Running The Ball Against Coverage.
These are all practical reasons to run the ball on different defenses, however, in MUT there are players with crazy stats that someone can run cover 2 and still shut down runs they wouldn't otherwise stop due to blocksheds.
Solid advice for regular or if your playing someone with a similar OVR team to you, but if opp has top cards in game I feel no matter the defense it will stop the run.
As other have said there is not a hard rule but in general against single high defense if you are going to run getting to the outside is ideal. The reason is because in the box you are going to be outnumbered (unless your running an option play by the qb). By getting to the outside you running away from the unblocked defender in the box and leaving him behind in the play. That is why flat defenders are so important in the run game of the cover 3 defense. They are trying to keep the runner inside of the and in the box area so the defense can take advantage of having an extra defender in the box. If he looses contain the offense can get outside for big gains and the numbers advantage in the box is negated. Also if possible you want to attack the gaps in the defense when running regardless of the coverage (2, 3, 4, etc).
With that being said in my opinion madden in the last couple years has really made match-ups the key to running the ball. Everything I said is true in the in theory and for real life football but in madden ratings trump all this. So having leverage and position matter a lot less than having a match up advantage on the line of scrimmage. So to make a long story short run behind lineman that have high run blocking and particularly a match-up advantage first and foremost. Do the things I talked about above if you can as icing on the cake.
For Cover 3 it kind of depends in my opinion. If they are in a standard Cover 3 Sky then like rsmith said it is a pretty neutral defense that comes down to defensive alignment and where you have the numbers advantage. If it's a cross fire variant, then you want to try to run the ball right at the LB they are blitzing, as he will essentially run himself out of the play by trying to loop around. If it is a Cover 3 Cloud, then you have to keep in mind that on one side there will be a CB in a flat zone, essentially turning it into a Tampa 2 run-wise on that side of the field. So you would either want to run up the middle or to the opposite side, since both safeties will be rolling their coverage to the side of the CB who is covering the flat.
Cover 1 and 2 Man Under both being man based defenses you generally want to run where you have leverage, similarly to a neutral style defense like Cover 3.
I think besides those 2 you mentioned, Toss works well against Cover 2, and Stretch works well against Cover 4. Afterwards all other defenses besides Cover 6 have standard Run Fits and you can run the way you would like as long as you have the right numbers advantage, good stick work, and don't spam Turbo. I like to Pass to open up the defense before running at the very end. Its just my style. I feel like Pure Runners once you go into run defense and user clap them there games really really diminish. The passing game can never truly be shut down just need to change plays to attack different portions of the field.
Quote from buccaneersfan1990 >> In cover 2 the linebackers go back right after the snap.
Corners are "run fits" in cover 2 so they typically set the edge. Safeties are in "run fits" in cover 4. Cover 3 is generally an intermediate pass defense. There is not a single hard rule. If opponent is base aligning out of cover 2 the corners will not be blocked, so for sure go inside or pass. In cover 4 the defense can move the safeties around pre-snap to stronger in different areas. In general though test Cover 3 everywhere, Cover 2 inside, and Cover 4 with draws (safeties try to recover).
Cover 3 I try to run to wherever the linebackers r not. Against any man coverages run to whichever side has less people
I know in cover 2 you should run the ball up the middle and cover 4 you run to the outside right? What about cover 3, cover 1 and Cover 2 Man?
I know in cover 2 you should run the ball up the middle and cover 4 you run to the outside right? What about cover 3, cover 1 and Cover 2 Man?