Man Coverage

Every now and then, I play against someone who absolutely clamps with man coverage.  Usually, if someone only plays man, I can cook it.  However, once every like 20-30 games, I come across someone whose corners play like they're cracked.  What is up with that?

Just to experiment, I made a Steelers TT with Ramsey, Davis III, Patrick Peterson, Minkah, and DeShon Elliiot.  I put on the +2 man strat.  It doesn't matter if I shade, press, don't press, whatever, it's not even close.

The only thing I haven't done is load up my secondary with abilities.  However, the abilities seem so specific (like mid-out, mid-in, etc.), that I don't feel like this is the answer.

Does anybody have any ideas or at least come across the same thing?

Are you  100% certain they are running man coverage? 
It could be that they are running match coverage.
For example, cover 6 and cover 9 have match principles and they can be very sticky if you know how and when to use them. 

And as far as shading with man coverage, it could be that your opponent is assigning individual 'shade' assignments dependent on offensive formations, personnel, down and distance, and position on field. 
Shading inside 'universally' and then individually shading outside on a specific DB to cover a corner route, or the DB/Safety assigned to the Tight End, etc...

Most players only shade 'universal' coverage assignments, every once in a while you will come across a higher skilled player who assigns both universal and individual shade assignments. 

If you notice they are playing your corner routes sticky, then hot route to an inside breaking route next play.
Keep them guessing!

It can only happen if they have a God squad . And the medium and short route kos help.

I ran a lot of man in my ranked grind this weekend to champ pretty successfully, obviously mixing it up as needed. I was surprised however to see some of my DBs get beat consistently in one-on-ones against WRs that didn’t stack up “on paper.” Davante vs my chem’ed up Surtain was a problem across multiple games until I subbed him. So my 2 pieces of advice:

1. Toss the “ratings” out the window and switch up your CB depth chart accordingly based on the eye test. 

2. Obviously note their tendencies and adjust your safety depths and widths accordingly if you aren’t already doing this.

Edit: I didn’t run abilities in my secondary this weekend, opting to invest it all on the line to generate pressure. This is what causes the picks. I didn’t notice a difference taking off PA. Forcing the bad throws I feel is going to lead to more picks than running PA. At least at this moment in this years cycle.

Khoale37 said:

I ran a lot of man in my ranked grind this weekend to champ pretty successfully, obviously mixing it up as needed. I was surprised however to see some of my DBs get beat consistently in one-on-ones against WRs that didn’t stack up “on paper.” Davante vs my chem’ed up Surtain was a problem across multiple games until I subbed him. So my 2 pieces of advice:

1. Toss the “ratings” out the window and switch up your CB depth chart accordingly based on the eye test. 

2. Obviously note their tendencies and adjust your safety depths and widths accordingly if you aren’t already doing this.

Edit: I didn’t run abilities in my secondary this weekend, opting to invest it all on the line to generate pressure. This is what causes the picks. I didn’t notice a difference taking off PA. Forcing the bad throws I feel is going to lead to more picks than running PA. At least at this moment in this years cycle.

A TT 89 overall davante Adams doesn't stack up against an 86 cb?