Playbooks

Team Playbook

Broncos Defense

TeamDefense

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7Formations

24Sets

352Plays

Overview

Broncos Defense and its sibling cut NFL Live Broncos Defense are functionally the same book. They share all 352 plays and differ by zero sets, so picking one over the other is a labeling choice, not a scheme choice. Whichever one you load, you get the identical 7 formations and 24 sets, so do not waste time hunting for a hidden set in the other version.

At 352 plays, this is a mid-to-large defensive team playbook (bigger than 57% of the 64 defensive team books) and it is built around sub packages first. Nickel is the engine at 168 plays across 9 sets, which is 48% of the entire book, and Dime adds another 66 plays across 3 sets. That means roughly two thirds of your calls come from five and six defensive back looks, with Big Dime 3-2-6, Big Dime 4-1-6, Dime 4-1-6, Nickel 2-4-5, Big Nickel 4-2-5 and Nickel 4-2-5 all available. The 3-4 side is the real base at 75 plays across 6 sets, giving you Base 3-4 and Base 5-2 fronts with LB Blitz, Line Stunt and Pinch concepts that let you generate pressure without committing four down linemen.

The coverage menu is straightforward and complete rather than exotic: Cover 1, Cover 1 Hole, Cover 3, Cover 3 Sky, Man Coverage, Zone and Zone Coverage, with Run Stop and Blitz packages layered on top. Calls like 2 Invert Hard Flat, 0 LB Cross Games, 60 Half Out, 3 Deep Blitz, 1 Double Slot and 1 Edge Pinch cover the full range from zero blitz to two-high inverted shells. This supports a game plan where you live in Nickel, rotate to Dime on obvious drop-back downs, and use 3-4 fronts as your answer to heavy personnel rather than as your default.

Scheme Fit

This book wants sub package personnel: two quality outside corners, a slot corner who can cover in man, and at least two safeties with real speed and zone coverage ratings, because 67% of the plays put five or six defensive backs on the field. Your front needs versatile hybrid edge defenders and linebackers with strong block shedding and pursuit, since the 3-4 block at 75 plays runs LB Blitz, Pinch and Line Stunt concepts that ask standing linebackers to rush and set edges rather than pure 4-3 defensive ends. Pick Broncos Defense if you want to play sub defense by default, user a safety or linebacker every snap, and treat heavy run fronts as a situational answer instead of your base, since 4-3, 4-4 and goal line together account for only about 11% of the calls.

Example Plays from this Playbook

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Strengths

Nickel at 168 plays across 9 sets gives you enough set variety to build an entire audible package inside one personnel grouping, so you can flip between Nickel 4-2-5, Big Nickel 4-2-5 and Nickel 2-4-5 pre-snap without a substitution delay and without tipping whether pressure or coverage is coming.
The Nickel plus Dime total of 234 plays (67% of the book) means you are already in the right personnel against 10 and 11 personnel spread offenses, so your shifts, line pinches and DB hot routes happen with the correct bodies on the field instead of bleeding clock on package swaps.
Big Dime 3-2-6, Big Dime 4-1-6 and Big Quarter 3-1-7 give you true heavy-coverage shells with extra safeties who can be user-controlled over the top, which a four-down-heavy book weighted toward 4-3 simply cannot match on third and long.
The 3-4 block at 75 plays across 6 sets, including Base 3-4 and Base 5-2, lets you run LB Blitz, Line Stunt and Pinch concepts with standing linebackers, so pressure looks identical from play to play and the offense cannot read your rush count off the front alone.
Cover 1, Cover 1 Hole, Cover 3 and Cover 3 Sky all being present inside the same Nickel sets means you can call the same look with man underneath or a rotated three-deep shell, which punishes opponents who set protections and route combos off your safety alignment.

Weaknesses

4-3 is a single set with only 15 plays (4%) and 4-4 is one set with 9 plays (3%), so your true base-down run fits are thin. An opponent who lines up in 12 or 21 personnel and runs inside zone repeatedly is attacking the shallowest part of this book.
Goal Line Defense carries just 13 plays across 3 sets and 6-2-3 is your only real short-yardage front, which limits your options on third and one or in tight red zone situations where you want multiple distinct looks rather than one.
The 48% Nickel concentration makes you readable over a long series. A user who has seen your Nickel 4-2-5 blitz package twice can start motioning to identify your coverage rotation and hot route the slot into the vacated space.
Prevent is a single set with 6 plays, so your end-of-half and end-of-game shell management leans almost entirely on Dime and Big Quarter 3-1-7 calls rather than dedicated prevent looks.
There is no two-high Cover 2 or Cover 4 concept listed in this book's coverage menu. Your zone answers are Cover 3, Cover 3 Sky and general Zone Coverage, so deep out and corner routes against a rotated three-deep shell are the recurring soft spot you have to user away.

Usage Tips

Build your primary audible package entirely inside Nickel, using Nickel 4-2-5 as the anchor and Big Nickel 4-2-5 as your run-leaning alternative, so you can answer both 11 personnel pass and 12 personnel run without a package change on first and second down.

On third and seven plus, audible to Dime and pick between Big Dime 3-2-6 for maximum coverage bodies and Big Dime 4-1-6 or Dime 4-1-6 when you want four down rushers. Use the extra safety as your user-controlled defender over the deepest threat.

Reach for 3-4 on early downs against heavy personnel. Base 3-4 and Base 5-2 let you call Pinch and Line Stunt concepts like 1 Edge Pinch to squeeze inside runs, and LB Blitz calls such as 0 LB Cross Games give you a disguised overload rush off the same front.

Save 4-3, 4-4-3 and 6-2-3 for specific situations only. With 15, 9 and goal line plays respectively, these are situational answers for short yardage and obvious run, not sets you should be calling on a normal second and six.

Alternate Cover 1 and Cover 1 Hole with 2 Invert Hard Flat and 60 Half Out from the same Nickel sets so your pre-snap picture stays consistent. Rotate your safeties late and user the middle of the field, since Cover 3 Sky is where this book gives up the intermediate seam if you leave it unmanned.