Reading a defence ?

[packmanuk]

How do i go about reading a defence ? I get sacked a lot because i can't find an open man quick enough. I just need to know how can i see if a receiver is in single coverage, who is likely to blitz, anything that will help me read the defence a bit quicker and give me a chance to find an open receiver.

[darkJester]

bump!

[bdunn13]

reading D in the pros is hard. Its pretty easy in NCAA but I have not figured out all of the defenses in Madden yet.

[MaddenMan]

Before the Snap
Before the ball is snapped, there is plenty to do to assess whether the play you called will be successful. The first thing you should do is take a look at the Coach's Cam for an overview of the entire field, as well as how you match up with the defense that's been called. Things to look for:

Are there receivers lined up with no one covering them? This often happens when a blitz is called, or when the defense has too few people in pass coverage. If you see this, you might want to snap quickly and get the ball to a receiver fast. Or, if you had called a run play, audible to the pass and zip the ball to the uncovered receiver.
Is the defense in zone or single coverage? Zone coverage usually means that not every defender is lined up directly across from an offensive player. If you cannot tell if it's zone or man coverage, send a receiver in motion. If a man follows him across the field, it's likely that man coverage is called.
Are the defensive backs in press or loose coverage? If they're in press coverage, they will be lined up very close to your receivers. This may screw up timing patterns, so if you're looking for a quick release, you may want to audible to something else, or send the pressed receivers on Hot Routes.
Is the defense stacked against the run? This is easy to see. If there are lots of guys along the line, and the linebackers are packed close to the line as well, the defense is keying on the run. If you have something called to go up the middle, you may want to rethink your decision.
Are there defenders blitzing? You can see a defender who means to blitz because he will usually walk up to the line (or behind the line, if he's a linebacker) slowly before the snap. Identifying bliters will help you see what parts of the field will be open if you can quickly deliver a ball. Or, it might show you where you need to put extra blockers.
Once you have surveyed the field, it's time to determine whether you want to tweak anything before the snap, or whether you're satisfied and just want to go with the play as called. If the defense has clearly keyed in on what you're doing, and seems to have everything covered, it's often wise to audible to something else.

You can edit your team's audibles at any time from the Coaching Strategies selection on the pause menu. It's always a good idea to have one play of each general kind in your audible arsenal (you can select up to five total). Keep an inside run, outside run, short pass (something with crossing patterns, if you notice the center of the field open), and a long pass. Then select one go-to play that has a high success rate against almost every defense. This may take a couple of games to determine, but as your season goes on, you should add your old standbys to this list.

If you choose not to audible, there are a couple of other things to do to tweak things before the snap. We'll talk in more detail about a couple of them in more detail in the sections below (Hot Routes and Playmaker control). One thing you can do to further understand the defense that's been called is to put players in motion. This serves two purposes. If you have a run called, you can put a tight end in motion to the side you're running to in order to gain another blocker. Or, you can put a receiver in motion on a run play to take one more defender away from the side of the field that you're running to.

On pass plays, you can expose man coverage by putting a receiver in motion. If you see that there's man coverage on, you may want to try to get the ball to the best receiver on your squad. If you see that there's zone coverage, you'll want to try to overload the zone by putting your receiver in motion to the side of the field where there are less defenders. That way, you can throw a quick pass before the D has a chance to adjust.

[GeePee20]

Nice post MaddenMan

[fossen]

I am finding that the post-snap read is the most critical. You can't read everyone post-snap - it's just not possible. Find a key or two on each play that will start to work you through your progresion.

If I'm looking at a fly route on the strong side against a 4-3, for example, my first post-snap read is the SS. If he's blitzing, I know I should be all good, and should just be seeing single man coverage on that reciever. maybe my second read on that play would be the MLB, to see if a slant dump off will be open across the middle.

But I would say, don't try to look for more than one or two reads on the defense. Think to yourself for each play : "If defender X does this ... I go to my WR ... if not, chek defender y. If he does this then, go to my TE ... if neither, but time or throw it away."

Setting yourself up with one or two key post-snap reads will do wonders for your game.

(Credit where credit is due: I am learning this now due to repeated a$$kickings from BK in NCAA. )