Playbooks
Overview
The NFL Live Raiders Defense playbook is functionally the same book as Raiders Defense. All 329 of its plays appear in the sibling cut, and the two differ by zero sets, so formations, sets, and every coverage and pressure call carry over. Pick whichever one your mode or menu surfaces. Your audibles, practice reps, and user assignments transfer one to one.
This is a sub package defense first. Nickel carries 145 plays (44%) spread across 8 sets, and Dime adds 75 more (23%) across 3 sets, so roughly two thirds of the book puts five or six defensive backs on the field. The base fronts are secondary: 3-4 has 33 plays in 2 sets and 4-3 has 30 plays in 3 sets, together only 19% of the book. The 2-4-5 (18 plays, 1 set) is the unusual piece. It is a two down lineman look that keeps a nickel shell while stacking four linebackers for disguise and pressure. Goal Line Defense (13 plays, 3 sets), 4-4 (9 plays, 1 set), and Prevent (6 plays, 1 set) are situational pockets rather than every down tools.
The concept menu shows the plan: Cover 1, Cover 1 Hole, Cover 3 and Cover 3 Match, Cover 4 and Quarters, Cover 6, Cover 2, and both general and LB Blitz tags. The book suits a player who wants to match spread offenses personnel for personnel. You can live in Nickel against 11 personnel and slide to Dime on passing downs. Calls like Cov 1 QB Contain Spy handle mobile quarterbacks, and pressure such as 3 Deep Blitz lets you bring heat without leaving the deep thirds empty. At 329 plays it sits below the middle of the 64 defensive team books in size. The volume is concentrated where competitive offenses actually line up.
Scheme Fit
The NFL Live Raiders Defense playbook wants depth and quality in the secondary: at least three starting caliber corners who can win in man, plus a fifth and sixth DB with enough zone awareness to play Dime and Big Dime spots on passing downs. Rangy, fast linebackers who can cover and blitz make the 2-4-5 and LB Blitz calls work, and pass rushers off the edge matter more here than big run stuffing tackles. Pick it if you face spread, pass-heavy offenses and like to disguise from sub packages, but avoid it if your league is full of heavy personnel run games that will drag you into the thin base fronts.
Example Plays from this Playbook
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Strengths
- Nickel depth is the headline: 145 plays across 8 sets means you can answer trips, bunch, empty, and 2x2 from the same personnel, which keeps your audible package and formation subs tight without tipping coverage through a substitution.
- The Dime package (75 plays, 3 sets) gives you a true third down home, with Big Dime 4-1-6, Big Dime 2-3-6, and Dime 4-1-6 personnel, so you can choose between run insurance and extra pass rush while staying in six DB coverage.
- The 2-4-5 is a rare look that most books do not carry, and it lets you show a light box with four stacked linebackers and then bring LB Blitz pressure or drop into Cover 3 Match from an identical pre-snap picture.
- Coverage variety inside the sub packages is wide: Cover 1 Hole, Cover 3 Match, Quarters, Cover 4, Cover 6, and Cover 2 give you man beaters and zone beaters to mix, so offenses cannot lock into one route combo answer.
- Spy and contain calls like Cov 1 QB Contain Spy give you a built-in answer to scrambling quarterbacks without having to manually user a linebacker every snap.
Weaknesses
- Base defense is thin: 4-3 and 3-4 total only 63 plays (19%) across 5 sets, so heavy 12 and 21 personnel offenses can force you into a small pool of calls or into sub packages that concede size in the box.
- The 4-4 offers just 9 plays in a single set, which leaves little variety against power run teams and makes your one heavy box front easy to scout.
- Goal Line Defense spreads 13 plays over 3 sets, so each set has only a handful of calls, and a patient offense near the stripe can start predicting your coverage.
- Prevent has only 6 plays in one set, so late half and end of game shell calls are limited and quickly become repetitive.
- The concept list has no dedicated Cover 0 tag, so all out pressure has to come from Blitz and LB Blitz calls that keep a safety or zone help back, and you give up some of the pure numbers heat that punishes max protect.
Usage Tips
Build your base audible package inside Nickel: pair a Cover 1 Hole call, a Cover 3 Match call, and a Quarters call from the same set so you can flip man and zone after the offense motions without changing personnel.
On 3rd and 6 or longer, check into Dime and choose between Big Dime 2-3-6 for extra linebacker flexibility on screens and draws or Dime 4-1-6 when you want four rushers and a single spy linebacker underneath.
Use the 2-4-5 on 2nd and medium against 11 personnel to show pressure: stack the linebackers, blitz off LB Blitz tags, and mix in its zone drops so the quarterback cannot read the same box twice.
Save 3-4 and 4-3 for 1st and 10 against 12 and 21 personnel, and use the 4-4 or Goal Line Defense sets only inside the 5 or on 3rd and 1 so you do not burn their few calls early and give away tendencies.
Against scramblers, keep Cov 1 QB Contain Spy in your audibles and pair it with Cover 3 Match so your contain rushers stay disciplined whether you are in man or match zone.
Formations in this playbook
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