QB progressions

[Liquid Bricks]

:confused: I have been playing Ncaa and madden forever but I still have trouble making the right choice of what receiver to throw to. Any suggestions about making pre snap or post snap progressions? Anything would be helpful. Any certain thing that you do that might help me. Thanks

[Equalizer]

Here is how I handle reading the D.

If it's man I watch the safeties to see if they have over the top coverage, man or a robber type... Once I know what they are doing I hit the man that looks most open, the guy who has a step on the defender and is not infringing on a zone. I use a long to short rec. progression....I know my rec's routs long to short and use the short route as a dump off if needed.

In zone I look at the field and know where my rec. will end up, I do not watch eac rec. just the spot they will be at... so now I use what I call a Zone Read right after the snap ie... I just watch the Defenders not the rec. I look for the whole that one of my rec will be going to.

Hope that helps.

[K Freeman]

Here is a quote I picked up from The Art and Magic of Quaterbacking
This has helped me alot.

"You'll need to be scanning the field and working through your progressions.
By the time you have taken your second step back from the center you should already know who you will be throwing to. When you recognize the defense you should know which of your guys will be open and which will be covered before the play really develops. If you wait to long to see who has gotten open, well by that time he's not open anymore and you're on your back." -Joe Montana

In summary 1) understand defensive coverages (strengts and weakness)
2) know all of your routes or the ones you plan on progressing through.

Its kind of like if you had both controllers on and you held the R2 button down on defense and offense at the same time. You could see who has the best chance of getting open.

In this book he also stated that he reads Safety, CB's then Linebackers.
I have taken this and applied it to the game. Pre-snap works well on the computer since they are always trying to get in better position, and it works if you can pick up on tendencies of human opponents. At the snap of the ball I look right between the safeties and right behind where the middle LB would be. You cant really focus on one area, you have to see to try and see as much of the field as possible and this works for me. I suggest you find a method that lets you see a majority of the field. This allows me to see the safety movement along with who ever is in the middle b/c this is where most of the blitzes will come from. Also by doing this, it will be obvious when a CB blitz is coming. After Safeties and middle of the field is read, I look at the corners to see if they are in man or zone then I make my decisions. I have processed all of this in my head by the third step.

Cover 0
If I see both safeties comming down to the LOS, I can make some assumptions.
* Either the safeties are blitzing or
* The LB are blitzing and the safeties are running down to pick up a RB or TE
* The safeties are in double coverage

Since I am looking at the spot behind where the MLB would be I can see who is blitzing. Then I look to the corners to see if they are in man coverage or double coverage along with the safeties. Now I'm thinking what patterns are my men running. Do I have someone running where the middle defenders have vacated. If yes I throw to him b/c it is a high precentage pass and feel confident b/c there is no help deep and I should be able to pick up good yardage running from defenders. Now if you have a receiver going deep you can hit him only if you have time and he is not double covered. If I see zones I think which man is running through a zone and hit him.

Cover 1
You will see a rotation by the safeties and one safety will come toward the LOS. You should expect at least one player blitzing. You have to be careful here b/c it is often mistaken for Cover 3. I look at the spot mentioned earlier to see this rotation and which player is blitzing, while also getting a feel to see if the middle defenders are playing zone or man. If I only see one man blitzing then I take a little more time b/c its my 5 linemen against their 5 rushers. I then look to the corners to make sure they are in man to man coverage. Now I'm thinking what routes are being run. I disregard anything to the deep middle b/c the defense is strong there. Do I have any guys running routes to the perimeters(outs, corners, post-corner, streak). If the corners are in man coverage I attack them. If I dont have anything attacking the perimeter then I scramble to buy time. Again if I see zone I hit my receiver as he runs through the seam of the zone.

There are more coverages but Im getting to wordy.

I read the defense this way b/c it allows me to see the whole field. Some people look at the primary reciever, then secondary, then tertiary.....etc, without understanding the defense. That wastes time. Why would you look to throw a streak on a double covered reciever. You should not even be looking that way, b/c there is another guy in single coverage, but you will miss it if you dont understand the defenses. This also allows you to pick up on tendencies as well.

Some people tend to mirror read. That when you have the same routes going to both sides. If this is the case you just pick the best located safety (the safety furthest away from the corner) and work that side.

Sorry if its wordy. Its hard to put my thought process in a few lines. PM if it doesnt make sense or disregard it if it sounds like jiberish.

[mad_bomber]

Good info there!

[kbell97]

nice post :D

[Liquid Bricks]

Great info guys, thanks

[djwill13]

excellent post, i may be able to add to it though.

cover 2, if you're already lookin at the safties and see both of them drop deep, then the d is in cover 2. look for post, wheel, or flag routes over deep middle or deep out. also, it is possible to hit a crossing WR b/t the zone the lb's and safties are playing, but once you see it you have to throw it. that pass won't be open for long at all.

cover 3 has many variations to it. one senario has already been mentioned where one safety comes up to the los the other stays. he and the 2 corners have deep 3 coverage. quick routes by the outside Wr like a slant should be open right at the start.

man, arguably the easiest to beat. speed for speed my guy is better than yours. most of the time you will need to make this read fast b/c you should be expecting a blitz and fast

cover 4 (aka quarters) the cb's on both sides and both safteies drop back and take a "quarter" of the field. i've only found one play this d is out of and that's the 3-3-5 and there isn't any blitzing involved. look for middle route passes (about 10 yards). also look for any wr's running anything near the sidelines. they should be open

hope this helps also

[kbell97]

Here is how I make my READS

I always motion a guy to see if their is some kind of man coverage.

cover 0, if the safeties move up and when I snap the ball they cover a receiver/HB, also motion a reciever

cover 1 - motion the receiver, which will be man coverage, watchthe safety roll to the middle of the field

cover 2 - the two safeties split

cover 3 - a safety rolls to the middle of the field, and the corners drop deep. This does look like cover 1, but if you use motion before the snap that should tell you.

cover 4 - the safeties and corners drop deep