Playbooks
Overview
Falcons Defense and its sibling cut NFL Live Falcons Defense are functionally the same book: they share all 311 plays and differ by zero sets. There is no hidden formation or exclusive blitz waiting in one version that the other lacks, so pick whichever one your setup menu surfaces first and spend your prep time on audible packages instead of comparing the two. Any advantage here comes from how you call it, not from which cut you load.
At 311 plays across 9 formations and 20 sets, this is a mid-sized defensive team book that funnels almost everything through sub packages. Nickel is the engine at 121 plays (39%) spread over 6 sets, and Dime adds another 57 plays (18%) over 2 sets, meaning 57% of the book lives in five and six defensive back looks. The 3-4 contributes 54 plays (17%) across 4 sets as the heavy front, while 3-3-5 (21 plays), 2-4-5 (18 plays) and Quarter (15 plays) give you three separate odd or light fronts to rotate between without ever showing the same alignment twice on a drive. Personnel groups run from Big Nickel 5-1-5 and Base 5-2 down to Big Quarter 3-1-7, which is a wide range of body types for a book this size.
The concept list tells you the game plan: Cover 3, Cover 3 Match, Cover 1, Cover 4 and Quarters for the shell work, with Blitz, Corner Blitz and LB Blitz for pressure, plus Double Wr1 and Double Wr2 for bracket calls you can make without a coverage audible. Plays like Cover 1 Hole, 3 Deep Blitz, Cov 1 QB Contain Spy, 3 DBL Mable Cloud and Corner Blitz 2 let you disguise single high and three deep out of nearly identical Nickel alignments. This is a book for players who want to live in sub personnel, user a safety or linebacker, and win with pre-snap disguise and coverage rotation rather than a fixed base front.
Scheme Fit
This book wants a secondary first roster: three or more corners who can play press man, a rangy free safety worth usering on every snap, and a big nickel or strong safety with enough tackle and block shedding to survive as a de facto linebacker in Big Nickel 5-1-5 and Base 5-2. Up front you need two edge rushers with strong finesse and power moves since the 3-4 and 2-4-5 fronts ask a small number of rushers to win one on one while the Double Wr1 and Double Wr2 brackets take bodies out of the rush. Pick Falcons Defense if you already play sub personnel by default, enjoy disguising Cover 1 and Cover 3 Match out of the same alignment, and do not mind giving up a true base 4-3 to get six Nickel sets and a dedicated Quarter package.
Example Plays from this Playbook
Find plays by concept, not by formation
Search every playbook by tag and personnel grouping, not just Falcons Defense.
Strengths
- Six Nickel sets carrying 121 plays means you can build an entire audible package inside one personnel group, flipping between Cover 1 Hole, Corner Blitz 2 and three deep zone looks without a substitution that tips your intent.
- Dime at 57 plays across 2 sets plus Quarter with Big Quarter 3-1-7 gives you a true third tier of dime and quarter coverage for obvious passing downs, which books that stop at Nickel cannot match late in the fourth.
- Double Wr1 and Double Wr2 concepts are built into the call sheet, so you can bracket a primary target without burning a hot route or manually dragging a defender in coverage adjustments.
- Three separate odd or light fronts (3-4 across 4 sets, 3-3-5, 2-4-5) let you shift the line and show pressure from different gaps snap to snap while the secondary shell stays identical.
- Cover 3 Match and Quarters alongside standard Cover 3 and Cover 4 means you have pattern match answers to smash and flood combos without leaving zone coverage entirely.
Weaknesses
- Only 6 plays of 4-3 across a single set leaves you almost no true base even front, so against 21 and 22 personnel power runs you are either in a 3-4 look or defending the run with five defensive backs.
- Goal Line Defense is 13 plays over 3 sets, thin for a book this size, and opponents who reach the two yard line will see the same short yardage looks repeatedly.
- Fifty seven percent of the book sitting in Nickel and Dime makes your personnel predictable; a user who reads your defensive package can motion to trips and know your linebacker count before the snap.
- Prevent is only 6 plays, so end of half and end of game situations offer very little variety when you need a soft shell you have not already shown.
- 3-3-5, 2-4-5 and Quarter are each a single set, so once you go to those fronts your alignment is fixed and a patient offense can find the vacated gap with draws and QB runs.
Usage Tips
Build your primary audible package entirely inside Nickel, using the 6 sets to pair a Cover 1 Hole man call, a three deep zone and Corner Blitz 2 off the same look for every first and second down between the twenties.
Save Dime and its Big Dime 4-1-6 and Dime 4-1-6 personnel for third and seven or longer, and reach for Quarter with Big Quarter 3-1-7 only on third and fifteen plus or two minute drives where the run is off the table.
Use the 3-4 (54 plays, 4 sets) as your early down run front against heavy personnel since 4-3 is only 6 plays, and shift the line inside to protect the A gaps before the snap.
Call 3-3-5 and 2-4-5 as change of pace pressure looks on second and medium, where the light box sells blitz and Cov 1 QB Contain Spy keeps a scrambling quarterback in the pocket.
Rotate 3 DBL Mable Cloud and Cover 3 Match against flood and corner route combos toward the boundary, and user the free safety so you are not relying on the zone drops to carry vertical routes.
Formations in this playbook
Upgrade to Playbooks Rookie
- Filter every play by tag and concept
- Personnel groupings
- Premium play analysis