Coverage Strategy - Man, Ball, or Both

[StLRedbird]

Sorry. Football.

Football terminology. Every subject matter has its own terminology and jargon. With some subjects like astrophysics the terminology can be difficult to grasp even when it's explained to you. I don't find that to be the case with football terminology. Most of it is based on concepts that can be easily demonstrated and understood. Sometimes it includes terms for things you already knew about as a fan but you didn't know what it was called.

When a player is traded to a new team or when a new coordinator is brought in even a seasoned player can be lost for few days until he learns the new terminology. And sometimes a light bulb will go on and the player will tell his coach, "now I know what you mean, we did the same thing with the last OC but he called it something different." That player will likely find out that the new OC is NOT interested in knowing what the last OC called something. :lol:


Because of all this some coaches will dumb down the jargon and speak in layman's terms when discussing football with the general public. Or not.

Only reason I posted the topic was because I hear rumbles about this topic every game I attend. The Redbird Nation was howlin' mad about it during the Richmond game, but you hear the sentiment expressed on many occasions.

Timmy expressed in a way that I could understand:

Man then ball. The way the game has evolved with RPO's and back shoulder passes I like the way we play it.

With Run-Pass Options we sometimes see a defender running away from a ball carrier because he's covering a man w/o consideration of the ball. We react emotionally and shout ill-considered thoughts.

A hot QB strings together 2 or 3 spot-on back shoulder passes. Our mood darkens and we lose control and shout things we wish we could take back later.

Overall, it's a bend-not-break defensive strategy that has served us pretty well.

 

[TIMMY]

Sorry. Football.

Football terminology. Every subject matter has its own terminology and jargon. With some subjects like astrophysics the terminology can be difficult to grasp even when it's explained to you. I don't find that to be the case with football terminology. Most of it is based on concepts that can be easily demonstrated and understood. Sometimes it includes terms for things you already knew about as a fan but you didn't know what it was called.

When a player is traded to a new team or when a new coordinator is brought in even a seasoned player can be lost for few days until he learns the new terminology. And sometimes a light bulb will go on and the player will tell his coach, "now I know what you mean, we did the same thing with the last OC but he called it something different." That player will likely find out that the new OC is NOT interested in knowing what the last OC called something. :lol:


Because of all this some coaches will dumb down the jargon and speak in layman's terms when discussing football with the general public. Or not.

Only reason I posted the topic was because I hear rumbles about this topic every game I attend. The Redbird Nation was howlin' mad about it during the Richmond game, but you hear the sentiment expressed on many occasions.

Timmy expressed in a way that I could understand:

Man then ball. The way the game has evolved with RPO's and back shoulder passes I like the way we play it.

With Run-Pass Options we sometimes see a defender running away from a ball carrier because he's covering a man w/o consideration of the ball. We react emotionally and shout ill-considered thoughts.

A hot QB strings together 2 or 3 spot-on back shoulder passes. Our mood darkens and we lose control and shout things we wish we could take back later.

Overall, it's a bend-not-break defensive strategy that has served us pretty well.

Kind of what I was getting at was you can say cover 2. But that's like 31 Flavors saying we serve vanilla. Well there a million ways to doctor up vanilla, and there are a bunch of ways to cover out of a 2 shell. I just didn't want to type that much cause my finger gets tired.

 

[StLRedbird]

Kind of what I was getting at was you can say cover 2. But that's like 31 Flavors saying we serve vanilla. Well there a million ways to doctor up vanilla, and there are a bunch of ways to cover out of a 2 shell. I just didn't want to type that much cause my finger gets tired.

This is the kind of comment that just makes me think that there's no hope that I can accumulate a working knowledge of modern secondaries. In Spack we trust.

 

[TIMMY]

Kind of what I was getting at was you can say cover 2. But that's like 31 Flavors saying we serve vanilla. Well there a million ways to doctor up vanilla, and there are a bunch of ways to cover out of a 2 shell. I just didn't want to type that much cause my finger gets tired.

This is the kind of comment that just makes me think that there's no hope that I can accumulate a working knowledge of modern secondaries. In Spack we trust.

Sure you could. Give X and O labs a look. We've got a lot of great stuff on there and much of it's free.

 

[SgtHulka]

A successful team incorporates both man and zone. A cover 2 over the top with man to man under is a pretty standard way to go. With ISU's linebackers being as athletic as they are, I can see them letting Linebackers cover backs and TE (hell, even some slot WR) in man while still keeping safety help in 2 zones over the top. All of this depends, of course, on line play. You don't often think about how coverage schemes are effected by line play, but the difference between a QB having 3 seconds to scan the field and 4.5 seconds is enough time to allow 3 WR to get beyond standard under M2M coverage and into a zone where they can outnumber defenders.

If we can get consistent pressure up the middle, I stay in Cover 1 most plays, but if not, Cover 2 if not cover 3 zone.

Most of what they do is pattern read out of 2 high safeties. They play a lot of Cathy out of their cover 2. It's an In/Out principle. Soft cover 2 with safety and corner reading the release of number #2.
They also like to play Bronco to the away side. (Man on #1 Safety reads #2) with a read side cover 2 robber. Watch the away side safety creep up as he reads #2. Great coverage.

Cutty say can't hang.