Cover 4: Broncos' defense stymies Tua Tagovailoa, holds on late in 20-13 win Nov 22, 2020 at 05:10 PM. ​The Cover 4 defense can be run by just about any team, no matter what level of experience. The Mike will often encounter wide receivers running crossing routes or tight ends releasing from their stance on the line of scrimmage to run crossing routes, stop routes, or hook routes over the middle third of the field. Remember that a 4-4 Defense is the same as a 4-2-5 Defense or a 6-2 Defense (listen to this episode of The Football Coaching Podcast for my epic rant on The 4 Types of Defense in Football). The primary duty of the position is to cause as much disruption as possible, as fast as possible, at the line of scrimmage. The underneath portions of the field are vulnerable against Cover 4 defenses. Deep defenders become manipulated pretty easily with clear out routes, followed by some kind of replacement route. The safeties will read their run/pass keys, but against the pass they’re responsible for watching the release of the No. The cover 2 defense in the NFL requires four defensive linemen to rush the quarterback while the other seven defensive players play zone coverage. To the average fan, Cover 4 may sound like a passive, prevent-type defense, while to the more nuanced fan, it may seem like an aggressive coverage that can bring 9 defenders into the box. This route concept can be made into a three-tier read as well; put the tight end on the opposite side, hinge the left tackle and make the running back slide his protection to the right. At its most basic, Cover 4 plays as a four deep, three under defense; and at its most aggressive, it plays almost identically to a tight Cover 0. If so, you'll love my daily "Football Coaching" emails. Like other zone defenses, the Cover 4 is great to implement as a teaching tool of zone responsibilities to new players. The crux of Cover 4 is that there will be a shell of 4 defenders deep with underneath coverage by the linebackers. Cover 2. They’re lined up either on the offensive tackle’s outside shoulder or over the tight end if there is one on the field. Cover 1. This would give the quarterback a three-tier read, putting the defense into conflict. Each player on the team is responsible for a zone on the field which means they don’t have to worry about making too many reads at the snap of the ball before they know what their responsibilities are. The Cover 2 Zone is a defensive scheme that is implemented by many high school, college, and NFL teams. Or they can shade forward to provide extra help in coverage for the linebackers at the underneath zone. It’s Versatile - The Cover 4 defense can also be modified for any experience level to implement extra wrinkles, blitzes, and even different personnel depending on the game situation or the team a defense might be facing. We focused a lot on how to manipulate the deep middle of the field, but the outsides are vulnerable, too, just like we see above. A Cover - 4 defense can frustrate an aggressive offense with a softer "Quarters" look, or they can ratchet up the pressure and play similarly to a Cover 1 or 0 look with "MEG" coverage. 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To the left side, the No. Currently 5/5 Stars. This video explains and diagrams basic rules for a cover 4. When this happens it’s especially important that the safeties don’t misread a play, because if they do and a receiver gets behind them, a big play could be there for the taking for the offense. As alluded to earlier, play action passes can be deadly against aggressive Cover 4 teams and the yankee concept is one of the passing combinations that can leave deep defenders scrambling. Defensive coaches lean on the Cover 4 scheme because it allows the defense to essentially create a nine-man box versus spread sets. Could be Susceptible to Speed - Offenses that have speedy wide receivers, running backs, and even tight ends could find mismatches against this alignment that relies heavily on its linebackers to quickly cover the outside zones of the field. Much like the dagger concept, the Mills concept (also called a pin route) opens up voids in a Cover 4 defense, too. This coverage is often referred to as "Quarters." This gives them a head start on backpedaling to their deep zone on the field. Aric DiLalla. Underneath the four deep zones are three zone defenders who stretch the entire width of the field, so the defense is susceptible to underneath throws; since that’s the case, Cover 4 … Play action passes are deadly against these deep defenders who do cheat up to stop the run, and this is one reason why we see blown coverages when Cover 4 deep players are also aggressive against the run. The Cover 4 scheme allows the safeties to be ultra aggressive to the run, yet hold a two-high shell and keep the defense balanced versus multiple formations. No One’s On Their Own - One of the best parts about a Cover 4 defense is that while each player has his own zone of coverage, each position can also provide support to another position once the ball is snapped. Teams at more advanced levels, especially in college or the professional ranks, can also deploy a lot of wrinkles to the Cover 4 defense. Corners typically align about 9 yards off the ball, while the safeties are on the hashes at a depth of about 14 yards pre-snap. Sometimes the issue with identifying coverage in high school is that kids don’t aways do what they are coached to do. The quarterback would roll right with the offensive line moving the pocket in that direction. While the cornerbacks and safeties are responsible for splitting the field into fours on the deep section of the field, from sideline to sideline. The easiest way to immerse yourself in his 2-high concepts is to start with Saban’s do-everything Cover 7. If the defense is facing a strong running team, the cover 3 will be less than ideal unless it has great strength in the trenches, the common term for the defensive line positions. As you can tell, the linebackers are spread pretty thin and the flats are vulnerable. It’s a four-deep, three-under zone defense in which the three linebackers are responsible for splitting the underneath section of … Enter your email below to get access for free: 100% Privacy Guarantee. Another strength of quarters coverage comes with cohesion between the two deep players on each side of the field. There are three linebackers on the field in a base Cover 4 defense: The primary duty of each of these players is to cover the underneath zone on the field, which stretches sideline to sideline from the line of scrimmage to a depth of about 10 yards back. Depending on whether you want to run Cover 2 or Quarters behind your 4-3 Defense, you need to have some physical cats in the secondary. True coverage corners are hard to find — good luck finding three or four of them — so Cover 3, a zone defense, is typically the coverage of choice for NFL defenses. The free safety and corner must be in line with what’s going on and if one of them makes the wrong decision then it’s a blown coverage and a huge gain for the offense. Corners can line up in press and bail at the snap, confusing cornerbacks with a disguised Cover 2. The cornerbacks cover the outside deep zones, while the safeties handle the deep zones in the middle.