After being a defensive coach for nearly 18 years, one of the most frustrating things I run into when dealing with new and/or inexperienced coaches is a seemingly entrenched philosophy regarding red zone pass coverage. Inside the thirty, I hear ‘You should only run Man,’ and inside the ten, many young coaches don’t seem to know what to do.
Born out of a combination of frustration and occasional desperation, I have put together a series of coverages that my staff(s) and I have run over the years to try and overcome deficiencies. They are designed to (A) keep a single great athlete from tearing us up, or (B) to give our undersized and ‘underfast’ defense better match ups against a generally superior team. I make no particular claim that any of this is revolutionary or new, but this has been what we have tried and has worked well for us.
We have run this series of coverages mostly out of a 4-3 front. Most of these we have used/tinkered with from a 3-4 as well and also a stock 5-2. In other words, these are designed for, and have been worked on, out of a seven man front scheme. Our ‘check off’ coverage is usually Cover 2 or 4 depending on personnel / game plan.
Mixed Man Coverages
We have three ‘mixed man’ coverages that we like to use: Iron, Steel, and 3 Sting (See Diagrams 1-4).
Diagram 1: Cover Iron
Diagram 2: Cover Steel
Diagram 3: Cover 3 Sting vs. Slot
Diagram 4: Cover 3 Sting vs. WR
In Cover Iron, we have the CBs in man coverage on the WRs. The Free Safety, Rover and the LBs are in standard Cover 2 zones. This allows our LBs to still be run first, and when teams motion, gives the appearance of true man coverage. It has been an occasional shock for some QBs to see our LBs out there when they are trying to throw the counter pass.
Steel coverage is very similar, except we bring the Rover Safety into man coverage onto the #3 receiver (TE, WB, FL) as well. The Free Safety has Deep Cover, with the three LBs dropping into their Cover 3 zones. This coverage has worked very well for us against teams that like to motion and then run Counter Pass or Waggle away from motion.
In Cover 3 Sting, we are trying to put our best coverage player man-to-man against our opponent’s best pass threat. Usually this is our Rover Safety, but has often been a Corner, or our Free Safety, and in one unusual case, an OLB. We try not to run this cover all the time, or against every team, but it has been a very effective tool against teams that have a talented pass threat that we need to account for (i.e. DeSean Jackson, Larry Fitzgerald, Jerry Rice, etc). While we can run this at any point in the field, we like to use Cover 3-Sting during points when we know our opponent has shown a tendency to try and give the ball to their ‘go-to’ guy, i.e., when they are in striking range of the end zone, 40 yards in, etc.
“Pure” Man Coverages
Cover 0 (Zero) and Cover 0 Spy are the two ‘Pure Man’ coverages we like to run in very short yardage situations. Neither of these coverages is new, but many young coaches are naturally hesitant to put their Free Safety into man coverage in short yardage situations. The thing we have learned in the tight confines of the ‘Glory Zone’ (i.e., ten-yard line in) is that a tight bump ‘n’ run coverage can be deadly effective against teams that tend to time their goal line offensive passes. This frees our LBs to run to the ball, to blitz and pressure the QB (See Diagrams 5 and 6).
Diagram 5: Cover Zero
Diagram 6: Cover Zero Spy
All the DBs commit to a man-to-man, tight coverage. We bump off the line where we can. We stick tight, hip-to-hip, forcing our opponents to try and play physical with our DBs. Often this has had the effect of forcing quick throws, or taking our opponents out of their comfort zone relative to their timing.
Zone Coverages
We have two short yardage zones that we like to run and one very short yardage coverage as well (See Diagrams 7-9)
Diagram 7: Cover 2 Invert
Diagram 8: Cover 2 Flood
Diagram 9: Cover 5 Under
Cover 2 Invert, while not a ‘new’ concept, has been seeing a resurgence of late,. It is used especially against spread teams, by teams trying to get the safeties involved more in stopping the run and the short passing game. We especially like this coverage against teams that run in the red zone, and against ‘even’ formations, (Double Slot, 2 TE Ace, Flexbone, etc). We have tried running (with mixed results) a ‘Tampa Two’ version, with the Mike linebacker bailing 10-15 yards deep to help cover under and cross patterns. We have also done this out of the 3-4, a variant of the Invert where our safeties play a ‘Double Robber’ and the OLBs drop to the flats.
Cover 2 Flood is our ‘anti-flood’ coverage. Ninety percent of the time we run it wide side, unless our opponent has shown a distinct tendency towards running the flood narrow side. Our corner has flats; the OLB has hook/curl; and the Rover takes the middle routes above them, playing a ‘Robber”’Cover about 10-20 yards deep over #2 receiver or over the numbers. The Free Safety plays deep half behind them with the backside corner taking the other deep half. The weak side OLB drops to the flat keeping an eye on receiver #4 (usually the HB). While this is a specific coverage against some specific opponents’ plays, it has done well for us in shutting down offenses that like to try to pick on our corners.
Cover 5 Under is our alternate to Cover 0 Spy at the goal line. We will run this from our 6-3 or our 5-4 looks, usually inside the ten-yard line. The variation we show is with our stock defense in and how we run it with base personnel. Often we will move the OLBs back, and pull our safeties, replacing them with two DEs. If we see ‘High Hats’ we divide up the end zone into five zones and each of our pass coverage players drifts to the back of his zone. We feel that it is easier for them to come forward and make a hit that might pop the ball loose, rather than for them to try and stretch to tip the ball going over their head.
I thank you for your time, and would like to thank the many coaches I have worked with over the years for giving me feedback and ideas that have coalesced into this group of coverages. As one of my former head coaches said, “We may not always win, but darn it, EVERYONE goes home knowing how good our defense is.” It is my hope that you found this article educational and informative.
If you have any questions, you
can email the author at
StephenDeMarino@GridironStrategies.com.
WHAT IF?
Q1. If your opponent lined up with a quad formation on one side in a red zone situation, what adjustments would you make to your defense?
Against a quads formation in the red zone we will often check off to either straight Cover 0 and have Will “read-blitz” (look for run, then go if he sees high hats) or we will run Cover 0 Spy, and have our LBs drift with the QB, looking to either rush him if he rolls out or force him to have to throw high across the middle.
Q2. Would you make any changes in your defensive structure against a primarily Wing-T team?
Against most varieties of Wing-T teams we really like to run Cover Iron, for which this coverage was designed. We have found it to be an excellent “waggle-killer.” We will often run a 31 front (Straight 1-9 count out from center) with a 9-technique end to the strong side. The onside CB is on the Wing going deep in waggle, Rover on the TE (drag), and the off side TE or WR is covered by the weak side CB. The Will linebacker is trained to look for the FB first, and pick him up in the flats, and only come forward if the QB tucks to run. Our Sam linebacker takes the offside flats and looks for the throwback to the TB.
Q3. When facing a spread shotgun with an even set and there\'s motion to one side, how would you react with your defense?
For us, since we see a few variations of this, it depends on the flavor of the run game we see from our opponent. If they are a Fly/Option team we will often run either Cover 2 invert, or/if we are in really tight quarters, we will run Cover 5 under, but “bump down” with our linebackers to the motion side. If we are seeing a Zone/Draw team, we will run more Cover 0 Spy, or run Cover 2 Invert, but roll to Cover 2 Flood with the motion. Against a team that hardly runs at all, we will run Cover 3, and if our motion goes away from where our Rover is covering, he will go with motion, both to give the appearance of man coverage and to shift our responsibilities to the new strong side. Since the free safety and the corners have no new responsibilities, only the OLBs have to change their zone from flat to hook, or vice versa.
