In this guide, I’m going to show you how you can get more sacks and pressure when sending all out blitzes or just sending three people and dropping everybody else back into coverage. 

Get More Sacks

So, one of the most important things to do when you want to send any type of pressure is hovering. Now what is hovering? Hovering is when the user stands close enough to the line of scrimmage to make it seem like he is blitzing, but at the last second, he drops back into coverage. 

The reason this is so essential is that hovering will make the offensive line think they need to account for you as an extra blitzer, which will open gaps for other unblocked rushers. So you’re faking a blitz to occupy the linemen, which let your actual blitzers run unblocked for easy sacks. 

But this year there are a couple of key simple components that you must know to establish a good hover when blitzing. And if you don’t know these components, hovering actually won’t work at all, so let’s get into it. 

So, I am going to pick a random blitz, doesn’t really matter what the blitz is for this guide. But now in the game, it is very important to use enough MUT 24 coins to boost your linebacker because you will be hovering with him.

Close To Line Of Scrimmage

But the first thing you need when hovering is make sure you are close enough to the line of scrimmage where the green bar will pop up over the head of your user. This bar will tell the offensive line that you are a blitzer. 

Take Part In Blitz

Another thing you will want to do is put your user on a blitz. Even though you are faking the blitz, and will drop back into coverage, this will still help the pass rush immensely. 

But for instance, let’s say the green bar is not over your head even if you put your user on a blitz. The hover will actually not be very effective, and you will not see unblocked rushers or quick block sheds. But you’ll see that when the bar is over my head and I put the user on a blitz, I’m able to occupy the offensive linemen, and you will get an easy sack from unblocked players and block sheds because of it. 

Avoid Holding Correct Trigger When Hovering

The next thing you want to make sure to do when hovering is to refrain from holding the right trigger. In this year’s game, if you hold the right trigger at the snap while you are hovering, linemen will clog everything up, and there won’t be any solid pressure, nor will there be any unblocked players or block sheds. So, you want to be sure to not hold the right trigger at the snap. 

And while you are hovering, then when you back out into coverage, that’s when you can hold the trigger all you want. So here is the difference between when I don’t hold the trigger, you’ll see the pressure comes in pretty effectively. 

And here’s when I hold the trigger. Everything is blocked, and there is no pressure to be found anywhere. So those are the key components you want to make sure you do every time when you’re hovering. 

Note The Meters Below Offensive Linemen

Another thing you could do to take your pass rush to the next level is to pay attention to the meters underneath the offensive linemen. If you see the meter is starting to fill up, that means the line will block better because they are learning the pass rushers moves. 

The way you can reset the meter is by moving your linemen around to different spots in the play calling menu, or just substitute them out for other rushers. Doing this will continue to keep the blocking meter low and give you a better chance to create more pressure on QB. 

3 Man Rush Pressure

But now what if you weren’t sending a blitz and instead wanted 3 to rush 3 and drop everybody else into coverage? It would be a play like Cover 4 Drop. 

Now, in a 3 Man Rush, you aren’t going to get insane pressure. But there is a way you can create better block sheds, so QB doesn’t have a ton of time in the pocket. 

What you will want to do is pinch the D line by pressing left on the pad and down with the left stick, and then slant them down, by pressing left on the pad and down on the right stick. Then the last adjustment you’ll want to do from a pressure stand point is blitz the user, which will be the linebacker. 

The reason you want to do this is that if you only have 3 people set up to blitz snap, they program the game that will make the offensive line dominate these 3 rushers, and QB will have all day in the pocket. So you always want a minimum of 4 people on a blitz, even if that means you are using a blitzer then dropping back into coverage like we are going to do here. 

So when you put your user on a blitz, hover over one lineman, using the steps we just went over, which are to make sure to have the green bar over your head while not holding the right trigger at the snap. 

Then you can drop back into coverage after a brief second of correctly hovering over the linemen. And you’ll have better block sheds for a 3 man rush which can give QB a little less time to find open receivers in a coverage heavy defense. 

Now here is an example of when I do not hover at all, and I do not put my user on a blitz. You will see QB has literally all day to find an open receiver, which isn’t what you want. So, you can see there’s a pretty big difference. 

Stop The Run

Now, even though this guide is about getting more pressure, which leads to more sacks, I want you to know that not holding the right trigger when hovering is also advantageous for you when you want to stop the run. 

Like I said before, when holding the right trigger, you will see none of your players being able to get off blocks and it will be a lot harder to stop the run effectively and just get any type of pressure when there’s a pass. But watch when I do not hold the right trigger against the run. The computer-controlled players do a great job getting off blocks. And then the user, which is you, will still be able to be there to shoot the gaps if needed. 

That is the guide I got for you today. I hope this helps you out. I’ll see you next time.

The title speaks for itself, how do you stop the big, the bad, and the deadly, RPO’s.

But the first thing we are going to do is stop regular stretch run plays that give people a lot of problems.

Run Defense

So, we will be in dollar to start, and we want to make sure we set the alignment to base align. Then, we are going to pick DB Fire 2. And we are going to face HB Stretch out of Pistol.

For the adjustments to stop these types of plays, you are going to pinch the D line, slant them to the inside, and then QB contain the ends. Lastly, you are going to press Y or Triangle and down on the left stick to press the secondary.

Now, obviously, you can change your coverage shell to whatever you want. But for this guide, we are solely talking about how to stop the run and RPO’s. But what is certain is that if you master these tips and also use your Madden 24 Coins to improve your players quickly, you will become even more powerful!

The next thing you want to do is user the linebacker to the side the opponent is running to and put him right behind the defensive tackle. This will put you in a prime spot to shoot the outside run gaps like you see here.

Your goal as the user is to stay as flat as possible near the line of scrimmage, that will put you in the optimal position to shoot the first outside run gap for easy tackles.

Now, there may be times where you need to go around blocks to shoot the first open gap.

The key is to make the turn around the blocks as tight as possible to be able to meet the running back near the line of scrimmage. Because if you take too long to get to the gap, it will be too late to make the tackle.

So, you do not want big turns, or in real life we might call these false steps.

The other great thing about this defensive setup is that the outside corners help contain the run.

So, if the running back tried to get to the sidelines, we have the corners there to counter that. That is also why base alignment is important in this formation.

Madden Tips

One more bonus tip is that when you are about to make a tackle, press X or square to pretty much dive at the runner.

These types of tackles though are way more effective and harder to break. You will see your tackling improve instantly using this mechanic and you will see a lot less broken tackles.

Also Read: How To Master Match Coverage In Madden NFL 24 Cover 4 Quarters? - Tips & Breakdown

Stopping RPO’s

So, now you can shut down the stretches, but what about RPO stretches?

Let’s go to the same. Play DB Fire 2 in dollar and do the same exact adjustments, pinch D line, and slant them inside, QB contain the ends, and then press the secondary.

And it’s important to note that any adjustments I show you to stop the RPO’s will not affect the run defense whatsoever.

Now, the first way to stop the RPO is to simply man the slot defender up with the bubble receiver. But you want to be careful with this. If you keep the manned-up defender pressed on the bubble, there is a risk that he will run into these two players, which will ultimately lead to an easy catch and a lot of yards after that.

So, a way to counter that mishap, is to back off the slot defender, you can do that by pressing Y, then A, and then the receiver icon that the player is lined up over so in this case it would be B, then simply flick the left stick up, and the player will be backed off. This will allow the defender that is manned up to flow to the bubble and make a tackle in open space.

Now, there is a to defend these types of plays with zone drops. So, we are gonna go to coaching adjustments and put the flats on 30 yards and the curl flats at 5 yards. Then put zone coverage on match. And once again, we will be using DB Fire 2.

The primary zone that will be helping us guard the RPO bubble is the 5-yard curl flat. So, something you can do with your coverage is put the slot defender on a 30-yard hard flat, the corner on an outside third, the safety on the bubble side on the 5-yard curl flat, and the other safety on an inside third, and the outside corner on another outside third.

And if you have time, you can bring the two safeties down into the box to help guard the bubble or defend the run. So, when the ball is snapped you are going to see that 5 yard curl flat on the safety pretty much followed the bubble and ran downhill for an easy tackle.

The cool thing about these 5 yard flats is that you can put them on the safety like I just showed you, linebackers, or the slot corner.

It’s also worth mentioning that 5-yard curl flats are great at stopping any type of short routes like flats or any type of short route going to the sidelines.

Personally, I would even argue that 5-yard curl flat zones are better than just the normal light blue flat zones. So, that is the gist on how to defend RPO’s and stretches. But what about RPO’s out of shotgun? We are going to face RPO Alert Bubble.

For this setup, though, we are going to be in Big Nickel in the 46 playbook. For coaching adjustments, we want base alignment, flats on 30 yards, and curl flats at 5 yards with match coverage on.

For this setup, we are going to do the same thing we did in dollar: pinch the D line, slant them inside, QB contain the ends, and press the secondary.

And again, you will want to user the linebacker to the side they will run to and line up over your interior d linemen.

On the back end, we could just man up the slot defender on the bubble like we did at the beginning of the guide, or you can put him on a 5-yard curl flat while the light blue flat will be at 30 yards.

When you snap the ball, you will see that curl flat defender is sort of playing the run and the bubble at the same time, he’s pretty much right down the middle of both, while the 30-yard flat stays in place unblocked, which will just lock down the bubble.

And on the flip side, we the user can shoot the outside gap to prevent any rushing yards.

Here, we’ll discuss how to read and defeat the most popular man-defenses in Madden 24. In this tactic, we will not consider disguises.

Cover 1 Breakdown

Now, when you’re reading the defense before the snap, the first thing you want to do is read the safety. Since we see there is usually one safety, that means the defense is either in Cover 1 or Cover 3.

Then we’ll move onto step two, which is reading the outside corners in Cover 1 and Cover 3. The corner will be 7 to 8 yards away from the ball and there are three Shades: Inside Shade, Outside Shade or Even Shade.

Now that we have an understanding of safeties and corners, we need to move to the next step of deciphering the defense’s coverage and reading the slot defender. If the slot defender has Even Shade, it is a one-man cover. If the slot defender has Outside Shade, it’s Cover 3.

So now you should be able to understand and decipher the differences between Cover 1 and Cover 3 pre-snap.

Now let’s review the goals and see what the cover should do. Cover 1 Robber or Cover 1 Hole has a deep safety and a 3 Rec Hook in the center of the field. These defenders try to lurk any route toward the middle of the field. What this does is open up the edges.

So, what strategies and routes can you use to beat Cover 1? One of the best ways to beat coverage is to put the running back on a wheel route. Whether a linebacker or a defensive back guards the running back, the wheel route is popular this year.

Because there is only one safety in the middle of the field, the wheel route can be open from the top to the sideline. This ensures you have the freedom to pass the ball to the right or left, away from the center's safety.

Now we can take advantage of Breaking Routes on the outside of the field, such as zigs, corners and even flats, which can effectively counter Cover 1. But if you want to hit the middle of the field against Cover 1, you may need to take advantage of Madden NFL 24 Coins to improve your overall player stats and try to pull neutral zone defenders away from your intended pass route.

So what you can do is draw a stripe across the seam. The purpose of this is to pull the safety away from the post, preventing the safety from being able to operate on the ball.

Drags and slants now work against Cover 1 and Cover 2. But you need to hit them on the route after they pass 3 Rec middle area. If you throw the ball too early, it may end up being intercepted.

I also want to talk about another route, Curl Routes. Curl Routes are difficult to defend in man coverage, but you want to make sure you get the ball out as soon as the receiver reaches the top of his route. This will create an excellent opportunity to prevent the defensive back from intercepting the ball or making any type of play.

Cover 2 Breakdown

Next, the playbook we are going to talk about is Cover 2. In Cover 2, there will be two tall safeties, with Inside Shade pressed into their outer corners. Now, Cover 2 has two safeties guarding the back half of the field, while everyone else is one-on-one.

The reason you see Inside Shade in the corners is because they want to focus the receivers on the top for help, which is the safety. But with no help in the midfield, this is a place you can exploit.

You can do this by traversing routes, slants, or even digging. These are just a few examples. But a deadly route against man coverage is the running back’s Texas Route. This route creates a lot of space and can result in big runs after the catch when running this route. You just make sure the running back gets past the linebacker and you can throw the ball easily.

Another way to beat Cover 2 is with Motion Slants. Motion Slants make Breaking Route more difficult for defenders to defend. Because the defender is still moving when we pass the ball, the receiver will cut inside, creating a lot of space for easy throws and catches.

You’ll find great separation with Motion Slants, especially against Blitz or any type of Man Coverage.

Now, in Cover 2, there is one more thing you need to pay attention to. It’s all about competing with the quarterback. If you put everyone on a route, the defenders guarding them will turn their backs on them because their job is just to guard their man.

Cover 0 Breakdown

The next game we will discuss is Cover 0 Blitz. This is one of the easiest covers to read. Because the safety is 9 to 10 yards away from the ball and will typically line up over the slot receiver.

For the blitz feeding route concept, you may need to try a shorter batting route in case you need to catch the ball quickly. And you can also set up a deeper hitting lane in case you’re able to block Blitz and send the ball downfield.

In this game, I’ll block a running back, sliding my protection to the left by pressing Lb on the right stick and left. I will then identify D end to the running back’s side through LB and then A. This is one of the most common ways to block any Blitz, and it works very well.

Also note that if we have to throw the ball away quickly, the slant and the zig will create enough space to throw the ball so we can do it easily.

Bonus Tip

This last tip will help you uncover coverage in man or zone coverage. If you move the receiver from one side to the other and the defenders lined up above him run to either side of the field with him, then this is most likely a man-coverage.

If the defender stays in place when you move the receiver, this is most likely a zone defense. The reason is that the defender is man-to-man. No matter where he goes, he needs to follow his primary mission. In a zone, the defender has a specific position on the field that prevents him from following.

Outro

Anyway, I hope these man defenses strategies make sense to all of you. Hopefully, you can dominate against the defense by using elite Madden strategies.