What is Cover 2 Man in 11v11 tackle football?
Cover 2 Man in 11v11 football is five defenders in man underneath with two safeties splitting the deep field behind them. It is the classic third-and-long call: nothing is open quickly, nothing is open deep, and the price is that only four players rush.
Why Cover 2 Man works in 11v11
The front four make it affordable
This coverage costs seven players, and at eleven a side you can pay for it without giving up the rush, because four linemen rushing is already a real rush. At seven a side the same call leaves nobody to send at all, which is exactly why it is a tackle-football staple and a rarity in flag.
Trail technique, inside leverage, eyes on the hip
Underneath defenders play inside and underneath their receivers rather than squeezing them to the sideline, because the help is over the top rather than outside. It is the opposite of what the same defenders do in Cover 2 zone, and mixing the two techniques is how the coverage gets beaten from the inside.
Somebody has to take the back
Five eligible receivers means a linebacker covers a running back in space. That matchup is the whole reason offenses check to a back-out-of-the-backfield route the moment they see this shell.
Man coverage with insurance
A trailing defender plays far more aggressively when he knows somebody is over the top. The single biggest weakness of man coverage, one beaten defender ending the play, becomes a long gain instead of a touchdown, and that changes how hard every underneath defender is willing to play.
Nothing is open quickly and nothing is open deep
Every receiver is covered at the line and two more defenders are waiting behind the coverage. A quarterback who wants to throw on rhythm has nowhere to go, which is why this is the call most defenses save for the down where the offense has to throw.
It lets defenders be wrong once
Underneath players can jump routes, because a mistake becomes a completion rather than a score. Interceptions in man coverage come from defenders who were willing to take a risk, and this is the shell that pays for the risk.
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 Man 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 Man 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 Man in 11v11
Cross them and force the collision
Mesh, shallow crossers, any two routes that meet in traffic. The safeties are at fifteen yards and cannot help with a rub at five.
Isolate the back on a linebacker
Send the back on an angle route or a wheel and make the linebacker cover twenty yards of grass. It is the softest matchup on the field and the offense chooses when to use it.
Max protect and take one shot
Keep seven in to block and run two deep routes. Four rushers against seven blockers usually lose, and two receivers against two deep safeties with man trail underneath is a fair fight on a double move.
What Cover 2 Man gives up
It costs the rush
Bodies spent on coverage are bodies not going after the quarterback. If the remaining rush cannot get there, every man defender eventually loses, because no technique covers a receiver for five seconds.
Crossing routes, like any man call
Two receivers crossing still make their defenders collide, and the two deep players are far too deep to clean it up. Mesh beats this the same way it beats every other man coverage.
The back out of the backfield
Somebody has to take him, and it is usually a linebacker in space against a player who was picked for being quick. It is the matchup every offense looks for the moment it sees two deep and man underneath.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the flag football play creator, collect them in the playbook maker, and print play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw Cover 2 Man 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 difference between Cover 2 and Cover 2 Man?
How do you beat Cover 2 Man?
Why do defenses play Cover 2 Man on third down?
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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.