Understanding the in's and out's of the game.

[kent4801]

I would appreciate any help that could be given here. I am playing on Heisman with Njkroc's sliders and the game is great. However, I'm learning that reading the defense is going to be essential to being productive. I have a working knowledge of some things, but I have two remaining questions.

1. Is there any way to tell if one or more of the corners is going to drop back into coverage, so I can audible into a hot route. Also, if they are in dime, is there any way to tell if the middle linebacker is going to blitz, opening up the middle?

2. As far as I know this is how to attack each defense: (Man - drags, flys, seams, outs)(Zone - curls, comebacks, posts, flags). Is this right? Also, when running the speed option, is it better against a zone or man-to-man.

I know these are probably pretty elementary questions, but I would appreciate your help.

Thanks, and God Bless.

[yo136]

#1: You can't tell for sure. They can sneak up to the line, but I've seen them fake it before. The best solution is to send someone over the middle regardless. Watch to see who blitzes then throw it that way. Presnap reads aren't nearly as important as post snap reads.

#2: I see more success with curls and comebacks against man simply because in many zones comebacks and curls can have a DB or LB in the passing lane and ripe for a pick. Then again maybe that's just me. Posts are awesome versus zone. My money play is a the Quick Slants play in the 3 WR/1 back set. Your top WR runs a nice post route that you can feed him before the safety can help. If you motion your slot man, you can get a nice crossing routes on the other side of the field.

I prefer options against man, however if you're doing a triple option against zone, the FB inside route is the best option (with the exception of a zone defense that covers the inside run ... but those are few and far between).

I typically disregard hot routes except when I want to send a WR deep against a rattled DB on a PA pass. I found very little success with most of hot routes. The ins tend to draw LBs from out of nowhere unless it's PA.