People who played football(college/pro)

[TombSong]

I got a bunch of questions I am gonna be asking related to your responsibilities during certain play calls. So if you can, give all the info you can and anything I may not have considered.

1. People who have played CB.

The deep coverage is 3 deep and you are the CB covering the deep 1/3 of the weak side of the field. X is the only WR on your side. I need to know:

1. Is X your sole primary to cover and what determines when you release him ?
2. How much area on that side of the field is your responsibilty ?( from th side line to
the yard marker...the hash lines ?)
3. What do you do If a WR/TE motions to the slot on your side, then X runs a fly and the slot runs a corner to your side (coverage underneath is short zones)?




Saftey playing Middle 1/3, what are your primary responsibilities and what determines your primary WR to cover ?

[TombSong]

PS, I should have also stated if you have coached football, you can answer these questions also.

[LBzrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by TombSong

I got a bunch of questions I am gonna be asking related to your responsibilities during certain play calls. So if you can, give all the info you can and anything I may not have considered. 1. People who have played CB. The deep coverage is 3 deep and you are the CB covering the deep 1/3 of the weak side of the field. X is the only WR on your side. I need to know: 1. Is X your sole primary to cover and what determines when you release him ? 2. How much area on that side of the field is your responsibilty ?( from th side line to the yard marker...the hash lines ?) 3. What do you do If a WR/TE motions to the slot on your side, then X runs a fly and the slot runs a corner to your side (coverage underneath is short zones)? Saftey playing Middle 1/3, what are your primary responsibilities and what determines your primary WR to cover ?

Didn't play CB or safety but had to know the entire defense. For both of your questions I'd first say, it depends on how the coach teaches it. Before breaking down what we did, it would also bear mentioning the variations in the coverage and some of the things that we used to do. We had a standard Robber, Cloud and Sky as our base cover 3 calls. We ran Robber and Sky primarily to defend Pro sets. If the offense shifted to a 4WR with the back out of the backfield and the TE in the slot, we had to get out of Sky and Robber because now you have the possibility of 4 seam routes which sky and robber are not going to cover well. This is where we went to cloud with a corner squatting in the flat or we'd have him play soft, he had to read the backfield and determine whether he was going to squat or play soft. Or we would jump into our Quarters Coverage.

We numbered the WR's. So in the Pro set with the TE lined up right, the Flanker is #1, TE #2, HB #3. From the weak side the Split End was #1 and the HB was #2, FB #3. So given your scenario of the TE motioning to the slot, it doesn't matter which side, he will always be #2.

How our CB's and S played it.

CB Pattern Reads went like this:

1) Key both #1 and #2 as you back pedal.
2) Always stay deep as the deepest WR in your zone.
3) If #1 runs a short or intermediate route, check vertical for #2 (almost expect it)
4) But and this is where Video games make me sick, do not come out of the back pedal unless someone threatens to go vertical. This way if both #1 and #2 run a short route you can break on the ball.
5) If #1 threatens vertical maintain your cushion and run with him. Stay on his outside hip on the post route.

Deep Middle 1/3 Player:

1) Dropping between the CB's and staying as deep as the deepest WR.
2) Key the release of #2, if he goes vertical then you gotta jump on it.
3) If #2 runs short then check split end or flanker for the post.

We never ran a strict zone where guys just say this is my area and whatever happens I don't care I'm going to drop right there. To put it bluntly, if you can't play man then you can't play zone.

[Pluto07]

Defenders in zone coverage are responsible for an area of the field, not specific players.

In the cover-3 the CB has responsibility for 1/3 of the deep zone. Both corners and the FS devide the deep zone into thirds. (The SS plays an underneath zone and can be moved up into the 'box'). This allows the defense to stop the run and protect against the deep pass. The weekness is short sidelines, flats.

In the cover-2 the deep zone is split in 1/2's by the safeties, and the underneath zones devided into 1/5ths by the CB's and LB's. In this case the corner is covering a short zone, but IF the WR gets a clean release and is heading deep to the outside - it would be difficult for the safety to cover that much ground, so in this case the CB would need to ride the WR almost like he was in man2man. Cover two is suseptable to having the deep zones stretched (it's tough for one man to cover 1/2 the field), so in the Tampa 2, the middle linebacker drops into the middle of the deep zone. Attack the Tampa two underneath, between the safeties.

Note: the cornerback is responsible his zone, which means taking on whoever is in his zone - including 260 lb. TE's and RB's. So zone coverages guys are usually bigger, stronger, tackling types. Man2man is for the small speed demons.

Also Note: Zone defenses need your front four to get pressure on the QB. Leave the big run stoppers on the bench and put in those pass rushers.

Hope this helps.

[LBzrule]

The principles to most if not all our zones was to key the numbers. Who is keying who might change, but someone was always keying off of somebody.

[LBzrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pluto07

Defenders in zone coverage are responsible for an area of the field, not specific players. In the cover-3 the CB has responsibility for 1/3 of the deep zone. Both corners and the FS devide the deep zone into thirds. (The SS plays an underneath zone and can be moved up into the 'box'). This allows the defense to stop the run and protect against the deep pass. The weekness is short sidelines, flats. In the cover-2 the deep zone is split in 1/2's by the safeties, and the underneath zones devided into 1/5ths by the CB's and LB's. In this case the corner is covering a short zone, but IF the WR gets a clean release and is heading deep to the outside - it would be difficult for the safety to cover that much ground, so in this case the CB would need to ride the WR almost like he was in man2man. Cover two is suseptable to having the deep zones stretched (it's tough for one man to cover 1/2 the field), so in the Tampa 2, the middle linebacker drops into the middle of the deep zone. Attack the Tampa two underneath, between the safeties. Note: the cornerback is responsible his zone, which means taking on whoever is in his zone - including 260 lb. TE's and RB's. So zone coverages guys are usually bigger, stronger, tackling types. Man2man is for the small speed demons. Also Note: Zone defenses need your front four to get pressure on the QB. Leave the big run stoppers on the bench and put in those pass rushers. Hope this helps.

Yeah this is why I said it always depends on how a coach teaches it because we didn't run it this way. Our zones were based on patter read/recognition, which would end up having players play pseudo man coverage, not strictly dropping to an area and playing whoever. Even in our cover 2 we played "match up zone."

[bgeno]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pluto07

Defenders in zone coverage are responsible for an area of the field, not specific players. In the cover-3 the CB has responsibility for 1/3 of the deep zone. Both corners and the FS devide the deep zone into thirds. (The SS plays an underneath zone and can be moved up into the 'box'). This allows the defense to stop the run and protect against the deep pass. The weekness is short sidelines, flats.

It's true that you're responsible for a specific "zone," but as LBz said, you still have to key certain players... you can't just stare at your zone and wait for someone to come into the zone; you have to think ahead.


I never played corner or safety, but I played some ILB in 7-on-7's... so I'll tell you what I always did there while covering the hook/curl zone in a cover 3...

I key the tight end(s) and/or slot receiver(s) right off the bat, looking for a drag, hook, etc. If he goes deep or away from me, I take a quick look at the RBs and see what they're doing. If one comes into my zone, I take him. If not, I'm looking for a WR to cross the field.


I'm pretty sure similar properties apply to CB and FS in a cover 3. If you're a CB, you want to key the WR(s) and or TE(s) on your side right off the bat.

... you know what... LBz knows way more than me and already explained this. Listen to him... haha.

[adembroski]

I was a corner... we had one key difference with how LBz described it. There was one adjustment... if I had a slot to my side, and he released outside the flanker (ie a slot-fade/flanker-drive combination or something like that), the slot would become my #1.

If my coach saw this thread, he'd come in in all caps going nuts, "NOBODY IS DEEPER THAN YOU! NOBODY IS DEEPER THAN YOU!" because I'm pretty sure that's all he knew how to say to defensive backs..