CalvinandHobbes Guide to D

[daone]

this seems to have disappeared so I am reposting it
CalvinandHobbes Post on D

Well here it is….

1.) The Basics of D

The Basic idea of defense it to take away what your opponent wants. Obviously, he/she wants to score, but they also would like to run, quick pass, or whatever. If you can take away their main strength, say their run game, you have them at a loss, and unless they are a great player you are good to go. You can also look at in the opposite way, you need to attack their weaknesses, every player (even the best) has a weakness, and if you can exploit this their offense will often crumble.
Therefore I will write this article from this perspective on D. I will write a section for every offensive technique I can think of and how to stop it. I will also include a formation and zone vs. man breakdown. Each Section will include plays and ideas (including the formation sections).

!NOTE!
I always play as the FS, this allows me to stop the deep ball, if your stick is lacking try going into the DB Swat Drill, or into practice mode and defend hail maries. I also always refer to the players as they are seen on the screen not their actual positions. I also always freeze the D, so I won’t write it down just assume that you do. I bump every play except when I am defending the deep ball to.
!NOTE!

2.) Stopping the Run

There are three types of run, the simple straight on run (slams, dives, blasts etc.), the misdirection (counters, fakes etc.), and the qb draw. These runs can be further broken down into inside vs. outside runs.
Therefore there are six types of runs we must address.


A.) The Simple Inside Run
This is the slam, dive, and blast type of run. In my opinion these are the most effective types of runs. They develop so quickly it is almost impossible to stop them in the backfield. This means they almost always result in positive yardage. Notice how I said “almost always” .
I have found three ways to effectively stop these runs and a few plays in particular:
1.)
Call a man defense (!RULE OF THUMBS! Call a man defense vs. slams, dives, blast tosses and call zone vs. misdirections !RULE OF THUMBS!) then stack the LBs over the DL. This means manually moving the LBs so they look like they are blitzing, they should literally be covering the DL’s asses. If you are in a 4-3 or some other D with a more linemen than LBs bring down the SS. If you are in a 3-4 or some other D with less LBs than linemen stack the OLBs on the DEs and put the ILBs in between the DTs and the DEs.
When the LBs are stacked the OL will not be able to block them for ½ a second or so. This means they have free lanes towards the ball carrier.
If you are in a league that forbids manual player movement bring the men into the box then mess around with line and LB shifts.
To prevent being killed by the deep ball manual control the SS and sprint back at the hike, or control the FS and watch the WRs.
You call a man defense because the defense goes straight after the ball carrier instead of going to a zone like they would in a zone defense. This means you get to the ball carrier faster.
2.)
Call a man defense and sack the ball carrier. This is the riskier option of the two because if you miss you are screwed.
3.)
Use the run commit feature (R3 then direction of run), this will shut down the run, but the PA will kill you.
Plays:
46 Normal Any Man D Play
Pinch the DL
Move the OLBs behind the DEs and 3 yards off the LOS
Move the MLB between the DTs and 3 yards off the LOS
Or
Goal Line Gaps Fire
Pinch the DL
Crash the DL In

B.) The Misdirection
This is the counter play or the fake. It is stopped in similar ways to the straight forward runs.
1.)
Call a zone defense, and stack the line, see the section above for specifics. This can be helped by putting the DE’s in flats. The reason this works is because the defense go to their spots instead of the ball carrier so they don’t get faked out. This however does mean that they take longer to stop a run.
2.)
Trying to sack the ball carrier is bad ideas hear because you will often sack the wrong guy. This will be bad because the whole D will commit to the wrong side.
Plays:
Any Play with OLBs in the Flats
Stack the Line Manual the FS
This will stop fake tosses and the MLB should stop counters

C.) The Draw
I simply have a way to stop it.

Any man play with 4 DL(preferably 46)
Spread the DL
Put the DEs in QB Contain Blitzes
Stack the LBs

[daone]

2.) Stopping the Pass
This is more complicated than the run. It requires more stick skill and play calling rather than individual plays.
There are eight types of passing attacks I will talk about defending the deep ball, quick pass, short passes, corner routes, unbumpables, hitches, high passes, and play actions.

A.) The deep ball
There are three main ways of stopping this. However the third takes a lot of skill.
1.) Blitz
The idea here is sack the QB before he gets the through off. This often only works vs. poor players because good players will have short routes that can abuse the blitz. That is unless you have unstoppable blitzes , or great stick and can manually cover the deep ball.
2.) Cover the Deep Ball
This might sound obvious, but some people need help. The idea here is to have all deep threats at least double teamed. There are two ways of doing this.
Calling a 2-3 man under (my preferred way) this D puts the safeties in deep zones and mans up each WR. This D gives up the short passes, but has great deep coverage.
Or you can call a Cover 3-4, this means there will be one on one for each deep threat, but there always will be at least one man on each deep threat. I don’t like this method, however if you only see the deep ball rarely this is the best method.
3.) Click on
This is necessary for all of these methods. To stop the deep ball YOU MUST CLICK ON THE DEFENDER. If you don’t you will get beat. Unless you have a lot of experience, then go for the swat.

Plays:
3-5-3 Cover 3 (blitz, do the corresponding directions)
Slide DL right or left
Crash DL right or left
Stack LBs, ROLB left hip of RDE
Blitz ROLB or LOLB
Or
3-5-3 3 man under (cover the deep ball)
Slide DL right or left (give same look as above play)
Stack LBs, ROLB left hip of RDE
B.) The Quick Pas
I will simply give my ways, no explanation needed. These can be applied to any play.
1.) Call a cover 2 or Delayed Bump-and-Run (Bump, then flip the play twice)
2.) Put the CB across from the WR on a deep zone, move the CB back 3-4 yards and towards the LOS 2-3 yards
C.) Short Passes
These seem to be the best way to move the ball in Madden ’07. To stop these you can do several things.
1.) Bump the Routes
This is good vs. inexperienced players because it throws off their timing.
Delay Bump:
Bump
Flip the play twice
Aggressive Bump:
Bump,
Flip the play once,
Bump
Double Bump:
Man-shift (Triangle R3 Right)
Bump
Flip the play,
Press again
2.) Clog the middle of the field
This means coming out in a Cover 2 Defense or something with a lot of inside zones. Also shade the WRs in, since most short routes head in. To shade in press Triangle r3 left.
3.) Play special one D
This is when 11 men drop back into coverage. This works well here because most accurate QBs are slow so you don’t have to worry about them running. Also most people either run or throw short passes.
Plays:
These can be applied to most any plays,
C.) Corner Routes
This is also simple choose any man play and put the CBs in purple zones.

D.)Unbumpables
These are routes that can’t be bumped. Here you have to rely on two methods both of which are shaky. For both of these try to call man base Ds and spread the safeties (triangle R3 up)
1.) Manually Cover
The idea here is most people only have one-two unbumpables so you can predict the route.
2.) Shade the Receiver
Same idea as above except you let the computer defend.
E.) Hitches
This is when people high pass to their WRs. There are two ways to stop these, they work best when combined.
1.) Put a CB or OLB in hook zones. With a good D they will jump the route. Hitches only kill man coverage.
2.) Play the Safety short. If your opponent does these routes a lot just play your safety closer to the LOS and manually pick that ish.
F.) High Passes
These have been toned down. Just hitstick or press the ball strip button, the WR should drop the ball.
G.) Play Actions
This is tricky. There a three ways to do this.
1.) Anticipate and React
Since you are playing as the FS you should only be watching the deep ball, don’t run forward unless you are sure it is a run (wait one second).
2.) Use the Pass Commit
This is nice when they PA on third and long. Just pass commit and you are fine.
3.) Blitz
There are two good types of blitzes vs. the PA. The two types of blitz that work are the outside blitz and the kind of blitz with the blue route. The first type will hit the QB when he rolls out after the PA, since the blitzers are coming off the edge they also won’t hit the ball carrier.
With the blue route blitz the blitzer will wait ‘till the fake is down to blitz in. He will also abuse the gap opened for the fake run.
Plays:
See the Blitz section Below

[daone]

1.) How to Blitz
To Blitz you simply overload the OL. To do this you send more people to a gap than they have to defend.
To do this you must understand something, the idea of a 1-gap vs. 2-gap defense. In a 1-gap defense each DL is responsible for 1 gap where as in a 2-gap system a DL is responsible for 2 gaps. For instance in a 3-4 the NT must force a double team with a C and a G. The problem is that there is suction blocking in madden. This means double teams aren’t possible. So, 2-gap systems are at a distinct disadvantage.
To overcome this it is best to blitz from the outside, or to pinch the line to blitz the inside (in other words make a 2-gap system a 1-gap system).
There also are random blitzing angles meaning you don’t have control over exactly where your blitzer goes. So, every blitz has some random factor, but all of these should be 75% or so consistent.
Lastly, the idea behind the “any play” blitzes is that you use this setup for every down with these formations so you don’t tip your hand.
Now I will give my blitzes for each formation I use.
4-3 Normal
4-3 OLB Fire (Flipped)
Bump (triangle down)
Flip (square R2)
Crash Line In (L1 R3 Down)
Pinch LBS (R1 Down)
Move the ROLB to the RDT’s left hip
4-3 Cover 1
Bump (triangle down)
Blitz Both OLBs (R1 R3 Left R1 R3 Right)
LOLB LE inner hip
MLB on the DT
ROLB on the RE
4-3 Normal Any Play
Pinch LBS (R1 Down)
Crash line right (L1 R3 Right)
Blitz ROLB (R1 R3 Right)
Move the ROLB to 3 yards off the RDT’s hip
4-3 Play
Slide line right (L1 Right)
Slide LBS left (R1 Left)
Blitz ROLB (R1 R3 Right)
Move the ROLB to 3 yards off the RDT’s left hip
4-3 Thunder Smoke or Z Bracket Stick
Flip (Square R2)
Slide Line Right (L1 Right)
Slide LBs left (R1 Left)
Move the ROLB to 3 yards off the RDT’s left hip
Any 4-3 (Loops LE)
Crash Line Left (L1 R3 Left)
Slide Line Left (L1 Left)
Slide LBs right (R1 Right)
Man-shift (triangle tight)
Bump (triangle down)
4-6 Normal
4-6 Normal Any Play
Crash Line Left (L1 R3 Left)
Pinch LBs (R1 Down)
Blitz LBs (R1 R3 Down)
4-6 Normal Any Play Flipped ( huge line loop)
Spread Line (L1 Up)
Crash Line Out (L1 R3 Up)
4-6 Normal Cover 3
ROLB Between DTs
Scoot LOLB back
Crash Line Out (L1 R3 UP)
4-6 Normal Engage 8
ROLB and LOLB in flats
4-6 Bear
4-6 Bear Wall Cover 4
Slide line Left (L1 left) Pinch Line (L1 Down)
Pinch LBs (R1 down) or Blitz ROLB (R1 R3 Right)
Blitz LBs (R1 R3 Down) ROLB Behind RDE
4-6 Bear___ Stunt
Crash Line Out (L1 R3 up)
Pinch LBs (R1 Down)
Blitz LBs (R1 R3 Down)
RE Flats

Nickel 3-5-3
Any Nickel 3-5-3
Slide Line Left or right(L1 left or L1 right)
Crash Line left or right (L1 R3 left or L1 R3 right)
Blitz LOLB or ROLB( R1 R3 left or R1 R3 right)
Put off hip of LDE or RDE
Nickel Normal or Nickel Strong
Under Smoke
Spread Line (L1 Up)
Pinch LBs (R1 Down)
ROLB in a zone
Engage 8
Spread Line (L1 Up)
Pinch LBs (R1 Down)
LOLB and Blitzing S in zones
Any Play
Pinch LBs (R1 Down)
Slide Line right (L1 right)
Blitz ROLB (R1 R3 Right)
Move the ROLB to 3 yards off the RDT’s left hip
Any Play
Slide Line Right (L1 Right)
Blitz ROLB (R1 R3 Right)
Move the ROLB to 3 yards off the RDT’s left hip
NB Blitz (might be called NB’s name –Blitz)
Slide Line Left (LI left)
Crash line left (L1 R3 left)
Place NB between LDE and LDT
(play can also be done with LOLB)
Nickel 1-5-5
Cover 2 Sink, Cover 3
Blitz OLBs (R1 R3 Left R1 R3 Right)
Slide line right (L1 Right)
Blitz Line straight down (L1 R3 Down)
Move MLB behind DT
Cover 3
Slide line right (L1 Right)
Blitz Line straight down (L1 R3 Down)
Move MLB behind DT
Blitz OLBs (R1 R3 Left R1 R3 Right)
Undersmoke
Slide line right (L1 Right)
Blitz Line straight down (L1 R3 Down)
Move MLB behind DT
LILB and RILB in Zones
!NOTE!
For these Blitzes I have borrowed others ideas and modified them for myself. If one of these is yours and you want it gone say so. Reversely if you want to add a blitz just say so. However, I went to a great length to make sure these work. So, if I your blitz doesn’t work, I wont add it.
!NOTE!

[daone]

5.) Zone vs. Man
These are the two types of defense in football and I will break them down into separate sections.
Man Defense…Cover 0
This is very rare this when there all the defenders are assigned a man and none are in a zone. This defense has serious problems for three reasons:
The deeplob, with one-on-one coverage the O will always win
The quick pass, if one of these are completed you have no one deep.
Any route with a break hitches, outs, angle fades, etc. all these routes kill man coverage.
However this D can be run somewhat effectively. The idea is with everyone in man coverage as soon as the WR catches the ball he will be tackled and there will be etc defenders which can be sent at the QB. However I really don’t recommended this D.
To play this you must have elite DBs and an Elite Pass Rush

Cover 1
This is the second most basic defense, this where there is one man playing a deep zone. This is really the base of all D because every D builds off the cover 1 whether it has more men in zone or has that one man in the deep zone on a blitz. To play this D you must have a strong D in 2/3 of the three “levels” (DL, LBs, DBs). The extra man given to you in a cover 1 D allows you to create mismatches. You can either apply these to a blitz and overload a gap or to coverage and double team a WR. Either way you have a mismatch. This extra man can be used to fix the D’s weakness.
This D is most often seen in strong blitzing situations.
However, this D is weak vs. nearly every route, but the D will be there to tackle the WR right away.
This means the D is a reacting D, this is a D that reacts to the O instead of like a zone D where the D drops to their designated spot and takes the ball to them. This plays to the advantage of strong defensive teams like the Broncos and Ravens. Yet weak Ds are at a huge weakness.
This D also excels against the run because each man has an assignment and it is then naturally a 1 gap system. This means no gaps will be open. So, each blocker will be taken meaning 95% of the run stops will come from the FS, this should make you with good stick very happy.
The main key to this D is stick skill. You must user control the FS and you must be able to stop the deep ball. It is up to you to make or brake this D.

Cover 2
This is where there are 2 men in deep zones. For this D to work you must have pressure. You need to have physical corners or smart corners who can force the WR to run their routes to the inside or jump them if they go to the outside; this makes the Safeties job either. You also need a good pass rush, and a safety who can cover (you control the other one so he damn well better be able to cover with your help).
The basic goal of this D is to force quick passes to the center of the field or the flats, this is where the strength of your D is. To be able to do this you need to do two things. You must be able to provide a pass rush this will force the QB to throw before long routes fully develop. You also must be able to bump the WRs inside or shade them outside. This means that the fact that each Safety is responsible for entire ½ of the deep field is not such a problem.
The best time to use the Cover 2 is in goal line situations. In these situations all passes are short passes, meaning you have the O right where you need them. I like to man the Safeties up in these situations.
The best formations for a cover 2 are the Nickel 3-5-3, Nickel 1-5-5, and the 3-4. This is because these formations all have three types of the cover 2, the normal kind, where the cbs are in the flats, the “sink” version, where the cbs are yellow zones, and the “2 Deep MLB Spy” version where the cbs are in purple zones. In these formations is often best to blitz the OLB (see my Any play blitzes for the above formations).
The cover 2 is also often a 2 gap system since it is most commonly run of a 3 down lineman formation. This sadly means it struggles vs. the run.

Cover 3
This is a zone with three deep defenders often the FS and the two CBs. This means this formation is strong vs. the deep pass. However it often lacks in the flats and vs. short passes.
This D can be run by teams with very little talent on D. This is because the whole field is blanketed in zones so the D doesn’t have to work hard to make a play. This works equally well out of any formation. The best forms of this D are where the OLBs are in purple zones and the MLBs are in yellow zones.
Here the goal is to sit back and wait for the pass, a nice pass rush isn’t necessary due to the heavy coverage.
This is the preferred zone defense of most people due to its heavy coverage. It is decent against the run, and is a 1 gap scheme.

Cover 4
I don’t like this D, it has four deep zone defenders. This means it is weak vs. the short and quick passes. This is a huge drawback. Crap D in my opinion.

2 Man Under or 3 Man Under
These are the best defenses. These are when there are 2 men or 3 men in deep coverage and the rest are in man coverage.
In these types of coverage the bump can be used without fear of getting deep, the run is as well covered as the deep ball (the combination of the Safeties in deep zone and the LBS in man). However it struggles vs. the underneath pass. That’s what the bump is for.
These are best out of the 4-3 and 3-5-3. The bump in the 3-5-3 is really good for some reason. The 3-5-3 will often leave you an extra OLB to blitz with, while in the 4-3 2 man under you can blitz the LB responsible for the FB.
This D does require athletic OLBs if the O has good TEs or Backs. The Corners only need to be fast for man coverage in the 2 man under and only need to have high awareness for the 3 man under variation.
If you spread the Safeties and shade the CBs outside the 2 man under variation of this D is significantly better.

The Zone Blitz
The idea here is that you blitz heavily while taking linemen into coverage to compensate. This works best out of 3-4. Here you need athletic LBs. I only use this in the 3-4.
Here the NT and or one or both of the DEs, an ILB, and an OLB, and most of the time a safety will blitz from one side. This goes back to the basics of defense if I have more rushers than you have blockers I win. So, five rushers versus 3 lineman, who do you think wins?
Unfortunately, you can't always get the sack before the pass. So, if you send more men than blockers they have more receivers than you have defenders, they win.
So, to still get the blitz and not get torn apart you utilize a zone defense. This means the two LBs not blitzing will move over and drop into a cover 2 (and maybe a cover 3, but that is risky) type defense, they will each take yellow zones then the remaining DE will drop into a hook zone(in real football they man up on a dump off receiver like the TE or RB), and a Safety will stay back in a deep zone. I like manning the CBs up and bumping them.

special one D
This when 11 men are dropped into coverage against the pass. The idea is there is literally no where to pass due to absolute blanket coverage. This can be run with any D. It is done best when the DEs are particularly athletic or replaced with OLBs. This works best in Red Zone formations where people only pass.

[clipzfan]

How do you bump and run? On the ps2...

[daone]

triangle down

[clipzfan]

And what does bumping do exactly?

Also what is crashing and how do you do it?

And what is a flip? Thanks, sorry for the noob questions.

[smallman01313]

can u tell me how to do delay bump and ant other presnap bumps

[zaza945]

And what does bumping do exactly?

Also what is crashing and how do you do it?

And what is a flip? Thanks, sorry for the noob questions.

Bumping makes your DBs play right in front of the WRs and push them at the snap. This throws off the timing of the offense and allows your blitzers time to get in.

Crashing the Dline is when your Dlinemen all shift either left, right, to the middle, or outside.... This is done by pressing either white or black (cant remember, ones LBs and ones Dline) and pressing the right analog stick where you want the Dline to go.

Flipping the play is pressing audible (X) then black i think? or white? Well one of those...

And a delayed bump is BNR and flip the play twice.

[FW Grizwald]

It might be just me but whenever I come out with 3 linemen and try to spread the line out it never seems to work. Does anyone else experience this?

[daone]

no I dont...look closer...

[superdog10p]

whats the man shift on ps2 and pc
triangle r3 right sets the safteys to the right side of the field i'm confused i thought it was just triangle right

[clipzfan]

How do you do a delayed bump and run? Also what's the difference between crash and slide and how do you crash?

[Operation Ivy]

To delay bump and run, call the bump and then flip the play.

A slide is when the linemen move right or left, or pinch or fan out. A crash is when you change their assignment, crash left means they all slant left when they blitz, crash in means they attack the inside, etc. To crash, press line audible and then move the right stick in the direction you want.

[clipzfan]

To delay bump and run, call the bump and then flip the play.

A slide is when the linemen move right or left, or pinch or fan out. A crash is when you change their assignment, crash left means they all slant left when they blitz, crash in means they attack the inside, etc. To crash, press line audible and then move the right stick in the direction you want.

How do you flip the play?

[daone]

what system are you on

[superdog10p]

man shift?

[daone]

for ps2

square r2 flips
traingle right is man-shift

[riolee]

i thought Cb shading in or out was triangle and then the left or right sholder buttons instead of R3 stick?

[sportfan88]

is there a good way to stop the run out of the 3-4? because thats where i get torn up.

[Tribalone]

I have the virtual playbook but for some reason I can't seem to find the right play or execute the right play to stop the wr screen from the KC playbook he uses the te trips but audibles to wr screen using santana moss. Please give me some d-fences t try or the one that will stop it. with the break down and all the scroodles!!!

[ttime172]

how do u double bump? When i do triangle down (single bump) my DB just usually gets beat. am i doin somethin wrong

[blueblood]

If your talking about a delayed bump then you bump the WR (triangle down) and flip the play once or twice (which ever you choose). That will make your DBs play at normal depth and still bump the WRs.

[StlnKC]

here is guide in a Ms word document:

3845

[GSLjhn316]

here is guide in a Ms word document:

3845
Great job daone...nice touch KC

[billy jack]

how are players dropping their entire defense back into coverage??????

[shramj]

Awesome post, thanks for all the information, look forward to giving some of your plays/ideas a run. I am a noob and really can use some help on Defense and I really sux at stopping the run. Thanks!

[HowUWannit]

"This is necessary for all of these methods. To stop the deep ball YOU MUST CLICK ON THE DEFENDER. If you don’t you will get beat. Unless you have a lot of experience, then go for the swat."

I am a little confused about what this means. So if you click on arent you suppose to go for the swat? or are you just suppose to click on the DB or S and follow the WR while the ball is in the air? Thanks.

[35BigHurt35]

you need to swat it too....1 tip, when swatting, if you HOLD the L1 button down, your guy will swat at the perfect time.....

[blueblood]

you need to swat it too....1 tip, when swatting, if you HOLD the L1 button down, your guy will swat at the perfect time.....

Wow! I didn't know that. I'm going to have to give that a try. I already got good at timing it perfect though but that's still nice to know. Good tip man.

[r0nstoppable]

how do u stop quick slants in? and TE corner routes?

[Titans 4 LIFE]

how do u stop quick slants in? and TE corner routes?
shading and bump for the slants
manual and double coverage for the corners

[shehzaan14]

dude nice D tips so i will try it and play wit it cuz my off. is damm gud my D is juz a normal one this will help me a lot thx. and by the way will all these playz work for XBOX as well and will they work for XBOX 360 thx bro:D

[spartan]

rookie question-what does shade mean?like when you say 'shade a wr outside'

[spartan]

2.) Double Bump:
Man-shift (Triangle R3 Right)
Bump
Flip the play,
Press again

press what again?

[Titans 4 LIFE]

press what again?
shade it done by pressing triangle, reciever button, the r1 to shade right, l1 to shade left]

by press he means bump

[spartan]

whats the difference between bump,agressive bump,and double bump?how do you manually bump?

[spartan]

whats the difference between bump,agressive bump,and double bump?how do you manually bump,as in bump with the man you are controllin?

[gojerry98]

what i see all the time is base offense. i form strong and weak i. my opponents are very vanilla, but there stick is way better than mine. lots of times i can read exactly what they are going to do and they still get the first down. i score on a beautiful 14 play drive 7 pass and 7 runs. they slam blast slam blast fly post or corner TD. i held dude to 150 yds of offense he beat me on a Devin Hester kr. How do I get better stick skills? ie running on offense stopping the run on defense

[89-06-MVP]

what i see all the time is base offense. i form strong and weak i. my opponents are very vanilla, but there stick is way better than mine. lots of times i can read exactly what they are going to do and they still get the first down. i score on a beautiful 14 play drive 7 pass and 7 runs. they slam blast slam blast fly post or corner TD. i held dude to 150 yds of offense he beat me on a Devin Hester kr. How do I get better stick skills? ie running on offense stopping the run on defense


You get better by using training camp mode & Practice mode.Always Practice before you use any play so you can know it weak & strong points.Sometime i spend 4 or 5 hours just in practice mode.The Key to D is knowing what the other player is doing to you & how to take that alway.Most player don't have a backup plan only topballers do.

[all_the_tea]

I feel pretty stupid for writing this, as I don't really consider myself a n00b, but can someone explain to me what "freezing a defense" means?

[sportfan88]

I feel pretty stupid for writing this, as I don't really consider myself a n00b, but can someone explain to me what "freezing a defense" means?

Its when you make none of your players line up on the WRs. They stay where they are at. It is done by Triangle then R2

[all_the_tea]

Its when you make none of your players line up on the WRs. They stay where they are at. It is done by Triangle then R2

Oh, well I knew how to do that. I guess I need to stay up-to-date on the terminology. Thank you.

[parollout]

Its when you make none of your players line up on the WRs. They stay where they are at. It is done by Triangle then R2

What is the advantage of not having my defender in front of the WR? I'm thinking that is a disadvantage for my D, if I freeze it in that situation.

[sportfan88]

What is the advantage of not having my defender in front of the WR? I'm thinking that is a disadvantage for my D, if I freeze it in that situation.

Good players will motion guys around and such to find out if you are in man or zone. Then they will audible to a play that beats it easily. You cant tell if the guy freezes the D.

[pitbull]

What is the advantage of not having my defender in front of the WR? I'm thinking that is a disadvantage for my D, if I freeze it in that situation.

not really, I use it in my base 335, but dudes use to motion guys out and quick pass on them, but I think I found a way to stop that. LOL, well I usually get quick snaped like every play so I don't got enough time to do it, or Dukes set up either. I think I found another way but ehh.

[shehzaan14]

i need major help!!! i'm playin in this league and i got killed the first 2 games on O n D. the 3nd game i lost by 10 but still my D sucked!

i was wonderin if anyone could help me out a lil bit. i will use any playbook i hav to as long as i can get a gud amount of playz out of them. I mostly use Balanced D, but again i am rdy to use anyplay book.

and i'm not trin to b cheap here but if i could get a few nano playz here and there tht would b sweet as well.

thx in advance i hope u guyz will help me.

o n this mind sound a lil stupid but i rly wanna grow in my madden skillz so if anyone wantz to like lap wit me on the phone or sumthin tht would b kwl too.

once again thx u guyz

[Cardsfan350]

Can anyone help me out with some goalline plays that are good vs the run and pass inside the 5yrd line.

[sportfan88]

not really, I use it in my base 335, but dudes use to motion guys out and quick pass on them, but I think I found a way to stop that. LOL, well I usually get quick snaped like every play so I don't got enough time to do it, or Dukes set up either. I think I found another way but ehh.

Well, if they have the time to motion someone over on my frozen D, I can put someone in front on him. It doesnt really matter when your playing zone, freezing the D doesnt help as much when playing man D though, because it creates mismatches such as LB on WR or such.

[BroncosAllDaWay]

Yeah but they can snap the ball when their guy is in motion and then you have to guard him yourself haha i dont know just something i thought of maybe im crazy, i dont freeze my D much.

[sportfan88]

Yeah but they can snap the ball when their guy is in motion and then you have to guard him yourself haha i dont know just something i thought of maybe im crazy, i dont freeze my D much.

Well, I always do lol. But then again, you play more man D then i do. Also, if they hike it while the WR is behind the LOS, he will stay in to block, so he wont be too far away from you.

[BroncosAllDaWay]

Yeah i play a lil more man than u do. i like to freeze my D when they come out with 2 WRs though i almost always do. But yeah usually if they motion ill just give in to them and unfreeze my D LOL.

[Twix]

Its when you make none of your players line up on the WRs. They stay where they are at. It is done by Triangle then R2

I am new to this site and quite new to Madden. Can someone please give me the commands to freeze the D on the PC, as I have not found them anywhere in the manual. Thx in advance.

[joe6778]

The guide has really good info, but I have a couple of dumb questions:

1) How can you make all the adjustments called for prior to the snap? I only get a few seconds before the ball is snapped with which to make adjustments. There's not enough time to adjust D line, DBacks, AND individual LBs.

2) How can you switch from zone to man coverage (or vise-versa) prior to the snap? You don't know what formation the O is coming out in (other than number of WRs, TEs, and RBs.) You suggest certain adjustments based on the play that the O is running, but I can't make good reads except maybe the O formation. I have no idea what play they're going to run even if I see what formation they come out in.

In other words, the guide suggests specific adjustments based on specific plays. If the O comes out in an I Formation, how can I know if the O is going to run or pass out of it?

[KILL2BFREE]

Good stuff men. Keep up the good work.

[KILL2BFREE]

Stop the quick pass with the delayed bump & run.
First pick a man defense play, make any line adjustments if you need to, then press TRIANGLE RIGHT +TRIANGLE DOWN. Then flip the play twice (SQUARE R2,SQUARE R2.

Practice so you do it quickly as with any play before the snap.

Hope this helps.

[mrmerk31]

To delay bump and run, call the bump and then flip the play.

A slide is when the linemen move right or left, or pinch or fan out. A crash is when you change their assignment, crash left means they all slant left when they blitz, crash in means they attack the inside, etc. To crash, press line audible and then move the right stick in the direction you want.
DOES THIS WORK ON THE PS2? FLIP TWICE?

[mrmerk31]

Oh, well I knew how to do that. I guess I need to stay up-to-date on the terminology. Thank you.
YEAH JUST HIT YOUR COVERAGE BUTTON (TRIANLGE 4 PS2). AND ON THE MENU SCREEN IT SHOULD SAY (DIGUISE R2)...

[dubhe10]

alright guys quick question how do you send your safeties back. When your two safeties go back while the other cbs and lb's stay at their original position.
(I know that if you press triangle, up all defender drop back.)

[ATL13]

Thats old try the wide reciver hot route or the run playmaker or qb vision!:D

[blackthoughtz]

Do these tips still work??

[chrisssteeven]

Ohe

shade it done by pressing triangle, receiver button, the r1 to shade right, l1 to shade left]
By press he means bump.

What to do now man. i wanna get solution.

Hope to have well.