Welcome to “Understanding Football with Joel Klatt,” a YouTube exclusive series where I explain all the football-related terms I talk about every weekend on FOX’s “Big Noon Kickoff” broadcast.
We’re going to kick off this new series by talking about defensive passing coverages. I’m going to go over Cover 1, Cover 2, Cover 3 and Cover 4, and give you a tutorial of what they are.
I’m going to explain what each coverage is, how you get into each coverage and how it works, and why you would run that coverage if you’re a defense.
Let’s get into it!
Cover 1
Defensive Coverages Explained: Cover 1
What is Cover 1?
Cover 1 is a man defense. That means it’s man-to-man, and it’s Cover 1 because there is one safety in the middle of the field.
How do you get aligned?
The first thing a defense tries to see when an offense lines up is – where is the run strength? That means where is the tight end? You need to put your bigger bodies on that side.
How does this coverage work?
The No. 1 receiver on each side is going to get taken by the corners in man-to-man defense. Then, on each side of the coverage, the safety and linebacker take the No. 2 players. The other linebacker has man-to-man responsibilities based on which side the running back is going to release.
Why would you run Cover 1?
If you look, and you count the players in the box, you have one more player than the offense can block if they want to run the football. You’ve got run ratios.
You also run this coverage if you feel like your athletes on the outside are better than their wide receivers because you’re going to take away the short throws and that will result in tight-window throws.
You also have the ability to blitz in the interior because you have both linebackers in the middle of the field.
Cover 2
Defensive Coverages Explained: Cover 2
What is Cover 2?
It is a zone defense – when a defender is responsible for a specific area of the field rather than a specific player. There are two safeties high, which is why we call it Cover 2. They are responsible for half of the field.
How do you get aligned?
You have to identify where the run strength is, but now you don’t have a safety down. So, you have to walk out a linebacker toward the slot player. As you walk that linebacker out, your run box loses a player. So, this defense is actually not great against a running team.
What is the most critical part of Cover 2?
The corners on the outside have to jam the wide receivers. That means a defender uses their hands to make contact with the wide receiver and disrupt their route at the line of scrimmage. This is important so that the pass rush can show up, and the safeties can get in a better position.
Why would you run Cover 2?
If you’ve got great defensive tackles that can stop the run and the team can’t run the ball against the run box, which is light, then what you have is a very safe defense. You can’t get explosive plays. They can rally up – meaning a secondary player pursues the ball carrier to make the tackle. It’s a very safe defense and a defense that if your corners do a great job at jamming outside wide receivers, it can be difficult to throw the ball on.
Another reason why you would run this is if there is a great wide receiver for the other team, and the opposite team needs help over the top with the safety. This allows you to get that help and that wide receiver is basically double-teamed.
Cover 3
Defensive Coverages Explained: Cover 3
What is Cover 3?
It’s a zone defense with three deep zones. You have one middle safety in the middle of the field, and you divide the field into three deep zones. The corner has one, the other corner has the other, and the deep safety has the third.
How do you get aligned?
You need to identify the run strength, find the tight end, and the linebacker goes to that side. The safety goes to the side of the wide receiver – the passing strength.
Why would you run Cover 3?
This is a way to be in really strong run defense without having to play man coverage. If Cover 1 was great man defense, the same can be said with Cover 3. The corners all sit back and play off into a deep third, in zone coverage. They are going to have to spread out.
The weakness of Cover 3 is in the flats, the outside portion of the field. That’s the area of the field you can attack if you’re a wide receiver.
Cover 3 is very valuable for teams that don’t think they can stop the run with two high safeties. They need an extra player in the run box, and they want to try to be safe behind him where they aren’t giving up big plays and allowing corners to be out on an island.
Cover 4
Defensive Coverages Explained: Cover 4
What is Cover 4?
Cover 4 is the most unique of these four coverages. It is often called “Quarters” coverage. In theory, you could have four deep zones. It is a zone coverage, but it’s played with man principles.
How do you get aligned?
The corners are basically in man coverage against the No. 1 wide receiver to their side. The safeties are in what’s called a “pattern read” – meaning they are reading the No. 2 release – the tight end or the slot receiver.
Every one of the secondary players could potentially have deep responsibility, so that’s how you get into “four.” Each secondary player plays back and is responsible for a quarter of the field.
Why would you run Cover 4?
This is a coverage you call if you want to be a heavy run defense coverage. If you have corners you believe in that can play man coverage, then this is a great coverage because it creates the illusion that the offense can run the football, and yet, they really can’t because the safeties play so heavily down and don’t get depth.
The weakness of Cover 4 is the run box. The offensive line and tight end have enough players to block everyone covering the run. However, this is one of the strongest run defenses you can possibly call because the safeties can become run defenders based on what the number two release does on each side.
*Check out the YouTube video at the top of this page to get a complete breakdown and visual examples of all four of these defensive coverages.
Joel Klatt is FOX Sports’ lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast “The Joel Klatt Show.” Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the “Joel Klatt Show” on YouTube.
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