Coverage concepts

vin.couve12

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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.
 
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vin.couve12

vin.couve12

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I guess I should also point out that Cary Williams has traditionally been inconsistent as it pertains to deep responsibility. Both he and Bailey are concerning in the upcoming game.

We could potentially shade ET to Williams' side and just have him keep an extra eye out, but that has it's own consequences lest they sneak a post route behind him while he's peaking at that particular sideline.Then there's also Bailey, who at least needs to be a sure tackler, which I think he will, but ET is going to be more stressed in this game than....since that Bears playoff game where Milloy was playing SS with a lack of range to keep up.
 

Laloosh

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vin.couve12":30mz9blo said:
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.

I'd imagine Burley gets a fair amount of attention as well. Not everybody has a TE that our LBs don't match up well against so I'd imagine that nickel spot will be tested (as will Williams/Simon).
 
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vin.couve12

vin.couve12

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Laloosh":1iakwio3 said:
vin.couve12":1iakwio3 said:
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.

I'd imagine Burley gets a fair amount of attention as well. Not everybody has a TE that our LBs don't match up well against so I'd imagine that nickel spot will be tested (as will Williams/Simon).
Burley has continually been tested. He's got GREAT speed and he did have those 2 real good games when we very first got him, but again he's been tested quite a bit since those 2 games. Good topic and thanks for bringing it up.

It really puts in perspective just how exceptional Lane is. I bet Brady really did smell blood when he went out in the SB.

Interesting that you put Williams/Simon though. If Williams doesn't perform and especially if he gets beat deep....all bets are off. That doesn't mean he can get beat up underneath though either.
 

RussB

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Hawks can get away with alot of cover 3 becuase they have some of the best coverage linebackers. thats what makes them so tough to beat they dont have a weak area. except for cary williams
 

Laloosh

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vin.couve12":5zmurkja said:
Laloosh":5zmurkja said:
vin.couve12":5zmurkja said:
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.

I'd imagine Burley gets a fair amount of attention as well. Not everybody has a TE that our LBs don't match up well against so I'd imagine that nickel spot will be tested (as will Williams/Simon).
Burley has continually been tested. He's got GREAT speed and he did have those 2 real good games when we very first got him, but again he's been tested quite a bit since those 2 games. Good topic and thanks for bringing it up.

It really puts in perspective just how exceptional Lane is. I bet Brady really did smell blood when he went out in the SB.

Interesting that you put Williams/Simon though. If Williams doesn't perform and especially if he gets beat deep....all bets are off. That doesn't mean he can get beat up underneath though either.

Whoever is on that left side is going to get a lot more attention than Sherm. I doubt that Foles is the guy to go after Sherm in the season opener, particularly w/ Earl helping over the top.

That said, I think Williams may be fine against Foles but you know that Rodgers is going to make him look bad a time or three. Seems like our guys have struggled with the short to mid-range crossing routes in the preseason. By guys I mean everybody not named Sherman and Thomas. Something that we excelled at blowing up in 2013 and 2014.
 
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vin.couve12

vin.couve12

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I believe that in the long play over Sherm and ET that we actually were in a cover 1, but it's an illustration of it's inherent problems. Especially when the pass rush doesn't hit home very quickly. ET was late just has he has been on basically any sideline play since the Redskins playoff game 3 years ago.

However, that's not a knock on ET or is not meant to be. ET IS the fastest FS in the game and yet he still can't get there. It's the difference between reality and stupid crap you hear on TV and what is parroted in here. "Earl Thomas allows....."

No. He doesn't. Everyone is expected to do their jobs.

Speaking of which, our coverage underneath was extremely loose without it's field general.

EDIT: This is another example of both points. One not doing their job and the fastest FS in the league being late.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/SBNation/status/643154056303742976[/tweet]
 
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vin.couve12

vin.couve12

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Wanted to bring this topic back up now that we're at full strength. It's generally looked like we've been playing a lot of cover 1 the first couple of weeks, which is what Maxwell is really struggling with in Philly. It will be interesting to see if we go back to a more cover 3 variant on most downs and I'm hoping that is the case.

There are a few things you can do with cover 3 to switch it up even within that base. Even as far as a robber where the SS bails deep and the FS goes to the middle or flat. However, Wagner is almost always going to be in one of the middle two zones, and the SLB is almost always going to be in the flat, but you're never really sure where the SS is going to be. You can send him to the flat and drop the WLB into a middle zone, but in our case, we most often have Wags and Kam in those middle two zones. They communicate really well and to one of the points above, they are really the only two guys in that middle section. The FS most concerned about deep middle and the other two LBs are outside. These two middle players have to be really special or the thing just gets cut up. Again, we go back to the question as to if the Seahawks have a weakness against dink and dunk passing games. It's really the cover 3 that has that weakness inherently or innately. When Wagner or Kam are missing and/or playing hurt (to Pete's comment today about Wagner/Kam), the defense suffers as a whole.

That said, we don't really know for sure what the DC intends to do. Does he stay with the very simple and yet also more dangerous cover 1, or do we predominantly go back to that cover 3? Why haven't we stayed with it in the first place? The next couple of weeks are going to be really interesting to see scheme wise.

boot-action-1.png
 
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vin.couve12

vin.couve12

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I still have yet to turn on the coaches film on game pass, but the above calls into question whether we were in cover 1 or 3 on the TD against who was presumed to be Sherman. If that's a cover 3 he isn't necessarily even supposed to be there that far inside.

Why talk about it?

Many of you might remember these plays. Our cover 3 fell victim to a certain type of touchdown play that I saw I think about 5 times. GB tried it and failed. Denver got a TD and another long play on it on Maxwell's side, The Redskins did it on Sherman's side with Desean Jackson, and the Cowboys did it with a TE, which I can't remember if it was Witten or not.

I think there is another I'm forgetting, but the play is a deep scissors concept. The inside guy can be a slot or TE, H-Back, whatever, but the idea is that you draw that outside corner in with that post or skinny post route (like what Sherman faced on that TD) and then you sneak a player behind them down the sideline where the CB is supposed to be in a cover 3.

If that was cover 3, I can almost guarantee you that Sherman had that little hitch in his giddyup mid-stride because he tried to peek back at the sideline.
 

Laloosh

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Hey vin, just wanted to acknowledge the post. I had forgotten that you'd brought it up and I think it's a cool topic. Unfortunately, I'm scheme illiterate so more pictures would be amazeballs. Just sayin... Maybe show what some teams are doing against the various concepts we use?
 
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