Best Zone Defense?

Hello.

Wondering what your go-to Zone Defense is, and interested in how/when you use it? What shells and shades do you use if any? Just trying to learn from some greats on this forum.

dtman2024 said:

Hello.

Wondering what your go-to Zone Defense is, and interested in how/when you use it? What shells and shades do you use if any? Just trying to learn from some greats on this forum.

I run zone defense mixed with some match. I'm certainly not considered a great by any stretch. I haven't found a formation that simply locks down everything. I don't know that there is a formation that's gonna lock down good players. I use the 3-3-5 tite scheme. I've been most successful with dime 2-3 drop in obvious long passing situations and shade down. I used to run quarters but would get burned deep on streak routes. On early downs I try to mix in  3-4 odd with a blend of cover 2/cover 3 depending on what my opponents tendencies are. If they are throwing those cheesy screens I drop the zone flats to 0. Getting burned on corner routes then curl flats to 15-20 and shade outside. I've gotten a plethora of user lurks simply usering the defensive end and dropping back to defend an underneath route.  I'm interested to see what better people suggest.

4-3 cover 2 hard flat, SS with robber, melvin Jordan IV Blitzing, and i user the FS. I'm only an 89, consistently get matched with Mid 90s. This defense wreaks havoc. As i correlate abilities, ive said I use recoup on my Oline, i use recoup on MJ4, and he eats for me personally despite the bad reviews, boosted 96 overall

Had a fairly detailed write up but the page reloaded and I lost everything fml

Too deep of a subject for one size fits all answer.  I run Multiple D and a zone oriented scheme.  Coin bought and/or pulled all DBs and LBs with good zone & pass characteristics.  Run Ballhawk on all DBs.  I played Safety IRL but I'm a terrible user so try to get my "army" of AI players to do the work on my behalf. 

That said, if I had to pick 4 "base plays", it would be Cover 3 Sky shaded underneath, Cover 4 Quarters, Cover 9 Show 2, mixed in with 2 Man.  

My first call is usually Nickel Over Cover 3 Sky, shade underneath.  Why?  Because the SS plays the flat route in Sky which has him in better position to come down to play the run.  I then wait to see how committed my opponent is to the run and adjust from there.

Keep in mind if you're overmatched (eg. 89 vs. 95 squad),  you're only rushing 4 and your opponent's O-line is loaded with 95+ studs, it is very unlikely you will get pressure on the QB and any zone will eventually break down and get torched.  In that case, you will need to start taking on more risk and bringing 5 or 6, including some man/blitz calls and hope it gets home and they make bad decisions.  

I'm sure better players can give you better advice.

Dawgsontop15 said:

I run zone defense mixed with some match. I'm certainly not considered a great by any stretch. I haven't found a formation that simply locks down everything. I don't know that there is a formation that's gonna lock down good players. I use the 3-3-5 tite scheme. I've been most successful with dime 2-3 drop in obvious long passing situations and shade down. I used to run quarters but would get burned deep on streak routes. On early downs I try to mix in  3-4 odd with a blend of cover 2/cover 3 depending on what my opponents tendencies are. If they are throwing those cheesy screens I drop the zone flats to 0. Getting burned on corner routes then curl flats to 15-20 and shade outside. I've gotten a plethora of user lurks simply usering the defensive end and dropping back to defend an underneath route.  I'm interested to see what better people suggest.

This is wonderful feedback. Thanks so much!

Hhtmarks said:

4-3 cover 2 hard flat, SS with robber, melvin Jordan IV Blitzing, and i user the FS. I'm only an 89, consistently get matched with Mid 90s. This defense wreaks havoc. As i correlate abilities, ive said I use recoup on my Oline, i use recoup on MJ4, and he eats for me personally despite the bad reviews, boosted 96 overall

Wow- I never thought of this!!!