able to buy time to either make a throw, or scramble past you for extra yardage.
What to Avoid…
Many Madden players believe that placing the defensive ends in QB contain assignments will prevent the quarterback
from escaping the pocket. Unfortunately it's not that simple, especially when facing the Speed QB Michael Vick. In our
example, the St. Louis Rams have come out in the Nickel Normal 2 Man Under. Place both defensive ends in QB contain
assignments to try to stop our opponent from scrambling.
As soon as Vick drops back to pass, both of our defensive ends rush around the outside as they prepare to stop the
quarterback when he runs. This is a great example of why just simply placing defensive ends in QB contain routes
doesn't always work. Our opponent knows that all he has to do is slightly roll to his left and the defenders will commit.
Sure enough, the right defensive end rushes in and gets blocked by the left tackle. Vick didn't even roll completely out of
the pocket, but the defender still closed to try to make the tackle. The mistake by the right defensive end allows Vick to
easily spring free into the open field. In order to contain a speed quarterback, more defensive adjustments will need to
be made.
Michael Vick can be stopped but it will require skills in defensive play-calling and use of playmaker mode to put defenders
in position to stop the running threat.
In this next example we have called the Nickel Normal Nickelback Blitz. The defensive assignments supplied in this play
are already more beneficial to us because we have a speedy nickelback rushing Vick from the side of the field that he
prefers to roll toward. Now that we've got pressure coming from the left we need to make sure that Vick can't easily roll
away from it to the opposite side of the field.
Make two more changes to the defensive line. The first change is assigning our strong defensive tackle to perform a QB
spy. Next, we assigned left defensive end Leonard Little to perform a QB contain on the backside of the field. What we
are trying to do with this play is funnel Vick right into our left defensive end on the backside. However, if Vick manages
to escape the outside pressure coming from the left, then hopefully our QB spy will be in a good enough position to
make a play as a last resort. Obviously, we'd prefer to place a faster player in the QB spy assignment, but we don't want
to take any coverage away downfield.
With these assignments in place, you can see the pressure beginning to form on the outsides of the offensive line as Vick
drops back. Meanwhile, our strong defensive tackle begins sliding back over the middle of the field to watch Vick. Vick
recognizes the pressure coming from his left and he quickly looks for a way out.
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