![]() ![]() You'll sometimes see Dolphins defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle call for this shell if the Dolphins defense is backed up near the end zone, with the logic being that there's not much benefit in playing any deep safeties when the offense is so close to the endzone that they will instantly score a touchdown if they can complete a 5 or 10 yard pass. The defensive back that is furthest downfield is a cornerback who is matched up man-to-man against the boundary wide receiver (each outlined by a black box), and besides that wide receiver, no Broncos receiver is open soon after the snap because of how aggressively the defensive backs have positioned themselves.įor those who don't know what happened next, Tebow made a nice pass to Demaryius Thomas, who broke one tackle and scored an 80 yard touchdown because the Steelers had no defensive backs playing deep to stop him. If the Broncos run the ball against this front, they're very unlikely to gain yards due to the safeties being nearby to provide run support. If you look closely, you'll see the free safety (red box) has begun running up towards the line of scrimmage before the snap.Īs the image below shows, by the time Tebow gets the ball in his hands, multiple Steelers defenders are matched up man-to-man, and neither safety (orange or red box) is playing deep.īoth safeties are within 4 yards of the line of scrimmage at the time of the snap. The strong safety (orange box) is lined up next to their inside linebackers. (Click on each picture to view a high resolution image if you're having trouble seeing details)īefore this play started, the Steelers had only 1 safety playing deep (red box in the image above). In particular, they used it at the start of overtime. Tebow is a quarterback with many strengths including vocal leadership and running the ball, but "consistent accuracy on intermediate throws" is not one of them, so the Steelers chose to be very aggressive in stopping the Tebow-led rushing attack by using cover-0 sometimes. The most recent famous example of a team playing cover-0 far away from the endzone comes from the Tim Tebow-led Denver Broncos playoff game in 2012 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This type of coverage shell is excellent at shutting down shorter routes as well as handoffs because of all the "traffic" it creates with all 11 defenders near the line of scrimmage, but it leaves the defense dangerously vulnerable to deep passes, which is why teams usually only use cover 0 in special situations such in the redzone. ![]() The 2 leftover defenders could be safeties or linebackers or cornerbacks or a mix of 2 of those 3 position groups.ĭefenses almost always blitz with this coverage shell because giving the quarterback too much time in the pocket guarantees at least one receiver will get open against man coverage without safety help. Meanwhile, the 7-man coverage unit still has 2 defenders "left over" to either blitz/track the QB or roam near the line of scrimmage. Cover 0 allows a defense to assign 5 defenders to cover those 5 players man-to-man. ![]() On any given play, the offense can send up to 5 players to run receiving routes because out of the 11 players, six of them (the quarterback and 5 offensive linemen) stay behind the line of scrimmage on passing plays. The advantage is that it allows every single member of the 7-man coverage unit (safeties, linebackers, and cornerbacks) to be used in man coverage. No defensive backs are asked to drop back into zones, so both safeties are free to be aggressive near the line of scrimmage. This is the ultimate, "I simply don't respect your ability to throw the ball" coverage. I will avoid discussing the technical nuances of each coverage shell because the goal is to provide a decent summary of the 6 most popular coverage shells in just one article. ![]() To keep things simple, these coverage shells will be described as if they are being run by the Dolphins in their favored pass-stopping "nickel" package, which features 4 defensive linemen, 2 linebackers, and 5 defensive backs (hence the term, "Nickel"). The next group to discuss is the defensive backs, who are the safeties and the cornerbacks. Those are primers on what defensive linemen and linebackers are generally asked to do. Phinsider overlord managing editor Kevin Nogle wrote a great introduction to defensive line techniques in his post, " Football 101: Defensive line gap techniques." I recently posted my own breakdown of the linebacker roles in the Dolphins' 4-3 defense in my creatively named FanPost, " Brief Overview of the 4-3 Linebacker Roles in our Base Defense." The purpose of this article is to serve as an easy to understand guide to defensive coverage schemes for those who are learning some of the basics about football. ![]()
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