Defensive Dominators: Coverage Shells

[Valtookan]

Hey everyone, this media post is about a potential series that I may be starting. It will be a series that focuses on the defensive aspect of professional football. I am doing this in hopes of bringing new information about the game to others as well as myself. I really don't know how often I'll do something like this but if it is well received then that will obviously affect my decision.

I wanted to start off with a simple concept, something that I understand well and isn't too complex. I'm going to talk about Coverage Shells. What are coverage shells you ask? Well, they are zone formations taken by defensive players, usually DBs and maybe LBs, throughout the play. These are played instead of the traditional "Man-to-Man" coverage because Zone coverage allows defenders more time to spy on the QB. Also Zone coverage gives defenders designated position to cover. This can be beneficial in a multitude of ways from allowing defenders to read and react, to covering up physical weaknesses and mismatches which would otherwise be exposed in Man coverage. Zone coverage is also traditionally seen as the better coverage against run plays.


Ok, so lets start to review the different basic Coverage Shells. I will be talking about 6 basic types of coverage shells. These five types are, Cover 0, Cover 1, Cover 2, Cover 3, Cover 4, and Cover 6. I understand this may seem like a lot of rubbish right now but allow me to go over each one in depth.

NOTE: Just because I say these are coverage shells doesn't mean all the defenders are playing zone coverage.

Cover 0:

Cover 0 is the most ballsy coverage out of all of the ones I am going to list here. It involves 1 on 1 coverage on all of the receivers lined up. There is no safety help over the "top" (down the field) in cover 0. Well, we still have to field 11 men, so where are all the other guys? They are crowding the offensive line near the LOS (Line of Scrimmage). The whole idea behind cover 0 is to force the QB to make a quick decision. With all of those potential blitzer a run play is basically impossible and the QB likely won't get near 3 seconds to hold the football. He is either going to throw it down the field, or throw it down on the field after he get sacked. The defense is hoping that this either wastes a down or ends in a Turnover (TO). Teams that employ this have a lot of confidence in their DBs to not allow completions. If a completion is allowed, the 1v1 makes the chance of dangerously big plays a real possibility.



Cover 1:

Cover 1 is a more tempered form of Cover 0. Cover 1 still plays man coverage with a majority of the DBs but it also keep 1 single "high" (deep) safety. This provides and insurance blanket for an dangerously deep plays. The whole idea of for the CBs to play with outside leverage (on the outside of a Receiver). This would allow the high safety the ability to more easily cover the inside (middle) part of the field. This coverage also easily allows for blitzes to be sent towards the QB. The problem with this coverage arises if the Qb is allowed time and the receivers get open. Suddenly, if multiple receiver are open the safety has to choose one to help guard. This leaves another receiver wide open for a possible deep strike. Teams who employ Cover 1 (Most famously The Seattle Seahawks) have a long rangey safety who can get to and disrupt plays very quickly. Example: Earl Thomas





Cover 2:

My favorite coverage shell in cover two. Cover 2 is a highly adaptable coverage shell with many variants. Traditionally, it calls for two CBs to cover lower zones on each side of the field while two Safeties cover two higher zones. This is the first shell where traditionally there is no blitz. Some may see this as a negative but it is also a positive as more people are back in coverage. Coverage assignment as also handed off as new receivers run into new zones. I like cover two because of the safety in gives against the deep ball and the short ball. Their are weaknesses to Cover 2 though. One is the seam in between the two high safeties. Another is the gap between the short zone and the deep zone on the sides of the field. The lack of a blitz is also a disadvantage. Many teams employ Cover 2 defensive looks.




Cover 3:

Cover 3 is a more pass defensive oriented coverage shell. In Cover 3, three Dbs drop into deep zones, giving even more protection deep but taking away more ability to blitz the quarterback. This type of coverage shell is great against the pass and good against running plays but it usually gives up short throws. Cover 3 is also highly susceptible to timing routes and curls. Also the space between the deep zones and the underneath zones are also weak points. Cover 3 is very easy for Qbs to recognize so most team try to disguise it as some other coverage shell "Pre-Snap."



Cover 4:

Cover 4 is one of the most conservative zone defensive shells. Cover 4 zones are very difficult to make long passes against. They are usually used to prevent long passes. They are mainly used at the end of a half or of the game as team usually want to score at the end of a games so they will throw deeper passes. Cover 4 virtually gives up the short and medium passes so it isn't regularly used. Also blitzing doesn't usually happen with this Coverage Shell.





Cover 6:

This is the last type of coverage and the one I actually know the least about. From what I have seen of its usage is that Cover 6 pushes six defenders into zones. It is very effective versus run plays. Cover 6 is a mix of Cover 2 and 4 using the best elements of each together. Yet Cover 6 has its own weakness of not being good with flat route defense.




I hope everyone can come away with learning just a little bit from this.

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[SimmerDownBruhh]

Although I'm familiar with all of these coverages, this was a very very good read. More of these would be awesome for all off the people that wanna get more familiar with the game. Different concepts like the WR Route Tree, Formations, Etc.

[Valtookan]

Although I'm familiar with all of these coverages, this was a very very good read. More of these would be awesome for all off the people that wanna get more familiar with the game. Different concepts like the WR Route Tree, Formations, Etc.

Glad to hear you thought it was good. I wish I could have added more to the Cover 4 and especially the Cover 6 section. I hope to continue this series, and even try and connect it with the simmed games we'll be seeing.

[SimmerDownBruhh]

Glad to hear you thought it was good. I wish I could have added more to the Cover 4 and especially the Cover 6 section. I hope to continue this series, and even try and connect it with the simmed games we'll be seeing.

I'll be looking out for them, brotha. The more in depth you go into it, the more money you make. Haha This was a really good size for an article like this.

Breaking down what they are strong against, their weaknesses, what the personnel used in each coverages, etc.

I actually thought about doing something like this later on, glad to see someone bring it out early.