Playbooks
Playbook
Sim 46 Defense
OtherDefenseOverview
Sim 46 Defense is the largest defensive specialty playbook in the game at 211 plays across 8 formations and 15 sets, and it is built around a simple idea: give a sub package defense the full call sheet instead of a trimmed one. Nickel carries the load at 81 plays across 4 sets (38% of the book), Dime adds another 45 plays across 2 sets (21%), and 4-2-5 contributes 24 more. That means roughly 71% of everything in here is a five or six defensive back look, with Nickel 3-3-5, Nickel 4-2-5, Big Nickel 4-2-5, Dime 4-1-6 and Big Quarter 3-1-7 personnel all available as separate identities rather than one generic sub front.
The 46 package is what separates this book from a standard nickel heavy defense. Twenty-four plays across 3 sets of 46, plus 4-4, 3-4, 6-2-3 and Base 5-2 personnel, give you a genuine downhill run front with calls like 46 Mid Blitz that most sub oriented books simply cannot produce. Coverage concepts run the full spread: Cover 2, Cover 3, Cover 1, Cover 1 Hole, Cover 0, Inverted Coverage and general zone shells, with pressure packaged as Blitz, LB Blitz and Zero Blitz. Plays like 1 Double Slot and 1 Double Wr1 let you bracket a primary target out of man, while 60 Half Out and 3 Deep Blitz cover the split field and fire zone side of the call sheet.
What you get by picking Sim 46 Defense over a team book is coverage disguise depth without giving up your heavy fronts. You can live in Nickel on standard downs, kick to Dime 4-1-6 or Big Quarter 3-1-7 on obvious passing downs, and still pull up 46 or 4-4 on short yardage without leaving the playbook. Goal Line Defense gives you 12 plays across 2 sets for the red zone, and a 6 play Prevent set handles end of half situations. The tradeoff is that you are managing a lot of sets, so the book rewards players who actually build a disciplined audible package instead of scrolling.
Scheme Fit
Sim 46 Defense wants a roster built like a modern sub defense: two starting caliber outside corners with press and man coverage ratings, a nickel or slot corner who can hold up in Big Nickel 4-2-5 and Big Quarter 3-1-7, and at least one rangy safety with high zone coverage and play recognition to work the hole in Cover 1 Hole. Your edge rushers need to win one on one because the 46 and Zero Blitz calls leave nothing behind them, and your two remaining linebackers must be fast enough to survive in space on 38% Nickel snaps while still filling gaps on 46 Mid Blitz. This is a playbook for a user who controls a defender well, changes coverage shells from the same look, and is comfortable managing 15 sets rather than running five calls on repeat.
Example Plays from this Playbook
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Strengths
- Seventy-one percent of the book sits in Nickel, Dime and 4-2-5, so you can stay in sub personnel all game and still change the front look every snap between Nickel 3-3-5, Nickel 4-2-5 and Big Nickel 4-2-5, which makes pre-snap identification much harder for the offense than a two set nickel book.
- Twenty-four 46 plays across 3 sets plus 4-4, 3-4 and Base 5-2 personnel give you real run stopping fronts, so you never have to concede short yardage the way a pure sub playbook does. 46 Mid Blitz is a downhill A gap pressure you can pair with line shifts and pinch calls.
- Cover 1 Hole, Cover 1, Cover 0 and Zero Blitz sit alongside Cover 2, Cover 3 and Inverted Coverage from the same sets, so you can show the same Nickel alignment and run press man, a hole robber, or a split safety shell off identical pre-snap looks.
- Bracket concepts like 1 Double Slot and 1 Double Wr1 are built in, which means you can take away an opponent's primary target with a call instead of manually hot routing a defender into a double, freeing your user to patrol the middle.
- Dime at 45 plays across 2 sets with Dime 4-1-6 and Big Quarter 3-1-7 personnel gives you real third and long variety, including 3 Deep Blitz style fire zone pressure rather than just soft shells.
Weaknesses
- Only 9 plays of 3-4 across 1 set and 10 plays of 4-4 across 1 set, so if you want to play true base defense against heavy personnel you are working from a very shallow menu and opponents will see the same calls repeatedly.
- The book tilts so far into sub packages (71% Nickel, Dime and 4-2-5) that undersized linebackers and nickel corners are on the field constantly, which is exactly what run heavy offenses and RPO teams want to attack between the tackles.
- Prevent is only 6 plays in 1 set, which is thin for two minute and end of half management compared to the rest of the book's depth.
- Two hundred eleven plays across 15 sets is a lot of surface area. Without a tight audible package you will burn clock scrolling, and most of the Nickel volume is redundant once you settle on a core five or six calls.
- Heavy reliance on Cover 1, Cover 1 Hole, Cover 0 and Zero Blitz means a user who cannot cover ground in the middle of the field will get punished by crossers and drag concepts once an opponent reads that you are in man.
Usage Tips
Build your primary audible package inside Nickel, since 4 sets and 81 plays live there. Carry one Cover 3 zone shell, one Cover 2 split field look, one Cover 1 press call and one LB Blitz so you can answer first and second down without changing formation.
Save Dime 4-1-6 and Big Quarter 3-1-7 for third and 8 or longer. Those 45 Dime plays are where your fire zone pressure like 3 Deep Blitz belongs, not on early downs where a draw or screen will eat the light box.
Reach for 46 and its 3 sets on third and 1, fourth and short, and inside your own 5 yard line. 46 Mid Blitz is the call when you expect a QB sneak or an inside run, and the 12 play Goal Line Defense set across 2 sets handles the rest of the red zone.
Use 1 Double Slot and 1 Double Wr1 when an opponent has one clear go to receiver. Pair the bracket with user control on the opposite hash so you are not leaving the vacated zone open.
Keep the 10 play 4-4 set and the 9 play 3-4 set as change ups only. Rotating in one or two calls from each against heavy personnel keeps your Nickel tendencies from becoming a read, but you do not have the depth to live there.
Formations in this playbook
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