Stopping Short and Intermediate Passes Over the Middle

[carolinamadden]

On 3rd and 10-13, I find myself calling Cover 2 Man early in the game to determine whether or not my opponent has the ability to convert a 3rd and long by some way other than the lob pass or deep ball towards the sidelines. If they don't, then its simply a matter of calling that defense ad naseum in that situation until they are forced to adjust, or throw up their hands and quit in frustration.

However, when my opponent has the ability to exploit the middle of the field on the in route over the middle at 8-14 yards, then most of the time I am forced to pick my poison. Do I concede a possible deep ball, or search for a way to stop these in breaking routes that barely move the sticks?

In the past, I was terrified of calling anything but Cover 2 Man on passing downs. My manual control of the DB wasn't up to speed at the time, therefore I knew one mistake on defense in anything other than Cover 2 Man meant a big play, or a miracleous ''User Catch!'' notification popping up on the screen.

Now, I am comfortable with bringing the safety over manually to play defense with the corner. Yes, some catches are still being made, but certainly not as many as before. The safety is able to tip it away, pick it off, or lay his *** out with a User Big Hit.

With this new found comfort, the attention now turns to stopping those in routes over the middle that C2M gives up for easy completions.

What are some defenses for these routes that can be used in 4/5 WR sets while minimizing mismatches? Usually, I find that it takes a 4 or 5 WR set to allow one of the receivers to run the in route, finding the hole in C2M.

[getting awn]

The 4-2-5 or 3-3-5 plys can offer adequate help on the medium passes. What I would do is to let him work his way down the field, 2 c if he is patient or not. Then call either of these 2 defenses closer to the goal line. It is better to give up field goals than to give up touchdowns on long passes. Call man defenses if u corners r quick enough to stay with his receivers. 4-3 crash 3 I think it is ( when u have one linebacker blitzing, and the other 2 r in cover). I normally work the middle with the no back formation, it also allows me to attack deep. So I look at what my opponent is trying to do and take what he is giving me. :D

[Air Raid]

Well....I don't know if this works for anybady else, but I like to run a lot of zone this year......it seams to me that if you call zone plays (like spy robber 2) where your LBs drop back into coverage, it really clogs up the middle.....they will still be able to complete the shallow routes but then you can lay them out with a user big hit time and time again (and stop them short of the chains).....the only problem with the zones this year is they don't protect the long bomb down the sideline to well, so if you are playing someone like that, you need to get to them quick off the blitz, play cover 2, or use the 4-2-5 double outs and make them do something else???

I normally like to bring the heat on 1st and 2nd downs and then make them throw into my zone while I blitz either a nickel back or a LB on 3rd down.....however, as in years past, the key is...like AWN said....is stopping them in the redzone, taking 3 points is frustrating to people.....

[TrojanNole]

Carolina , what R doing exactly running cover 2 man? do U have anytype of blitz coming at all? I hope ur not just letting him seat in the pocket and pick you apart.

I will take my chances and blitz the hell out of him and try to get in his head! This weeks filmroom is a good example of a good defense to run on 3rd and 8-12 yds. Instead of running the 4-3 Thunder Green (man D) run the Thunder 2 version of it with the enhancements.

NEVER LET ANYONE seat in the pocket and look downfield, if he has more than 2 seconds to throw the ball, thats one too many to let him let it go.

Inexperienced players cannot handle the heat in the kitchen thus they dont like to cook! whatever that means :eek:

[kbell97]

Use spy zone plays, 3-4, 4-2-5, 3-3-5. One of my favorite plays is the 335 MLB spy zone. One problem , no pash rush and is succeptable to the deep ball . Only run it when you know your opponet is throwing short. the Max coverage plays should also help.

[Volunteer77]

Yeah i see what all of yall are saying, but I got a bud call it cheese or whatever. I only play him now because he is a "real life" friend. and believe me it is very frustrating. But he is one like trojin said; if I give him time he'll bomb it all day. and kill you with his 94+ WRs. if rush one side he'll scramble out the other side for about 10. so it has come down to blitzing him off both sides to get pressure and contain the scramble. But he is not an idiot so now he has added a third play to his great arsenal to try and hit the slants where the LBs blitz from. S I am pretty stumped The D has worked for the most part. it has shut his offense not down but slowed it. he most he has scored latly has been 21.

Now if I could just get some Off. for me I could get some win vs him.

[TrojanNole]

What is he calling cheese, the subbing of DE's and LB's? I will beg to differ, Jim Cowher's Steelers do sometimes sub DE's for LB's and Kansas St did this also vs Oklahoma in the Big12 Championship game to slow down the Sooners spread attack.

Rolling around for 10 seconds dropping back 15 yds, that could be cheese also if you want to make a arguement of it. Unless ur doing WR Directs or just plain glitches everything is game as far as I can see it.

[kbell97]

The steelers take tweeners(speed DENDS) in college that played DEND in college and convert them to Outside Linebackers in their 3-4 scheme some examples: Joey Porter,Jason Gildon, Dante Jones, Clark Haggans, Alonzo Jackson , Nathaniel Abidi.

They also have Porter, KBell , Haggans play a rush end in passing downs. Gildon also played rush end when he was with the Steelers. Subbing in players to me for your philosipy and your defense is not cheese, your opponet should adjust. Well nice seeing this forum again, back to practice, peace out. Trojan, I am a big Steelers fan, A. Jackson from the Noles is looking pretty solid at OLB this year.