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Quote: Originally Posted by tg88forHOF

The sad answer is "all over"; there's no one single source that answers how all of those options play in Madden. The problem is that Tiburon has actually done a decent job over the last several years updating pass coverages to match real league defensive trends....it may not be enough, or fast enough, but over the course of 6-7 years or so, they've incrementally added a few new zone options and match coverages every year to where we have a lot of options that all play differently, and you can actually call somewhat modern options. Unfortunately, they haven't updated the Skills Trainer at all during that timeframe. It still teaches you 80s spot-drop concepts ("a cover 4 is a zone concept with 4 deep defenders, good against deep passes") when what's available to players on the field is more 21st century. Really, the Skills Trainer is where all of this should be. It turns out, modern NFL defenses are complicated, and until recently, Madden let us get away with playing decent defense using outdated, simplified concepts. Now we need to use those modern concepts, and only hard-core football people have access to that info on a tribal basis. So you have to go hit the web...YouTube, Reddit, scattered threads here and on other Madden forums, etc. I've found a surprising number of decent coverage explanation articles on SB Nation team fansites. Bear in mind that a lot of those resources will explain how things work in the real game, and due to legacy issues and just normal video game translation, Madden will execute them similarly, but not exactly. Some starting points: Coverage shells vs. different alignments (doubles, trips, bunch) - CM Hooe had a solid writeup in this thread: https://forums.operationsports.com/f...e-year-me.html I'm also hoping Stinkubus sees this....he always does a solid, intelligible write-up on this. C4 Quarters and Palms pattern-matching - https://www.reddit.com/r/MaddenUltim...m_source=share https://www.reddit.com/r/MaddenUltim...m_source=share Inside The Pylon has some useful definitions here: http://insidethepylon.com/category/f...-football-101/ Some quick hits: Cover 3 Sky vs. Buzz - This determines who will take one of the underneath curl flat zones (the other will always be the underneath strong side LB or slot DB). In Sky, whichever safety isn't covering the deep middle will drop down and cover it (the video the guy posted on page 1 of this thread looks like a Sky call, with that S dropping down to cover that zone and leaving Kittle open). In Buzz, the weak side LB or slot defender in dime will cover that zone, and the extra S will take an inside curl hook instead). Cover 1 Hole vs. Robber - The difference between the two is who covers the underneath middle zone (mid read or 3rec hook) in a Cover 1 that doesn't blitz. In Hole, a LB or slot DB provides that zone. In Robber, the extra safety (the one who isn't playing the deep middle) drops down to cover it. With the change to LB coverage, Robber is much better on passing downs.

Thanks a lot for this, helped tremendously.

This is what i have realized this year as well. Sometimes the skills trainer tells you to do one thing but there's something better elsewhere.

Although, the coverage decisions, playing within a scheme, and understanding leverage, depth, time, alignments have mattered a lot more this year and i love that! It's finally felt like chess which is why i need to learn the schemes and their intricacies.

I used to user the dline; but this year decided to try cb and it was hard, so tried to user the safety. First few games I was doing too much. If i had a cover 2 invert where i had to drop down and someone ran two crossing routes id often leave one open as i would double team one receiver and not follow my assignment. IF i called a cover 1 and i ran with a crosser i got beat by the post. IT was always a mistake i created. So i went back and watched how the cpu played as a safety, and now i've learned to wait and anticipate, try to see route combinations and pick your spot. Also to trust my teammates.

I just had a game with two earl thomas picks facing the saints. On one it was a 3 x 1 set. I call a cover 3 (forgot which one) but im the purple zone down. I see wr 1 run a streak and my cover 3 cb had him, and i realized wr 2 was running an out route, so i was waiting and as soon as he broke out i ran to the spot and picked it off. It was such a rewarding moment.

Really impressed by EA for adding these coverages, and passing concepts makes a huge difference.

Thanks again for the articles. helped me a lot!