How many times have you been beaten by an opponent who snapped the ball and immediately threw to the TE for an easy completion? That won’t be a problem for you anymore.
HONORABLE MENTION: USING TIPS 1–5 TOGETHER
5 MAX COVERAGE DEFENSE
4 USER-CONTROL
3 HOT ROUTE DES INTO MAN-TO-MAN COVERAGE
2 MANUALLY PRESS
1 MAN ALIGN TWICE
5 MAX COVERAGE DEFENSE
MAX COVERAGE DEFENSE WILL GENERATE VERY LITTLE PASS RUSH AND ALLOW EASY YARDS VIA HB DRAWS AND QB SCRAMBLES.
Call any play in the game and hot route both DEs into hook zones. Also, hot route one DT to a QB spy. This defense will force any throw over the middle of the field into tight coverage. This is especially effective against opponents who enjoy throwing quickly to TEs directly over the middle of the field.
4 USER CONTROL
USER-CONTROL IS ALWAYS THE BEST ANSWER FOR STOPPING ANYTHING IN MADDEN NFL 25!
User-control the MLB or a deep safety and get him in position directly where your opponent is throwing. At the snap of the ball, stay in place and wait for the throw. With this tactic we are forcing your opponent to either throw the ball directly at your user defender or to wait and make another read. You won’t always make the play, but the fact that you have a defender in the exact area where the QB wants to throw the ball should be enough to slow down TEs over the middle.
3 HOT ROUTE DES INTO MAN-TO-MAN COVERAGE
THE SETUP FOR THIS WILL TAKE SOME PRACTICE. SPEND THE TIME LEARNING THE BUTTONS.
We love to hot route our DEs into man-to-man coverage against TEs, especially if we are already playing man-to-man coverage, because we will have inside-out coverage. At the snap of the ball your opponent will see the TE blanketed by two defenders. There will be absolutely no place to throw the ball. The biggest issue we see with this is the actual setup. You must get the button presses down before you attempt this in-game.
2 MANUALLY PRESS
TES WON’T TYPICALLY GET PRESSED UNLESS WE DO IT MANUALLY. THIS IS A BIG-TIME TIP THAT MOST PLAYERS WON’T BE DOING.
Before the ball is snapped, user-control the MLB or deep safety and position him directly in front of the TE you want to manually press. At the snap of the ball hold down + (Xbox) or R (PS3) to activate the press on the TE. This should shock your opponent as this is out of the ordinary. Be sure to manually cover the TE as he continues on his route.
1 MAN ALIGN TWICE
THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED DEFENSIVE TIPS IN MADDEN NFL 25.
This tip is primarily used when calling zone defensive coverage. We like to call Cover 4 zone from the Dollar formation. We then hot route both DEs into hook zones and then man align the defense twice. This rebalances the hook zones on the field to defend the field equally. This type of coverage is an absolute nightmare for opponents who target TEs.
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