What is Cover 2 in 11v11 tackle football?
In 11v11 football Cover 2 rushes four, splits the deep field between two safeties, and puts five defenders in zones underneath with their eyes on the quarterback. Five underneath is more than any smaller format can field, and it is what makes this shell so hard to throw short against: every quick throw has a defender already standing in it.
Why Cover 2 works in 11v11
Five underneath is the version of this shell that actually works
At seven a side a Cover 2 has two deep and about two underneath, so the short zones are enormous and the coverage leaks everywhere. With eleven you get five, and the gaps between them shrink to the point where the quick game stops being free. Same name, a genuinely different defense.
The corners can jam and sit
With a safety over each half a corner does not have to honour the fade alone, so he can get his hands on the outside receiver and then play the flat. That is two throws removed at once, and it is why this coverage makes a rhythm passing team look slow. It also makes him a run defender on the edge.
The hole in the middle is real and it is known
Two deep defenders cannot cover the width, so the middle of the field at about eighteen yards belongs to nobody. Every offensive coordinator in football knows this and has a concept for it. Calling Cover 2 means accepting that throw and betting the quarterback cannot make it under a four-man rush.
Five underneath is a lot of underneath
Most passing offenses live between the line of scrimmage and fifteen yards. Cover 2 puts five defenders in exactly that band with their eyes on the quarterback, so the quick game gets smothered and every completion is contested immediately. A team that has been living on slants and flats will look slow against it.
The corners can be aggressive
With a safety over the top of each half, a corner does not have to respect the deep ball alone. He can sit on the flat, jam the outside receiver and play everything in front of him, which takes away the two easiest throws in football and forces the quarterback to hold it.
Everybody is looking at the quarterback
Zone defenders face the ball, so a bad throw is an interception rather than an incompletion. It is the shell that generates turnovers on tipped balls and late decisions, because eleven pairs of eyes are watching the thing that is about to be thrown.
Before and after the snap
The same call twice. What a coverage IS lives in the difference between these two pictures, not in either one of them.
- The alignmentCover 2 at 11v11 before the snap: the alignment and the rush, with no coverage drawn.
Where everybody stands, and who is coming. This is all an offense sees before the ball moves, which is why a defense that tips its coverage from the alignment has given away the only thing it was hiding.
- The coverageCover 2 at 11v11 after the snap, with every zone drawn and labelled.
The same men a beat later, with what each is responsible for. Every seam and every soft spot on this page is a gap between two of these shapes.
How to beat Cover 2 in 11v11
Get a receiver to the middle at eighteen yards
A deep dig or a post from the slot, with the outside receivers running the safeties wide, puts a body in the one place the shell does not defend. This is the classic answer and it has been for fifty years. If the safeties are disciplined about width, the throw is there; if they are not, something else is.
Send more deep than they have deep defenders
Four verticals against two deep safeties is arithmetic, not a read. Two of those routes are running at grass by definition. Against eleven players the offense has the receivers to do it, which is precisely the problem Tampa 2 was invented to solve.
What Cover 2 gives up
The hole between the safeties
Two deep defenders cannot cover the whole width, so the middle of the field at about eighteen yards belongs to nobody. Any route that gets a receiver there with the safeties widened is the classic answer, which is why a deep dig or a seam down the middle is the first thing an offensive coordinator looks for.
Four verticals, or anything that stretches it
Sending more deep receivers than there are deep defenders is arithmetic the coverage cannot answer. Two safeties against four vertical routes means two of them are running at grass, and the coverage has no way to be right. This is the reason Tampa 2 exists.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the flag football play creator, collect them in the playbook maker, and print printable play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw Cover 2 for your own team
Open the designer, set your alignment, and save it to your playbook.
Open the free play designerRelated questions
What is the weakness of Cover 2?
What is the difference between Cover 2 and Tampa 2?
Why do the corners play so aggressively in Cover 2?
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Coach Ray Carroll
Coaches 5v5 flag football from kindergarten through 7th grade in San Mateo and San Carlos, California, and built RC Football to design, teach and print the plays his own teams run.