Passing Concepts and the Coverages they Beat Chart

[baller7345]

I posted this on a thread in the super league but I know many people don't go into that forum much so I figured I'd post it here. This should break down a large portion of the concepts in the game and will carry over into 13 if past experiences are anything to go by as they tend to get their core concepts correct.

Passing Concepts and Coverages


1 Safety Deep [aka Middle of the Field Closed {MOFC}]
Cover 3 (CBs back off before snap)

Cover 1

Fire Zone Coverage (CBs back off before snap)

2 Safeties Deep [aka Middle of the Field Open {MOFO}]
2 Man Under

Cover 2 (CBs will press)

Cover 4 (Both CBs drop back before snap)

Cover 6 [aka Cover 4 one side Cover 2 other side] (CB drops back deeper on one side than other also safties not perfectly even)

0 Safeties Deep
Zero Blitz (FIRE EVERYTHING!!)

Concepts that Beat Coverages:
Curl Flats - Cover 3, Man, Fire Zone Blitz [vertical stretch/flood] {Use against MOFC}

Smash - Cover 2, Fire Zone Coverage, Man (if there is a seam route) [vertical stretch] {Use against MOFO}

Strong side Flood (Deep Out/Corner, Streak, Arrow) - Cover 3, Man (with good route running) {Use against MOFC}

Double Slant - Cover 2, Man {Use against MOFO}

Slant Arrow - Cover 3, Man, Fire Zone Coverage {Use against MOFC}

Fork - Cover 2, Cover 3, Man {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

Fin (Dig route with slot running a short hitch under it) - Cover 3, Man, Fire Zone Coverage (vertical stretch) {Use against MOFC}

Mesh - Man, Cover 3 (Mesh Corner [Triangle Stretch]), Cover 2 (Mesh Post/Mesh Dig [High Low Read]), Fire Zone Blitz (Mesh Wheel [Horizontal Stretch]), Cover 4 (due to no middle support) {Use against MOFC/MOFO depending on which Mesh}

Stick - Cover 3, Man, Cover 2 (smaller window), Cover 4, Fire Zone Coverage [triangle stretch] {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

Slot Outs - Fire Zone Coverage, Man [vertical stretch] {Use Against MOFC}

Shallow Cross (Drag and Dig on opposite sides of field) - Cover 3, Man, Cover 2 (tight...will be the drag), Cover 4 (read the sandbox) [high low read/vertical stretch] {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

Drive (Drag and Dig on same side of field, Dig inside of drag at snap) - Same as Shallow Cross (read the sandbox [area where the LBs are] [high low read/vertical stretch] {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

Levels (Deep In an Shallow In on same side of the field, Deep In inside of Shallow In) - Same as Drive [high low read/vertical stretch] {Use against MOFC/MOFO]

Follow (Dig and Drag (can be done with deep and shallow in routes) on same side of the field, Dig outside of drag at snap) - Same as Drive [high low read/vertical stretch] {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

Under (inside WR runs a deep route towards the sideline while outside WR runs a route that cuts under it) - Man, Cover 3, Cover2, Cover4 {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

Flanker Dig - Cover 3, Man [vertical stretch] {Use against MOFC}

4 Verticals - Cover 3, Man, Cover 2 [flood] {Use against MOFC}

3 Verticals - Cover 2, Man, Stresses Cover 3 [flood] {Use against MOFO}

Comebacks - Cover 3, Man [Horizontal stretch] {Use against MOFC}

Weak side Flood (typically a crossing route a streak/comeback, and an arrow...ran away from the TE's side) - Cover 3, Man [flood] {Use against MOFC}

Deep Outs - Cover 3, Man, Fire Zone Coverage [horizontal stretch] {Use against MOFC}

Shakes (Corner Strike Plays) - Cover 3, Cover 2, Fire Zone Coverage, Man [horizontal stretch] {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

Z-Spot - Cover 3, Cover 2, Man [triangle stretch] {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

Spacing - Cover 2, Man (depending on routes), Cover 3, Cover 4 [horizontal stretch] {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

WR Screen - Cover 4, Fire Zone Coverage, Cover 2 Sink, Off Coverage {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

HB Screen - Cover 4, Fire Zone Coverage, Cover 2 Sink, Off Coverage {Use against MOFC/MOFO}

[Football_Fan_#1]

This is killer info...mark my words people...Baller will run MS one day :)

[TheMeInTeam]

Can't really argue this. You just have to watch out for spotlights, press+shading, and user. It sucks to read MOFO then throw it into a deep zone MLB on a post using a fork concept lol. I've also seen corners jump curls (despite what people claim) and slants (seriously, I picked off mwhite that way in skunks this season. Pure 2 man under press, he throws a slant...picked...all cpu).

But this is definitely good info and I agree with all of it. Just make sure after reading the defense that the player is really open and that someone isn't taking their hook zone cover 3 MLB and jumping your curl etc :).

[baller7345]

Can't really argue this. You just have to watch out for spotlights, press+shading, and user. It sucks to read MOFO then throw it into a deep zone MLB on a post using a fork concept lol. I've also seen corners jump curls (despite what people claim) and slants (seriously, I picked off mwhite that way in skunks this season. Pure 2 man under press, he throws a slant...picked...all cpu).

But this is definitely good info and I agree with all of it. Just make sure after reading the defense that the player is really open and that someone isn't taking their hook zone cover 3 MLB and jumping your curl etc :).

Yeah you really do need to make proper post snap reads as there are ways to disguise defenses and cause confusion. Tampa 2 is one of my favorite zone coverages because of it gives a MOFO look when its actually MOFC if you have an athletic MLB. If you are going to use concepts when you pass instead of the freestyle approach which typically deals with individual routes more than it does with concepts made up of several routes then you must keep in your mind where your check down is if you get a post snap read that turns play FUBAR.

I've seen Jarret Bush jump a curl in man coverage playing Jack Parkman (used to be in Skunk's league) and Woodson has made many a play on slants when I stick him in the nickle back position in the 2-4-5 and 2-3-6 so I'm well aware that things people call automatic can happen but all I can do with a thread like this is to say what they are designed to beat. Random occurrences like that as well as disguising various coverages is why I love to package concepts to both sides so I have one for MOFO on one side and another for MOFC on the other. Deep Curl out of Gun Doubles Flex is the perfect example of this as its a Drive Concept with a slot seam and a Curl Flats on the other side.

[TheMeInTeam]

I do some of this too actually. You can for example call a TE option in out of I form pro...but turn the WR #1 into a curl, smart route TE on an in route, and drag WR #2. The HB and FB are running into the flats so you have a curl/flat and a nice high/low combo in the middle. Unfortunately, a lot of SS2 players just insta-pressure you and force you to leave in blockers or dump the flat pattern almost instantly . Still, the backside WR on a crossing route will freeze the user towards the middle because you really can't just leave slants/drags open too much. I've learned to keep the TE a lot more than I used to though. I'd rather take a checkdown, throw the ball away, or run QB than wind up getting sacked or rushing a throw and the backs just don't pick up those edge pressure blitz concepts well enough.

I've seen freestyle players use a lot of these concepts, even if they aren't thinking of them as such. You really do need something to distract users and get a feel for what they'll do.

[baller7345]

I do some of this too actually. You can for example call a TE option in out of I form pro...but turn the WR #1 into a curl, smart route TE on an in route, and drag WR #2. The HB and FB are running into the flats so you have a curl/flat and a nice high/low combo in the middle. Unfortunately, a lot of SS2 players just insta-pressure you and force you to leave in blockers or dump the flat pattern almost instantly . Still, the backside WR on a crossing route will freeze the user towards the middle because you really can't just leave slants/drags open too much. I've learned to keep the TE a lot more than I used to though. I'd rather take a checkdown, throw the ball away, or run QB than wind up getting sacked or rushing a throw and the backs just don't pick up those edge pressure blitz concepts well enough.

I've seen freestyle players use a lot of these concepts, even if they aren't thinking of them as such. You really do need something to distract users and get a feel for what they'll do.

That's one reason I love the air raid offense so much. Many of its concepts are designed to get rid of the ball in a hurry and as such they don't need extra blocking all that often. A lot of the Under concepts are great for that because they are 3 step drops and attack an area that most people don't user cover. Shallow Cross is technically a 5 step drop but since it it can be run with max protect behind it its easy to use against a blitz. Stick is one of the best blitz beaters in the game as long as you actually understand how to go through the progressions for it.

The only thing I would have issue with from the SS2 players is the 3 man pressure which while it can be picked up easy enough when complimented with 4 man overloads that send the backside DE it becomes impossible to slide protect in M12. Its one reason I love Gun Double Flex Wing as it gives an easy max protect look while being able to throw pretty much every air raid concept known to man at people (save the screen game). I don't generally like split back sets but it.s not really a split back set as its a TE. The good thing about M13 is that the slide protection is much better. They didn't give us more options but they scrapped the completely incorrect full slide protect and replaced it with a working half slide protect so its much easier to pick up blitzes with out going to 6 and 7 man protection schemes.

[TheMeInTeam]

I'm hoping defensive shading is better in m13 too. It has modest uses in 12 but they really don't fight for an inside or outside release in 12 and largely only take a shaded side on patterns like streaks. It's useful against face throws but I'd like to see man coverage use shading more dynamically again, especially because man in reality plays for differing releases depending on safety help and it'd be great to have that dynamic in madden.

[TChamberLn]

God Baller, Freaking make an ebook. I will pay you money. Once again, I'm stunned at how much you have taught me in one of your posts lol. I seriously appreciate it, and any skill I might have (which is not much) is mostly thanks to you.

EDIT : I'm having some trouble understanding the difference between a horizontal and vertical stretch, and how a triangle stretch creates both. I'm sure it will probably be super obvious, but can you offer any insight?

[baller7345]

God Baller, Freaking make an ebook. I will pay you money. Once again, I'm stunned at how much you have taught me in one of your posts lol. I seriously appreciate it, and any skill I might have (which is not much) is mostly thanks to you.

EDIT : I'm having some trouble understanding the difference between a horizontal and vertical stretch, and how a triangle stretch creates both. I'm sure it will probably be super obvious, but can you offer any insight?

Never been a fan of E-books and anyway if I did do one it would be massive. I've got a post that breaks down one formation of my ProRaid (prostyle Air Raid) offense and its bigger than most full schemes that get posted on here even though its just repeating a set of concepts over and over out of a ton of different looks. If you are ever going to be successful in football you have to commit to something which is what my offense is about (running the same 10-12 concepts all game just out of different looks).

Simply put a vertical stretch stretches the defense vertically. Take Smash for instance you have the 15 yard corner route and the 5 yard hitch route and if you where to draw a line between the two routes completion points you'd have a straight line vertically connecting the two routes. This represents the vertical stretch between those two routes, if a defender is caught in between those two routes he has to pick, there is no way for him to cover both of them. If you double team one route then the other one opens up and if you cover them separately then the QB throws open his best matchup. Its usually the corner route in smash since its best used against cover 2 which will leave the slot vs the safety and the safety has to respect the vertical portion of the route so the cut to the sidelines allows the QB to throw to grass and make the completion.

Vertical.JPG

A Horizontal stretch is the same thing as a vertical stretch except in placing one WR high and one WR low you place them at the same depth just at different positions. For instance in a Trips or bunch formation Spacing will have all 3 WRs on one side of the field run routes at the same depth (normally short hitches) with the goal of spacing out the defenders so that someone either has the matchup advantage or is left open because there is not enough defenders to cover all 3 WRs.

Horizontal.JPG

A Triangle Stretch is just the combination of a vertical stretch and a horizontal stretch so that when you look at all 3 WRs used to create the stretch they form a triangle. Stick is a common triangle concept used in both college and the NFL as it creates a horizontal stretch between the stick route and the speed out and a vertical stretch between the speed out and the streak.

Triangle.JPG


Extra Reading:
Importance of Triangles In Football

[Mick]

idiot you doesnt know football term....what do you mean by dig.