Bird Down!!!!

We have all had the feeling of helplessness when facing a mobile QB. Mike Vick was the Mr. Unstoppable especially during his time on the Madden cover in 2004.  This Defense gets its name from Mr.Vick (Falcons and Eagles, Bird down ….get it)

Countless other mobile Qbs  have given players headaches throughput the years as well. Young, Rodgers, Jackson, Shockley, Campbell are others who make me angry just to think about them. But don’t fret anymore; the Bird Down Defense is here to smash all who doubt its powers.  It successfully cages Qbs in the pocket while providing superb coverage across the field with the opportunity to be aggressive in the pass game as the user.

The Bird Down is a very easy concept. Take away where they want to run 1st,2nd, and make them make a play through the air.


The set up is very easy
(if the cb blitz is on the left)
-slant the DL to the right
-put the DE on the left of screen in a QB spy
-put the DT on the right of screen on a QB contain
-put the DE right of screen in a purple zone
-put the OLB right of screen in a yellow zone
*user the OLB left of screen*

(if you want the blitz to come from the right just do the same set ups for the other side)

In most cases you want the CB Blitz to come from the Qbs strong arm (Mike Vick is a lefty who throws best running to his left. So set it up so the blitz is to the left of the screen)….But we know that this is madden (or NCAA) and it always cant go as planned, but that’s cool the play will still work if it is going to the other side.

So heres what is going to happen. There are 2 false openings in this defense that is used to bait the QB in.

1. The QB spy rolls right and shows a huge hole to the left.
But wait, there is a CB moving in quick!!!
The QB has 2 moves if he is scrambling left. He either goes wide and gets smacked by the CB. Or the QB sees the CB and cuts it up, there he will run into a QB spy……No where to go and he will be happy with his 2 yd gain

2. The space between the QB contain and the slanted DT.
But wait, this is also a trap
The QB again has 2 moves he can make. 1 he can think he is hot sh** and try to out run the contain to the outside (not going to work)
Or he is going to cut it up in the open space. Where again the QB spy is there waiting. He again is lucky for his 2 yd gain

You see he has nowhere to go when up against the Bird Down Defense. Take it, use it, abuse it whenever you are up against one of those pesky scramblers.