Cover 3 - Green

The Cover 3 Concept is often mistaken for a sub standard coverage. I am also guilty of this, given that many Defences use this coverage and are not able to make plays but Prevent big plays. As I became more aware of the Football world around me it became evident that I just didnt know enough about Cover 3 to teach it well enough. I knew enough to be able to install a defensive Cover 3 but not an attacking cover 3.

The following Chalkboard shows the Zone Allocation of our Cover 3 Concept.

From an Odd Front Front:

From an Even Front Front:

The variations of Cover 3 revolve around the Zones underneath the 3 Deep. Some Coaches prefer a 4 or 5 Zone underneath and rely on Pressure from their Front, others prefer to be aggresive and use Fire Zones and play with only 3 Zones underneath.

The Cover 3 Concept is our Base Coverage concept. As it is for many other MOFC Secondaries around. We use this as a Base coverage as it gives us a balanced Defence in the Run and Passing Game. As such we can use this on Running and Passing Downs Vs all of the Opponents on our Schedule. It also allows us to adjust Alignment without loosing leverage against single and twin Receiver sets.

The Strengths of Cover 3 is that it allows you to stay balanced while being being flexible enough to adjust to any situation the Offence shows. Wether that be Tendencies, Formations or Motions. Ironically I believe that the MOFO Shell Cover 3 is stronger than the MOFC shell as the defence can disguise the Zone responsibilities Post Snap. Though it is still possible to tag Sky and Cloud and still play with the Reads of the Offence out of a MOFC shell. It is easy to adjust and cover with more players than routes present.

There are weaknesses with the Cover 3 concept. The Secondary Contain can be slow as they tend to rally from depth. #1 Receiver cannot be easily Pressed and will most likely have an untouched Stem into the Seams. The Flats are open to quick plays and Screens, which could lead to an extended Running game.

We use Pattern Reading when playing Zone. As such this post will relate to our Philosophy of Covering routes and recognising Patterns rather than Spot Dropping.

All Coverage is Man Coverage. The time taken to find the Man varies from Coverages. Spot Dropping takes the longest as the Coverage waits for the last Route to develop. Pattern Reading sits in the Middle as the Read is dependant on Routes developing. Man Coverage is the Fastest as the Read and Recognition is made Pre Snap.

As in the above Chalkboard we can see that we have 3 High and 4 Low Zones. These are designated as Deep, Hook-Curl and Fade Zones. (The Deep and Hook-Curl are generic terms used by many Defenses, though what to others is the Flat is to us the Fade; the Flat is closer to the LoS in our System). The Allocation is in itself very simple, the Outside Box Defenders underneath are Fade, the Inside Box Defenders are Hook-Curl and the CB and Free Safety are Deep Players.

The Principles are as follows and serves to give a General overview:

Deep: Vertical breaking routes
Hook-Curl: In Routes
Fade: Out Routes

To go into more Detail about the Coverage:

Deep:

• Cover the Deepest Route inside the Deep Outside 1/3
• Maintain Vertical and Horizontal Leverage. Remain the Deepest Man on your Side.
• In the Event that there is no Vertical Route sit at the bottom of the Zone and support the Safety and Fade Player

Fade:

• Cover the Outside Route
• Aiming Point (10yds deep and 4yds inside #1's Pre Snap alignment
• Cover from Outside in and Maintain Outside Leverage
• Keep Shoulders parallel to LoS
• In the event that two Outside breaking Routes develop play Divider Rule

Hook-Curl:

• Cover the Inside Route
• Aiming Point (10yds deep inside the Hashmarks)
• Read release from #2
• Wall all routes back outside, protect the Seams
• If there are no Inside Routes, stack back and gain depth reading the QB

INSTALLATION SHEDULE

This Install relates to the Pattern Reading for Green only. It also assumes that there is a limited time allocated for the Coverage Install, as such the schedule is flexible given the amount of time a Coaching Staff has to invest. This install relates to the time that we have to Coach ( 210 minutes a week Maximum Training time ).

Week 1 (emphasis on Alignment and Pre/Post Snap Keys - Half Field Install)
LB
Alignment in Odd and Even Fronts

Guard Key and TE (Pro Formation)

• No Route threatening = Stack Coverage

Hybrid
Guard Key and TE (Pro Formation)

Alignment:

Stance:

CB
Guard Key and #1

Alignment:

Stance:

FS
Guard Key and #1

Alignment:

Week 2 (emphasis on Alignment and Route Recognition - Half Field Install)
LB
Guard Key and #2 (Pro and Open Formations)

Hybrid
Guard Key and #2 (Pro and Open Formations)

CB & FS
Guard Key and #1 & #2

Week 3 (emphasis on Assignment and Execution - Half Field Install)
LB
Guard Key and #2 & #3 (Pro and Open Formations with RB)

Hybrid
Guard Key and #2 (Pro and Open Formations with RB)

CB & FS
Guard Key and #1 & #2

Week 4 (emphasis on Assignment and Execution - Full Field Install)
LB
Guard Key and #2 & #3 (Pro and Open Formations with RB)

Hybrid
Guard Key and #2 (Pro and Open Formations with RB)

CB & FS
Guard Key and #1 & #2

By this stage the Coverage will have been installed and would now require Drilling in order to refine the Details of the Coverage and prevent Habitual errors from occuring.

DRILLS

The following Drill allows us to Install Green coverage. We only use half the field for any one group. Ideally the LBs, Hybrids and CB/FS will practice seperately before training together.

Note the abscence of a Trips (3x1 or 3x2) formation. We auto check to a different coverage versus trips (3x1 or 3x2) but not to Trey (2x1 with TE to 2 side).

Each Defensive Positon has 2 cones, 1 Base alignment and 1 Commit Point. The Drill starts with proper Stance and Alignment on the cone and by the time the 2nd cone is hit the Defender will have commited to his route.

The following Videos where taken from our first Pre-Season game: