Steve Spagnuolo breaks down when to use cover 3 and cover 2

[Spts1]

HIGHLY Falcon related because of the cover 3 that Quinn loves to run.  Spags points out that the MAJOR weakness of the cover 3 is the flat routes.  Its how teams can march down the field on you if you stay in cover 3 and don't switch to a cover 2.   Other stress points ( that he doesn't point out in this study) are the seams and the middle of the field behind the linebackers.  The reason being you don't have a robber in cover 3 because the robber safety is in the box. That leaves the free safety open to have to cover the seams AND the area behind the dropping linebackers.  The BENEFIT of cover 3 is not giving up big plays because of the " shell " created with the cover 3 and the run defense benefit of it.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by slickgadawg

[TheFatboi]

27 minutes ago, slickgadawg said:

HIGHLY Falcon related because of the cover 3 that Quinn loves to run.  Spags points out that the MAJOR weakness of the cover 3 is the flat routes.  Its how teams can march down the field on you if you stay in cover 3 and don't switch to a cover 2.   Other stress points ( that he doesn't point out in this study) are the seams and the middle of the field behind the linebackers.  The reason being you don't have a robber in cover 3 because the robber safety is in the box. That leaves the free safety open to have to cover the seams AND the area behind the dropping linebackers.  The BENEFIT of cover 3 is not giving up big plays because of the " shell " created with the cover 3 and the run defense benefit of it.

 

 

You can have a robber in cover 3. But since 2015 ive been saying what the natural weaknes in cover 3 is. underneath. Curls and comebacks and the seams. But the object of cover 3 is to keep everything in front of you and tackle well. I like cover 3 better than cover 2 but we pretty much run cover 3 or cover 1. Smith was a cover 2 guy . 

[Spts1]

2 minutes ago, TheFatboi said:

You can have a robber in cover 3. But since 2015 ive been saying what the natural weaknes in cover 3 is. underneath. Curls and comebacks and the seams. But the object of cover 3 is to keep everything in front of you and tackle well. I like cover 3 better than cover 2 but we pretty much run cover 3 or cover 1. Smith was a cover 2 guy . 

First, this is what I don't get.  The Falcons have had very good cover corners ever since Dimitroff has been in charge of their draft.  Why negate that with cover 3?  As you know, cover 3 is better for your weaker and smaller corners.  Next, how do they imploy the robber in cover 3?  Change the coverage after the snap and drop the safety back out of the box into the robber area?

[TheFatboi]

1 minute ago, slickgadawg said:

First, this is what I don't get.  The Falcons have had very good cover corners ever since Dimitroff has been in charge of their draft.  Why negate that with cover 3?  As you know, cover 3 is better for your weaker and smaller corners.  Next, how do they imploy the robber in cover 3?  Change the coverage after the snap and drop the safety back out of the box into the robber area?

Cover 3 is for long corners like Sherman and Oliver. Length should be the strength of a cover 3 corner because their job is protecting the deep sideline. And you can employ the robber by having the safety rob instead of dropping back. The SS can be the robber. Or vice versa. There’s still 2 safeties back there. So whoever your deep safety is the underneath safety can be your robber. And they haven’t negated anything with cover 3. Cover 2 was the main coverage with smith and that’s still zone. The main difference is the safeties have deep halves whereas in cover 3 it’s 3rds. They’re both still zone coverages so whoever the corner is he’s only covering an area. Not a person.  

[Spts1]

13 minutes ago, TheFatboi said:

Cover 3 is for long corners like Sherman and Oliver. Length should be the strength of a cover 3 corner because their job is protecting the deep sideline. And you can employ the robber by having the safety rob instead of dropping back. The SS can be the robber. Or vice versa. There’s still 2 safeties back there. So whoever your deep safety is the underneath safety can be your robber. And they haven’t negated anything with cover 3. Cover 2 was the main coverage with smith and that’s still zone. The main difference is the safeties have deep halves whereas in cover 3 it’s 3rds. They’re both still zone coverages so whoever the corner is he’s only covering an area. Not a person.  

In a cover 3 zone the strong safety has curl/ flat responsibilites so how is he back there with the free safety?

[Spts1]

Here is a diagram of what I'm talking about:

 

[TheFatboi]

9 minutes ago, slickgadawg said:

In a cover 3 zone the strong safety has curl/ flat responsibilites so how is he back there with the free safety?

The SS is in the box. Therefore he can rob. The FS is deep. But THERE ARE STILL 2 SAFTIES!! Not 1. Don’t get it twisted there’s different coverages in cover 3. It’s just not one thing. A safety can buzz or saw or rob. You can make the MLB be a robber. It’s all in the call. The shell is cover 3 but what they actually do can vary. The only thing that will he constant is the corners. And curl flat can be the outside linebackers. You pulled exactly ONE example of cover 3. There are variances my dude. 

[TheFatboi]

5 minutes ago, slickgadawg said:

Here is a diagram of what I'm talking about:

 

This is one example of cover 3. You can have the SS rob and the OLB get curl/flat. That is not the only assignment of cover 3. You can vary the coverage in cover 3. 

[Spts1]

3 minutes ago, TheFatboi said:

The SS is in the box. Therefore he can rob. The FS is deep. But THERE ARE STILL 2 SAFTIES!! Not 1. Don’t get it twisted there’s different coverages in cover 3. It’s just not one thing. A safety can buzz or saw or rob. You can make the MLB be a robber. It’s all in the call. The shell is cover 3 but what they actually do can vary. The only thing that will he constant is the corners. And curl flat can be the outside linebackers. You pulled exactly ONE example of cover 3. There are variances my dude. 

Very good explanation.  Now that I have cover 3 and cover 2 worked out, I think that if I was a defensive coordinator, I would prefer cover 1.  Cover 1, though weak against fade routes and exposing my corners, lets me be aggressive with my defense because I can have one of my linebackers or the strong safety be free on EVERY play to either cover, double team, provide run support or blitz.  Its a high risk, high reward way of playing defense but with the right personnel at corner and free safety can be HIGHLY effective.  Its in the philosophy you want to run as a coordinator.

I found a diagram of it also:

[FalconsIn2012]

26 minutes ago, TheFatboi said:

The SS is in the box. Therefore he can rob. The FS is deep. But THERE ARE STILL 2 SAFTIES!! Not 1. Don’t get it twisted there’s different coverages in cover 3. It’s just not one thing. A safety can buzz or saw or rob. You can make the MLB be a robber. It’s all in the call. The shell is cover 3 but what they actually do can vary. The only thing that will he constant is the corners. And curl flat can be the outside linebackers. You pulled exactly ONE example of cover 3. There are variances my dude. 

Good point.  

You could see these kind of adjustments to our Cover 1 base in SB 51.  Even when playing dime ( six defensive backs on the field),  we would still be using the robber.  But one subtle change confused Brady.  If aPatriots receiver was running a crossing route, in order to avoid a traffic jam in the middle, the “robber” would take the crosser, and that receiver’s initial defender would now take on the role of the “robber.”  We were passing on robber responsibility.  

 

 

[TheFatboi]

2 minutes ago, FalconsIn2020 said:

Good point.  

You could see these kind of adjustments to our Cover 1 base in SB 51.  Even when playing dime ( six defensive backs on the field),  we would still be using the robber.  But one subtle change confused Brady.  If aPatriots receiver was running a crossing route, in order to avoid a traffic jam in the middle, the “robber” would take the crosser, and that receiver’s initial defender would now take on the role of the “robber.”  We were passing on robber responsibility.  

 

 

Yep. That switch at that moment caused the int. So again it’s chess not checkers. They showed Brady one look all drive but switched the coverage in the same look and pick 6. 

[Spts1]

9 minutes ago, FalconsIn2020 said:

Good point.  

You could see these kind of adjustments to our Cover 1 base in SB 51.  Even when playing dime ( six defensive backs on the field),  we would still be using the robber.  But one subtle change confused Brady.  If aPatriots receiver was running a crossing route, in order to avoid a traffic jam in the middle, the “robber” would take the crosser, and that receiver’s initial defender would now take on the role of the “robber.”  We were passing on robber responsibility.  

 

 

Saban runs a match up zone that is essentially the same thing. A linebacker covers a receiver in his zone on a crossing route and lets him go once the receiver leaves his zone and the backside linebacker would pick him up...

[FalconsIn2012]

5 minutes ago, TheFatboi said:

Yep. That switch at that moment caused the int. So again it’s chess not checkers. They showed Brady one look all drive but switched the coverage in the same look and pick 6. 

Even when they moved back to Cover 3 in the 4th, they confused Brady again with the Edelman catch.  Brady thought Alford was releasing Edelman which wasn’t the case.  Resulted in a throw that never should have been made.  Look at what Brady is throwing into.  Quinn won this rep

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4SiUNdkIwzQ

[FalconsIn2012]

12 minutes ago, slickgadawg said:

Saban runs a match up zone that is essentially the same thing. A linebacker covers a receiver in his zone on a crossing route and lets him go once the receiver leaves his zone and the backside linebacker would pick him up...

It’s very much the same as their Cover 3 pattern match

[gazoo]

7 hours ago, TheFatboi said:

Yep. That switch at that moment caused the int. So again it’s chess not checkers. They showed Brady one look all drive but switched the coverage in the same look and pick 6. 

There was so much more to that game than most fans realize. McDaniels and DQ played an intense game of chess the entire game. McDaniels ran many plays just to see what we were doing, and each time he started figuring it out DQ would make changes, or run a variation of a similar look and personnel to trip Brady up. We also stunted like crazy up front and got a ton of interior pressure on Brady, Grady had 3 sacks. That is rare to see Brady under that kind of pressure for 3 3/4ers of a game.

This is why I am stoked DQ is taking over. Once playoff time comes, he can put together a game plan for defense with twists and variations with the best of them.

[FalconsIn2012]

47 minutes ago, gazoo said:

There was so much more to that game than most fans realize. McDaniels and DQ played an intense game of chess the entire game. McDaniels ran many plays just to see what we were doing, and each time he started figuring it out DQ would make changes, or run a variation of a similar look and personnel to trip Brady up. We also stunted like crazy up front and got a ton of interior pressure on Brady, Grady had 3 sacks. That is rare to see Brady under that kind of pressure for 3 3/4ers of a game.

This is why I am stoked DQ is taking over. Once playoff time comes, he can put together a game plan for defense with twists and variations with the best of them.

I think that’s something Belichick mandates as part of the 1st quarter gameplan in the Super Bowl.

It is inconceivable they have scored just 3 points total in the first quarter of all 9 of their Super Bowls

[81KJW]

10 hours ago, slickgadawg said:

HIGHLY Falcon related because of the cover 3 that Quinn loves to run.  Spags points out that the MAJOR weakness of the cover 3 is the flat routes.  Its how teams can march down the field on you if you stay in cover 3 and don't switch to a cover 2.   Other stress points ( that he doesn't point out in this study) are the seams and the middle of the field behind the linebackers.  The reason being you don't have a robber in cover 3 because the robber safety is in the box. That leaves the free safety open to have to cover the seams AND the area behind the dropping linebackers.  The BENEFIT of cover 3 is not giving up big plays because of the " shell " created with the cover 3 and the run defense benefit of it.

 

 

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 so this is what we have to look forward too for 16 games and don't forget CB are too tall

Edited July 17, 2019 by 81KJW