Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

[RogueHominid]

Like my other thread on match coverage, I wanted to start one on man coverage to learn more about the nuances of it and its use in Madden.

I watched an old Saban video last week where he said 1 rat or 1 hole was the best defense in ball and he went on to defend the view. I’m not sure if he still holds that view or not, but it was compelling.

Then I watched a video by Thinking Man Football on quarters that basically stared w/ saying if you can run 2 man under or 1 man, DO THAT…zone is for everyone who can’t, which is most folks.

I see that getting 4 good MCVG CBS is not easy, but if you could get 4 guys who could play man, would it be a preferable base strategy with some blitzing than a pattern match zone strategy in terms of overall effectiveness?

With the match zones there’s all these rules and checks, and I know with man that leverage is key. Doe Madden take the nuances of man into account, and can anyone shed light on some of the subletleies of 1 and 2 man as a major coverage vs the CPU on AM?

And are the folks here who can point me down a C1 rabbit hole that will also translate into begetter use of M2M in Madden (I.e., when to use it and how, when not to and why?).

Any thoughts or engagement are appreciated.

[RentonT09]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

Yes the various Man coverages have stock shading for example Cover 2 man is shaded inside AND underneath.

You can globally shade everyone overtop/underneath/outside/inside.

You individually shade WR’s left/right.

You can defend certain routes well with shading.

For example if you press and shade underneath and outside you can stop corner routes getting open.

There’s a lot to it become a master but can definitely base a defense out of Cover 1. I’m trying to copy real life Cowboys in my franchise and am basing out of Cover 1 and Cover 3 match. With some Cover 2 invert, Cover 2, Cover 1 robber, Cover 3 buzz match, and also a bit of quarters.

[RogueHominid]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

OK, cool, so the shading options in the pre play controls work as you’d expect? That’s great to hear.

It’s also great to hear that certain coverages have leverage built into them.

Thanks for the response!

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

OK, cool, so the shading options in the pre play controls work as you’d expect? That’s great to hear.

It’s also great to hear that certain coverages have leverage built into them.

Thanks for the response!

Does anyone know if they changed how shading worked on zone calls? In past maddens, shading a play with Match rules would revert it to a spot drop.

[RogueHominid]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

Does anyone know if they changed how shading worked on zone calls? In past maddens, shading a play with Match rules would revert it to a spot drop.

The last I heard about shading in match was that it would revert match to spot drop as well…not sure how long ago that was, but I do remember that.

[TON1C]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

This is a great thread and I’m excited to learn more as well. Been a football fan for a long time but since I never played I never used to look for or know much about little things like this.

In my franchise I’m going to be focusing on man coverage so this is perfect. My reasoning is my goal is to win a Super Bowl, to do so you have to beat good teams, most good teams have elite QBs, and elite QBs will absolutely shred zone defenses and pick you apart.

Whereas if you can play good man coverage, you allow your pass rush to generate pressure and force the QB to make a decision. Will also be focusing on my pass rush to make sure my CBs don’t have to cover too long. But as far as CBs go, I’m going to build a team around playing mostly man with some press man as well.

[RogueHominid]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

This is my thinking as well, having seen the best QBs murder me in my match zone schemes—it seems to me like the answer vs. them is to man up and send pressure, if possible, so I’m going to try to build towards that scheme over time.

I like basing out of the 34 when trying to move this direction, too, since I can gin up the rush from way more directions and use more players, and I don’t necessarily have to have super elite EDGE guys to manufacture pressure, though that helps.

Excited to learn more here as well, so hopefully the coach types will jump in and break some stuff down!

[Fours]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

Nice to see people curious about football, not metas.

Cover 1 - man assignments play outside leverage, "funneling" routes to zone help in the middle, deep safety will play at depth of deepest route, underneath zone/robber will be active on the ball, looking to jump slants, crossers, in's.

Crosser kill C1 by flooding free release targets into the shallow zone, and outside receivers will almost always have space on hitches as the corners don't have enough help to be aggressive. If a corner gets beat on an outside release, it's a potential 6.

Cover 2 man was covered well by someone else here inside leverage, aggressive on breaks as you always have help over top. Only thing to note is that you'll give up a light box with 2 safeties high so vunerable to run. Also can be beaten with outside releasing flood concepts like flood, stick, sail, and screens.

Any version of cover 0 will(should) never allow inside release, so hard inside leverage, and you dare the QB to drop a dime outside over the shoulder under pressure.

[RentonT09]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

I will post a link to a good video on playing Cover 1 in Madden.

[RentonT09]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

https://youtu.be/6A4czmwjMCo?si=GHJ7upW6q9dEHJfr

Teaches some solid shading principles you can apply and your responsibilities depending on who you decide to user.

[RogueHominid]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

Xando, that video on M2M was great—thank you!

I see you referenced exactly the Saban clip I came across where he was going on on and on about the virtues of 1 high with a rat in the hole.

I started using the inside leverage/shading technique against certain sets, and that’s been a great addition to the arsenal.

I also liked your video on 3 cloud vs. condensed sets. I can tell there’s a lot on your channel that would be of interest to this group (and I love the shout out to Geronimo, whose stuff I love as well)—I’m wondering if you can direct me to a video that explains what you love most about 2 high looks (your stated favorite) and how you generally approach things schematically.

I’m looking to get better at user defense in match coverages, but I’m having a hard time learning the Madden version of the rules governing each assignment, and I’m looking for a concise and straightforward breakdown of how those work, so any guidance would be amazing!

[JoshC1977]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

I don't get too deep into X's and O's but I DO think underneath shading can be a useful tool in Madden (it may be a but of an underrated adjustment). This is more of a "change of pace" approach and can throw-off the opponent if they start hitting you routinely with the short stuff. A well-timed adjustment can put your pass defenders in position to make a play on the ball when the opposing QB least expects it.

It 100% can hurt you if they go deep but you can just as well turn the tide of a QB going-off on you with the dinky-dunky stuff with a timely pass breakup or INT.

[Ram209]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

Yes the various Man coverages have stock shading for example Cover 2 man is shaded inside AND underneath.

You can globally shade everyone overtop/underneath/outside/inside.

You individually shade WR’s left/right.

You can defend certain routes well with shading.

For example if you press and shade underneath and outside you can stop corner routes getting open.

There’s a lot to it become a master but can definitely base a defense out of Cover 1. I’m trying to copy real life Cowboys in my franchise and am basing out of Cover 1 and Cover 3 match. With some Cover 2 invert, Cover 2, Cover 1 robber, Cover 3 buzz match, and also a bit of quarters.

Question How do you know the Dbs shade a certain way? Are you just looking at them and they seem to be shading that way or do you know something we dont lol. Just curious also I wonder if its the same in certain zones?

[RentonT09]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

Post snap you can see the leverage clearly. And for example in Cover 1 vs spread 2x2 you can see that the stock play actually uses dividers where the outside corners play with inside leverage vs streaks compared to the slot guys playing with outside leverage.

You can then also experiment with manual shading adjustments and how the same shading behaves differently from press alignment to off coverage. For example taking away a corner route by shading underneath and outside works better when pressed.

[RentonT09]

Re: Man Coverage, Leverage, Nuances

As for zones hook curls and vert hooks do behave differently when shaded. Certainly need to be careful depending what you want. If you want vert hooks to match with match turned on then globally shading will cancel that. However a good example of globally shading Cover 3 underneath will take away stick routes especially in 3x1. You can do things like globally shade underneath and then re zone your curl flat players if you don’t want them in hard flats. There are lots of possibilities and combinations. Honestly the results are very clear if you just experiment in practice mode doing different adjustments amd trying vs different route combinations etc.