Playbooks
Overview
The NFL Live Redskins Defense playbook is functionally identical to its sibling cut, Redskins Defense. The two share all 436 plays and differ by zero sets, so picking between them is a label choice, not a strategy choice. Nothing in the formation tree changes: same 9 formations, same 28 sets, same concept list. If you already know one, you already know the other.
What you are getting is one of the deepest defensive books in the game, larger than 95 percent of the 64 defensive team playbooks, and it is built almost entirely around sub packages. Nickel accounts for 165 plays (38 percent) across 8 sets and Dime adds another 108 plays (25 percent) across 5 sets, so 63 percent of this book lives in five or six defensive backs. The 3-4 is the third pillar at 81 plays (19 percent) across 6 sets, which gives you an odd front with stand-up edge pressure when you want to hold up against the run without going heavy. Base 4-3 is an afterthought at 21 plays (5 percent) across 2 sets, and the specialty fronts are thin slices: 2-4-5 at 18 plays, Goal Line Defense at 13, 3-3-5 and 4-2-5 at 12 each, and Prevent at 6.
Concept coverage is broad enough to disguise from a single shell. Cover 3, Cover 3 Buzz, Cover 4, Cover 2, and Tampa 2 give you the zone ladder, while Man Coverage, Cover 0, Zero Blitz, Edge Blitz, and LB Blitz cover the pressure side. Sample calls like Cover 1 Hole, 1 Double Slot, 1 Pirate Spy, 3 Double Cloud, 3 Double Buzz, 60 Half Out, and 3 Deep Blitz show the range: robber man with a hole defender, doubled slot help, a spy call for scrambling quarterbacks, cloud corners over the flats, and buzzing safeties out of a three deep look. The game plan this supports is a pass-first defense that answers spread offenses with matching personnel, uses Big Nickel 4-2-5 and Big Dime 3-2-6 as the between-downs baseline, and dips into 3-4 or Goal Line Defense only when the situation forces it.
Scheme Fit
This playbook wants a secondary heavy roster: three or more starting caliber corners, a slot defender with man coverage and zone coverage ratings that both hold up, and at least one safety with the range to play single high behind Cover 1 Hole and Cover 3 Buzz. Because 63 percent of the plays are Nickel or Dime, your edge rushers need to win without help, and a hybrid linebacker who can cover a tight back is more valuable here than a two down thumper. Pick the NFL Live Redskins Defense playbook if you user a deep safety or a linebacker, prefer to disguise coverage from a stable personnel group, and are comfortable navigating 28 sets to find the exact matchup you want.
Example Plays from this Playbook
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Strengths
- Sixty three percent of the book sits in Nickel and Dime across 13 combined sets, so you can stay in one personnel package through an entire drive and still show completely different fronts and shells, which kills the opponent's ability to read your call off the substitution screen.
- Eight Nickel sets is enough variety to build a full audible package inside one personnel group: Big Nickel 4-2-5, Nickel 5-1-5, Nickel 4-2-5, and Nickel 3-3-5 let you flip from a five man front to a three man front without a personnel change, so pre-snap line shifts and DL slants land before the offense can motion to check.
- Three Big Dime bodies (1-4-6, 3-2-6, 4-1-6) plus Dime 4-1-6 and Big Quarter 3-1-7 means you have real answers to empty and 10 personnel without conceding the run outright, since the Big Dime 1-4-6 and 3-2-6 sets keep linebacker bodies on the field for run fits and hook drops.
- The concept list pairs deep zone (Cover 3, Cover 3 Buzz, Cover 4, Cover 2, Tampa 2) with Cover 0 and Zero Blitz out of the same sub formations, so you can present the identical alignment on back to back snaps and alternate between a 3 Double Buzz shell and an all out pressure with only a hot route or two changing on your end.
- Cover 1 Hole and 1 Pirate Spy give you built in answers to scrambling quarterbacks and crossers without burning a user defender, so your user can play the deep middle or rob a dig while the AI hole or spy handles the underneath problem.
Weaknesses
- Base 4-3 is only 21 plays across 2 sets, so if an opponent goes to 12 or 21 personnel and runs downhill, you are either stuck in a thin 4-3 tree or forced into 3-4 fronts that you may not have reps with. There is no deep heavy package to lean on.
- Goal Line Defense is 13 plays across 3 sets, which is a short menu when you are defending inside the five. A patient opponent can cycle through those calls quickly and find the ones your user cannot cover.
- The 3-3-5 and 4-2-5 slices are 12 plays each out of one set apiece, so the odd stack and the single high quarters looks that usually serve as change of pace are too shallow to disguise. Once you show them, the opponent knows the short list.
- A 436 play book with 28 sets is a lot of navigation. Without a disciplined audible package you will burn clock scrolling, and in fast paced no huddle you will end up defaulting to whatever Nickel set loads first, which is exactly what a good opponent wants to see.
- Prevent is 6 plays in one set. End of half and end of game situations give you almost nothing to work with, so you are better off checking to a Dime Tampa 2 or Cover 4 call than reaching for the Prevent tree.
Usage Tips
Build your primary audible package entirely out of Nickel. Put Big Nickel 4-2-5 and Nickel 5-1-5 on the same page so you can bounce between a run fit look and a five man pressure front on any first and 10 or second and medium without substituting.
On third and 6 or longer, go straight to Dime. Big Dime 3-2-6 and Dime 4-1-6 should hold your Cover 2, Tampa 2, and Cover 4 calls, and Big Quarter 3-1-7 is your emergency answer to empty on third and 15 plus.
Reserve Edge Blitz and LB Blitz calls for second and long out of the Nickel 3-3-5 or 2-4-5 sets. Those fronts already threaten from odd alignments, so the offense's slide protection has to guess, and a pre-snap DL shift toward the back's release side finishes the job.
Use 3-4 on early downs against 12 personnel. With 81 plays across 6 sets it is your only real answer to condensed formations, so keep Base 3-4 and a 5-2 style front hot rather than dropping into a 21 play 4-3 tree you have not practiced.
Alternate Cover 1 Hole and 3 Double Buzz from matching Nickel alignments on back to back snaps. Same shell pre-snap, different rotation post-snap, and your user should sit at the hole or over the top so the read is late either way.
Formations in this playbook
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