Most players on NCAA and Madden prefer to pressure their opponents with a variety of blitzes intended to create turnovers or long yardage situations.  While this will be an effective strategy against the typical type of player, there are many that expect, and in fact hope, that an opponent will blitz continuously in order to open up easy passes and one on one match-ups.  When facing these types of players, and indeed many other types, the Cover 2 defense can be an extremely effective scheme for slowing down high powered offenses.


The Philosophy 

Bend but don't break.  It's that simple.  Many people say they subscribe to this but lose patience and begin blitzing after the offense converts a couple of 1st downs.  A Cover 2 defense does not like giving up yardage and 1st downs but is ultimately concerned with the end zone.  

A true Cover 2 defense will have 7 men dropping back in zone and 4 men rushing the QB.  Many players anticipate that the defense will bring the heat at some point which will leave the secondary in some type of cover 0, 1, or 3 type shell.  Unless the lone deep safety has some incredible speed or the defense shades the safety preplay toward the intended receiver, the receiver really has a one on one matchup with the corner down the sidelines.  The Cover 2 takes that advantage away by having 2 deep safeties on either side of the field with underneath help from the corners.  With this type of coverage it is hard for the offense to hit big plays downfield and forces them to settle for short passes.  So instead of the offense taking 5 or 6 play drives down the field with a big play TD to cap it off, they now have to string together 9 or 10 play drives.  This really increases the odds of mistakes, penalties, and turnovers happening to an offense and can be very frustrating for NCAA and Madden players used to hitting big plays.  It's amazing to see just how inept someone can be at passing once you've taken away the deep ball and the flats. 


The most important step to running a successful Cover 2 defense is to adjust your mindset to one that is ok with giving up yardage here and there.  There will be times when falling back into old habits of Engage Eight and Under Smoke feel like the only way to shut down an opponent, but you have to think, since so many players use this nonstop blitzing kind of style, is that what the other guy is counting on me to do?  Above all else, remember:  Defend the end zone, not just the 1st down marker.     

If anyone's interested about more on this type of defense, I'll add a couple of more write-ups on the kind of personnel and play calling that should be used with a Cover 2 defense.