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Oneback
08-15-2010, 11:50 AM
Over on Utopia Rhombic started a thread about the problems with zone defense to the boundary side especially against the curl route, while there are a few defenses that will help combat these problems (Roated Cover 3) there are still fundamental problems with zone defense:

Defenses are designed to cover from the inside – out, it’s a much easier throw inside than it is to throw out breaking routes. There are two disadvantages to throwing outside: it’s a longer throw and you essentially have a defender to the outside (the sideline). That being said underneath coverage in a zone defense is built around covering inside out. A cover 2 defense covers the middle, hook and curl/flat zones, a Cover 3 defense covers the hook and curl/flat zones:

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/4613/coveragezones.png

No matter where the ball is positioned on the field depending on the coverage called there will be a defender that drops to each hash, one that covers the curl/flat and in Cover 2 there will be a defender that drops into the middle. Up to this point everything works as it should in the game.

What does not work however is the reading of the quarterback, as defenders drop they watch the quarterback’s shoulders. If the shoulders turn outside (out, fade, vertical, curl or slant) the defender will pick up the offensive threat to that side and start to break in their direction.

This is how it should work: let’s say the defense is in 4-3 Normal Cover 2 and the offense is in I-Normal. The cornerback will lineup on the wide receiver based upon the alignment of the wide receiver: 10 yards from the sideline (or one yard on top of the numbers) is used as the divider, if the wide receiver is lined up inside of this divider the corner will position themself one yard outside of the wide receiver and vice versa if the wide receiver is lined up outside of the divider. In this case the wide receiver lines up outside of the divider so the corner positions himself one yard inside of the receiver.

At the snap of the ball the corner jams the receiver then drops back to a depth of 7 yards and reads the quarterback. As the inside defenders drop to their zones (outside linebacker’s to the hash, middle linebacker drops in the middle to a depth of 10 yards) they will watch the quarterback for their pass keys. Let’s say in this case as the quarterback drops back and his shoulders turn to the outside, the inside defenders will look to the outside and read the receiver coming towards the middle of the field and start a path to intercept. The corner will read the receiver leaving his zone and squeeze inside until he picks up another threat coming from the inside into the flat and will then cover him.

This is defended just as a running play would be, the front side defender will break hard towards the receiver either to intercept, knock the ball away or lay a hit on the receiver as soon as the ball is caught. The middle linebacker will play over the top incase the front side defender misses the tackle and the backside outside linebacker will slow play in case the quarterback comes his way knowing that the receiver will be further inside once the ball is thrown.

Obviously by now you have realized this is a Cover 2 zone against a mirrored slant/shoot concept.

The problem in the game is that defenders do not play with leverage, they do not read the quarterback and they do not close the window on a receiver leaving their zone. This is why the slant/shoot concept is so deadly in this game against zone coverage, not one defender is playing the route so unless the person playing on offense throws the ball late there is nothing the defense can do.

Defenses in the game have the same exact problem playing the curl/flat. First the curl/flat defender will always play the flat first leaving the curl wide open. I think this may have changed in the latest patch as I believe the curl/flat defender used to play deeper and was able to play the curl route if thrown, but there was a lot of complaining that the flat route wasn’t covered.

The same principals apply here though as well. When running Curls an offense will send a receiver into the curl, flat and middle zones. As the quarterback drops back he will read the strength of the defense (choose a side to throw to) then turn his shoulders, the curl/flat defender will stay underneath the curl route so he can either break on the ball thrown to the curl or come up and make a tackle on the flat receiver. Again though as the inside defenders see the quarterbacks shoulders turn to the outside they will look outside and asses the threats, the front side hook defender will leave the hash and run towards the curl receiver, the middle defender in a Cover 2 will move out to the hash and the backside hook defender will then cover the threat in the middle of the field.

None of this happens in the game and I am unsure as to how this could be implemented now that EA has removed the quarterback view that everyone hated so much, however until EA comes up with a way for the defense to read the quarterback I don’t know how underneath zone defense will ever get better.

Corners playing with leverage and pattern matching would be great additions to the defensive side of the ball but until zone defenders have something to read the only hope for zone defense is the quarterback making a late/errant throw.

JeffHCross
08-15-2010, 12:47 PM
Very good post, Oneback.

Oneback
08-15-2010, 01:23 PM
You can view the page at http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/forums/content.php?265-NCAA-Football-11-Zone-Coverage-Problems

jaymo76
08-15-2010, 02:10 PM
Great write-up... very detailed and analytical. Brings me back to my football playing days.

AustinWolv
08-16-2010, 08:12 AM
Nicely done.

Perhaps there would be an option for the defense user to 'read' strong or weak side of the formation pre-snap (the CPU would also 'flip the coin' to pick a side at the snap in a CPU-human game), or perhaps force the use of the right stick to the left or right (not an aiming cone, just a direction however small of a movement to enable the QB to throw to that side).

CLW
08-16-2010, 09:06 AM
Nice work! I have completely given up on using any Zone coverage this year unless my opponent is driving inside my 20 and its an obvious passing situation.