Basic Man & Zone Rules Please

[Collegefbfan]

Okay, never played the sport. As far as video games go, I just played and did okay on 04 and 06. I played back in the day on NCAA 90 something on PSone. I had scores for both teams in the hundreds. I knew no defense. Now on later versions, it is tougher. So, any veterans give me the basics of Man and Zone coverage. So, I am the QB, I come to the line, I see Man or Zone coverage. Then, what? Are there any basic rules? Like don't throw it here or there if it is man... or zone? Or make sure you try and get it to this player who is almost always open when the D is in zone. Stuff like that. When I was playing 06 on varsity, there was the shotgun play where the slot receiver ran to the middle about 20-25 yards downfield. Always open. Now on AA, not so much. Also, on NCAA 12, I am still getting used to plays. Just a few basics for a very X's and O's illiterate video gamer.

[dthomas125]

Game related info:

This will all be relative to other variables such as player caliber, down & distance, and other game situation variables. Also just knowing "man" or "zone" isn't really enough to make a perfect read, you must also know what type of "man" or "zone" they are in.

For example, a "man cover 0" coverage would give a great opportunity for a go route on the outside (if you have a good WR), but a "man cover 2" would mean the go route on the outside was thrown into double coverage.

Conversely, a "zone cover 3" would give you a wide open RB in the flat, but a "zone blitz DE cover" would have a DE or OLB in the flat waiting for the dump off.

The other thing to take into account is match-ups, for example if you have a slot WR being covered by an OLB that is (in most cases) a favorable match-up for you, these are very exploitable in "man" coverages via slants/outs/corner routes.

It would be very helpful for you to just leaf through the defense's to see the differences in "man" & "zone" coverages and go into the practice mode and try your plays out against each to see what you like the best.

Here is a very watered down idea:

Zone

Cover 2 defenses: TE go,WR/Slot/TE corner routes, WR square in if its deep enough to be behind the LB's

Cover 3 defense: WR slants & step routes (1 WR does a deep out another WR a shallow out), WR/Slot Post, TE/RB out route(under a WR going deep)

Hope that helps.