Mid Zone On User Question

Everybody talks about running Mid Zone on their user, but in my scheme I’m often manning up one of my Sub LBs on a RB/TE/Slot, so I’ve never tried it out.

Does Mid Zone improve reaction time and KOs all over the field when usering even if they are sent on a blitz or do they have to be manually put on a hook curl? Planning on grabbing Brooks and I’m curious.

jwasylenko said:

Everybody talks about running Mid Zone on their user, but in my scheme I’m often manning up one of my Sub LBs on a RB/TE/Slot, so I’ve never tried it out.

Does Mid Zone improve reaction time and KOs all over the field when usering even if they are sent on a blitz or do they have to be manually put on a hook curl? Planning on grabbing Brooks and I’m curious.

I'm definitely using Brooks as my primary user, but i often find he's basically too good for me to want to user control all the time.  However, it's nice to have that flexibility, i can quickly choose either Bo Jackson (ROLB) or Brooks, from Dollar and know that either/bot SUBLBs will be top tier.

Regarding your specific question about Mid Zone KO on a USER, well -- in my limited experience with Fred Warner, i've found that his Mid Zone KO would tend to NOT light up or activate if i had him on a blitz angle... which was often, if not almost always the case.  So no, i do not believe it will activate while dropping back into coverage, from a blitzing user.  You should be able to quickly validate my suspicions here, hopefully i'm not feeding you bad info.  That being said, i doubt you'll regret adding Brooks to the squad, he's absolutely top notch.  I added some Combine motivator boosts/chems to get him up to max 99 COD, but that's really the biggest "gripe" i can think of, he's a near perfect user, but i think Bo Jackson could also work well there for your intended purposes.

peatrick said:

I'm definitely using Brooks as my primary user, but i often find he's basically too good for me to want to user control all the time.  However, it's nice to have that flexibility, i can quickly choose either Bo Jackson (ROLB) or Brooks, from Dollar and know that either/bot SUBLBs will be top tier.

Regarding your specific question about Mid Zone KO on a USER, well -- in my limited experience with Fred Warner, i've found that his Mid Zone KO would tend to NOT light up or activate if i had him on a blitz angle... which was often, if not almost always the case.  So no, i do not believe it will activate while dropping back into coverage, from a blitzing user.  You should be able to quickly validate my suspicions here, hopefully i'm not feeding you bad info.  That being said, i doubt you'll regret adding Brooks to the squad, he's absolutely top notch.  I added some Combine motivator boosts/chems to get him up to max 99 COD, but that's really the biggest "gripe" i can think of, he's a near perfect user, but i think Bo Jackson could also work well there for your intended purposes.

Thanks for the in depth answer here!  Probably will just end up grabbing him either way, as I run two Sub LBs and having him and Bo both with Inside Shade would also work really well in my scheme even if I don’t take advantage of Mid Zone.

jwasylenko said:

Thanks for the in depth answer here!  Probably will just end up grabbing him either way, as I run two Sub LBs and having him and Bo both with Inside Shade would also work really well in my scheme even if I don’t take advantage of Mid Zone.

I very often approach the game in a similar sense, i have a Zone shell all around the outside with individual Man coverage to try and help bracket (if not fully blanket) receivers... which often means, i'm also Manning up a Slot corner and/or SUBLB on my opponent's TE/Slot/RB, etc.  Hybrid defense is definitely the way to go if you can pull it off.  Highly encourage everyone to run as many Zone KOs (especially Deep & Mid) as is feasible.

I have somewhat recently revised my entire defensive philosophy, now that we're seeing so many Secure Protectors on the O-line, the D-line X-factors felt less impactful, so i've been running three Universal Coverage X-factors across; Nnamdi, Tariq and Troy P.

What type of defense scheme you running?  Lately i'm playing a ton of Heavy Box Dollar, meaning both deep Safeties are walked down into the box to help improve both run and pass defense.  Sorry if this is old news to you, obviously you have a pretty clear idea of what you are trying to do on defense.  Keep up the excellent wr0k, sir.  I am by no means an expert, but have a decent conceptual understanding of things and have learned a TON from other community members.  Don't be shy about asking follow-up questions.

peatrick said:

I very often approach the game in a similar sense, i have a Zone shell all around the outside with individual Man coverage to try and help bracket (if not fully blanket) receivers... which often means, i'm also Manning up a Slot corner and/or SUBLB on my opponent's TE/Slot/RB, etc.  Hybrid defense is definitely the way to go if you can pull it off.  Highly encourage everyone to run as many Zone KOs (especially Deep & Mid) as is feasible.

I have somewhat recently revised my entire defensive philosophy, now that we're seeing so many Secure Protectors on the O-line, the D-line X-factors felt less impactful, so i've been running three Universal Coverage X-factors across; Nnamdi, Tariq and Troy P.

What type of defense scheme you running?  Lately i'm playing a ton of Heavy Box Dollar, meaning both deep Safeties are walked down into the box to help improve both run and pass defense.  Sorry if this is old news to you, obviously you have a pretty clear idea of what you are trying to do on defense.  Keep up the excellent wr0k, sir.  I am by no means an expert, but have a decent conceptual understanding of things and have learned a TON from other community members.  Don't be shy about asking follow-up questions.

I do something extremely similar.

Nickel normal often with a Cover 2, Cover 4, or Cover 6 shell with my slot corner and one of my Sub LBs manned up.  I have Universal Coverage on Woolen and Nnamdi outside and One Step on Williamson in the slot.  Has been ridiculously good for me compared to when I had X-Factors loaded up on the d-line.