Help with manual pass coverage

[sbattisti]

Hi everyone. I’ve been playing Madden on and off for years. But on the defensive side of the ball, I’ve almost always played defensive line.

What I really WANT to do is play as a linebacker. But the reason I never do so is pass coverage. I am just really awful at it, especially zone. It just seems like the moment the receiver makes any cut, he is instantly wide open, and I’m totally out of position. He invariably catches the ball for a huge gain. So, I almost never play as LB.

Can anyone give me some tips as to how to get better at pass coverage? Like, what do you do immediately at the snap? When do you strafe? When do you sprint? Do you try to stay to the receiver’s inside? Outside? It depends?

Pass coverage 101 please!

This is only versus CPU BTW.



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[Senator Palmer]

Pick two coverages and get good at them then move on. I’d start with Cover-3 and Cover-1.

Control the MIKE. In cover-3, if it’s pass, focus on getting your drop 10-12 yards into the hook area. That yellow bubble in the playart is going to give you an idea where to be. Don’t try to do too much. Focus on the #3 receiver. If the #3 goes out, then look for some crossers or a deep dig. If #3 goes vertical then you have to match him. Don’t jump any routes 5 yards and under. That’s just cheese to get you to come up. Don’t take the cheese. Offense wants to throw five yards all game that plays into your hands.

3rd and long is when I would go to match coverages (cover-3 match, cover-3 buzz match). Cover-3 Buzz Match is usually a little better against trips if you’re controlling a linebacker. It’s easier to match #3 if he goes vertical.



Cover-1 is simple. Just focus on your man which is going to be a tight end or back, those guys are easier to cover. Remember that your responsibility isn’t to take away everything. In cover-1 your help is in the middle of the field, so play the receivers outside hip. I play with faster guys like Wagner so I can keep up with any tight end. If he runs a drag inside, great. I can run that down. If he runs a square in, that where the hole player or the robber will be, so I focus on taking away that 7 route to the sideline.

If you call Cover-1 Hole and you are the hole player in that short zone. Focus on your drop and helping out whoever has #3 in man. When you get good you’ll learn to cheat a bit and break off #3 and help out a corner chasing a receiver running one of those deeper over routes.

Cover-1 incidentally is where I tend to get most of my sacks. If your corners can hold up in press, QB can’t get rid of the ball on those easy throws and your line has more time to get there.

Vs. run ... I like to play more zone on run downs because I can just read my keys. Key the offensive line, mainly the guards. The guards will give away run or pass every time. You see the guard fire out, it’s a run. You see him pop up and drop kick back, it’s pass. Go in skills trainer and learn your gaps. Just focus on filling your gap vs. run and spill the ball to your teammates.

I try not to sprint too much because I lose control. Strafe isn’t quite as fluid as last year. I mash the strafe about a quarter of the way down so that my backer will cross over and drop faster into zone vs. mashing it all the way down and he’ll keep totally square shoulders and drop like a defensive back.

[ICE_790120q]

I hear you man. I'm on the same boat as you. Always playing DL and very few rare occasions LB (blitzing mostly) as I go through the same issues as you.

I've tried the practice and seem to perform well but once into a real game I suck at coverage. For me LB is a fun position to play on running plays but I pay the prize on pass coverage.

So I'm also eager to hear any advice from others on how to improve on this.

[sbattisti]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senator Palmer

Pick two coverages and get good at them then move on. I’d start with Cover-3 and Cover-1. Control the MIKE. In cover-3, if it’s pass, focus on getting your drop 10-12 yards into the hook area. That yellow bubble in the playart is going to give you an idea where to be. Don’t try to do too much. Focus on the #3 receiver. If the #3 goes out, then look for some crossers or a deep dig. If #3 goes vertical then you have to match him. Don’t jump any routes 5 yards and under. That’s just cheese to get you to come up. Don’t take the cheese. Offense wants to throw five yards all game that plays into your hands. 3rd and long is when I would go to match coverages (cover-3 match, cover-3 buzz match). Cover-3 Buzz Match is usually a little better against trips if you’re controlling a linebacker. It’s easier to match #3 if he goes vertical. Cover-1 is simple. Just focus on your man which is going to be a tight end or back, those guys are easier to cover. Remember that your responsibility isn’t to take away everything. In cover-1 your help is in the middle of the field, so play the receivers outside hip. I play with faster guys like Wagner so I can keep up with any tight end. If he runs a drag inside, great. I can run that down. If he runs a square in, that where the hole player or the robber will be, so I focus on taking away that 7 route to the sideline. If you call Cover-1 Hole and you are the hole player in that short zone. Focus on your drop and helping out whoever has #3 in man. When you get good you’ll learn to cheat a bit and break off #3 and help out a corner chasing a receiver running one of those deeper over routes. Cover-1 incidentally is where I tend to get most of my sacks. If your corners can hold up in press, QB can’t get rid of the ball on those easy throws and your line has more time to get there. Vs. run ... I like to play more zone on run downs because I can just read my keys. Key the offensive line, mainly the guards. The guards will give away run or pass every time. You see the guard fire out, it’s a run. You see him pop up and drop kick back, it’s pass. Go in skills trainer and learn your gaps. Just focus on filling your gap vs. run and spill the ball to your teammates. I try not to sprint too much because I lose control. Strafe isn’t quite as fluid as last year. I mash the strafe about a quarter of the way down so that my backer will cross over and drop faster into zone vs. mashing it all the way down and he’ll keep totally square shoulders and drop like a defensive back.

This is fantastic, thanks!

I’m assuming there’s not much difference in what you wrote above if it’s a 3-4, correct?


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[Senator Palmer]

Quote: Originally Posted by sbattisti

This is fantastic, thanks! I’m assuming there’s not much difference in what you wrote above if it’s a 3-4, correct? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Correct. The run fits may be a little different depending on the front you choose, but you can always bring them up pre-snap to know where you need to be.

And just remember, no pass defense is going to take away everything, so don't get too frustrated to start out.

Cover-3 can be weak in the seams if the CPU calls all verticals. You can mitigate that by going to your match coverages.

Also, this year the CPU throws a lot deep digs on long yardage. Cover-3 can be weak there. But once you get good, you'll get a feel for where you're weak at and you'll learn how to look for it to take that away with your drop.

[sbattisti]

This is fantastic, although I feel a bit like you are teaching physics to a fifth grader.

I’m not too worried about giving up plays. My style of play is I draft an all rookie team and build them up. So for several seasons my team is objectively worse than others from a rating perspective. I don’t expect to dominate or even win all that often.

What drives me insane is giving up 1-play 80-yard touchdowns because I don’t know what I’m doing and left my guy totally wide-open.

Thanks so much for your advice! I’m curious, are you just a big madden geek, or do you have a background in football?


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[Mackrel829]

Some good stuff here already about strategy, etc.

In terms of actually controlling a player in coverage, I tend to do the following:

- begin by holding both strafe and sprint
- track the receiver lightly with the left stick as they begin their route
- release strafe but maintain sprint to follow or break on the ball as they commit to their cut

Depending on which coverage you're playing, you might want to sag off a little, stray a little more to the inside to take away the middle of the field, etc. but I feel like the above allows you the most flexibility of movement and ability to react quickly to movement.

[purplerat]

You can turn on visual feedback which will show you who you should be covering. In Man coverage it simply tracks your man assignment. In Zone it will show multiple lines (usually just one or two though) to defenders in the area you are responsible for.

From there you should have a basic strategy as to how you want to defend on each given play. i.e. do you want to defend inside or outside, over the top or underneath, aggressively or conservatively. Preferably this should align with your overall defensive game play/play call.

Once you get the hang of identifying which receiver to cover and how to defend a certain area of the field you can start learning to anticipate routes. This is actually pretty easy in Madden because unlike real football pretty much everybody runs the same routes and the same way. On top of that most Madden players run the same plays over and over again making it very easy to identify routes.

Start with covering running backs first as most of their routes are pretty similar. While there are nuances between flats, wheels, outs, and drags from the backfield they are similar enough to be pretty forgiving if you misread them. The angle route is the one that will burn you the worst early on so focus on learning to identify that. And screens just require you to be on your toes and watching for the line to pull.

If you can take away your opponents ability to dump off to their running back that's already a huge win in this game with the improved pass rush. Even if you never progress to covering other receivers your game will be improved greatly.