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PRIMA Offi cial Game Guide
Coach’s Corner: Defense
Here is a collection of various
defensive gameplay tips that can add
some pep to your defensive game:
BEFORE THE SNAP
A Question of Control: Beginning
players should control a linebacker.
He’s fast enough to blitz with from
the outside and/or to react to runs
to the sidelines, but he’s also strong
enough to deliver a substantial big
hit. Just be careful not to blitz with
a linebacker when you called a play
that calls for him to play zone pass
coverage—your blitz will leave a gap-
ing hole in the secondary.
Avoid Repetition: Never call the
same defensive play twice against
the computer, and don’t stick to one
formation set—the computer will
pick up on it and adjust accordingly.
In addition, make sure to use both
zone and man coverages to keep
your playcalling fresh.
Don’t Forget Your Audibles: The
man-shift defensive audible disguises
zone coverage, and the bump-and-
run defensive audible can disrupt
pass routes—remember to use such
audibles to tweak your play calls.
TACKLING
50-50 Tackles: If you’re stood up
by a tackler (or vice versa) and stuck
in a virtual stalemate, press the
Sprint button to break the tie.
Master the Switch: Learning to
switch players quickly is a vital skill
on defense—it’s the best way to
capitalize on potential catches/in-
terceptions and big hits. This skill is
even more important in this year’s
game because user actions play a
key role in Motivation, My Skills and
Points Pursuit scoring.
PASS DEFENSE
Trust Your Teammates: Until you
master your secondary coverage
skills (arguably the hardest part of
the game to master), let the comput-
er control your cornerbacks. Switch
to a cornerback manually only after
the ball is in the air and only if you
have a safety to back you up nearby.
(In fact, if you’re not experienced
with taking manual control of a de-
fensive back, a premature switch can
take you out of position and result in
a big play).
The “Blitz” Rule: A good rule of
thumb is that you should always get
more sacks/tackles for loss than give
up fi rst downs. For example, if after
10 blitzes you’ve got two tackles
for loss but gave up fi ve fi rst downs,
you’re blitzing too much. Getting
burned consistently on deep passes
should also make you re-evaluate
your blitz frequency. For advanced
players against the computer on
third and long, pulling a blitzer into
extra zone coverage may confuse the
quarterback and create a coverage
sack/interception—which may be
safer than calling an all-out blitz.
Coach’s Corner: Special Teams
Here is a collection of various de-
fensive gameplay tips that can help
improve your special teams play:
HIGH PUNTS/LONG FGS
To give your team more time to
down a punt near the end zone, aim
the punt as high as possible to gener-
ate more hang time. Also, adjust the
aim arrow down a bit on long fi eld
goals (that is, more than 35 yards
out) and kickoffs to try and get added
distance.
On all kicks, make sure you com-
pensate your aim for any wind.
FAIR CATCH
To call a fair catch, press the Catch
button while the punt/kick is in the
air. This reduces the chances of muff-
ing or fumbling if you expect to get
hit immediately after the catch.
SAFE PUNTING
If you’re be kicking to an impact
player on a punt, the safest option
may be to angle the punt out of
bounds—you will lose a few net punt
yards as a result, but you ensure that
the returner never touches the ball.
Don’t overblitz: Mix defensive calls
so you don’t get caught in a rut.
NOTE
On defense, choosing a eld goal
or punt block play increases
your chance of ge ing called
for a roughing the kicker pen-
alty, which can be devastating
if you had been defending a
fourth-and-short situation—the
result is a new set of downs for
the o ense. So avoid ge ing
aggressive on eld goals and
punts unless you can a ord to
give up that penalty.
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