Playbooks
Overview
NFL Live Saints Defense is effectively the same book as Saints Defense. The two cuts share all 344 plays and differ by zero sets, so every coverage, pressure and front you learn in one carries over to the other without adjustment. Pick whichever sheet your mode loads. There is no hidden scheme difference to chase here.
At 344 plays across 9 formations and 22 sets, this is a slightly above average defensive team book, larger than 54% of the game's 64 defensive playbooks. Its center of gravity is sub package defense. Nickel carries 148 plays (43%) across 7 sets, and Dime adds another 75 plays (22%) across 3 sets. That means roughly two thirds of the book puts five or six defensive backs on the field. The 3-4 is the primary base look at 54 plays (16%) across 4 sets. A single 3-3-5 set (21 plays) and a single Dollar set (12 plays) fill out the specialty menu. Goal Line (13), 4-4 (9), 4-3 (6) and Prevent (6) are situational patches rather than full packages.
The concept list tells you how it wants to play: Cover 1 and man coverage mixed with Cover 3, Cover 3 Match, Cover 4 and Quarters, plus Corner Blitz, LB Blitz, Double Wr1 and Double Wr2 brackets. Sample calls like Cover 1 Robber Press, Cover 1 Hole, Cov 1 QB Contain Spy, 3 Deep Blitz and Corner Blitz 2 point to a game plan built on disguising single high man and match coverage out of spread matching personnel. The book is designed to match 11 and 10 personnel with extra DBs, send pressure from the slot and second level, and bracket the opponent's top target. It is not built to grind in heavy base fronts.
Scheme Fit
NFL Live Saints Defense wants a secondary deep enough to play five and six DBs for most of the game: press capable outside corners who can survive in Cover 1, a physical slot corner who can blitz and fill against the run, and a rangy safety for the robber and Cover 3 Match roles. Up front it rewards a disruptive interior rush and at least one athletic linebacker who can spy or cover, because the base fronts are thin. Pick it if you are a man coverage first player who likes disguising pressure from sub packages and bracketing top receivers against pass heavy opponents, not if you want to live in heavy base fronts.
Example Plays from this Playbook
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Strengths
- Nickel depth is the headline. With 148 plays across 7 sets and personnel options like Nickel 2-4-5, Nickel 4-2-5, Big Nickel 4-2-5 and Big Nickel 5-1-5, you can stay in five DB personnel against almost every offensive look and still change fronts, pressure and shells without subbing into a new formation.
- Dime gives a second full sub package rather than a token set. The 75 plays across 3 sets cover Dime 4-1-6, Dime 3-2-6, Big Dime 4-1-6 and Big Dime 1-4-6, so on passing downs you can swap between four man and three man rushes while keeping six DBs on empty and trips sets.
- Cover 1 variety supports a real man defense. Calls like Cover 1 Robber Press, Cover 1 Hole and Cov 1 QB Contain Spy let you run the same single high shell with different underneath roles, and that makes user robber and hole defender reads hard for the offense to diagnose pre snap.
- Bracket concepts with Double Wr1 and Double Wr2 let you erase a single alpha receiver from sub personnel. Pair them with coverage shading adjustments to push help toward the slot or boundary, depending on where the opponent's matchup nightmare aligns.
- The pressure package runs through the secondary. Corner Blitz, LB Blitz and 3 Deep Blitz calls out of Nickel and Dime let you bring five with zone behind, so you can manufacture sacks without abandoning the DB heavy personnel the book is built around.
Weaknesses
- Four man base fronts are thin. The 4-3 has only 6 plays in one set and the 4-4 has 9 plays in one set, so against heavy 21 or 22 personnel you are pushed into the 3-4, Goal Line or light boxes that downhill run offenses will target.
- The 3-4 is the only true base package with real depth (54 plays, 4 sets). An opponent who stays in 12 personnel can force you into that one front repeatedly or into Nickel against extra tight ends, and either way the run fits become predictable.
- The specialty looks are single set menus. The 3-3-5 (21 plays), Dollar (12 plays) and Prevent (6 plays) each live in one set, so when you show one of those alignments a prepared opponent can narrow your call down quickly.
- With about two thirds of the book in five or six DB personnel, power run teams and quarterbacks who read the light box pre snap will audible to inside zone or counter. Your smaller Nickel and Dime defenders then end up taking on pulling guards all game.
- The Goal Line package is only 13 plays across 3 sets. Short yardage and red zone defense has little disguise, so creative offenses running play action or rollouts inside the five can find open grass against a limited set of looks.
Usage Tips
Build your base audible package inside Nickel. Keep a Cover 1 Robber Press or Cover 1 Hole look, a Cover 3 Match or Quarters zone call, and a Corner Blitz variant together on first and second down against 11 personnel, and flip between them after the offense sets its formation.
On third and 6 or longer, sub into Dime 4-1-6 or Dime 3-2-6 and lean on Double Wr1 or Double Wr2 brackets to take away the primary target. Mix in 3 Deep Blitz to send five while keeping the deep thirds covered.
Against mobile quarterbacks on passing downs, call Cov 1 QB Contain Spy and user the spy or the robber yourself. That lets you keep man coverage outside without surrendering scrambles through the rush lanes.
When the offense shows 12 or 21 personnel on early downs, go to the 3-4 sets rather than forcing Nickel. Save the 4-4 and 4-3 for obvious short yardage runs, and treat the 3-3-5 as a change up on second and medium to disguise pressure against spread looks.
Keep Dollar and Prevent strictly situational. Dollar fits third and very long against empty or four vertical sets, and Prevent is for end of half and end of game Hail Mary situations. Show them sparingly because each is a single set that is easy to identify.
Formations in this playbook
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