Reading Defense?

[mfbball04]

Any good tips on reading defense pre and post snap? My passing game really needs some work. I try to motion people but even when the defense moves with them across the field it's zone even when I think it's man. Sometimes I think it's one high safety when there are actually two, is there a way to tell which players are safeties and how are corners? I'm so lost.

[Detroit Tigers]

Re: Reading Defense?

It’s all about the first read imo. And be as quick as you can.

Like, be FAST in your read — 1-2-3-FLING!

Get comfortable with 4 being a good gain. Most sweats and scrubs think the game is played 15-25 yards downfield, it isn’t. It’s a 10-yard sport.

Back in the day “playing sim” was about avoiding cheese and playing “real football.” These days guys wanna tweak sliders to a point where a 74ovr can perform like Dan Marino. “DUURRRRRR I’m throwing too many INTS guyzzzzz.”

Make simple, quick, direct reads. Watch the deeper routes in your peripheral.

Sports gamers lost the plot when it all stopped being too easy.

Start taking it seriously again and you’ll see the light.

[Ky3217]

Re: Reading Defense?

My first step is almost always to look at the safeties. Both presnap and post snap. Of course this year with the addition of user control over presnap coverage shells, that post snap read is going to become even more important.

Generally for me my reads go like this;

Presnap: What do the safeties look like? 1 high indicating cover 1/3? 2 high indicating cover2/4? At this point, depending on the playcall I may audible if it’s not a look I want to run this particular play against. Ok now how do the corners look? How deep are they off the ball? Are they pressed? at this point I may hot route depending on the look to give my play a better chance of success. Finally, are there any obvious blitzers or unblocked rushers? Depending on what I see here I may shifting my protection, hot route, and/or even audible to adjust and attack it. And finally How are the linebackers positioned in general? Do I have any obvious mismatches? Is there anyone I can attack right at the snap of the ball? ‘Oh you have a linebacker on my receiver in a clear cover 3 look? Here comes 4 verts.’

Post Snap: If I saw a blitz coming pre snap Is the blitz coming? Do I need to dump the ball off quickly or hit my hot receiver? If not Are the safeties doing what I expected from my presnap read or are they shifting to a different coverage shell? Depending on the answer to that question I’m then looking to my primary read to see if he beat his guy. If he hasn’t in moving to my next read. And so on and so forth. The order of my reads depends on the playcall and the type coverage I see. I can’t tell you the last time I actually used EA’s “primary” route as my own primary just off the rip. It’s generally determined by the shell I see. So it changes presnap for me even if I don’t change the play or hot route.

[Tonka3013]

Re: Reading Defense?

In madden it was all about presnap reads. You can find things online that will show you how to tell what defense it is from the number of safeties, depth and alignment of DBs, etc. I could look at a defense and usually tell what it was, and where I was going to throw the ball, pre-snap.

With the coverage shells in CFB25 its a bit harder. I take the presnap look as a clue, and once the ball is snapped, see if the safeties do what I expected.

But the biggest thing, IMO, is picking well-designed plays and practicing a read progression based on the pre-snap read.

For example, I have a play out of I form pro where the X runs a 7-8 yd out, the TE runs a drag, and the HB runs a texas. If see one high safety and off corners I figure it's likely some version of cov1 or cov3. The corner is likely off-man coverage or deep 1/3. But if its cov3 there might be a nickle/OLB with curl zone responsibility that gets under the speed out. So I wait for the corner to open his hips to hit the out--but as soon as I see the nickle/OLB head out wide I snap over to the drag route that's going to hit the zone the nickle/olb just vacated, or if he's followed, the texas route should have cleared.

Or if its press coverage presnap, I forget about the X and start with the drag then texas.

Its simple and obvious stuff but I think running fewer plays, going into practice mode and running it 15 times against random defenses so you can build your progression reads based on different looks helps tremendously. Its not just knowing what to look for when hitting the out but knowing immediately where to look next without thinking. And if I can't successfully complete the play 90% of the time -- or recognize presnap when I have to get out of the play -- then I don't put it in my playbook.

[bkrich83]

Re: Reading Defense?

For me I sort of follow this routing.

Pre snap, I ID the Mike and set my protection. The game does a good job pre snap of indicating what potential rushers will be unblocked, so now you know where your hot(s) are. Take a pre snap look at coverage and from that look at what part of the field I will attack first.

At the snap, look at the hots to see if there are any unblocked rushers comnig, look at the safeties to see if the coverage has adjusted. Attack the field based on what route/combo I have going and what I read the coverage as. Also if I have a clear matchup advantage in coverage, I may take a look at that first.

Convuluted I know, but that's sort of my thought process.

[CptObvious]

Re: Reading Defense?

Flow chart for D reads

[bkrich83]

Re: Reading Defense?

Also take how I do it with a grain of salt. Zone blitzes where a defensive lineman drops in to coverage get me pretty much every time.

[mfbball04]

Re: Reading Defense?

Flow chart for D reads

Yeah I watched that video yesterday and with even pausing between every play after I did a motion I was wrong about 75% of the time. The problem I have is If i motion that inside receiver in a single high look the guy will follow him no matter what so how do I know if it's man or zone? No matter what with a flip the corners are going to follow.

[ChaseB]

Re: Reading Defense?

Yeah I watched that video yesterday and with even pausing between every play after I did a motion I was wrong about 75% of the time. The problem I have is If i motion that inside receiver in a single high look the guy will follow him no matter what so how do I know if it's man or zone? No matter what with a flip the corners are going to follow.

You're not going to get a perfect answer for this. It can be small stuff even. For example, on go balls, how to read if a corner is actually in zone or man is how they turn their body in this game. If they don't totally turn, they're not in man/match on your player. But if they do turn and trail, it's actually much easier to underthrow/back shoulder into deep single coverage and come back to it since that defender is worried about you and not the ball.

But point being, you're going to get baited into some fake shells or misreading match late etc. it's just part of football. I think my general advice to avoid that is just try to have a diverse amount of routes on your plays and learn which routes hurt which coverages, so you can go through that sort of checklist during a read. "I think this is probably Cover 1 or Cover 3, so let me do X and Y for my routes so I know I have these two options depending on what it is after I snap."

[mfbball04]

Re: Reading Defense?

You're not going to get a perfect answer for this. It can be small stuff even. For example, on go balls, how to read if a corner is actually in zone or man is how they turn their body in this game. If they don't totally turn, they're not in man/match on your player. But if they do turn and trail, it's actually much easier to underthrow/back shoulder into deep single coverage and come back to it since that defender is worried about you and not the ball.

But point being, you're going to get baited into some fake shells or misreading match late etc. it's just part of football. I think my general advice to avoid that is just try to have a diverse amount of routes on your plays and learn which routes hurt which coverages, so you can go through that sort of checklist during a read. "I think this is probably Cover 1 or Cover 3, so let me do X and Y for my routes so I know I have these two options depending on what it is after I snap."

Yeah it's just extremely frustrating, there's too much stuff to look at and within 3 seconds i'm getting pressure from the defense. Meanwhile on defense I can barely get to the quarterback and they sit back there all day. I might have to look more into protections so I have more time to read the defense.

[Jagsfan24]

Re: Reading Defense?

Do you ever run RPOs or screens? I find myself running more of these in this game because running a normal pro style type of play is difficult

[Scott]

Re: Reading Defense?

Do you ever run RPOs or screens? I find myself running more of these in this game because running a normal pro style type of play is difficult

IMO, RPOs and screens are a staple to most CFB offenses.

[Jkurtz85]

Re: Reading Defense?

I'm looking for a chart to know which defense to call plays plus formation vs whatever offense they come out in don't have to be all them but some would be nice

[Collegefbfan]

Re: Reading Defense?

I'm looking for a chart to know which defense to call plays plus formation vs whatever offense they come out in don't have to be all them but some would be nice

There is a lot that goes into this. I am not the expert here. Some of the "masters" will have a lot to share and be better at it than me. Are you looking for specifics or generally speaking? Some say against two receivers, call base formation. If there are three wide receivers, call Nickel. More receivers than three? Call Dime or maybe 3-2-6. This was golden for me in previous versions. CFB25 is a little/lot more detailed. If you are talking specifics, it will be tough to create a chart to show EXACTLY what has to be called to go against a certain offense. If a person or CPU comes out in a certain offense that looks like they are going to run the ball. What if they call an audible in the same formation and decide to pass? Or if the human or CPU comes out in 5 wide, you are pretty much thinking pass. Even if your team has great man to man defenders, and you come out in man coverage. What happens when the team you are going up against has a speedy mobile QB? All receivers might be covered, but that QB breaks off an 8 yard run.