Cover 2 Defense

An answer to the West Coast Offense

Developed principally to stop the West Coast Offense, the Cover 2 drops the safeties into two deep zones. The Cover 2 is usually run with man-to-man coverage underneath.

The Cover 2 Zone puts the LBs and CBs in zone coverage underneath the safeties.

Tony Dungy's Tampa 2 variant of the Cover 2 Zone moves the MLB back into a deeper zone. The OLBs cover zones behind the LOS. The CBs cover a zone under the safeties. It is designed to eliminate the soft zones otherwise created between the safeties and CBs.

The Cover 3 drops the MLB (or nickel back) into a deep zone in the middle between the two safeties.

How to stop the Cover 2 Zone:

• Attack the soft parts of the zone: between the CB and S and between the two safeties.
• Run the ball with a big back. The zone requires fast LBs. Big RBs can run over undersized LBs and get into the secondary with regularity.