vin.couve12
New member
Cover 3 is a 3 deep zone. It is not single high as in a cover 1.
Cover 3 has 3 people with deep responsibility. It's literally cut into thirds. By cutting that into 3rds it means you're sacrificing a man underneath. You only have 4 covering underneath.
3 deep, 4 underneath, 4 at the LOS.
Cover 2 is quite different in emphasis. It only has 2 deep and it has 5 covering the underneath routes.
2 deep, 5 underneath, 4 at the LOS
again vs
3 deep, 4 underneath, 4 at the LOS
That's 33% of the deep field vs 50% of the deep field. Granted, there are times when we'll run a press man cover 1 where the FS is hanging back looking for anything deep at all, but it's few and far between. Reason being is that when we go to man coverage on a consistent basis, offenses will start running a lot of natural pick plays and just eat up the 5 to 15 yard passes with relative ease.
Granted, these are basic generalities and there are a lot of variances, but they generally stay in line with the coverage concept.
So to put emphasis on that, because you are setting out to not get beat deep in a cover 3 by design and you only have 4 players covering underneath, you really need to have some pretty special players in those 4 positions.
Wagner = special
Kam = special
KJ = very good (albeit kind of a rough 2014 in coverage)
Irvin = very good with special upside
In a cover 2 where you have 5 people doing the job of those 4, those people don't need to be as good.
Conversely, in a cover 3, you have 3 people doing the job of 2 in a cover 2 and don't need to be as good.
I'm not saying that Sherm or ET aren't as good or aren't comparable. I actually think that a cover 3 corner has a more difficult job than a cover 2 corner, who actually kind of camps out in a 10-15 yard zone. It's ironic that Revis has actually played a lot of cover 2 aside from man coverage. Cover 3 is difficult for a corner because your main responsibility is to not get beat deep, but teams will try to throw underneath you a lot. The term, "run them off" is really what applies here. They tend to try and attack the area between the flat and deep sideline and the cover 3 corner has to try to be aware of when they need to come off their route and not let that beat up the defense all day.
The FS in a cover 3, however; shouldn't need to get to the sideline too much to cover for the corners. If he does, then the corners aren't doing their job. He's looking for deep middle. This doesn't mean that ET isn't the best FS, but it does mean that his job is a little easier than a cover 2 safety.
Now, going back to those 4 players in the underneath coverage, I'm expecting offenses to go at the path of least resistance. That's going to be Bailey unless he proves otherwise.
Cover 3 has 3 people with deep responsibility. It's literally cut into thirds. By cutting that into 3rds it means you're sacrificing a man underneath. You only have 4 covering underneath.
3 deep, 4 underneath, 4 at the LOS.
Cover 2 is quite different in emphasis. It only has 2 deep and it has 5 covering the underneath routes.
2 deep, 5 underneath, 4 at the LOS
again vs
3 deep, 4 underneath, 4 at the LOS
That's 33% of the deep field vs 50% of the deep field. Granted, there are times when we'll run a press man cover 1 where the FS is hanging back looking for anything deep at all, but it's few and far between. Reason being is that when we go to man coverage on a consistent basis, offenses will start running a lot of natural pick plays and just eat up the 5 to 15 yard passes with relative ease.
Granted, these are basic generalities and there are a lot of variances, but they generally stay in line with the coverage concept.
So to put emphasis on that, because you are setting out to not get beat deep in a cover 3 by design and you only have 4 players covering underneath, you really need to have some pretty special players in those 4 positions.
Wagner = special
Kam = special
KJ = very good (albeit kind of a rough 2014 in coverage)
Irvin = very good with special upside
In a cover 2 where you have 5 people doing the job of those 4, those people don't need to be as good.
Conversely, in a cover 3, you have 3 people doing the job of 2 in a cover 2 and don't need to be as good.
I'm not saying that Sherm or ET aren't as good or aren't comparable. I actually think that a cover 3 corner has a more difficult job than a cover 2 corner, who actually kind of camps out in a 10-15 yard zone. It's ironic that Revis has actually played a lot of cover 2 aside from man coverage. Cover 3 is difficult for a corner because your main responsibility is to not get beat deep, but teams will try to throw underneath you a lot. The term, "run them off" is really what applies here. They tend to try and attack the area between the flat and deep sideline and the cover 3 corner has to try to be aware of when they need to come off their route and not let that beat up the defense all day.
The FS in a cover 3, however; shouldn't need to get to the sideline too much to cover for the corners. If he does, then the corners aren't doing their job. He's looking for deep middle. This doesn't mean that ET isn't the best FS, but it does mean that his job is a little easier than a cover 2 safety.
Now, going back to those 4 players in the underneath coverage, I'm expecting offenses to go at the path of least resistance. That's going to be Bailey unless he proves otherwise.