You play tight man all game long you can fake cover zero or single high and drop into zone on critical downs. You play soft zone all the time and then go man on critical downs you better have some damn good man corners or you get burnt. The other thing is you can see how handsy the refs are letting the defense play. Teams frequently get very grabby with our guys and we let guys run free for easy quick passes all game long. Once upon a time our soft zone was a small cushion and a big hit but now a days our soft zone is 5 or 6 yards and more missed tackles after that.