play a game of Madden without the overlay Ads, and I spent some time watching the zone coverage. It is some majorly foobar stuff. I ran a couple of plays, and for the life of me couldn't figure out the rules that are in play for determining how a Zone is covered. Sometimes the guy in the zone would pull down, other times up, and sometimes he would ignore a WR completely in his zone if the WR was in man to man coverage already, instead the S would pull the opposite direction, where there was no one at all. Point of this semi-rant on zones, is that if there's any position you can play manually, and get a benefit from, it's definitely the Safety position. It can help make you lethal in your run defense, without giving up much on pass defense, especially if you have the lock down DBs you mentioned.

I'm glad you said that, because you're right. It seems like only the elite safties are actually making a difference when they are sitting in zone coverage (I'm wondering if it has any direct ties to the awareness rating).

In terms of a list, I prefer man-to-man coverage and this is how I would rate attributes in terms of importance when it comes to my cornerbacks.

1) Man Coverage Rating - Self explanatory, the higher the rating the better the coverage.

2/3) Acceleration and Agility - Crossing routes are killer this year. Even the best corners can get beat by a crossing route. The best way to combat them is by having a corner quick enough to stay with the receiver when he makes his cut to the middle.

4) Speed - No one ever wants to get beat deep, definitely helps if pass rush is weak because the corner can cover longer.

5) Zone Coverage - If I have to play zone in certain situations I will usually load my secondary by playing dollar or quarter defense. It's rated low on my personal scale because I don't often use it.

6) Press - Generally too risky for my taste... only used in the red zone in correlation with applying pressure on a blitz.

[Boregard]

If you use the game generated draft classes, there are several LBs who are actually better suited to play safety than LB. I am not giving out names cuz of the spoiler effect, but I moved two LBs to safety that came out with higher than normal speed, and decent zone/man cov skills. These are not the guys you want playing one on one in a press (BnR) situation, but both made the PB for me and I never control them at all.

I like it because it reminds me of Darren Woodson who is my all time favorite player. He played LB at Arizona State and moved to safety in the NFL and I think really set the bar for what we expect of safeties in today's NFL.

The Cowboy's used to move him to cover the slot receiver in nickel situations cuz he was that good at coverage, he could blitz, cover, shut down the deep ball while playing "centerfield", and was a big time hitter, oh and did I mention he was their primary punt returner for a couple seasons. He was the Ed Reed of his day, which some guys here might not know.


Anyway, just another angle on building your secondary. This type of move also gives you flexibility because if you lose a LB to injury for a lengthy time frame and your 3rd safety is better than your replacement at LB, you can move the converted LB back to LB and plug in your 3rd S where he fits best.

I never get through a draft without drafting a LB, of course I run the 3-4 and I use the packages and subs to move guys around and 6 LBs generally see the field in every game for me (unless you count my "safeties" then it is really 8!)!!!

[TeamBuilder]

Quote: Originally Posted by Boregard

If you use the game generated draft classes, there are several LBs who are actually better suited to play safety than LB. I am not giving out names cuz of the spoiler effect, but I moved two LBs to safety that came out with higher than normal speed, and decent zone/man cov skills. These are not the guys you want playing one on one in a press (BnR) situation, but both made the PB for me and I never control them at all. I like it because it reminds me of Darren Woodson who is my all time favorite player. He played LB at Arizona State and moved to safety in the NFL and I think really set the bar for what we expect of safeties in today's NFL. The Cowboy's used to move him to cover the slot receiver in nickel situations cuz he was that good at coverage, he could blitz, cover, shut down the deep ball while playing "centerfield", and was a big time hitter, oh and did I mention he was their primary punt returner for a couple seasons. He was the Ed Reed of his day, which some guys here might not know. Anyway, just another angle on building your secondary. This type of move also gives you flexibility because if you lose a LB to injury for a lengthy time frame and your 3rd safety is better than your replacement at LB, you can move the converted LB back to LB and plug in your 3rd S where he fits best. I never get through a draft without drafting a LB, of course I run the 3-4 and I use the packages and subs to move guys around and 6 LBs generally see the field in every game for me (unless you count my "safeties" then it is really 8!)!!!

You're right, I know exactly what you're talking about. Some of those rookie linebackers have awesome coverage ratings. Good call.

[Valdarez]

Curious. If you edit a player, and turn the man coverage all the way down to say 20 or so, and pump the acceleration, agility, and speed up to high 90s, say, 96 across the board, will the man coverage still work well? I'm just curious what the man coverage does, my guess would be follows the route, as in the anti-ability to Route (RTE). Per my experience, that ability might not be that important, the awareness is more important because of the way Madden works. Awareness affects the DB's ability to react to the pass (which is nigh instant), causing the DB's to jump the ball instead of actually playing the man (hence man coverage doesn't matter). I haven't tested it, but that's what I would put money on if I were a betting man, that awareness trumps man coverage. Thoughts?

[TeamBuilder]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

Curious. If you edit a player, and turn the man coverage all the way down to say 20 or so, and pump the acceleration, agility, and speed up to high 90s, say, 96 across the board, will the man coverage still work well? I'm just curious what the man coverage does, my guess would be follows the route, as in the anti-ability to Route (RTE). Per my experience, that ability might not be that important, the awareness is more important because of the way Madden works. Awareness affects the DB's ability to react to the pass (which is nigh instant), causing the DB's to jump the ball instead of actually playing the man (hence man coverage doesn't matter). I haven't tested it, but that's what I would put money on if I were a betting man, that awareness trumps man coverage. Thoughts?

You could be right. I've played with Asomugha in one of my franchises and he was great at jumping routes (which makes sense, he's the best in the game and has a high awareness). On the flip side I've also used guys like Vontae Davis and Sean Smith (who in the 2nd year of my franchise have man coverage ratings in the 90s) and they seem to do just as well in terms of man coverage, but I don't recall them jumping the ball as well as Asomugha did.

So I think I would definitely agree with you that awareness has an impact on how well they jump the route.

Maybe the man coverage rating gives your pass rushers a little more time to get to the QB. That's what it seems like to me anyway.

[Valdarez]

Think a fast DB with high awareness can make up for low man coverage rating? Oh... wait, you know what, I saw a DB today get burned on a route, he didn't react at all, depending on the abilities curve, and how man coverage affects the coverage of the route, what we would probably see is a DB overrunning the route, and thus being utterly out of position. The higher speed ratings would help make up the difference in the window created by not running the route properly, but there would definitely be a window there. The DB could still jump the route, but it's all going to depend on their positioning, and how the ball is thrown. If the DB runs to the right / left and the WR cuts up towards the goal line, and the QB throws a fade (and it actually works, that's another discussion), then the DB shouldn't have time to make up the coverage OR be in position to make a play on the ball even if they have a high awareness rating.