A method of applying a coating onto a baggy web, the method comprising: contacting a Mayer rod with a back-up roll, wherein the back-up roll includes a deformable inner layer with a surface thereof covered by a deformable outer layer, the inner layer being softer than the outer layer, wherein the deformable inner layer of the back-up roll has a hardness less than 20 Shore A, and the deformable outer layer of the back-up roll has a hardness greater than 40 Shore A; disposing a flexible web between the back-up roll and the Mayer rod; wrapping the flexible web around at least one of the back-up roll and the Mayer rod; pressing the Mayer rod and the back-up roll against each other to form a nip therebetween, wherein the Mayer rod and the flexible web at a contacting area are impressed into the back-up roll with a machine-direction nip width W and a nip engagement depth D; and providing a coating material upstream of the nip to form a coating on a surface of the web downstream of the nip, wherein the back-up roll has an S-Factor, averaged over a range of the nip engagement D from 0.05 mm to 1 mm, being less than 10 (10 6 • N/m 5/2 ), wherein the S-Factor is defined by an equation S = F D ⋅ R E , where S represents the S-Factor, D represents the nip engagement depth, F represents an applied force, and R E represents an effective radius of the Mayer rod and the back-up roll defined by an equation R E = D 1 ⋅ D 2 2 ⋅ D 1 + D 2 wherein D 1 is the diameter of the Meyer Rod and D 2 is the diameter of the back-up roll; and wherein the Mayer rod comprises one or more predefined openings that remain open when the Mayer rod and the back-up roll are pressed against each other to allow the coating material to pass through. contacting a Mayer rod with a back-up roll, wherein the back-up roll includes a deformable inner layer with a surface thereof covered by a deformable outer layer, the inner layer being softer than the outer layer, wherein the deformable inner layer of the back-up roll has a hardness less than 20 Shore A, and the deformable outer layer of the back-up roll has a hardness greater than 40 Shore A; disposing a flexible web between the back-up roll and the Mayer rod; wrapping the flexible web around at least one of the back-up roll and the Mayer rod; pressing the Mayer rod and the back-up roll against each other to form a nip therebetween, wherein the Mayer rod and the flexible web at a contacting area are impressed into the back-up roll with a machine-direction nip width W and a nip engagement depth D; and providing a coating material upstream of the nip to form a coating on a surface of the web downstream of the nip, wherein the back-up roll has an S-Factor, averaged over a range of the nip engagement D from 0.05 mm to 1 mm, being less than 10 (10 6 • N/m 5/2 ), wherein the S-Factor is defined by an equation S = F D ⋅ R E , where S represents the S-Factor, D represents the nip engagement depth, F represents an applied force, and R E represents an effective radius of the Mayer rod and the back-up roll defined by an equation R E = D 1 ⋅ D 2 2 ⋅ D 1 + D 2 wherein D 1 is the diameter of the Meyer Rod and D 2 is the diameter of the back-up roll; and wherein the Mayer rod comprises one or more predefined openings that remain open when the Mayer rod and the back-up roll are pressed against each other to allow the coating material to pass through. <EOS>