Covers 1 & 3

Coach,

Cover 1 and 3 is often employed in an 8 man front defense. Let's use a 4-4 defense as a base front. Four down lineman, two inside linebackers, two outiside linebackers (one of these could be called either a strong safety or rover), two cornerbacks, and one free safety. The 8 man box comes from the 4 lineman and 4 linebackers.

Using a standard Pro formation on offense, count the outside reciever(s) as #1, the TE as #2, the first back out to the TE side as #3, and the first back out to the split reciever side as the #2.

In Cover 1, the CB's cover the #1's, the OLB/SS/ROV on the TE side has the TE(#2), and the ILB's have the RB's (#3 strong and #2 weak). The FS is a free player to roam the field like a center fielder. You could blitz him or allow him to help one of the underneath players.

In Cover 3, the OLB's would have Curl to Flats, the ILB's would have Hook to Curl, and the CB's and FS have the deep thirds.

Hope this helps.

Take care and God Bless, Jason Bornn