How to beat the cover 2

[MAATOPDOGG]

First learn about the Bucs cover two before you go pontificating about how to beat it, then read nice breakdown of how to attack it.

http://www.extremeskins.com/forums/...=Bucs+cover+Two

[JoeDaSchmoe]

It says file not found.

Anyway, attacking the Cover Two isn't all that hard. It's nothing new. I mean, hell, how long ago was it when someone decided to put two safties and two corners on the field and tell the safeties to play the deep halves? Timeless sort of thing. It's being hyped now because the Bucs are having success with it, and because it's pretty good at shutting down the West Coast offense, which is the most common offensive system in the league at this point.

The best thing to do against a Cover 2 (other than run the ball well enough to force them into man coverage) is to overload a zone. The safeties each have to cover a half of the field. No easy task. Spurrier needs to focus on forcing those safeties to play at least two recievers at once. Say we line up Coles, Gardner, and McCants in the slot. To overload the safeties, Coles and Gardner would both run fades down the sideline while McCants runs a seam down the middle of the field. This would be a play to run on first or second down, when the Bucs aren't likely to drop another man back and split the field into thirds. With only two safeties back there, the most likely outcome is that McCants splits them and is open in the middle. If not, Coles or Gardner should be open on one side.

The corners can be overloaded as well. They usually play the flats, so the general objective here is to tie them up with the reciever using a hook or curl route while a back runs out and makes a sideline catch. This won't work if the backers are in man coverage and following the backs, but the Cover 2 generalls puts the LBs in central zones, to guard against quick slants and drags.

The version of the Cover 2 that I actually think is more effective that I see run from time to time is the Under-5 system. In this, the corners and LBs will man up while the safeties play the deep halves. This makes it very hard to overload the zones, but does open up a bit more of the quick-hitter and crossing routes game. The recievers should be able to get open often on slants and drags.

Most of all, Tampa relies on its front four to get pressure on the QB so the recievers don't have time to overload the safeties. Obviously, it works very well. However, this could actually be a defense that plays to our strengths, as our line can handle a strong front four better than the constant-blitz system of the Eagles. It's not as if the Bucs don't blitz at all, but they rely on it much less than Philadelphia, and generally try to stick with the base Cover 2 system. If our O-line can handle their front four (a big if, but not out of the question), our offense could actually look better against the Bucs than it did against Philly.

[KY SkinsFan]

wow, i'm pretty new here but that was some great analysis, you just gave me more confidence for next week's game

[SkinsKY]

That's a sharp analysis...KY Skins, it's nice to have another guy from the Bluegrass on board. Welcome.

[Smiley]

KY Skins (JoeDaSchmoe?) - tell me more!! Good stuff. I liked it so much I printed it, I'll read it again later to make sure it sinks in.

[AZ#1SkinsFan]

Excellent analysis. Though since Tampa is playing the Skins they will probably blitz more than normal. . . . If the o-line could only live up to expectations we might have a chance.

[MAATOPDOGG]

Here's a better analysis.

Insider: Inside the Bucs Cover 2



Buc U.
ESPN The Magazine







The concept is simple: two safeties divide the deep secondary in half. The underneath zones are covered by the two cornerbacks and the Will (weakside), Sam (strongside) and Mike (middle) linebackers. Blitzing is rare. Instead, the front four attack the quarterback with stunts, shifts and speed. Cover 2 is about containment, its success dependent upon players knowing their jobs, taking calculated risks and being patient. "There aren't many coverages," says Colts coach Tony Dungy, who learned the Cover 2 as a Steelers safety under defensive coordinator Bud Carson, one of the scheme's earliest proponents. "But each player has a lot of responsibility."

Dungy gets the credit for resuscitating the Cover 2. He used it to revive the Bucs in 1996 and employs it now in Indianapolis. His disciples, like Jets coach Herman Edwards and Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, spread the gospel around the league. And we're spreading it to you, with five key phrases and explanations that are all you need to impress -- okay, annoy -- your friends come Week 1. "Cover 2 is not complicated," says Bucs defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. "Know the terminology and what to look for and you won't be embarrassed on the field."

"Fooled by the Two Catch"
To begin again: it's not Tampa Bay's Cover 2 that causes offensive coordinators to buy Mylanta by the box. It's Tampa Bay's Two Catch.

In this camouflaged version of the Cover 2, the cornerbacks line up seven to eight yards off the line, rather than close enough to jam receivers as required in the vanilla Cover 2 scheme. This positioning "catches" the quarterback wondering if he's reading a disguised Cover 2 or some other type of zone. In Tampa, the corners funnel receivers inside, while the Sam, Will and Mike linebackers drop five to seven yards deep, forming an umbrella over the pass routes.

This is when film study comes in. With Warren Sapp, Anthony McFarland and Simeon Rice hell-bent on sacking the quarterback, any slow-developing pass play can suddenly turn into a dump-off. So the linebackers covering underneath need to know the quarterback's first, second and third options. The Bucs' Mike and Sam 'backers, Shelton Quarles and Derrick Brooks, spend so much time in the film room -- arriving at 6 a.m. during the season for 10 hours a week of study -- that they can anticipate most every pattern that comes their way. No wonder Brooks scored four defensive touchdowns last season. "The five underneath are what make Tampa so good," says Falcons defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. "With that pass rush, you've got to throw short, and they're always in position."

That's what frustrates opposing quarterbacks. "You just can't force the ball into coverage," says Brett Favre. "You've got to be patient. You'd think with them rushing only four guys, you could get the ball off, but it's very difficult." Take the Bucs' 21-7 win over the Packers in November: the Two Catch caught four Favre passes.

"Perfect spill to the Will"
You'll read this next sentence and think we've been drinking: One reason the Bucs won the Super Bowl is that they were so good at missing tackles.

It's true. Dungy and his Cover 2 preachers -- Edwards, Kiffin and Smith -- practice spilling ballcarriers from defender to defender. The theory: if you can't make a tackle, give your teammate his best chance to do it. The Bucs, Colts, Jets and Rams spend every Wednesday during the season practicing the art of the miss. If a back takes a swing pass outside, the linebacker has to make sure that if he misses the tackle, he does so in a way that turns the play inside. "Miss one way and you'll have guys there to help," Edwards says. "Miss wrong, and the play goes for 20 yards."

Passing a ballcarrier like a salt shaker before gang-tackling him is how Cover 2 teams stop the run despite being stocked with lanky and quick defensive ends, not to mention small, fast linebackers. "You have only three linebackers to cover four or five gaps," Quarles says. "So we've got to be our smartest. If they run toward me, I'm going to turn it back to Brooks. He'll make the play, or he'll try to spill it to [safety] John Lynch."

Tampa relied on this approach in two wins last year against Mike Vick's Falcons. Kiffin knew that the southpaw QB scrambled left. But no matter where the pressure was, Vick would fake right first, setting up a wicked juke the other way. So when the first Bucs defender closed in, he'd purposely buy Vick's fake, just to set up a trap. On a third-and-1 in the first quarter of Tampa's 34-10 win in December, Vick faked right and Brooks spilled him left, where Rice, Sapp and strong safety John Howell were waiting. Howell tagged Vick for a 10-yard loss. So when Vikings coach Mike Tice says, "Nobody tackled better than the Bucs last year," it's only half the story.

They missed better than anyone else, too.

"Doubling up the B gap"
The Bucs will never be mistaken for the pressure-happy Eagles, who often put 15 to 20 new blitzes into a game plan. But Tampa Bay doesn't sit back either. "They have a couple of blitzes," says Vikings offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. "But they don't change formation until it's too late for the offense, so it's hard to adjust."

In one blitz, Lynch waits until the quarterback is well into his count before sneaking into the box. At the snap, he and Quarles double up the B gap, the spot between the right offensive tackle and guard. "They send two blitzers through one gap," says Linehan. "It's unorthodox, but it forces you to go to your hot reads." That dupes an offense right into the Two Catch, which is rotating to the QB's first-look receiver.

In last year's playoffs, Tampa's most reliable blitz had cornerback Ronde Barber lining up in his usual Cover 2 look, then sneaking down and over to just outside the defensive end and rushing hard off the edge. During the NFC championship game, with the Eagles at the Bucs' 48-yard line and down by seven early in the third quarter, Barber sacked Donovan McNabb and forced a fumble, which was recovered by defensive tackle Ellis Wyms. In the fourth quarter, Barber crept to his blitzing spot to bait McNabb, then backed off into the Two Catch zone. McNabb ended up playing catch with Barber, who returned the ball 92 yards for a touchdown. "We may not get as many sacks as some teams," says Quarles, "but because of how we time our blitzes, we almost always get pressure, and that gets us interceptions."

Last year it got them 31, tops in the NFL.

"The Mike down the pipe"
If every Cover 2 team ran Cover 2 all the time, the defense would be more transparent than the plot of Girls Gone Wild. Even Tampa switches up by sending Quarles down the middle of the field -- the pipe -- to cover the deep third of the secondary. On long-yardage passing downs, a Cover 2 team expects deep crossing routes, but it wants opponents to throw short, underneath passes. Putting a 'backer in deep pass coverage, usually just beyond the first-down marker, forces the quarterback to risk throwing over him or to play it safe with underneath stuff. Quarles shades in the direction of the No. 1 receiver, giving the Bucs a sneaky double-team.

Sending the Mike down the pipe helped force three of Rich Gannon's five picks in Super Bowl XXXVII. And, of course, teams around the league are following the Bucs' lead. The Rams send Tommy Polley. Miami does it with Zach Thomas, the Colts with Rob Morris. The Mike is the exception that improves the rule.

"The Smash Concept"
The Cover 2 is not unbeatable. In fact, when attacked correctly, it has more gaps than the Mall of America. To really impress your friends the next time you see Tampa getting crushed -- which isn't often -- listen to Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders, advocate of the Smash Concept.

Last year, Kansas City scored a combined 77 points against the Dolphins and Jets, both Cover 2 teams. His Smash Concept works by flooding a zone with more receivers than defenders can cover. Last year against the Dolphins in Week 4, Saunders used the Smash this way: receiver Johnnie Morton lined up wide left and tight end Tony Gonzalez went in motion from the right to the left slot. Morton ran a 12-yard hook, settling in the middle zone between cornerback Sam Madison and safety Brock Marion. Meanwhile, Priest Holmes came out of the backfield and flared left as well, stopping right in front of Madison. As quarterback Trent Green pumped to Morton, Marion drifted over and Gonzalez ran past him, heading for the deep corner. At that moment, Miami's Cover 2 was smashed by three receivers in the same zone. The pass went deep to Gonzalez, who had Marion beat by, oh, half of Missouri.

The Chiefs ran the Smash out of different looks in the game, and Gonzalez caught seven passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns. "In Cover 2," Saunders says, "your safeties better cover a lot of field, and your corners better force receivers inside. Otherwise, the tight end will be open."

Cover 2 zones can be smashed even without an All-Pro tight end. During last season's 41-0 playoff whipping of the Colts -- yes, Dungy's Cover 2 Colts -- Jets QB Chad Pennington consistently sent four receivers into short, quick routes. He never forced the ball upfield, and when the Colts linebackers jumped on the short stuff, Pennington countered with outside screens. Pennington's intentionally quick pace kept the defensive line from getting pressure, and the zones broke down. "If you're going to play seven guys in coverage, you've got to have a rush," says Favre. "Without it, you will find holes and weaknesses in the defense."

[Odyn]

I have two words to say about the cover 2

Marvin Harrison

[ramsey11]

there are 3 things we need to do to attack the cover 2
1.) must be able to run the ball

2) cut down on the penalties

3.) must protect ramsey if ramsey doesnt have to pick hisself up off the field after every play then he should have a nice game.

[skinswin'emALL]

I think the biggest secrect to an effective cover 2 is the front 4 being able to put quick pressure on the QB. if you can give your QB time the cover 2 is burnt toast.

[HollywoodKolt]

Nice analayses (sp?). The cover 2 scheme is not an unbeatable one, and the Bucs can be beaten. But if you have stupid pre-snap or post play penalties, and you can't protect the qb they you can't beat them. I think that our O-line matches up ok against Tampa's D and with no Brian Kelley our recievers are in good shape. I'm pretty exited to see this.

[hail2skins]

Good analysis JDS. They can be beat, it's been proven twice already this season.

[LadyNRedskinsfan]

i cant wait for this game. the skins and bucs always play close games and the bucs will be with one less day off and are very beat up (again, yet another redskins opponent limping into FEDEX). the bucs were exploited by a big armed qb and an attacking offense. if our line can protect ram and we have a balanced attack, i can definitely see the skins pulling this one of. this could be a big big win for such a young team.