Madden's defensive play editor looks a bit confusing at first glance. You have the option to assign a player to drop back into a "Hook" zone, with a "subroute" displaying WR1, WR2, WR3, and WR4. To tell you the truth, I still am not 100% exactly what each does, but I have been able to make players do what I want with hook zones. I'm going to explain how I created a play from my 40 Defense playbook, "42 Stinger", which makes use of hook zones.

Our goal , the finished product. MLB, LOLB, and SS are assigned to hook zones. FS and RCB drop into a deep zone, while the ROLB has curl/flat

Here's what I've found out with experimenting (if anyone knows more about this subject, please email me and I'll add it to the site).

• The "subroute" does not have as much bearing on what the player will do, the little line drawn on the play diagram is a better indication of which direction he will go.
• The subroute seems to be the same as man coverage, but for some reason, "WR5" is left out, I don't know if that was intentional or a screwup. At any rate, when I want my defender to keep an eye on the outside WR to the defensive right, I just use "WR4" instead.
• WR1 is the furthest elibigle receiver to the defensive left (offensive right), while WR5 is the furthest eligible receiver to the defensive right (offensive left). This does not refer to Wide Receivers, as players, but any eligible receiver, including TEs, FBs, and HBs.
• The subroute does not seem to have any bearing on the direction line.
• The defensive player will drop back in the direction indicated on the play diagram, and will drift towards his subroute assignment. For example, in the diagram above, the SS, assigned a subroute of WR1, keeps an eye on the outsidemost receiver, while drifting towards the sideline, as directed by his line on the play diagram.

Subroute menu

So basically, the line on the play diagram directs the defender. Problem is, you can't assign them manually. As said before, you only have the option to choose a subroute, an offensive player to keep an eye on.

Default hook zones without moving players around

If you just assign the hook zones, with the subroutes and everything, you will get something like the play on the left. It looks ok, at first glance, a pretty even coverage, but a quick play test will expose the weakness. The ROLB, going to the curl/flat zone, drifts outside quickly, while the MLB drops almost straight back, leaving a huge hole on the coverage between the two. So how do you manually assign the direction to a defender dropping back into a hook zone?

The defense before moving players around

(Important note: Everytime you assign a hook zone to a defender, assign it twice. For some reason, the first time you do it, the direction assigned to the player seems to be totally random (only tested on PC, I don't have a console). Go into the play editor, assign a LB a hook zone, and note the direction. Assign the exact same zone again, and the direction line usually will change to the true direction.)

I moved the MLB to a spot outside, and then assigned him the hook zone

I put the SS further outside and closer to the line to give him a shorter dropback and a more shallow angle outside.

I created my hook zone coverage by moving my player around before assigning the zone. The direction a player gets depends on where he is lined up on the field. A MLB lined up directly in the middle of the field will always give you a hook zone straight up, but you can have him drift sideways by moving him sidways in the formation editor before assigning him the hook zone. Move him back, and the zone coverage stays with him, along with the direction line.

In the play at the top, the MLB has a hook zone assignment going almost directly to the sidelines, to the left. Normally, he would drop almost straight back, as shown in the 2nd play diagram on this page. To create my play, I went into the formation editor and moved him to a spot further outside. I then just gave him his hook zone, as normal. Because of his location on the field, Madden assigned him a direction towards the outside, which is what I wanted. After getting the zone assignment (Remember to assign it twice!), I moved him back to his middle spot.

I did the same with the SS. His default coverage was a 45° angle dropback, while I needed a dropback with a more shallow angle to the outside, and a shorter drop, since he was already lined up 7 yards off the ball. I moved him closer to the line, and a bit further outside.

A defender's position will determine the direction he drops in a hook zone

Tips for Player Movement:

• Moving a player closer to the line will give him a short dropback (he won't drop back as much), and will give him a direction more towards the sideline.
• Moving a player deeper will give him a deeper dropback, and usually his direction will be more down the field rather than outside.
• A player moved into the middle will always get a straight back dropback.
• A player moved outside will get a dropback angle towards the sineline, a player moved inside towards the middle will get an angle down the field.
• A player will always be influenced a bit by the final position he is lined up in for the real defense; a MLB assigned a hook zone 90° towards the sidelines will not head straight for the sidelines, he will take something closer to 60°, while a safety or a OLB lined up further outside will take something closer, like 80°.

The diagram above is a general guideline to where you should move your players, just to give you the basic idea. You'd probably do better experimenting youself, in the play editor and in the play test mode, seeing where your guys drop back. I didn't go into the play editor and chart every single box.

The final result:

Before

After

The dropbacks result in an even coverage with all 3 LBs and the SS.

The final play diagram doesn't look like it will work too well, but a test in practice mode shows the real results. The ROLB heads for the sidelines, in a curl/flat zone, while the 2 other LBs and the SS all take up hook zones evenly over the middle. The 4 medium zones all "roll" towards the defensive right side of the field, while the RCB and the FS "roll" in their deep zone coverage to the other side of the field.

Again, I don't know everything about this topic, so any additional information would be appreciated, especially info about the subroutes. This is just what I know and what worked for me.