Every Thursday, a leader in the community will share a tip or two to help you improve your Madden game.  For the next few weeks, Madden strategy site VG Sports will share some of their best tips with the rest of the community.  Up this week is part one of a two part tip on reading coverages.

The 0-1-2 System

The 0-1-2 System is used to teach quarterbacks on all levels how to read pass coverage structure. This same system can also be applied to Madden. By using this system, we are able to read the coverage based on the number of safeties playing the deep middle of the field.

0 (zero) coverage means there is no safety playing the deep middle of the field.  This coverage fits in the zero coverage family. With no safeties playing the deep middle, we anticipate some type of blitz being called. There are only a handful of Cover 0 defenses in Madden where there is no blitz being called such as Double Wide and Double Slot. Those two defenses are Cover 0 defenses, but without the blitz.

1 (one) coverage means that there is a safety playing the deep middle of the field.  This is known as man free coverage. This coverage fits in the one safety family. Much like the 0 coverage family, there is a good chance that some type of blitz is called. Cover 1 and Cover 3 both fall is this category.

2 (two) coverage means that there are two safeties playing the deep halves. There are two types of this type of coverage, man (Cover 2 Man ) and zone (Cover 2) . Cover 2 Man coverage is most used among Madden players because the pass coverage is solid all over the field. Quarters (Cover 4) or a mixture of Cover 2 and Quarters coverages also fall into this category.

Being able to pre-read the pass coverage before the ball is snapped is very important. By knowing what the pass coverage is before the snap, we have a better idea of where the ball needs to go and can make the proper adjustments to maximize the success of the play being called. We also can audible to another play if we don't feel comfortable with the original play called based on our pre-snap coverage reads.  Being able to pre-read the pass coverage before the snap is only half the battle, we still need to be able to read the pass coverages after the ball is snapped. By watching what the safeties do as soon as the ball is snapped, we can get better a idea of what type of pass coverage is called.

Zero Safeties Coverage Family

During our pre-snap reads or after the ball is snapped, if we see no safeties playing the deep middle of the field, we anticipate that Cover 0 coverage has been called. As we have already stated before, where we see Cover 0 coverage, we expect some type of blitz being called, unless our opponent gives us a reason to think otherwise. Most Cover 0 blitz schemes send more than 2 extra pass rushers.

One Safety Coverage Family

If we see one safety move up and one stay stationary before the ball is snapped, it normally tells us the defense is playing some type of Cover 1 (Man Free) coverage. If zone coverage is called, one safety will rotate over the middle, it's Cover 3. The coverages may look alike, since the safety plays over the top. However, the underneath pass coverage is different. If the defenders follow the receivers, then it's man coverage. If the defenders drop straight  back, play the flats, or buzz out, then it's zone coverage. There are several Cover 1 man defenses that bring at least 1 extra pass rusher. Most of the zone blitz concepts implement some type of Cover 3 coverage. Cover 3 is the most used zone coverage in Madden.

Two-Safeties Coverage Family

Of the coverage coverage families, the Two-Safety Coverage family is the most used. Both safeties split out wide and cover the deep halves of the field. The pass coverage underneath is either man or zone coverage. Most players in Madden, use man coverage underneath as their base defense. 4-3 Normal 2 Man Under, and Quarter Normal 2 Man Under QB Spy are two examples of the Cover 2 Man Coverage.  The reason Cover 2 Zone is not used much is because of the lack of pass rush.

Cover 4 also falls under the Two-Safeties Coverage Family. Instead of the safeties splitting out wide like they would in Cover 2, they cover 1/4 of the field between the hashes and between the yardage numbers. The two outside corners drop back and coverage is between the yardage numbers and the side line.