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The Cover 3
By Dillweed | August 31, 2007
So, Jax vs Skins….pretty promising look on offense. I like how the ball was spread around to everyone on the opening drive. Then, Brunell came on my screen…….and the TV turned off (seriously, all by itself), and that was the end of the recap.
Instead of charting just 1 drive on either side of the ball from last night, I figured I’d take a closer look at the defensive schemes we ran against the Ravens last week. And hopefully, I’ll get you as excited as I am about seeing some version of a Cover 3 emerge as our base defense. The following is a diagram showing the Cover 3 with each position’s zone coverage area colored in:
The Cover 3 plays to the Redskins defensive strengths perfectly. On the deep coverage, there are 3 players covering the deep zones (hence the name Cover 3) and 4 players covering the underneath zones. Thanks to a couple of key first round draft picks at both Safety positions and speed upgrades at the LB positions, the Redskins may have the most qualified back 7 in the league to handle this coverage. Sean Taylor is arguably the best in the league at playing center field, which is exactly what his assignment is in this coverage. LaRon Landry has proven to be a force against the run, and that is what he’ll be able to do here as the 8th man in the box. And unlike Archuleta, Landry can drop back and be a more than capable cover man. Another reason why this formation is such a great fit for us is because the CB only has to worry about getting beat deep since he has underneath help, i.e. he can play with a significant cushion off of the WR….which is what Carlos Rogers does best…matter of a fact it’s all he’s capable of, I think. I’ve never seen a corner so scared to get beat deep (evil Jacksonville memories from last year starting to haunt me again…)
Here is what the Front 8 can look like in the Cover 3 assignments:
Rogers is off the screen as he gives his cushion. Taylor is also back playing center field.
Strengths of the Cover 3:
1. 8 men in the box to attack the run…the Ravens keep 7 to block here, and still don’t have enough:
2. It’s better than the Cover 2. We have 3 players covering the deep field (4 if you count Sean Taylor twice), which is obviously a better bet than the 2 players deep that the cover 2 offers. Also, the Cover 2 puts pressure on the MLB (Mike) to cover a lot of ground. In this scheme, nobody in underneath coverage has more space than they can handle. Especially when you consider Rocky, Fletch, Marcus’, and Landry’s elite speed and desire to close in on the ball.
3. Again, in our case, we don’t have to worry (as much) about Carlos Rogers, since he’ll have underneath help from the outside LB/Nickel CB, which allows him to play with the 100 yard cushion he is comfortable using:
It might look like the WR is just standing there….because he is. A penalty was called. But prior to the flag being thrown he was set and ready for a quick screen pass. McNair never got around to seeing him though, but in future games….expect teams to do these types of quick throws (Fisher did it when we played Tennesse). But here you see how the underneath help can get there almost instantly.
Weaknesses of the Cover 3:
As with any coverage, different pre-snap motions, formations and routes can possibly exploit the Cover 3.
Routes: A “deep in” route is a perfect way to get open in this coverage. Here, the WR simply runs off the corner by starting out on what looks like a Deep Route, or Go Route. Then the WR cuts of his route, after running past the LB’s coverage, and does an “in.” Now the WR is over the LB’s coverage, yet underneath the CB he ran off (of course, the better the corner, the slimmer the chance that you can run him off. This play is with Fred Smoot at CB, perhaps with Shawn Springs it will be a different story). I’d expect a lot of these routes run at the CB-who-is-not-Springs’ side all season long:
Snap Motions/Formations: Flooding a side with WRs, motioning, and formations such as the “I” can help defeat the Cover 3. With the I-Formation, you a great advantage against the weak side of the defense (away from the SS.) Here, a leading fullback can pick up the second level defenders, possibly leaving the RB with some room to run.
In Conclusion
McNair’s biggest throws all night were 20 yards (shown above) and 15 yards (with the exact same route). I’d expect Miami to run similar “deep in” routes to try and get something complete downfield, since a fly route isn’t going to work with this scheme. Fortunately, Fletch was just INCHES away from getting these passes deflected, so I’m sure that problem will be addressed. As far as defending the run goes, we called Landry to the box 9 times out of 26 plays against the Ravens…that’s 35%…and he’s just a rookie in pre-season. The versatility of this base coverage could very well catapult us into the top 10 this year in total defense.
Topics: NFL, Redskins, Sports | 2 Comments »
August 31st, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Dillweed, I may be slightly drunk, and I’m hanging out with Jarvis, D-Mech and D-Mech’s wife, but god dammit, you are turning me on.
Wow.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:08 am
This is sick analysis!
Another OUTSTANDING POST.
Keep it up…enriches each game!
Many thx.