Cover 3 vs the short passing game

Coach,

Bob Stoops, when he was at Kansas State, used to run cover 3 a certain way.

Because they run alot of press man coverage, he had his Corners line up in a press look. They would time out the snap and bail out before the snap, (no backpedal) he would teach his corners to flip out if the #1 rec. were to run an out.

He would also have the OLB's re-route #2 and go out to the flat ONLY if #2 takes them there. This would give the hook/curl players time to get out to their area, denying the seams.

This version of Cover 3 would definitely take away the quick hitter to the inside (one spot that most offenses look for vs. Cover 3). The only real weakness I see is if the offense runs #2 vertical and #1 on a hitch. With the Corners bailing, they would not be able to break up on the hitch in time.

Hope this helps.

Coach - we play a 5-3 with a form of cover 3 behind it we call cover 1 - basically it is a combo zone-man coverage with a pattern read. On the strong side the corner has the widest receiver man to man on any route to the outside or deep. The OLB on the strong side plays a flat to curl technique - he reads the release of #2 on the Strong side - if #2 goes to the flat the OLb drops to the flat, if #2 does any thing else the OLB drops to the hook-curl. The FS is cheated strong and reads the release of #2 also. If #2 goes flat the FS looks to help on #1 on any inside move. If #1 is vertical the FS looks to take away the deep post. If #2 goes vertical the FS has him. On the backside the corner is man to man in his 1/2 of the field on the #1 receiver. The OLB has the same read as the OLB strong. Since #2 weak is usually a back he plays a lot of hook to curl. We se a lot of 2 back and 3 back sets and the thing we like about this is it gets our FS and WC involved in the run game giving an extra player at the perimeter.
If the DB's key is tight and blocks then the read is run and they support after taking their read backpeddle steps. Vs 1 back spread offense we balance the FS up and play more of a cover 3 look - we always are rushing 5 so this helps to pressure teams that want to put 4 or 5 in the route. We have some weaknesses but it is sound vs the deep ball and helps stop the run. VS the quick passing game we would tighten the corners up to help take away the 3 step stuff and jam #2 with the OLB. We also can play Man Free although we don't do it very often. If you want to play cover 2 your Weak OLB becomes your funnel/flat player with the Weak Corner playing deep 1/2 on the weak side.