Sgibs7 3-4 Hybrid Drop Zone Defense - sgibs7's Blog

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Sgibs7 3-4 Hybrid Drop Zone Defense

Posted on June 21, 2009 at 02:14 PM.

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3-4 Drop Zone (any 3-4 variation will work)

1. Shift the defensive line right. (LB right on the d-pad)
2. Fake Blitz (Y Left on the D-pad)
3. Place the DE on the right side of the screen on a blitz straight down
4. Place the MLB on the left side of the field in a QB SPY (highlight the MLB+ A joy stick on the d-pad)
5. Place the SS in a contain (highlight the SS + A down on the d-pad)
6. Shift the secondary to shade the middle of the field (A +joystick down)

***Shading your safeties left, right, in, our out depends on what looks there giving you. Adjust accordingly.***

BREAKDOWN:

Sgibs here to once again not only show you a dynamic defense but to also teach you the concept behind it all. When I discovered this defense I was searching for a way to shutdown the Trips Te formation from the Run N' Gun playbook. I noticed that this formation is one that has given me fits all year. After countless hours of preparation and labbing, I proposed this play to Zfarls in an actual lab game. Soon thereafter we realized we had struck gold.

A few thoughts behind what this defense is. It is a hybrid cover 3. We are removing the SS from his deep safety assignment and moving him in the box on a contain. The result of this is that if the QB roles to the right the SS will blitz off the edge untouched every time. Even if it's a slight movement to the right it will still cause the SS to blitz off the edge. By blitzing the DE, on the right of the screen, we will guarantee the SS off the edge to come in untouched. The line shift to the right creates a misconception of pressure. We are making it look like intense pressure is coming from the right. (intense pressure will occur if they role right at all. This will give the idea that we are bringing tons of guys to result in this pressure. Remember we are trying to actually "trick" our opponent here. In reality this play will only bring 4 rushers at the QB resulting in intense pressure)We always want to force the QB to his weak side. Having it appear as pressure is coming from one angle is a big advantage for us. We have a good idea as to what they are going to do after the snap.

The default line rush is for a crash out. By shifting the DT and the DE on the left of the screen we have created a deeper angle at which they rush the QB. Watch as they rush, it is a very un**ue angle. It starts out extremely wide and then has a hard cut towards the QB. This causes lots of confusion on the o-line. The center will usually stand straight up and not pick anyone up. The LG will usually move to pick up the DT, leaving a one on one with our best pass rushing DE; lots of times the DE will literally loop around the LT untouched. If your opponent scrambles hard left the angled pass rush will work even better. At this point we will now be in the head of our opponent. They will literally feel as if pressure is coming from all points on the field. The idea behind this is to bring passive aggressive pressure. If our opponent likes to dictate the pace of the game by rolling right or left we will prevent him from doing that with this defense. Step 1 to playing lock down defense is now complete. We now dictate how our opponent is going to play. Lets now break down the coverage we have on the field.

As I said earlier we have a hybrid cover 3. The reason being is we have three deep safeties in coverage and instead of our LB's playing in flat zones they are playing in purple zones. Purple zones do a great job at covering RC's and they also play the flats extremely well. The offense will pick up only a few yards if passing to the flats. It will appear there open but in actuality they are not. So now that we know that we have good coverage down field let's take a look at the middle of the field. We have one yellow zone and one QB spy. Now you might be asking, Sgibs why the spy? Well it's simple really. The yellow zone is going to drop to about an 8-10 yard bench mark. It will do a great job at covering curls and smart routed routes. However a big weakness in yellow zones is that underneath they leave drag routes and flat routes wide open. If you read my previous article about the importance of the three route combo, post, curl, and the drag route, you will fully understand how devastating they can be. In order to slow down that underneath drag route we place our LB in a QB spy. This will cause the LB to play underneath the yellow zone. It will also help to give the illusion that there is always pressure on the QB. Wherever the QB goes the spy will follow. The spy is also beneficial for guys that like to quick pass. Because the LB is on a spy he watches the QB's movements. Lots of times the LB in the spy assignment jumps the quick routes and will either knock the pass down or intercept the past. As with everything there is a minor weakness to this defense. That would be the deep seem. This is the weakness with any cover 3. This can be combated by mixing up what we do with our SS. Some plays we can place him on the contain and others leave him as is. This will result in a cover 4 and will really create havoc for your opponent.

I really want to stress the importance of learning the INS and OUTS of madden. I'm presenting this concept to you out of the 3-4 drop zone, however it can implemented into any formation and any play. That's the key. This concept in whole is a good base to start from. Take this base and conver it into your defensive scheme.When Zfarls stated in his earlier article, why am I not getting pressure, he stated that we all as players need to get more creative and to stop using what everyone else uses. Well this is your first play to assist you in that right direction. Use your resources in the game. Use all the playmakers you have on defense and see if you can find a defense that is totally unique.

This defense as with all others though if used enough will get repetitive and will be able to torn apart by a true madden player