I was really excited to get a couple of questions from my last blog. Going to use this latest blog entry to answer the questions. One of the questions deals with the “No Cover Zone” of five yards or less in coverage. Why not cover those routes? The second question deals with coverage calls in 3rd and Short to Medium situations. If zone do you adjust the coverage or do you just play plan. Here are my answers below. Thanks for the questions and please keep them coming!
My question..zone defenses have a 5yd No Cover Zone? Why?
Why do coverages have a “No Cover Zone” of five yards or less in coverage. Why not cover those routes?
In typical zone coverage we have a saying- If someone is short then someone is deep and if someone is leaving then someone is coming. Anytime we have a route crossing at 5 yards or less we call is a Teaser route. Most offenses are not trying to hit this route but instead hit the digs or curls behind these routes. See diagrams #1 and #2. The digs and curls will give you 10-12 yards on the catch as opposed to 5 yards. So we emphasize to our underneath cover players that when we see Teaser routes we should look to get depth and away the second level routes. The reason for this is as soon as a LB jumps the underneath route, the ball will be thrown to the route behind it. Only the ball being thrown to the Teaser route will bring us down to that route.
There is an exception to this. Teams will sometimes run vertical routes with a shallow teaser route coming across the formation. See diagrams #3 and #4. The idea is to clear out defenders with verticals and throw the Teaser route to a athletic receiver who can catch the ball in space and turn it up for a big game/
If an offense is into this kind of scheme then you need to look at using a zone defender to match the route, preferably to the side the teaser is headed to. But in my opinion that would be the only time that you would cover a receiver in the No Cover Zone while in Zone Coverage.
On third & short to medium…How do you adjust your coverage…or do you go to man concepts to deny the ball? Looking for a flexible menu to avoid predictability!
When it comes to 3rd and short or medium, the preference would be to cover up the routes being run in a match scenario in zone coverage or a man coverage with some sort of dropper taking away what you have determined during gameplay is there hot throw.
In Zone Coverages– we tag a call to a lot of our zone coverages to make them more of a match scenario. We do this to stay closer to routes being run. In this down and distance, a catch and throw becomes a first down. The benefit of this is, if down correctly, you can take away the pick routes that are difficult to defend when playing man. The negative is lost vision on the QB by the droppers who are reading receiver routes. This more than likely will cause them to miss the ball being thrown.
A simple way to work this concept in your coverages is to have defenders work to collisions on all receivers at 5 yards or less. Post collision, pass off outside routes and steal the inside routes. If the receiver will usually do one of three things- Out, Under or Vertical. Cover the scenarios with your defenders keeping in mind the favorite coverages of the offense you are playing against. This will help vs all of the #2 and #3 receiver exchanges to try to pick man coverage.
In Man Coverage– Running man coverage with shorter down and distance is the better option. However you have to expect pick combination routes by the offense. If you are determined to bring as many blitzes as possible, leaving you with no free cover guy, then you must drill combo coverage with your man coverage defensive backs or you have to get them to run through the picks making the offense execute under pressure.
For my money it is worth to take someone out of the blitz to gain a free dropper and take away their hot throw. When breaking down an opponent chart their favorite routes in 2×2 sets and 3×1 sets. Now analyze which of those routes they prefer when pressured by the defense. Usually it is a certain route in 2×2 and a certain route in 3×1. Is there a certain player that ends up with the ball more in those situations? Use a free player to take away that throw. If it is a middle of the field route (ex- slant or under) it might be an ILB or DL dropping out, if it is a perimeter throw it might be an OLB or safety that is usually in the pressure to take that throw away.
When bringing pressure, if you are blitzing the correct players, the QB should not have time to go through a multitude of reads. Especially if he knows that the blitz is coming, he will settle with the throw that he feels the most comfortable. If you can put a dropper in that spot to take away that particular throw, the QB will either have to eat the ball or throw the ball into a covered situation.
So depending on whether it is a 2×2 set or a 3×1 set, change up where your free dropper is to take away the preferred hot throw. If you have to stay with the zero man coverage then make sure your DBs are schooled in playing combo on receivers and ready for what the offense likes in that formation and situation.
Thank you for the questions and please keep them coming. Feel free to call (860-685-2909) or email (jmcdonald@wesleyan.edu) if I can be of any help.