Playbooks
Overview
Start with the variant question, because it is the shortest part of this review: Redskins Defense and NFL Live Redskins Defense are the same book. They share all 436 of this playbook's 436 plays and differ by zero sets, so the only thing you are choosing between is the label in the playbook menu. Pick either one and your audibles, sets and pre-snap adjustments carry over exactly.
What you are actually getting is one of the biggest defensive books in the game, 436 plays across 9 formations and 28 sets, larger than 95% of the 64 defensive team playbooks. The weight is unapologetically sub package: Nickel at 165 plays (38%) across 8 sets and Dime at 108 plays (25%) across 5 sets means 63% of this book is built for passing downs. The 3-4 adds 81 plays (19%) across 6 sets as the primary front for early downs, while traditional 4-3 is a 21 play afterthought spread over just 2 sets. Odd and hybrid fronts fill the rest: 2-4-5 (18 plays), 3-3-5 (12 plays), 4-2-5 (12 plays), plus Goal Line Defense (13 plays across 3 sets) and a 6 play Prevent set for end of half and end of game situations.
The concept list matches the shape. Cover 3, Cover 3 Buzz, Cover 4, Cover 2 and Tampa 2 give you the full zone ladder, Man Coverage sits alongside Cover 0 and Zero Blitz for pressure downs, and Blitz, Edge Blitz and LB Blitz give you three distinct pressure sources out of the same looks. Sample calls like 3 Double Cloud, 3 Double Buzz, 60 Half Out, 3 Deep Blitz, 1 Pirate Spy and 1 Double Slot show the range: cloud flat shells and buzz rotations for coverage downs, spy and double calls for scrambling quarterbacks and single receiver isolation, and Cover 1 Hole as a repeatable man shell you can run out of multiple fronts. The game plan this supports is a coverage first defense that disguises out of Nickel and Dime, uses the 3-4 as its only real early down front, and leans on personnel variety (Big Nickel 4-2-5, Nickel 5-1-5, Big Dime 1-4-6, Big Dime 3-2-6, Big Dime 4-1-6, Big Quarter 3-1-7) instead of exotic base fronts.
Scheme Fit
This book wants a roster built like a modern sub package defense: two coverage linebackers who can carry seam routes out of Nickel 5-1-5 and Nickel 4-2-5, at least four trustworthy man coverage defensive backs for the Cover 1 Hole and Cover 0 calls, and a pair of edge rushers with acceleration and finesse pass rush moves who can win from stand up 3-4 alignments rather than needing a hand in the dirt. Slot corners with high zone coverage and play recognition matter more than a fourth defensive tackle here, because 63% of the book lives in Nickel and Dime and the Big Dime sets ask a sixth defensive back to play near the box. Pick Redskins Defense if you are a user who likes to control a linebacker or safety, disguise a small set of shells out of one formation, and manufacture pressure with Edge Blitz and LB Blitz rather than winning with a four man front, and avoid it if your defense is built around a dominant 4-3 interior and you want a deep early down run front.
Example Plays from this Playbook
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Strengths
- Eight Nickel sets at 165 plays is a full defense on its own, so you can build an entire audible package inside Nickel and never show the offense a personnel change, which lets you run Cover 3 Buzz, Cover 2, man and Edge Blitz out of identical alignments.
- The 108 play Dime block across 5 sets includes Big Dime 1-4-6, Big Dime 3-2-6, Big Dime 4-1-6, Dime 4-1-6 and Big Quarter 3-1-7, so you can match empty and 4x1 spread sets with six or seven defensive backs while still keeping heavier bodies on the field in the Big Dime looks rather than being forced into pure coverage personnel.
- The 3-4 at 81 plays across 6 sets is deep enough to be a real early down front, not a token inclusion, and it pairs with Base 5-2 and Base 3-4 personnel so you can shift the front, pinch the ends and user the free rusher without leaving the formation.
- Hybrid fronts are covered from multiple angles: 2-4-5, 3-3-5 and 4-2-5 all appear, which gives you three different ways to present a light box on second and medium and lets you disguise LB Blitz and Zero Blitz pressure from stand up alignments.
- Both ends of the situational spectrum are present, 13 Goal Line Defense plays across 3 sets for inside the five and a 6 play Prevent set for end of half and end of game snaps, so you are not calling a Dime coverage and hoping when the clock dictates the call.
Weaknesses
- Only 21 4-3 plays across 2 sets means this book is weak against committed heavy run offenses that live in two back and 12 personnel, and you will often be answering those looks with 3-4 or Big Nickel 4-2-5 instead of a true four down front.
- At 38% Nickel and 25% Dime, a read heavy opponent will correctly assume sub package on nearly every snap and can attack the box with inside zone, RPO handoffs and quarterback runs before you ever get to your coverage.
- The 2-4-5, 3-3-5 and 4-2-5 fronts are one set each (18, 12 and 12 plays), so once an opponent sees the handful of blitzes and coverages available there, those looks lose their surprise value quickly.
- Prevent is only 6 plays in a single set, which leaves very little variety for four minute and end of half defense beyond conceding yardage, and no meaningful disguise inside it.
- The book carries no exotic base front variety outside 3-4 and a thin 4-3, so if your user front seven is built for standard four man rush concepts you will be constantly asking outside linebackers to generate pressure from odd fronts rather than calling into your roster's strength.
Usage Tips
Anchor your audible package in Nickel, not in a base front. With 8 sets and 165 plays you can slot a Cover 3 Buzz, a Cover 2 or Tampa 2 shell, Cover 1 Hole as your man call and an Edge Blitz into the same wheel and cycle them on every down from second and six through third and ten.
Save the Dime block, especially Big Dime 3-2-6 and Big Quarter 3-1-7, for third and long past eight yards and for empty formations. The Big Dime personnel keeps enough size to handle a check down draw while giving you the extra defensive back for 3x2 and 4x1 alignments.
Use the 3-4 as your first and second down front and lean on its 6 sets to shift the line and crash the ends rather than calling out of the 21 play 4-3 block, which is too thin to give you a real progression of looks.
Reach for 2-4-5, 3-3-5 and 4-2-5 as change of pace on second and medium only, one or two calls a game each, since each one is a single set and repeated use makes the available blitz paths easy to read.
Call Goal Line Defense inside the five and go to the 6 play Prevent set with the clock under a minute and a two score lead, then user a deep safety and keep everything in front of you instead of trying to force a turnover.
Formations in this playbook
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