Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

[Collegefbfan]

Now, that the game has been out for a bit, and some of us have become familiar with aspects of the game. New disguising coverage shells is a thing that has baffled some... including me.

Are there do's and don'ts related to this feature? Like never disguise with a lower or higher number. Say you plan on coming out in some Cover 3. Is it better to disguise with Cover 4 or Cover 2? Or does it even matter? If it does, how do we know this?

Or like never call Cover 4 and disguise it with Cover 0.

Things like that.

[canes21]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Don't try and disguise zones with a 2-man shell if the offense is in an imbalanced look like Trips. You're going to end up having half your zone players on the wrong side of the field and extremely out of position at the snap.

That's the one main rule I follow. If I am also calling any blitz that sends a safety, I won't do any 2-high shells because the blitz is essentially useless at that point.

Something I lean on a bit, but it can get you burned at times, and it has me, is running a cover 0 shell with cover 4. Gets your entire defense towards the box and allows them to play the run a lot more aggressively. The right route patterns can get a free man behind the defense, though.

If I want a similar aggressive run defense, I'll run a cover 3 shell with a lot of cover 4, 3, and 0 mixed in. Again, if you're in a cover 3 shell and running a cover 4, the right route combination can punish you for having the one safety playing so far up. Same with running cover 0 out of a cover 3 look, the safety over the top is going to be far off his man, so pay attention to alignments and try and run that when the safety would be matched up with the RB.

[Helios12787]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

given man press just doesn't work. I've had success coming out in 2 man under with a Cover 2 shell.

Similar alignment as your 2 man under you want to run, but removes the press issue from the situation.

[Collegefbfan]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

In previous games, I stayed away from zone like the plague. Now, playing man seems to kill me. I set my zone Drops in coach adjustments to what I think will work. I had it work some. But some games, man the QB finds every open part of the zone. I even put CPU QB on 43 for accuracy. I know some of it is my team's defense rating isn't great. Still having fun.

[Haze88]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Now, that the game has been out for a bit, and some of us have become familiar with aspects of the game. New disguising coverage shells is a thing that has baffled some... including me.

Are there do's and don'ts related to this feature? Like never disguise with a lower or higher number. Say you plan on coming out in some Cover 3. Is it better to disguise with Cover 4 or Cover 2? Or does it even matter? If it does, how do we know this?

Or like never call Cover 4 and disguise it with Cover 0.

Things like that.

The number just refers to how many deep zone players are on any given snap with mostly subtle differences in 1/3 and 2/4. Usually you do it with zones since those run to a spot and since pre-snap IDing is so important when how to read progressions anything that makes a QB hesitate can help with pressure or even bait bad throws. In your Cover 3 example the only difference would be the corners aligning at 3 vs 7 yards and everything else would look the same until the ball is snapped. Its can be risky, if A) you don't have the talent to bail out to their spots or B) you fundamentally don't get what the coverage should do and align them in a worse position to start. Usually you don't need to disguise anything if you have the talent. But it's a complicated thing that isn't really required to do unless you are facing an elite QB

[Ky3217]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Don't try and disguise zones with a 2-man shell if the offense is in an imbalanced look like Trips. You're going to end up having half your zone players on the wrong side of the field and extremely out of position at the snap.

That's the one main rule I follow. If I am also calling any blitz that sends a safety, I won't do any 2-high shells because the blitz is essentially useless at that point.

Something I lean on a bit, but it can get you burned at times, and it has me, is running a cover 0 shell with cover 4. Gets your entire defense towards the box and allows them to play the run a lot more aggressively. The right route patterns can get a free man behind the defense, though.

If I want a similar aggressive run defense, I'll run a cover 3 shell with a lot of cover 4, 3, and 0 mixed in. Again, if you're in a cover 3 shell and running a cover 4, the right route combination can punish you for having the one safety playing so far up. Same with running cover 0 out of a cover 3 look, the safety over the top is going to be far off his man, so pay attention to alignments and try and run that when the safety would be matched up with the RB.

I really wish defenders would swap zone responsibilities in situations like this

[Spartan Warrior]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Cover 4 with a Cover Zero shell sounds like the Pat Narduzzi Quarters Defense that was so effective at Michigan State back in the 2010s. Tight press coverage and safeties way up to stop the run.

Most often I just show two high safeties regardless of my actual coverage because that's become popular in the NFL to not tip the offense on what you're doing. If I'm getting torched in the run game I'll start rolling a safety up into the box for help on first down.

[Haze88]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Cover 4 with a Cover Zero shell sounds like the Pat Narduzzi Quarters Defense that was so effective at Michigan State back in the 2010s. Tight press coverage and safeties way up to stop the run.

Most often I just show two high safeties regardless of my actual coverage because that's become popular in the NFL to not tip the offense on what you're doing. If I'm getting torched in the run game I'll start rolling a safety up into the box for help on first down.

A staple last year for Bill Belichick last couple years was just that. Line up 2 high and rotate into Cover 1, flipping which safety rotated frequently. Pretty much what my defense is as well but I try to mix it up just enough that you never know if it's really Cover 4 or not or Cover 1 or not

[SilverBullet19]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

what I've found (I have been playing on varsity as I relearn how to play), but what works for me:

DO disguise cover 2 with cover 3. I've gotten multiple pick-6's as the CPU tries to hit a short flat route thinking the corner is bailing deep

DO NOT disguise cover 2 with cover 3 if on a hash, the safety on the wide side struggles to recover to his deep half and you'll get toasted

DO use a press in zone, especially in 3rd and short

DO NOT press in man to man

[Seanzino]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Cover 3 disguise is useful when the opponent may run. Bringing the safety closer to the LOS, even if it's a zone means they are already in the box to defend the run.

Cover 2 disguise is occasionally useful during any Cover 3 look, but I also like using it in Cover 2 Man or blitzing situations to play off-coverage a bit.

Showing blitz is good for sometimes making the opponent CPU think you're bringing pressure when you're dropping, or in obvious running situations where you will still have at least 1 high safety.

Almost never press. You might get lucky on a WR screen, but more likely you will get cooked. I would only use it if a team was running a ton of WR screens.

[Collegefbfan]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Been thinking about coverage shells differently now. They are in Coach Adjustments. I know that. What depths do you all set yours at? I know it won't always be the same. The good thing is the game doesn't take time off the clock as you change these. Do you change them as the opposing offense gets further down the field and closer to the end zone?

[BlyGilmore]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Serious question - do we think shells work against the computer?

Against other players I can see them being hugely effective - keeping the offense on their toes and not knowing what defense you're running until the ball is snapped. (And for those guys who effectively create a new play at the line that can work wonders).

But does the computer even make pre-snap reads like that? I'm just not sure a some point in the CPU's logic there's a virtual QB going "oh it looks like they're in Cover 2, I'm going to attack the deep along the sidelines."

[mercalnd]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Been thinking about coverage shells differently now. They are in Coach Adjustments. I know that. What depths do you all set yours at? I know it won't always be the same. The good thing is the game doesn't take time off the clock as you change these. Do you change them as the opposing offense gets further down the field and closer to the end zone?

Zone depths in coach adjustments are entirely different and unrelated to coverage shells. Zone depths allow you to decide how far defenders in different zone types drop AFTER the snap while coverage shells are how defenders align BEFORE the snap.

[zpq12]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

Serious question - do we think shells work against the computer?

Against other players I can see them being hugely effective - keeping the offense on their toes and not knowing what defense you're running until the ball is snapped. (And for those guys who effectively create a new play at the line that can work wonders).

But does the computer even make pre-snap reads like that? I'm just not sure a some point in the CPU's logic there's a virtual QB going "oh it looks like they're in Cover 2, I'm going to attack the deep along the sidelines."

In my anecdotal experience, yes. Also, I think one of the developers said as much.

[Newlegacy]

Re: Disguising Cover Shells. Do's & Don'ts...

I saw an excellent pass breakup the other night while playing because i disguised my coverage with cover 2 man while in cover 6 with the offense showing trips to the left, so yes i'd say the computer does "make reads" and coverage shells play an impact vs humans or cpu.