So this was brought up on the latest episode of MFN Tonight (http://www.wjxradio.com: definitely listen to it all, but this specific discussion starts around 38:30), and I thought it merited wider discussion here on the forums.

The Problem:

As it stands, MFN has really only one style of man to man, which is press/B&R, which means that when M2M is called, the defender will be on the route runner from the line of scrimmage to the end of the route. In the NFL, this is exceptionally difficult to do, most especially against faster WRs, and there are very few 'true' M2M CBs as a consequence (since they need to have elite speed, accel, m2m, and physicality--a pretty rare package).

What you will see more often is that DBs will provide a 'cushion' based off the situation. If it's third and short, you would press the line, but if it's 3rd and long, you will provide a deep cushion (often 10 yards off). This allows the DB to keep their eyes forward, watch the route, and only commit to swinging their hips if the route runner breaks for a deep route. And if you do press the line, you will usually have the benefit of a safety over top to help if the route breaks deep.

This also happens to be at the heart of one of the major issues of the game, which is the dominance of a handful of 'sell-out' M2M blitzes (meaning no or little over top help from the safeties). Recently MFN1 has been testing a 'hot read' feature to beat these blitzes. However, as it stands, if you call a M2M blitz with sufficient coverage players for all route runners, they will all play press so any 'hot read' will go straight into a perfectly defended player, since even the worst DBs can maintain coverage for at least those first couple yards.

In reality, if you called a 'sell-out' blitz and played all your DBs in press coverage like that, unless your entire secondary is comprised of Sherman and Revis caliber guys, those route runners are going to likely bust the top off the defense for a huge gain (or likely a TD) if the QB doesn't get sacked before the routes develop. So you would only ever call that type of blitz if you think you're expecting a short pass, a run, or long developing routes and believe you can disguise it (and obviously you're confident you'll get the sack before those routes can develop). On offense if you identified that blitz, you'd audible extra blockers to pick up the blitzers, then send one of your WRs on a simple go route (or a run play to the opposite side of the blitz).

More likely, if you're leaving 'island' coverage on route runners and you're not expecting a short pass or outside run, you'd allow some cushion to prevent the 'big play'. The more cushion given the lower the likelihood that a deep route is going to bust open over top, though obviously this leaves more space for the route runner underneath. So if a team gives up a fat cushion, this would be when a QB would 'hot read' to a quick pass instead.

In the current game engine, I would never ask for cushions to be implemented because open field tackling is so awful that you would never want to allow anything underneath, no matter the risk of giving up a big play over top. However, it seems that this has been improved with the latest game engine being tested in MFN1, so it would now make more sense to do so.

The Suggestion(s):

1) Minimum three new M2M coverage styles should be introduced: press, 5-yard cushion, 10-yard cushion.

2) M2M should be more difficult to maintain over time, exacerbated by the relative players' speeds and Route Running/M2M coverage. Deeper cushions would officially start this M2M coverage later into the route, thus allowing DBs to maintain coverage on deeper or longer developing routes better than if they had been in coverage from the line.

3) Tie the coverage styles to the keys (run = press, neutral = 5-yard, pass = 10-yard), or add their own similar sliders.

4) DBs should 'intelligently' adapt their game as the situation develops. If the game checks and sees a DB is significantly slower than the WR they're being tasked to cover, or if that player has no safety help over top, they'd be more likely to cheat back into a deeper cushion than the key called and vice versa (e.g., you called a neutral key, but the DB who knows he has no safety help on this play and is moderately slower than the WR might back from his 5 yard cushion to an 8 yard cushion instead). If the offense burns you on a couple deep passes, you might start weighing your cushion back a little. If they're gouging you on the ground or with short passes, you might start cheating them up closer to the line on first and second downs. A new slider would also be introduced into the 'misc' section of game planning similar to the "GP Distance Adjustment Speed" that would allow users to set the weight this 'intelligent' adjustment is given from 0-10, with 0 removing it entirely, and 10 making players adapt significantly to their match-ups and what's being called.

There are actually 2 modes in man-to-man, sometimes the DB will play bump and run, and other times he will give him a cushion (variable based on the speed of the WR vs the speed of the DB). But I'll look into having more inputs into that decision.

it seems to me that man to man means the db is in the hip pocket of the wr. Instead of having the wr catch tons of ***** when they're draped in coverage it would be more realistic if their is a cushion at times based on the skill levels of the db and wr's. Especially on third and really long, the db should never be getting beat deep, rather the defense should allow the offense to throw underneath and then attack.

My defense is based around this philosophy. It will not work in v.0.4.1 because tackling has apparently been nerfed.

If B&R is in fact implemented and used, B&R actually needs to be developed in DBs, as it currently only degrades (much like pass blocking in RBs).

In my proposed system, B&R would obviously only trigger when you're playing press. Also, I'd personally just vote for getting rid of B&R Coverage/Avoidance as an attribute all together and simply replace the governing attribute of whether B&R succeeds or not with each player's Strength (and a touch of accel), but maybe that's just me.

That said, the 'cushion' the game currently gives is always press. I've never seen a DB line up in a deep cushion like you'd expect in long situations.

Edited to add: Also, just like pass blocking in RBs, B&R coverage is not considered a native skill for CBs (or any position) and thus does not show up on the player card. If you were a new player you'd never even know this skill existed.