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Cover 2 man vs cover 3 zone

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iLoveTDs

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We know Manny likes to run a lot of soft zone, especially on 3rd and long. His entire philosophy is to not give up big explosive plays.

Ok, that's fine. But here's my beef...

The main zone coverage we play is a cover 3 look where our safeties/CBs drop deeper than most teams. I'm ok with that for the sake of my argument.

My issue is that

1) we don't run his zone schemes very well. It's a So Fla thing. Kids play man press from birth to college.
2) He runs it out of our base 4-3 too much (at least get more speed on field w nickel packages)
3) We allow QBs to get into an early rhythm with easy throws.
4) We don't get a lot of 3 and outs
5) We play great man defense (especially pressing at the line).

So with that knowledge in hand, why not play more cover 2 man under on 3rd and 6+. You can keep your safeties deep (to prevent big plays), but still do enough in man coverage to disrupt the timing of the offense -
which allows our nasty DL to pressure the QB.

Cover 2 man under can accomplish the same thing his cover 3 zones are trying to accomplish (no big plays). If there's a running QB then spy him with a LB (Shaq does a great job spying)


All of this ^ combined with Manny's 1 high robber looks (which I love), make us deadly imo.

Kuligowski's DL need a split second longer to get to the QB, but our zone defense allows opposing QBs to get rid of ball quick - 1st reads, etc.
 
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Im not an x&o’s or formations guy but my common sense from last nights 1st half is that if its 3rd&7 or 3rd&6, you dont play 6-7yards off the wr, basically giving them the 1st down.
 
1) because Manny spot drops hit zones. Guys are looking at the QB trying to grab an INT while receivers are running around free
2) you cant play C2 man versus a running QB
3) our best defense is Cover 1 with a robber in the hole. We seem to run it only on first and second down though.
4) south florida kids have no problem playing zone. JJ, Stache, Tuberville, Butch all ran zone.
 
2001 said:
1) because Manny spot drops hit zones. Guys are looking at the QB trying to grab an INT while receivers are running around free
2) you cant play C2 man versus a running QB
3) our best defense is Cover 1 with a robber in the hole. We seem to run it only on first and second down though.
4) south florida kids have no problem playing zone. JJ, Stache, Tuberville, Butch all ran zone.
Click to expand...

We've played plenty of QBs who couldn't run, yet we still never show 2 high looks.

If you're worried about a QB picking up 3rd and 10+ with his legs then you're worried about the wrong thing. Spy his *** with Amari or Shaq and have your DEs play contain.

Last night Clemson picked up 3rd and 18 against his soft zone. And that isn't a rare thing against us either. It's been happening all season. 3rd and 10+ with our front 4.... we should be tops in the country on getting stops. Instead it's the opposite.
 
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iLoveTDs said:
2001 said:
1) because Manny spot drops hit zones. Guys are looking at the QB trying to grab an INT while receivers are running around free
2) you cant play C2 man versus a running QB
3) our best defense is Cover 1 with a robber in the hole. We seem to run it only on first and second down though.
4) south florida kids have no problem playing zone. JJ, Stache, Tuberville, Butch all ran zone.
Click to expand...

We've played plenty of QBs who couldn't run, yet we still never show 2 high looks.

If you're worried about a QB picking up 3rd and 10+ then you're worried about the wrong thing. Spy his a$$ with Amari or Shaq.

Last night Clemson picked up 3rd and 18 ffs. We played zone - SHOCKER.
Click to expand...

If you play 2-man and spy the QB, then you can only rush 3.
 
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2001 said:
1) because Manny spot drops hit zones. Guys are looking at the QB trying to grab an INT while receivers are running around free
2) you cant play C2 man versus a running QB
3) our best defense is Cover 1 with a robber in the hole. We seem to run it only on first and second down though.
4) south florida kids have no problem playing zone. JJ, Stache, Tuberville, Butch all ran zone.
Click to expand...

Whatever the case, our zone makes opposing QBs look amazing. Either it's the wrong D or we're doing it wrong.
 
Face facts : everyone's wet dream linebacker trio can't cover fir shut and have no feel for defending the pass - can't send db's chasing receivers leaving giant holes that out LBs do nothing to cover
 
SrfGtr said:
Face facts : everyone's wet dream linebacker trio can't cover fir shut and have no feel for defending the pass - can't send db's chasing receivers leaving giant holes that out LBs do nothing to cover
Click to expand...

Proving my point. LBs aren't great in coverage so he runs a lot of 4-3 cover 3?

We have a lot of good CBs on this team. Rumph has done a great job.

The fact those guys keep the bench warm for most of the game ****es me off.
 
iLoveTDs said:
We know Manny likes to run a lot of soft zone, especially on 3rd and long. His entire philosophy is to not give up big explosive plays.

Ok, that's fine. But here's my beef...

The main zone coverage we play is a cover 3 look where our safeties/CBs drop deeper than most teams. I'm ok with that for the sake of my argument.

My issue is that

1) we don't run his zone schemes very well. It's a So Fla thing. Kids play man press from birth to college.
2) He runs it out of our base 4-3 too much (at least get more speed on field w nickel packages)
3) We allow QBs to get into an early rhythm with easy throws.
4) We don't get a lot of 3 and outs
5) We play great man defense (especially pressing at the line).

So with that knowledge in hand, why not play more cover 2 man under on 3rd and 6+. You can keep your safeties deep (to prevent big plays), but still do enough in man coverage to disrupt the timing of the offense -
which allows our nasty DL to pressure the QB.

Cover 2 man under can accomplish the same thing his cover 3 zones are trying to accomplish (no big plays). If there's a running QB then spy him with a LB (Shaq does a great job spying)


All of this ^ combined with Manny's 1 high robber looks (which I love), make us deadly imo.

Kuligowski's DL need a split second longer to get to the QB, but our zone defense allows opposing QBs to get rid of ball quick - 1st reads, etc.
Click to expand...

I think those are the basic questions we've been asking all year long.

That crap zone we've been running makes Heisman-like QB's against our defense.

I think Manny at times makes it too complicated. Do what we do well, and if we get burned now and then - that's OK, because the rest of the time we'll be creating lots of chaos in their backfields.

Look at what we did to Notre Dame.

If something works - don't get cute! If something doesn't work - don't DO that ****!
 
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SrfGtr said:
Face facts : everyone's wet dream linebacker trio can't cover fir shut and have no feel for defending the pass - can't send db's chasing receivers leaving giant holes that out LBs do nothing to cover
Click to expand...

Huh? Why are we asking LBs to cover shifty slot guys? Why are we asking DE’s to cover the flats? Why are we zone blitzing and spot dropping on every dang 3rd down, usually with LBs aligned on the LOS making their job harder?
 
iLoveTDs said:
We know Manny likes to run a lot of soft zone, especially on 3rd and long. His entire philosophy is to not give up big explosive plays.

Ok, that's fine. But here's my beef...

The main zone coverage we play is a cover 3 look where our safeties/CBs drop deeper than most teams. I'm ok with that for the sake of my argument.

My issue is that

1) we don't run his zone schemes very well. It's a So Fla thing. Kids play man press from birth to college.
2) He runs it out of our base 4-3 too much (at least get more speed on field w nickel packages)
3) We allow QBs to get into an early rhythm with easy throws.
4) We don't get a lot of 3 and outs
5) We play great man defense (especially pressing at the line).

So with that knowledge in hand, why not play more cover 2 man under on 3rd and 6+. You can keep your safeties deep (to prevent big plays), but still do enough in man coverage to disrupt the timing of the offense -
which allows our nasty DL to pressure the QB.

Cover 2 man under can accomplish the same thing his cover 3 zones are trying to accomplish (no big plays). If there's a running QB then spy him with a LB (Shaq does a great job spying)


All of this ^ combined with Manny's 1 high robber looks (which I love), make us deadly imo.

Kuligowski's DL need a split second longer to get to the QB, but our zone defense allows opposing QBs to get rid of ball quick - 1st reads, etc.
Click to expand...

You would be playing 7 on 5 football in the box and against a team like Clemson that would not be very good with their qb running ability.
 
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This team struggles in zone at the handoff point. Also, LBers need to cover shallow in a cover 3 zone and they fail to get into passing lanes to disrupt the short slants.

Even when we man up we fail to press. No bumping occurs at the LOS by our db's we just use outside technique and run with them.


If I were to defend Clemson it would be 4-2-5 cover 1 man bump and run with a safety spy/robber, that safety not being slow *** Redwine. The robber would occasionally blitz and take away the shallow cross.
I would get my corners to mugg the **** out of their wr's at the LOS to throw off their timing and give my pass rush an extra second or two to get upfield. Clemson's offense is all about timing. Teams they have struggled with offensively (Syracuse and FSU) played physical with their wr's.
You leave yourself more exposed to deep balls, motions, and pass int/holding when you do that but I'll take it over having their QB get into an easy rhythm.
 
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