What Does MOFO and MOFC Coverage Mean?

ZAN  over at Compete4Ever.com has posted another great X’s and O’s strategy article. This one involves MOFO (middle of the field open) and MOFC (middle of the field closed). For those of you who have always wondered what those initials mean,  his write up goes into great detail explaining them.

The following is an excerpt from the article called “FORWARD PROGRESS #5: MOFO VS MOFC PASSING CONCEPTS” that posted January 2, 2012 by ZAN

“This week, I’m going to dive into something that I get many questions about. By far, the most questions in my inbox deal with passing offense. At the beginning of Madden 12, the popular scheme had to be the Strong Close rushing attack out of a number of books (Dallas, Houston, Baltimore, etc…). As the year progresses, however, the community tends to slowly develop ways to slow down the run. I’ll be honest, if you want to run the ball and can be patient, it’s there to be had. There is no dominating play that locks down the run game as a whole.

But Madden has always been a passer’s game. People want to light up the scoreboard. It’s human nature. But many people still struggle with passing concepts. They don’t know which concepts to use, and when to use them. Maybe they aren’t the best at breaking down defenses after the snap of the ball. Maybe they struggle with pressure and/or blocking scheme. There are a number of variables that can contribute to a slowed passing attack. The one that I see most is that people allow their opponents to dictate where the ball is going. People tend to not play the numbers game, and it hurts them. Whether they are running their receiving options over the middle against defenses that have 2 or 3 linebackers in the box (traditional 4-3 or 3-4 sets), or trying to attack the perimeter vs. defenses that are spread out (Dime, Quarters, for instance). There are some players that can understand how to determine coverages from a pre-snap read. They can look and see two high safeties at equal distances from the line of scrimmage and say to themselves “It’s either 2-man or 2-zone.” Some can see 2 safeties high, but one is lined up 3 yards closer to the line of scrimmage than the other, and tell that it’s Man-Free (Cover 1-man under), or Cover 3-zone (possibly 3-Man Under, but Quarters 3-Deep is the only formation that has that play).”

To read the rest of the article and view a video, please click on the following link – FORWARD PROGRESS #5: MOFO VS MOFC PASSING CONCEPTS