What is Cover 2 Man in 7v7 flag football?
Cover 2 Man in 7v7 is five defenders in man underneath with two safeties splitting the deep field, and nobody rushing at all. It is the most complete coverage available at seven a side and the most expensive: every eligible receiver is covered with help over the top, and the quarterback has as long as he wants to find somebody.
Why Cover 2 Man works in 7v7
There is nobody left to rush
Five eligible receivers need five man defenders and the deep halves need two, which is the whole team. At eleven a side the front four rush for free and this coverage costs nothing extra; here it costs the entire pass rush, and that is the trade a coach is making when he calls it.
Help over the top changes the technique
Underneath defenders play inside and underneath rather than trying to squeeze receivers to the sideline, because the help is deep rather than outside. A defender who plays it the other way turns the safety's job into an impossible one.
It is a call, not a base
Every coverage in this format is a decision about the spare defenders, and this one spends both of them deep. That makes it the right answer on a down where the offense has to throw something specific, and a slow afternoon if you leave it on.
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 7v7 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 7v7 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 7v7
Be patient, because nobody is coming
With no rush at all, the quarterback can hold the ball until a man defender loses. No technique covers a receiver for four seconds, so the offense's answer to this coverage is mostly to wait for it.
Cross them
Two receivers meeting underneath collide their defenders, and the safeties are twelve yards away. It is the same answer as every other man coverage and it is not any harder here.
Put the back on your slowest defender
Somebody underneath ends up on the back. Send him on a wheel or an angle route and make that defender cover ground in space rather than trail a receiver.
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 football play designer, collect them in the playbook maker, and print football 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
Is Cover 2 Man worth calling in 7v7?
How do you beat Cover 2 Man in 7v7?
Can you rush and still play Cover 2 Man in 7v7?
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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.