I play man but the key is you have to blitz the QB AND contain/sack him. If your rusher gets juked, you will be in a world of hurt cause you can only count on your team covering man for 3-4 secs, after that someones getting open. In practice find your best rusher and use him. After that I teach my team to play man on top as you won't have a safety deep, this also helps with the run as they never turn their back to the play like a bump and run coverage would do. Line them up to the away the quick route as you want the QB to hold to the ball so your rusher can get to him and force the long throw. The hot route is another dangerous play to beat man. Of course you need to read the offense and determine if your talent can match theirs or come reasonably close. Yes a athletic team will beat man, but a athletic team will beat anything if you don't have the horses to match up. Basically I match my talent to theirs regardless of where they are playing. If they have their best kid at center my best kid has him man. Thats my .02