In a typical Cover 1 pass defense (also known as Man Free), one of the safeties will drop to the deep middle of the field as the ball is snapped and play zone coverage. He is responsible for guarding the deep middle and will provide assistance to the corners on deep sideline routes. The cornerbacks and the other safety play man-to-man coverage.
Attacking Cover 1 Example
In this example we take a look at football video tips breakdown that can be applied to Madden football when it comes to attacking Cover 1 coverage.
In the screen shot above, we call the Shotgun Spread. This formation puts four receivers on the field at the same time and spreads the defense out. The Z and X receivers both run streaks, while the Y receiver runs a deep post route. The Y runs an out and the RB runs delayed flat route.
The three receivers we want to focus in on are the Z, X, and Y.
The defense comes out in the Dime Cover 1. This Cover 1 defense is about as vanilla as it gets. There is five man pass rush, including the MLB. There are five defenders in man coverage. The FS drops over the deep middle in Cover 1.
The QB is often told by the coach to read the safeties first when deciding on where the football should go. We first check to see what coverage the FS and SS are in. We see the FS is in playing the deep zone middle.
This tells us that deep middle is covered and throwing the ball to H receiver is not an option. We also need to look at the pass rush. If there’s a blitz, we may not have time to go long and will need to dump it off the RB or Y receiver.
If we see there is no blitz, we can look to go long to one of the outside receivers running streaks. To determine which of those two is the best option. Look at where the SS plays. If he cheats towards one sid more, then look to throw to opposite side. Also look to what receiver has the best position to make the catch.
The X receiver on the left side of the field has a step on the RCB covering him. He is the best option to throw the ball to such as shown in the image above.
 coverage by looking to throw to one of the outside receivers.){kind=link}
The play Kobra described is Shotgun Spread – Deep Attack. I like to curl one of the streaks in this year’s Madden though. And even slant in the H (Right slot) receiver for a quick hitter.
Great play, works against 2 man under and cover 2 as well (leave the post route as is against cover 2)
Hey Yo Daddy,
How would you manipulate Shotgun Spread – Deep Attack to stress the free safety, if you take your right slot off his post pattern?
Paul’s writeup is done in a way that the post will force the free to stay home in centerfield while allowing your left slot to work underneath on the square out, and 1-on-1 matchups to the flankers on the deep sidelines without worry of the free safety floating to either side. Great read!