This type of teamwork can allow those two players to trust each other’s positioning and provides more flexibility to the back end coverage ( bracket/inside out combinations). A corner and safety on the same side of the field can work with one another against certain route combinations to their side ( rules can be based on receivers stem and the direction of the combination). The corner’s presence could prevent the quick flat throws, but the corner must be athletic enough to drop to his deep responsibility, too.Īnother strength of quarters coverage comes with cohesion between the two deep players on each side of the field. Corners can line up in press and bail at the snap, confusing cornerbacks with a disguised Cover 2. As you can tell, the linebackers are spread pretty thin and the flats are vulnerable. The close alignment of the four deep players allow the coverage to be disguised very well with other zone, and even man, coverages. The coverage would mostly be run out of nickel/dime sub-packages. This is a base Cover 4 defense out of a 4-3 above. Underneath the four deep zones are three zone defenders who stretch the entire width of the field, so the defense is susceptible to underneath throws since that’s the case, Cover 4 is usually run against offenses that need a big gain. Corners are typically aligned head up with outside leverage, peeking inside and forcing receivers that direction. Corners typically align about 9 yards off the ball, while the safeties are on the hashes at a depth of about 14 yards pre-snap. 2 (second-closest to the outside) receiver, especially in Cover 4 press where the corners really need to bail back. The safeties will read their run/pass keys, but against the pass they’re responsible for watching the release of the No. The two safeties are in the middle of the field, while the corners take the quarter of the field to their side. Also known as quarters coverage, Cover 4 has four deep zones, typically two corners and two safeties, splitting a fourth of the deep portions of the field. A common zone coverage that focuses on eliminating the deep portion of the field is Cover 4.

Attacking 3 2 zone defense