Warrior General Games

Anybody know? I've never used them. All I know is that they are the best zone for hb fb passes

Exactly that, the use of the zones however is up to you.

I've found that they can be useful as well for stopping off tackle runs, as well as some sweeps and QB runs.

Beware using DEs in these zones is highly unrecommended.

Originally posted by zmj44
Anybody know? I've never used them. All I know is that they are the best zone for hb fb passes

Watch a game of the Sacramento Vikings 2 seasons ago, they used a ton of flat zones.

I am not a fan of flat zones because like any zone, a player heads towards their zone assignment until they pass a vision check alerting them to the actual play. If they fail that 1st vision check on an outside run, the rusher will already be by them before they have a 2nd chance to pass a vision check. Also, the center of the flat zone on an actual play differs from what is shown in the play creation.

Just food for thought.

Better off blitzing from the outside. Though I did send my DEs into a flat zone against people who, out of some formations, always ran way outside.

I ONLY USZ ZONES ON MY DEFENSE, NEVER MAN TO maN.

I use a lot of flat zones for one purpose - stopping the big outside run. Sometimes they let you down - which sucks if you're basically taking someone out of the play just for that reason. They are useless for pass plays though and basically take a guy away from coverage or blitzing, in favor of drifting into nowhere...

They work brilliantly at shutting down speedy QB's on outside runs though.

You need quite a bit of vision on your safety's to make it work, but either way I wouldn't recommend it unless you're using it in conjunction with a blitz.

A decent team with a fast TE and FB will run sweeps all day against a flat zone, if you blitz the SS he hits the FB in the backfield and blows the play up.

If you blitz a rushing QB it's a TFL every time unless he breaks a tackle. If the team has a decent rushing QB (with vision & agility), they'll see the guy waiting in the flat zone, cut it up the field and make yards. It's far from brilliant unless you're playing crappy teams.

It's kind of a hack fix if your players don't have enough vision. I've been trying to find effective ways to get away from it, but you need really good builds on defense.

I'm not in Gold like PING72, but I've gone as well as 14-2 in silver using flat zones vs the run, so it is a quick way to fix most outside runs if they are killing you. But like I said, that's 1 to 2 less guys doing something else, which makes you weaker on middle runs and pass plays.

I'd recommend it for weaker teams who are getting hammered, it will definitely cut down the number of outside run TD's and keep the score more respectable.

I would absolutely never run flat zones in any defense what so ever, but again that is not because it does not serve a purpose, it is mostly because it doesn't serve any purpose well enough to be worth the sacrifice JohnnyP mentions.

Putting players in zones, like in real life, any zone for that matter not just flat zones, makes it harder to stop the run (granted, this is a pretty obvious generalization, clearly if they run right in to the location that you choose the zone would have helped) and in the early stages of the game also is a huge loss in the pass coverage, where you lose either a blitzer or a coverage guy to simply eliminate a small area of the field (I say small mostly because of there lack of agility to move around in there zones, and lack of vision to really even be spurred to try to move around).

Essentially the answer to the question is...

They Don't.

The only situation I would consider using it in is the shotgun, with a scat HB

Originally posted by Stoner DTD
Putting players in zones, like in real life, any zone for that matter not just flat zones, makes it harder to stop the run (granted, this is a pretty obvious generalization, clearly if they run right in to the location that you choose the zone would have helped) and in the early stages of the game also is a huge loss in the pass coverage, where you lose either a blitzer or a coverage guy to simply eliminate a small area of the field (I say small mostly because of there lack of agility to move around in there zones, and lack of vision to really even be spurred to try to move around).

I had the #1 defense in Gold last season and my safeties spent most of their time in zones. Thus zones are useful, but you have to be careful when and where to use them because you can get burned badly if you use them incorrectly. I don't use flat zones myself.

Originally posted by Stoner DTD
I would absolutely never run flat zones in any defense what so ever, but again that is not because it does not serve a purpose, it is mostly because it doesn't serve any purpose well enough to be worth the sacrifice JohnnyP mentions.

Putting players in zones, like in real life, any zone for that matter not just flat zones, makes it harder to stop the run (granted, this is a pretty obvious generalization, clearly if they run right in to the location that you choose the zone would have helped) and in the early stages of the game also is a huge loss in the pass coverage, where you lose either a blitzer or a coverage guy to simply eliminate a small area of the field (I say small mostly because of there lack of agility to move around in there zones, and lack of vision to really even be spurred to try to move around).

Essentially the answer to the question is...

They Don't.

wait, in real life players who are looking at and following receivers are more effective at run stopping than a bunch of guys looking forward watching the play develop?

This isn't Real Life, it's all about how the sim works.

In both cases, either in a zone or in coverage, on a run, the safeties have to pass a vision check to recognize the run. When on a WR in coverage, they are right by the WR, in a good spot to stop an outside run, pending they are not blocked by the WR. When in a zone, they head to their area of assignment in the zone until the vision check is passed, which could take them away from the rushing path, or let the rusher get by if they don't pass the 1st vision check.

Here is a trick...when creating a play, the spot where it shows your player needs to be isn't the same as on in the sim. You need to find the real spot and move your zone player as close to that spot as possible so their movement is minimized. For example, the deep half zones with a medium depth, the actual center of those zones is about 2 full dots deep and closer to the center than the middle of the zone shows. I think if your player is in movement, their might be a penalty to the vision check that doesn't exist if the player is already at the assigned spot. Not sure on this, but I think people in zones react quicker, ie pass their vision checks sooner, then they are not in motion.

Originally posted by Gerr
I had the #1 defense in Gold last season and my safeties spent most of their time in zones. Thus zones are useful, but you have to be careful when and where to use them because you can get burned badly if you use them incorrectly. I don't use flat zones myself.

You had the #1 statistical defense in Gold, you however lost in the first round of the playoffs.


And yes, in real life when people are forced to take steps to cover an area rather than take normal linebacker read/stacking steps then of course they are at a disadvantage. In all cases playing zone coverage makes stopping the run harder because of the freedom it removes from the players first few steps.

This is doubled in effect in early stages of Goal line blitz.