What is Cover 4 coverage in football?
Cover 4, also called quarters, puts four defenders deep, each covering a quarter of the width of the field, with everybody else underneath. It is the hardest coverage in football to throw deep against, because there are more deep defenders than most offenses have deep receivers. The price is everything short, and the fact that it takes four players you may not have.
Why Cover 4 works
There are more deep defenders than deep receivers
Most offenses send two or three players deep. Quarters answers with four. Every deep route has somebody on top of it and there is usually a defender spare, which means the long completion that decides close games is arithmetically difficult rather than a matter of effort.
It shrinks the deep strips each player has to cover
A third of the field is a lot of ground for one defender. A quarter is noticeably less. Deep players can stay closer to receivers and still be certain nothing gets over them, which turns deep defenders from cautious into aggressive.
The deep players can join the run and the short game
Because nobody deep is carrying a huge area alone, a quarters defender who reads a short throw or a run can come forward without leaving a hole behind him. Done properly this is how quarters stops being passive: four deep players who can all trigger forward are four extra tacklers.
The same four quarters at seven a side and at eleven
The deep picture is identical. What changes is how many players are left over to stand in front of it, and quarters is a shell where that number decides everything.
- Seven players, four deep · 7v7Seven players, four deep in 7v7: The last-snap defense, and the only one in the set with a job besides covering: keep the ball in bounds. Four defenders take the deep quarters at fifteen yards, and two more own nothing but the sidelines, their whole assignment is to make the tackle in the field of play so the clock keeps running. Nobody rushes. Say that part out loud in the huddle, because a kid who freelances and comes after the quarterback is the reason this call fails. The rule for the four deep is the punt-team rule: everything in front of you, and when you make the tackle, make it toward the middle.
Four deep and three underneath, which is the thinnest version of quarters worth playing. Nothing gets past anybody, and everything in front of the deep four is available all day.
- Eleven players, four deep · 11v11Eleven players, four deep in 11v11: Four across the back with match rules, each defender takes a quarter but carries anything vertical in it. Against two-back run looks the safeties are extra fitters, so this is not the soft prevent shell its name suggests. It is the best early-down answer to a balanced offense.
The identical four quarters with seven players underneath. This is where quarters becomes a base defense rather than a prevent call, because the short areas are properly covered at the same time.
How to teach quarters in one practice
- 1
Walk the quarters, then walk the seams
Show the four strips first, exactly as you would for Cover 3. Then walk each pair of neighbouring defenders to the line between their strips and make them talk to each other. The seam between two quarters is where every completion against this coverage happens, and the fix is a conversation rather than a technique.
- 2
Backpedal first, read second
Every deep player moves backwards at the snap, no matter what he sees. Quarters players are closer to the line than Cover 3 players and are therefore more tempted to jump a short route. Depth first, every snap, and only then look at what the offense is doing.
- 3
Teach the rule: deepest man in my quarter is mine
Same instruction as three deep, one strip narrower. If nobody is deep in my quarter, I help the quarter next to me without losing my depth. Give young players a rule that behaves like a person, because a rule they can say out loud is one they will follow under pressure.
- 4
Tell the underneath players they are outnumbered
With four deep, the short areas are thin by design. Underneath defenders have to be wider than feels right and they have to tackle immediately. Ten yards given up in three throws is a win for this coverage; ten yards given up in one is not.
- 5
Break on the ball together
Four deep players facing the quarterback is the most eyes on the ball of any shell on the shelf. Nobody moves toward a receiver until the throw, then everybody does. This is where quarters turns a deep ball into an interception rather than a completion.
Three ways to change the picture
Roll to three deep, and you are in Cover 3
Bring one of the four deep players down to the short middle and widen the other three. You have traded deep security for an underneath defender, which is the right trade the moment they start completing short throws unmolested.
Play quarters on one side only, and you have Cover 6
Quarters to the wide side of the field and a two-deep look to the short side. It is the standard way to keep the deep security where the grass is and put more defenders where the throws are quick.
Give every quarter a route rule, and it becomes match
Instead of covering an empty strip, each deep player carries whichever receiver comes into it. Quarters is the shell where match rules matter most, because four deep defenders with nobody near them is four players standing still watching a short completion.
What changes in your format
5v5 and NFL Flag
Do not play quarters at this size, and the site does not offer a page for it. Four deep out of five defenders leaves one player to cover the whole short field against four eligible receivers, so the offense simply throws in front of you until the game ends. If you want deep security here, play three deep and accept the short middle.
6v6 and 7v7
This is where quarters starts to be playable, and it is usually a situational call rather than a base defense. Four deep and three underneath is a strong answer to a team with two or three genuine deep threats, and a poor answer to anything else. Most coaches at this size get more out of it as a two-minute or long-yardage look.
9v9 and 11v11
Quarters is a base defense at this size and one of the two most common in the game, because seven underneath defenders means the short field is genuinely covered at the same time. It is also where the run answer lives: quarters safeties are coached to read the run and become extra tacklers, which is the whole reason the coverage survived at this level.
When not to call Cover 4
Against anything short and patient
Four deep means the fewest underneath defenders of any coverage on the shelf. A team that is content to throw five-yard routes will complete them, and complete them, and complete them. Quarters asks the offense to be impatient and punishes them only if they are.
Against the run, and against a running quarterback
Four players standing deep are four players not near the line. Unless your deep defenders are coached to read the run and come forward fast, this is the easiest coverage in football to run against, and a quarterback who tucks the ball will find a large amount of empty grass.
When you do not have four players to spare
The shelf hides this card in the smallest formats on purpose. Four deep out of five or six defenders leaves one or two players to cover the entire short field, which is not a defense, it is a prevent look played on first down.
When your deep players cannot resist the short throw
Quarters defenders start closer to the line than three-deep defenders, so the temptation to jump a route is stronger and the punishment is the same. If your players keep biting, play Cover 3, where the depth is greater and the temptation is smaller.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the free play designer, collect them in the football playbook maker, and print printable play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw cover 4 for your own team
Open the designer, put your defense on the field, and save it to your playbook.
Open the free play designerRelated questions
What does Cover 4 mean in football?
Is Cover 4 the same as quarters?
Is Cover 4 a prevent defense?
Why does Cover 4 not work with small teams?
How do you beat Cover 4?
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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.