How do you defend five eligible receivers and the 57,600 square feet of grass they can run through on a football field? You can try to run with each receiver, you can cover areas of the field, or you use a combination of the techniques. Coverages could be the most complex part of the game because there are so many ways to do it. To simplify things, we can bucket coverages into four categories: man, zone, zone match, or man match. Each type of coverage has its strengths and weaknesses and requires different skills from the players running them.
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I particularly liked how Dante Bartee, a graduate assistant from the University of California, Berkley explained each type of coverage with Chris Vasseur, the host of the Make Defense Great Again podcast. Bartee was articulate and his knowledge base is beyond his years. I highly recommend listening to the podcast if you want to dig deeper. I’ll be using his quotes throughout this article.
Man
Man coverage is the most basic and simplest way to cover.
“You got this man all over the field,” Bartee said.
Defensive backs lock their eyes on their assignment’s hips and have nothing else to worry about other than covering their assignments. Of course, it’s pretty difficult to have to react and run with some of the best athletes in the world, who are trained to deceive you with lethal efficiency.
There’s bump-and-run man coverage in which defenders will try to jam their assignments at the line of scrimmage to slow them down and there’s off-man when defenders will play off, so it’s more difficult to beat them deep. Also, it allows them to read the quarterback’s drop (short drop means quick passes, and long drops mean intermediate-to-deep passes). If a defender playing off-man sees the quarterback take a short drop, he’ll slow down his drop to get ready to jump a pass in front of him.
Different types of man coverage will offer help for defenders playing man in different areas of the field. For example, in cover 1, defenders have help from a deep safety in the middle of the field, so they will play with outside leverage. In 2-man, there are two deep safeties on each side of the field. The middle is left open so defenders will play with inside leverage and play a trail technique because they know they have help deep and outside.
Advantages:
- Tight coverage with less communication required.
- Simple and allows defenders to play fast.
Disadvantages:
- If you don’t have enough defenders with the athleticism to play man, you’ll have matchup problems.
- Offenses can cause problems with rub concepts.
- Defenders have their back turned toward the quarterback, which makes it harder to get interceptions and play mobile quarterbacks.
Zone
“Spot drop orientated. You’re going to an area,” Bartee said. “You’re looking at the quarterback and we are going to vision and break off the quarterback.”
Spot drop means exactly what it sounds like. Defenders drop to designated spots in the field that they are responsible for with their eyes on the quarterback. The two most basic zone coverages are cover 2 and cover 3. In cover 2, there are two deep safeties responsible for each half of the field. In cover 3, three deep defenders divide the field.
Advantages:
- More eyes on the quarterback mean there are more defenders reacting and breaking on the throw.
- Simple and allows defenders to play fast.
Disadvantages:
- There are holes in between zones that offenses can attack.
- Concedes underneath throws, which could be difficult on defenses when facing ball carriers who are hard to tackle.
Zone match
“When someone enters my zone, I’m going to take him man-to-man,” Bartee said. “I’m still doing it with a zone-style drop, so I’m working to stack the top of the zone.”
In zone match coverages, defenders take zone drops but drop in relation to the routes the offense is running. They’ll drop, look for routes in their areas, adjust their drops, and get their eyes back on the quarterback. When Bartee says “working to stack the top of the zone”, he means defenders are looking to play over the top of the routes in their areas and play it from the top down.
Alabama is a team that runs a lot of zone-match coverages. Defenses can play common zone defenses with zone match rules/ techniques. Here, they are playing cover 3-mable (cover 3 with man-to-man to the single-receiver side).
When trying to identify zone match or man match, look at the underneath defenders. On the three-receiver side, you can see the safety and inside linebacker get their eyes to their zone to see where they have to drop and then look back to the quarterback. They aren’t worried about plastering to the hips of the receivers in their areas. After the pattern distribution, they know where their assignments are and are in position to defend them with their eyes on the quarterback.
Advantages:
- Tighter coverage than in regular zone.
- More eyes on the quarterback mean there are more defenders reacting and breaking on the throw.
Disadvantages:
- Takes a lot of communication and practice time.
- Concedes underneath throws, which could be difficult on defenses when facing ball carriers who are hard to tackle.
Man match
“I have a man, until he does something then I go take another man.”
In man match coverages, some defenders just play straight man coverage, which is referred to as MEG (man everywhere he goes). Some defenders have a man until he runs into an area of the field. For example, a defender might be responsible for MOD (man outside and deep). So if his assignment runs a route that is outside and deep, he takes him. If his assignment runs underneath, he could let him go and play another man.
Here, it looks like the Alabama defense was in cover 7. To the strongside (top of the screen), the cornerback had the No. 1 receiver deep. The safety was responsible for bracketing the No. 1 or No. 2 receiver depending on which one ran a deeper route. The “star” had the No. 2 receiver. The mike linebacker had No. 3.
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The numbers that are designated to each eligible receiver depend on how far they are from the sideline For example, the farthest eligible receiver from the sideline was the running back so he was No. 3. The slot that was on the ball is second closest, so he’s No. 2. The receiver off the ball was closest so he is No. 1.
Each defender is responsible for covering a number designated to each receiver, but the number designation can change after the pattern distributes. For example, before the snap, the slot that was on the ball was No. 2. After the snap, the running back quickly burst out to the flat, outside of the slot, so he became the 2, and the star had to cover him. Notice that the underneath defenders’ eyes were on receivers rather than the quarterback.
Advantages:
- The defense can play tight coverage on intermediate and deep routes.
- Hard to run rub routes against.
- Man coverage with leverage advantages (defenders lined up outside take outside routes, defenders inside take inside routes).
Disadvantages:
- Have to be fully committed to the philosophy because it takes a lot of time to practice and master.
- The offense can create mismatches if it knows the defense’s rules.