Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and Washington Coverages

**ebfz58** · 02-21-2011, 02:15 PM

Hi Cris,

I have another 3-4 zone blitz scheme question. In my pages of research, I've discovered that the zone blitz teams use these basic coverages generally:

Cover 1 Man
Cover 2 Zone
Cover 3 Zone
Cover 4 Zone (Or so I was told, but it's used very rarely) Please correct me, if I'm wrong on this one.

Am I missing any coverages you know of man, or zone wise? I'll take any input from Steeler, Packer, Skins fans, or any of the pros. Sorry about the previous confusion

Thank you very much again,
ebfz58

**Cris Collinsworth** · 02-21-2011, 03:52 PM

All those numbers, 1-9 mean different coverages with different teams. Cov 1 is man with a free safety. Cov 2 is zone with 2 deep safeties. Cover 3 is a zone with 3 deep. Quarters is a 4 deep zone. Cover 5-9 are usually some combination coverage double teaming receivers is some odd combination. Cover 2 man is 2 deep safeties with man coverage underneath. Hope that helps.

**Andy Freeland** · 02-21-2011, 03:58 PM

And, correct me if I'm wrong, cover 0 means no deep safety, pure man coverage with everyone else rushing the passer.

**mkocs6** · 02-21-2011, 04:14 PM

Originally Posted by Andy Freeland

And, correct me if I'm wrong, cover 0 means no deep safety, pure man coverage with everyone else rushing the passer.

That is exactly what Cover Zero is. Keep in mind, ebfz58, that NFL defenses want to disguise their coverages and you can only learn so much based on the initial alignment (also, that the zone a defense plays may be variable based on the routes receivers run). You can also run a Cover 2 Man, with two safeties deep and man coverage on all receivers. If I'm not mistaken/remember right, the University of Miami ran this package as their base during the early part of last decade.

The first thing you need to do is decide on your own terminology. What do you call an outside corner blitz with safety switching off to take his receiver? At the highest level of football I played (which wasn't even high school), we called that 'cobra.' It's just an example, but you're going to need to assign names to specific blitzes and triggers you'll see, as well as drops and assignments coverages by lineman and backers. The base packages shouldn't too confusing (I think you can just leave those as is), and Andy and Cris are, of course, on point with all of them and know a crapload more about this than I do. Just a suggestion to try to save you a lot of confusion in the long-run.

**ebfz58** · 02-21-2011, 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by mkocs6

That is exactly what Cover Zero is. Keep in mind, ebfz58, that NFL defenses want to disguise their coverages and you can only learn so much based on the initial alignment (also, that the zone a defense plays may be variable based on the routes receivers run). You can also run a Cover 2 Man, with two safeties deep and man coverage on all receivers. If I'm not mistaken/remember right, the University of Miami ran this package as their base during the early part of last decade.

The first thing you need to do is decide on your own terminology. What do you call an outside corner blitz with safety switching off to take his receiver? At the highest level of football I played (which wasn't even high school), we called that 'cobra.' It's just an example, but you're going to need to assign names to specific blitzes and triggers you'll see, as well as drops and assignments coverages by lineman and backers. The base packages shouldn't too confusing (I think you can just leave those as is), and Andy and Cris are, of course, on point with all of them and know a crapload more about this than I do. Just a suggestion to try to save you a lot of confusion in the long-run.

Thank you. I will take your advice.