Cover 3 Techniques

Superchief,

What is your read key for the Fade when looking at which way the QBs shoulder's turn?

Thats precisely why I stay away from cover 3 as much as humanely possible. The techniques described above are right on, for the most part for cover 3. Why play a coverage that calls for you to back up off the receiver three steps even if they are slow and give the receiver free access to the inside, when you can roll up and play hard man under bump and run and jam his butt? But, if you are a cover 3 guy, I would recommend that you at least play your corner off at 5-7 yds with INSIDE ALIGNMENT AND FORCE THE WR TO THE BOUNDARY WHO IS YOUR FRIEND, NOT HIS, AND AT LEAST MAKE HIM RUN THE FADE RATHER THAN GIVE HIM THE INSIDE WITHOUT SO MUCH AS LAYING A GLOVE ON HIM. As always, just a suggestion.

Coach Easton

Superchief,

Right on my brother!

Coach Easton

If they don't influence my FS from the backside he will roll to help out, but I expect my corner to make the play on a fade. Once the ball is in the air I fully expect the FS to roll and help!

Coach Easton

Superchief and Tiger One,

Do you see a lot of passing teams? Where I'm at we maybe see 1 team a year that truly throws the ball as their bread and butter. When we face them we usually change things up by rolling coverages or disguising them. I guess that is why we will play Cover 3 more often than you guys. I prefer a solid Man-free but sometimes my corners are not the athletes that we would like to have.

We put 8 in the box and dare people to throw the ball. If we stop the run and force people to throw I feel we are in control of the game. We have never had a team move down the field simply by throwing outs.

By the same token I am working hard to improve our reads while in Cover 3 so that we can get better breaks on the ball. This shows that I am not content with what we do and that we did give up too many passing yards this year. My hope is that I can play solid Cover 1 (man-free), Cover 0, and Cover 3. Hopefully we'll reach that goal.

Back to my original question as to whether you see a lot of passing teams. I watch what you have to say about coverage and I wonder how far I need to try to take my D but at the same time I want to weigh what we want to work on against what we face. I don't wish to spend tons of time trying to perfect an in-your-face man coverage if we don't face teams that we will benefit by doing so.

Also, do your kids play both ways? How much time do you spend with your DBs each day. All of our kids play both ways.

Finally, it is easy to see that you have been in coaching for quite a while and that you have your stuff together. How would you compare the complexity of teaching tight man coverage vs. zone coverage?

Thanks for your thoughts!

CORRECTION: THE ABOVE POST SHOULD HAVE READ "WHEN IN ZONE COVERAGE THEY ARE ONLY CONCERNED WITH THE RECEIVER WHILE HE IS IN THEIR ZONE, NOT IN MAN AS I POSTED IN ERROR.

ADDED THOUGHT: YOU ARE RIGHT ABOUT YOUR TIME MANAGEMENT FOR PRACTICE!!! WHY SPEND A LOT OF TIME PREPARING FOR SOMETHING THAT WILL BE USELESS TO YOU ON FRIDAY NIGHTS? MAKE A DECISOIN AND STICK WITH IT! ALWAYS REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A BACK UP PLAN THOUGH, BE READY!

COACH EASTON

We are in a run-oriented league (LOTS of Delaware Wing-T). We do see one Nortwestern-type offense and one multiple that throws the ball a bunch.
We teach cover three, but RARELY run it. As I mentioned earlier, in cover3, we place the corners on the inside of the WR; this has helped a bunch. Vs a 2-back formation will will run a form of robber from our 8-man front (but it's not the Va Tech robber). By running this coverage, we can get a double on #1 if #2 blocks or goes to the flat; and we can get the FS involved in the run game. If we know that offense doesn't throw the ball much, we will play man-free and sneak the FS closer to the LOS as an extra run defender. We do not play any tight bump-an-run man. We play what the college guys call loose or pedal man.

I had coached at a school that played only three coverages (pure man, man-free and cover 3) and was very successful. One thing I did learn: you can play man with average athletes if you are going to pressure the QB by stunting. You might have to pick and choose your spots, but you can do it.

I don't think you need a zillion coverages, but on the other hand, you can not allow the offense to manipulate your coverages or being to pre-snap read and know what you are doing.

By the way, we have our DB's read #2 even in cover 3. If you want to know more about this, drop me a line.

We are a big school (approx. 1600 kids grades 9-12) with about 70-85 kids on our team each year. This past year all of our DB's and 5 of the front 8 played on both sides of the ball. Since our FS is usually the best athlete on our team, he is often a 2-way player. In a perfect world we'd like to 2-platoon. If we have to have 2-way plaers, we like to have our O-line simply play offense.

As far as time with DB's - we practice offense and defense eeryday. I usually have 10-15 minutes with
the DB's every day. During that time I do a some kind of tackling drill (I incorporate some kind of agility drill into it). I'll then do a ball drillor strip drill and lastsly, a coverage drill.

Once again great thoughts! Thank you!

CHECK MY RESPONSE TO "COVER 3 KEYS" FOR OUR VERSION OF COVER 3 TECHNIQUES AS WELL.

IF you have the players - I lean to man over zone. As the OLD Raiders used to say: "REAL MEN PLAY MAN"!!!!! It takes a TIGHTER throw by the QB's to beat man than it does in zone. That in itself (PARTICULARLY in HS) is a good reason to run man (QB is used to seeing zone, & when he gets "man" & is progression reading - his first impression is that the "RECEIVER IS COVERED"!!!!!