Cover 4 from a 4-3

There are a couple of different ways to play this coverage. Here's is how we do it.
The safeties read #2. If #2 goes vertical, the safeties lock on him and play him man.
If #2 goes to the flat, the safeties play over top of #1(the C is locked on #1)-if #2
does a wheel, the safeties are responsible fo the wheel
If #2 comes across the formation, but behind the LB, the safeties lock on
If #2 comes across the formation, but under the LB, the safeties look for #1 or #2 from
the opposite side
If the safeties ARE NOT SURE what #2 is doing, lock on him and play man.
If #2 blocks, fill where needed from C-gap to D-gap-with the backside safety getting in
the A-gap to his side about 5 yds deep-looking for cutback

It depends where the slot is aligned. If the slot is tight to the OT, the OLB can align on the slot's outside shoulder (because the OLB is the flat player). If the slot gets wider than 5yds from the OT, the OLb should align inside the slot(take away the slant by alignment). The safety is the force man on a sweep. He should align 2yds outside the OT (if the ball is in the middle) and 4yds outside the OT if the slot is to the wide side of the field.

We play our cover four alittle different. I think that there are basically two ways to play it. Some play it with zone concepts, some with man concepts. We play with a zone concept.

Split end side safety aligns at 10 and patters his feet on the snap of the ball while reading the tackle for a run or pass read. If run read he will fit where needed. If pass is shown his eyes will shift to number one and jump and inside route, or eliminate a slant. Our corners play at 7 yards inside leverage and walk backwards at the snap while getting a 3 step read from the QB. Any outside release by the receiver he plays man to man. On an inside release he will "Bump, see, squeeze" which means squeeze the route to the safety and eyeball #2 for a possible wheel route. In our cover four the sam and will play the flats. We tell them that you shouldn't go to the flat unless something takes you there, either the ball or #2 running a flat route.

The tightend side is identical, yet requires alot more discipline by the safety in that he can't try and get a run/pass read from a tight end.

We teach our safety reads like this "T-Two-ONe" Read the tackle, then number two for a vertical route, if two goes to the flat, move your eyes to #1 for a slant post...

As for dealing with a slot. We will not play Cov. 4 on a slot side. We define coverage by the number of quicks(non TE receivers) on a side. If there is one quick, we play 4. If two quicks, we play 2. If three quicks we play 3.

I know alot of people that simply lock down the corners and play man. We have never had corners that were good enough to do it, so we try and protect them alittle by playing more zone.

How do you have your safety tell the difference between a flat route and a wheel? They both would look about the same at the start.

We teach our kids that if the #2 receiver is running a flat route, he will get his head and eyes around to see the ball; it will happen fast. If #2 is running a wheel, he won't turn his head to look back at the QB because he wants to get deep. Also, the QB is a key. If it's a flat route, the QB will have his front shoulder down as he pulls away from the center (so he can rope it to the flat). if it's a wheel, he'll probably have his back shoulder up as he pulls away so that he can get some air under the ball. I'll bet that if you go back and watch your films (even of your team) you will see this idea. Now, I'm not saying to use this solely as an indicator (because it is hard to pick up, and I'd rather have my DB's looking at their men), but I'll bet someone on your defense will pick it up and start hollering it.

You're right about the flat and the wheel looking the same at the start. I had the same concerns when I first looked into this coverage. If the S starts at 10yds deep, he will have no trouble getting over top of the wheel. However, the S can not fly out when #2 goes to the flat. If the S flies out, the bad guys can hurt you with #2 to the flat and #1 on a slant. When the S sees #2 going to the flat, he has to turn and get his eyes on #1. If #1 is running a slant, the S does not have to worry about a wheel (I have yet to see a team run a slant and a wheel-they will run a post). Tell your S that when he sees #1 coming inside, he is going to get a pick or smack the snot out of the WR.

When I first got inolved with this coverage, I was told that playing man on the WR's made things easierover all and eliminated some of the "adjustments" that had to be made if playing the C's in zone. The C's play man expecting no help from the safeties. For the C's it's really like playing 2-man. Even though they should not expect help, there usually is help. So now the C's can under cut any pattern by #1. The C's are really pure pass defenders; they don't have to worry about stopping the run.

This might not be the best way to play it; I know it's not the only way to play it; but I do know that this way works for us and our kids like it.