Learn about our new Defense - Football 101: Cover 2

[Mitchy moo]

http://espn.go.com/ncf/columns/davie/1437187.html

I am happy about this and think that we can do real well with this d.

Terminology
Why is it called Cover 2
When deciding the terminology of calling coverages, the number of deep zone pass defenders that are deployed will normally determine what a defensive coach calls a defense. In Cover 2 for example, there are two deep safeties that divide the field into halves. If the secondary played Cover 3, three deep defenders would divide the deep responsibility on the field into thirds. If they played Cover 4, four deep defenders divide the deep zone into fourths.
Obviously, different teams use different terminology, but the most commonly used is simply identifying how many deep zone defenders are used.
What is Cover 2?
The base Cover 2 is a zone defense where every defender is responsible for an area of the field and not a specific man. The field is divided into five underneath zones and two deep zones. The two corners and three linebackers play the underneath fifths, and the two safeties play the deep halves. In the diagram below you can see the field divided into underneath fifths and deep halves.


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[The_Philster]

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=91690&highlight=cover

[Mitchy moo]

http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=91690&highlight=cover

Oh, sorry Phil. Just trying to be informative.

[Mr. Cynical]

If we want to play cover 2, we need new safeties.

Vincent and Milloy are :fogey: and can't cover that much ground anynore, especially Vincent.

[OpIv37]

If we want to play cover 2, we need new safeties.

Vincent and Milloy are :fogey: and can't cover that much ground anynore, especially Vincent.

Good post but expect a barrage of opposition- I've been saying the same thing for months but no one wants to hear it.

[BuffaloBillsStampede]

I agree about needing new safties. They were awful last year in my opinion. Vincent had a couple good games, but 2 games doesn't cut it.

[ICE74129]

BTW was just watching the AFC Championship. I saw a guy telling Ben R 'If it is cover 2 it will be there'. 'it' Being the deep out. And It was.

The Cover two has holes that can be easilly exploited (ask chicago vs Carolina) if you dont' have the PLAYERS to make it work.

This DL needs a MAJOR upgrade to play C2.

[YardRat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_defensive_schemes


Generally speaking, the effectiveness of a defense against short passes and the run drops as it goes from Cover Zero to Cover Four, but their effectiveness against deep passes increases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Dungy



Teams that have been successful against (t)his defense have managed to run the ball up the middle past the defensive tackles, or throw passes in the seams between the outside linebackers and the cornerbacks (often the most effective receiver against a Tampa 2 defense is a Tight End, since they often line up against this seam). Other tactics that have shown to be effective on occasion are misdirection plays that take advantage of the defensive speed and rely on the defense 'overrunning' the play (such as the middle linebacker rushing to the line of scrimmage on a play-action pass), or overloading the safties by having multiple receivers running deep routes, creating more targets in a zone than defenders. Recently, certain teams have also been able to exploit the seam between the cornerbacks and the safeties, when the quarterback can throw a pass to a receiver in that seam faster than the safety can rush up to close it and cover the receiver.

[im4bflo]

I agree about, I don't like the idea of safeties covering WR's deep, when they're at full speed. A QB would love to see that, wouldn't he?