Man Coverage Defense

[albc15]

why are you trying to act all tough twimstaxs, just because your in a formation doesn't mean your going to stop a play

[Foxtrot2873]

A nickel formation isn't going to work a lot of he time, but if the opposing team opens with 2 tight ends who aren't great blockers, and the defense has a corner that is a really good tackler or is a little bit bigger than that corner can actually be better than a linebacker because he can beat the tight end. The packers used this to great effect, and teams like to open with nickel formations against tight ends like Dallas Clark, Vernon Davis, and Antonio gates because there aren't many linebackers in the league that can run with those guys. That's one thing great pass catching tightends can force defenses to do. On the flip side, bigger corners like Patrick Peterson and Charles Woodson can not only cover the tightends, but tackle extremely well for a corner, and even shed blocks so even if the team doesn't have a premier pass catching tight end, they still role out the nickel. The reason for a nickel is that on blitzes, if you can get a man unblocked, or a blitz at the right angle, you get one of the fastest guys on the field getting after the quarterback. So if you knew the quarterback was going to throw the ball in 3 seconds or less, and you had to choose one guy to go unblocked, you'd probably want your fastest player right?

Blitzing corners and safeties is also a good tactic against mobile QB's like Vick and company because the corners are typically the only guys that are as fast as Vick and are usually the only one's capable of chasing him down in a foot race.

This isn't the only way to get the mobile QB's, and you usually half to have the personnel to blitz with the corner. But zone blitzes with a blitzing corner will typically help mask the loss of speed in the secondary, but if the corner is picked up, depending on the difficulty the corner will not be able to beat the offensive linemen with any pass rushing move.

I like rolling out in nickel formations against 2 wr sets, but I certainly wouldn't do it every time.

And its not the only way to get things done, its just one of the many ways.

[MrCheese]

Quote: Originally Posted by twimstaxs

I am not going to say I am an expert at man coverage, but I have figured out a way to utilize my top cover corners. Sometimes there is some tweaking you must do in order to cover TEs and HBs. To start off with man coverage needs to be based off of what the Offense is running. Clearly. When the Offense has a 2 Wr 2 TE set run a Nickel Man. This will be the best option and it also will stop the run. In a 3 Wr set always run a Dime Man. When it is 4 Wr or more run the Dollar Man. Now you will have to make some adjustments according to the offense. This is what I do. I hit Y (triangle for PS3) then left on the D pad to show a fake blitz. You then choose the Safety closest to the line and Switch him from deep coverage to Man coverage on the RB. I sometimes choose the TE it just depends on the offensive play. You will have to be the judge. For 3 WR or more I make sure my D line is shifted in. ALWAYS. Do not change anything other than that. For 2 Wr I let the D Line stay as is. After all is said and done I take control of the Free Safety and play in deep coverage and cover the middle and deep threats. Let me know if this helps with your man coverage. Ill try and explain any questions you have.

Curl route, and any play that puts the WR in motion before the snap lol. There are more than enough plays to beat man coverage. You can't run Man coverage all the time. you can run it a lot, but against a player that's aware of all the man coverage beaters in the game, your going to need to know some good zone plays otherwise your toast.

[raggBAGG]

Damn you guys can be vicious. Regardless if it's cheesing or not, the OP was just trying to help out. But yeah based on man, anything across the field will kill you.

[TNT713]

Quote: Originally Posted by s38s38s

Gotta love Madden answers to football scenarios. That's about as un-sim as it gets, no team (pending down and distance) puts one more DB on the field than the offense has receivers. This thread was spoken like a true cheeser. The NFL is about match-ups/mis-matches and the chess match. IRL a nickel defense vs a base offense 2WR, 2 HB, 1 TE or 2 WR, 1 HB, 2 TE would get destroyed EVERYTIME in a running situation...why because the nickel cannot match-up vs a TE/FB. Punks in Madden try to exploit this flaw at times in the game. There will be those you may stop who run, but against someone who KNOWS what they're doing offensively you would get gashed. Madden for the most part does a much better job this year sustaining blocks, especially in mis-match situations.

Awww... No team? Un-Sim?

Super Bowl XXVII - 4th and Goal - Cowboys use Nickel against Bills base formation. Thomas Everett intercepts Jim Kelly in the end zone.

Not so Un-Sim now is it?

That said, we agree on something. Anyone who knows what they are doing would have a field day against this defense - but matchups would only be 1/3 of the equation. The other 2/3 are often ignored by Madden players who view 'sim' in concrete terms. Usually their assessment of SIM is personnel heavy, but football strategy has 3 parts that fit together and are equally important: Personnel, position, and tempo.

If a person has committed ample thought to how to use his personnel, positioning, and timing to accomplish his overall goals - HE CAN WIN against people that only look at 1/3 of the overall picture.

Often we see people, no offense to them, who view macth ups as the only important strategic part of football. Often they are also the quickest to leap to the 'unsim' conclusions about strategies that are heavy on the position and tempo fronts.

Apparently the OP has discovered a method that works to cover the typical weaknesses of the man defense using nickel personnel. While his defense has a weakness somewhere, it's not where it seems it should be. I'll guess that most of his opponents get discouraged in the run game after getting stopped early - then they play right into his hands.

Personally, I'd run the ball at least 25-30 times and test his discipline. If I ended up with 20 yards for the game, I'd probably still end up winning because of the type of attention he'd be forced to pay to the run game. Since I use all types of run blocking, I'd find something to keep him off balance and work my passing game in from there...

If my run game didn't get started, I'd punt as needed and return the favor by imitating my opponent's defense to see how he adjusted to it. Then I'd use his adjustments against him when he was on defense again.

The wildcard will always be the USER. The more skilled the user, the more likely he can pull off using nickel packages long term against base sets. Unskilled users will either abandon their plan too early - or stick with it too long when it's getting beaten.

Later

[twimstaxs]

Quote: Originally Posted by albc15

why are you trying to act all tough twimstaxs, just because your in a formation doesn't mean your going to stop a play

Was not trying to act tough :-/

[twimstaxs]

Quote: Originally Posted by MrCheese

Curl route, and any play that puts the WR in motion before the snap lol. There are more than enough plays to beat man coverage. You can't run Man coverage all the time. you can run it a lot, but against a player that's aware of all the man coverage beaters in the game, your going to need to know some good zone plays otherwise your toast.

I did not say run it ALL the time. I do not remember saying run it all the time. I was just pointing out the fact is a good way to run a MAN COVERAGE defense.

[Gorilla Glass]

I have encounter Nickel packages while running 2 TE sets, but while the Nickel is good against twin bigs, it sucks against Ace set and Jumbos.

I had 140 yards Rushing with Helu in my last game and 120 in the game before that.

Running the Nickel against 2 TE sets is a phase and you can get guys out of it, if they're not foolish.