Tampa 2 Scheme

[k1ngofny]

Quote: Originally Posted by feeq14

There's a reason why the Tampa 2 has fallen out of favor in the Modern NFL. As teams adjust and change, defensive strategies come and go. The Tampa 2 worked better when more teams were challenging vertical and safeties were more likely to blow WRs up over the middle. With the NFL getting kill shot hits out of the game, having enforcers like John Lynch and Mike Brow (the perfect Tampa 2 Safetys) is far less valuable cause teams are not afraid to run crossing and drag routes underneath since WRs have much more freedom in those spaces now. That said, if you're having trouble covering post routes, the soft cover 2 should allow for your outside corners to bail into man coverage on post routes, which should make that throw much more dangerous since it SHOULD become a bracket coverage. I haven't tried this personally but that's how it SHOULD work.

This is true. You're trying to replicate the "old NFL" where teams mostly threw the ball to the two outside WRs which is what Cover 2 was designed to take away since you have a corner and safety on each side. In the modern NFL, teams often attack from the slot, tight end and throw over the middle far more often than they used to. This was the result of rule changes due to player safety. As mentioned above defenders can't deliver the same knockout hits as before.

It doesn't make much sense to ask your Mike LB to defend the deep third and play the run at the same time. It's the weakest zone defense against the run. On top of that, the shallow to intermediate middle is open if he does sprint back to cover the deep third. That's an easy completion for any QB.

Nonetheless, Cover 2 still has value but in terms of a "trap defense" Cover 4 Palms being the best example that looks like your modern Cover 2 trap defense. Teams just don't base out of Cover 2 anymore.

[Senator Palmer]

Even at the height of the Tampa 2, it wasn't an every down defense. If you go back and find some of those old Bucs games for example on YouTube, you'll see a lot of single high stuff and 8 in the box on early downs. Tony Dungy and his acolytes always described the scheme as being about more than the coverage itself, so you can be effective with it, if you're mixing it in with other coverages and aren't trying to use it as a call to answer everything, which it never really was meant to be.

When you do play it, know your landmarks, and what receiver you're supposed to be reading, and match he call with the situation (sink, hard-flat, etc.)