What is Tampa 2 in 11v11 tackle football?
Tampa 2 in 11v11 football is Cover 2 with the middle linebacker sprinting to the deep middle, closing the hole between the two safeties that plain Cover 2 gives up. The corners squat on everything outside, the safeties play halves, and the call is only as good as one linebacker's ability to cover eighteen yards on every snap.
Why Tampa 2 works in 11v11
One player turns a two-deep shell into a three-deep one
The seam between two halves is the standing answer to Cover 2. Sending the middle linebacker up the pipe covers it without spending a second safety, so the defense keeps five underneath defenders and still has somebody in the middle of the field.
It asks one position for something unusual
Most linebackers are picked for filling gaps and tackling. This call needs one who can run eighteen yards down the middle of the field, repeatedly, and still be a linebacker on running downs. Teams without that player are running plain Cover 2 and calling it Tampa.
The corners change jobs
In man or three-deep shells a corner's job is what is behind him. Here it is what is in front: squat on the flat, jam the outside receiver, and trust the safety over the top. It is the most aggressive thing a corner does in any zone coverage.
It closes the throw Cover 2 is built to give up
The seam between two deep halves is the standing answer to Cover 2, and it is the throw every offense practises against it. Tampa 2 puts a third defender in that window without giving up a second underneath player to do it.
The corners can be aggressive
A corner who knows the middle is covered can squat on the flat and jump the out-breaking route, which turns the short throws Cover 2 concedes into contested ones. The coverage gets its best plays from corners who are not worried about what is behind them.
It is still a zone
Every defender faces the quarterback and breaks on the throw, so it keeps the interceptions and the tackling that zone coverage gives you. It is a three-deep shell disguised as a two-deep shell, and the disguise costs nothing.
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 alignmentTampa 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 coverageTampa 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 Tampa 2 in 11v11
Throw over the squatting corner
A deep out or a corner route attacks the space between the corner sitting at five yards and the safety playing a half. It is the throw the coverage concedes to cover the middle.
Run it while he runs
A middle linebacker sprinting to eighteen yards on the snap is a gap unfilled. Against a team that can run the ball, this is a passing-down call and nothing else.
Four verticals, and make the safeties choose
Two safeties on two halves have to take the outside verticals, and the linebacker can only cover one seam. Sending four receivers deep asks all three deep defenders to be in two places.
What Tampa 2 gives up
Your middle linebacker's legs
The call is only as good as the one player who has to reach eighteen yards. If he cannot get there, it is plain Cover 2 with one fewer defender underneath, which is worse than either thing you were trying to run.
The sideline, over a squatting corner
Corners who sit down on the flat can be run past. A deep out or a corner route from the slot attacks the space between the corner and the safety, and that space is bigger here than in plain Cover 2.
The run, while he is running
A linebacker sprinting to the deep middle on the snap is a linebacker not filling a gap. Against a team that can run the ball, Tampa 2 is a passing-down call and nothing else.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the free play designer, collect them in the flag football playbook builder, and print football play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw Tampa 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 difference between Cover 2 and Tampa 2?
Who covers the deep middle in Tampa 2?
How do you beat Tampa 2?
Related guides
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.