Reading Coverages

[moss18_84]

Hi All!

This is my first year back at Madden in a few years and wow the game has changed (for the better).

In the past it was pretty easy to read defenses. Man vs zone would line up on the WRs differently. Cover 3 a safety would roll down, etc.

It looks like that is no longer the case. Is there a way now to read defenses pre snap or is it truly all disguised now?

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Sometimes motion will help, but pre-snap reads have limited utility now, due to the potential for coverages to be disguised.


There are some solid fundamental rules, however, that can help you get a good guess quickly after the snap. Notably what the safeties do immediately upon the snap (You can instantly have a reasonable guess on if it's cover 3/cover1 or cover2/cover 4 by whether or not one safety remains in the middle or moves to the middle. Even cover six can be diagnosed quickly if you look at both safeties in the middle).


Motioning across the formation is a pretty solid indicator if it's man or zone, though (although even that can be disguised by a user if they simply "hot" to the default front where each corner remains on their side of the field, manning up on whomever is closest to their location).

[stinkubus]

Alignment still dictates a ton, especially in games vs. AI. If an AI defense is single high it's C1 or some form of C3 99.x% of the time. I can't remember the last time I saw an AI team call C2 Invert. Barely any formations have it stock to begin with. If users want to play it that is done with hot routes.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Quote: Originally Posted by stinkubus

Alignment still dictates a ton, especially in games vs. AI. If an AI defense is single high it's C1 or some form of C3 99.x% of the time. I can't remember the last time I saw an AI team call C2 Invert. Barely any formations have it stock to begin with. If users want to play it that is done with hot routes.

Cover 6 is still pretty common, and there are a lot of cover 3 plays with cover 2 shells.