Madden NFL 09 Strategy Guide

The goal of defense is to make the offense do as much work as possible. No, it’s not to prevent them from scoring because even the worst of teams can put points on the board. So what does “do as much work as possible” mean? It means pressure. The worst thing you can do is let the opposing QB sit back there  in the pocket and pick you apart. If you let him do that then what is the  difference between letting them march down the field to letting them break a big TD pass? The difference is that if they score on a long pass it is because you applied pressure and the defender covering the receiver made a bad  tackle. The tricky part is that on the same kind of play the QB could throw a  pick out of panic and your defender could run it back to the house.

Marking Your Zone —————–

Zone Coverage – My mind has change of zone coverage from NCAA to this game. My pressure-only defense does work, but it seems like Madden QB’s love to  throw off their back foot, even though you really can’t. So once you’ve  accepted that nugget of reality, it may be time to rethink defense.

I’ll cut the story and just tell you it came down to me playing safety, either FS or SS, on the side of the strongest WR. For zones, I call cover 3, never cover 2, and assume the role of playing up toward the line, kinda like a  46 where my safety is up near the LB’s. But my job is to cover the strong receiver’s curl routes. Of course for faster WR’s you may need to be ready for  go’s, but they don’t do that too often.

Anyway, zones means everyone else are covering their circles on the field, so it’s strong against passing downs, but weak against medium passes, called the “holes in the zone.” These are usually 10 yards up the field. They are  created by the corners drifting up and the LB’s staying low. I’ll tell you this much, I rarely use a pure zone play because of this. The CPU just has  these holes ready for an old “off the back of foot pass.”

Most of my zones are just cover 1’s, where the safeties are in backfield  zones, purely as protection against streaking receivers. But again, for my covering of the WR, I make sure my safety is assigned to this far zone so  that my drifting up doesn’t really affect much. It’s only bad if someone  goes through your zone and you’re not there, but you should be covering the  best receiver, so it works.

If you do want to call a pure zone defense, I suggest a zone blitz. It  causes pass rush and it defends the pass, but again, most rushers are picked up and the QB makes the right pass.

You can call a pure, cover 3 a lot of the time. It means you don’t want to make any brash plays, but you’re prepared respond to a good pass. It could even double as a way to spread out your defenders to defend runs. Of course with pure zones I like to either call “show blitz” or to call press coverage  as an audible. The idea is at least the defenders who should be flowing back  will be closer to the line and maybe have a better chance of picking off those medium passes.

A very safe defense is the 46 or any kind of formation with a cover 4. Even  better if you tell the coverage to press or show blitz. Really take it to the next step by telling an LB or two to blitz.

Defenses I hate are anything involving cover 2. You leave too many soft spots unless you have the fastest secondary on earth. I also hate prevent defenses as cover three is usually good enough. I can safely say I haven’t seen a deep  completion against a 3-3-5 cover 3 zone. Even if you want to defend a deep pass it is better to vacate the middle of the field to blitz, which forces a  completion there and so long as someone tackles the catching receiver it will waste clock.

Man Up ——

Man Coverage – This is my primary coverage. Basic man means aside from blitzing defenders and the d-line, all other defenders will follow the receivers. If  there is a speed difference between the players, it will show in no time. Of course if you give the QB time this will prove to be the worst defense possible as it will result in big gains a lot.

With that in mind you should agree that rushing only four is not the best way to play this coverage. Rushing the four linemen and then one linebacker  isn’t good either since all plays have five blockers, and in this game the o-line blocks un-godly well.

What used to be a good scheme was blitz in the 3-3-5 LB Ram Dogs, and it  worked in NCAA 09 and past games. It still works to a degree in this game, but not as a primary defense. The idea was to force a quick, bad pass and  hope someone can pick it off.

It could work, but thanks to QB’s passing off their back foot, it has a high chance of failing. So I can’t really call many blitzes at all in this coverage. Now my preferred play is the 4-3 Cover 1, not forgetting to flip the play so my safety is on the #1 WR side, of course. This play is for 2 or 3 WR sets. It is mainly man coverage with your CB’s and LB’s, but the safeties are both in zones. Depending on how you flip it or not, one safety is in a middle-mid zone (yellow) and the other one is in a high-deep zone (blue). It’s this deep safety that can afford to double-team the best WR as it should be rare any other WR makes it to where the deep safety should be.

So what do you do as a safety as opposed to an LB? You play up to around where the LB’s wait, not next to them, but capable of going after a run while  keeping to the #1 WR. As soon as the play starts you will drift back, keeping your eyes on the QB, but drifting back no matter what. If there is a run and you see the runner going, go after him, but not when the ball is handed off in case of a PA. So the play is going on and now you are reading the #1 WR  near you. If he goes up field and then stops, quickly run a bit ahead of him so you can stop and pick off the pass, or at least bat it down. If the WR happens to keep going or cross, you need to run either with him or some other receiver. Don’t forget, you are supposed to be deep up the middle, but if  the #1 WR is fast, like Randy Moss, consider just sprinting straight up the  field.

Every now and then you may want to throw in a man blitz, the LB Ram Dog, or a  4-3 Free Fire, or a 46 blitz, but all of these usually result in your safety covering a TE. This is a nightmare because any out or even a corner post  route usually means you’re beat. It’s best to play up on the TE and then  react to where he goes, but not a press. You just need to be aware that most TE’s run curls. I don’t know, against the CPU calling a blitz just means  you’re letting them complete a pass, so it’s not wise at all. Good man blitzes are when you are covering a runner, and don’t let motion throw off who you cover.

*NOTE: When your defender is in man, you can usually read the offense to  determine who covers who without seeing the playart. Of course against the CPU you can see the playart, but on quick snaps it’s always best to develop a  sense of who usually covers who in man. You should notice it’s a matter of  where the receivers line up, knowing only three can be on one side.*

*NOTE: Keep in mind, playing as a safety means you want to get an INT, that is  your goal.*
Run Block ———

Of course there are no defense that only stop the run. Even if you do only want to defend the run, you call too much 46 and you’ll get passed on like crazy. I only add this tiny section to let you know stopping the run just  happens. You could call 3-3-5 all day if you want and runs won’t kill you. Sure, more d-linemen increases run-stop potential, but then you are weak  against passes. It’s better to think pass-first in this game when playing D.

One cool thing about playing as a hard-hitting safety is that you can track  down runners who have gained lots of hards and come in for a crushing hit to force a fumble. It’s happened for me more than once and turned bad defenses into perfect defenses.