CJ's Defensive Strategy Guide

Blitzing: When blitzing, or attempting to blitz, make sure you know you're opponents tendencies to know what he likes to do before you start to get in your rhythm and bring nonstop heat. If he likes to set it up and throw to the flats when you blitz, start to put people in flats and spotlight who he throws to the most or try to confuse him by running a play with Dlinemen dropping in coverage. You could start out using LB Storm and make the transition to using Wide Blitz because of the weird angles players blitz
and the confusion it'd cause your opponent.










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Zone Coverage: When playing defense, you want to mix in coverages to throw your opponent off. Zone coverage is the most used coverage. Most used would be cover 3 where you have 3 people playing in deep zones. People play this because of the deep post that plagued 09, but this year it isn’t as necessary on 1^st and 2^nd down unless it’s more than 20 yards to go. Cover 2 works perfectly fine this year, and being able to put different people in different zones creates a lot of confusion.



In this cover 2 play, you have 2 LB’s in buzz zones, 2 LB’s in hook zones, the 2 safeties in deep zones, and the CB’s in flat zones. You can change it up so that the confusion throws your opponent off and he makes a bad decision. You could put one
of the LB’s into a flat zone and one of the DB’s into a buzz zone. If he tries to throw a corner route, the CB in the buzz zone will guard him and his 1^st look will be gone. If he tries to go toward the flats, the LB will take that away.


Cover 3: In Cover 3, you have 3 people guarding deep so you won’t be able to guard the flats, the corners and the middle while still rushing 3 or 4. You’re going to have to use some confusion with these plays too. I like to blitz one or two LB’s and put DE’s
into zones. Seeing the LB’s blitz would get anyone excited to have that middle of the field or the flats open. But putting DE’s into zones and blitzing the LB’s will draw him into a mistake and can give you an easy interception.


Cover 4: This should only be used at the end of halves or during a 3^rd/4^th and
long situation. These plays have 4 people playing deep zones taking away any verticals play. It should never be an every down play unless you have a great setup for it.






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F@G D: This is just putting more than 9 people in coverage so that your opponent can’t find anyone open. It isn’t good against the run, but when you know it’s a pass, this is great coverage. A lot of people use nickel 1-5-5 for F@G D because of all the LB’s that allows better coverage than a DE and DT sitting in coverage.






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Advanced Blitzing Techniques: Here are a few blitzing techniques I use when
in game.


Controlling the DE: When I control a DE, I hold the right
analog stick before the ball is hiked so that I can get a jump on the snap.


Controlling an LB: I’ll put the LB in zone coverage and manually blitz.
This will let the lockers engage and the LB will be able to come free
and hurry the QB.


The Dive: When you get in the backfield and you see the QB about to throw, dive at him. This won’t let the QB throw up the ball if hit, it’ll just be a sack. This irritates people a lot though.


Contains: Using contains is another way to blitz. The contain will loop around and no one will block him until he decides to run towards the LOS, but if you blitz an LB and put him on the same side as the contain, he’ll take up the block allowing the DE to come free.






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Creating a nano blitz: This year nano blitzes are easy to do and find. All you have to do is re-blitz guys and put players in gaps. One of the easiest is using a 3 linemen set, reblitzing them, and blitzing the MLB and putting him in one of the gaps. This is easy to stop, but players have found ways to make it near unstoppable. Nanos can be using the B-gap, A-gap or C-gap, but the A-gap is the easiest to find.






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good stuff

dam man nice s***.

nice little guide. I use and knew most of this stuff, but its nice to have a reminder

some good info, i like the idea of having a cover 2 w/ the OLBs and CBs assignments flipped

good s*** here man...i was just wondering of ways i could get pressure with my D ends i will have to try the contain that u posted and blitz a LB

CJ is dead on with his changeup scheme with Cov 2! You can come out with this defense as a base, then just hot route players into whatever blitz scheme you want without giving up coverage. The idea of changing the LB'S and Corners responsibilties is brilliant! I try to do this myself, but usually find a way to screw it up lol! Great job CJ!

Ya this is an amazing thread cj, thanks for walking us through it

this stuff is nice great job!

Great tips.How bout goaline?

stop worrying about goaline. Get some skill boi

u kno mine yur business boi

Skane3 wrote:

Great tips.How bout goaline?

Audible down from a base 4-3, 3-4, or 46 to have better people in the goalline where you can drop them in coverage and not worry about passes getting behind them.

nice little reminders..im sure everyone appreciates the tips

Thanks CJ, very nice read man!

Skane3 wrote:

Great tips.How bout goaline?

Also, only use the actual formation inside the 8 yard line without an audibiling into it. Its a great formation to throw your opponent off and drop 8 back from it.

Dude i can not tell you how much i love diving at the QB. When it's done to me i absolutely hate it, but when i am able to do it it's a great feeling.