What is Tampa 2 coverage in football?
Tampa 2 is ordinary two-deep zone with one change: the middle linebacker runs straight down the field to cover the deep middle instead of staying short. That turns two deep defenders into three without taking anyone off the short areas, and it exists to close the one hole every two-deep coverage has. Everything about it depends on that one player being fast enough to get there.
Why Tampa 2 works
It closes the one hole two-deep cannot close
Cover 2 gives up the deep middle by construction: two defenders splitting a field cannot both be in the centre of it. Tampa 2 does not coach that problem away, it sends a third player into the gap, which is the only honest fix available.
It still looks exactly like Cover 2 at the snap
Two safeties deep, corners sinking, linebackers short. A quarterback reading the picture before the throw sees the coverage he wanted, throws at the seam he was taught to throw at, and finds a linebacker running underneath the ball. Almost every interception this coverage produces is that throw.
It costs nothing at the line of scrimmage
You are not taking a defender out of the rush or off the flat. The only player whose job changed is one linebacker, and only after the snap. As adjustments go it is the cheapest one on this shelf.
One player, and the hole he is running to
Tampa 2 is a single adjustment to Cover 2. Put the two side by side and you can see the gap in the first picture and the player filling it in the second.
- Ordinary two-deep · 11v11Ordinary two-deep in 11v11: Two deep halves with the corners squatting hard in the flats rather than bailing. It takes away the quick game outside and dares the offense to throw the seam. The soft spot is behind the corner and in front of the safety, rep the safety's break on the sideline.
Two deep halves with everybody else short. The seam straight up the middle, past the short defenders and between the deep two, has nobody in it. This is the hole every offense throws at.
- Two-deep with the middle filled · 11v11Two-deep with the middle filled in 11v11: Cover 2 with the Mike running the deep middle to close the hole between the safeties, the throw that beats plain Cover 2. He has to get to eighteen yards on a rope, so this call is only as good as your middle linebacker's legs. Corners squat, safeties play halves.
The same coverage, with the middle linebacker sprinting to the deep middle instead of settling short. The short areas lose a body and the seam gains one.
How to teach Tampa 2 in one practice
- 1
Teach Cover 2 first, and do not mention Tampa
This is an adjustment to a coverage, not a coverage. If your team cannot play two-deep zone with the deep players staying deep and the short players holding areas, Tampa 2 is not available yet, whatever you call it.
- 2
Show them the hole before you fill it
Run a receiver up the middle against your own Cover 2 in practice and let it be completed. Do it twice. Then ask who should have been there. The player who answers is usually the one who should be running to it.
- 3
The middle linebacker runs, he does not drop
This is the whole coaching point and the place it goes wrong. He is not backpedalling to a spot ten yards deep. He is turning and sprinting up the middle of the field to about twenty, eyes over his shoulder. A linebacker who drops instead of running is playing Cover 2 with a deeper linebacker, which is not the same thing.
- 4
Tell the safeties they are still playing halves
The instinct when a third player appears in the middle is for the two safeties to widen and relax. They must not. Their job did not change, and the moment they treat the linebacker as deep help the coverage has three deep defenders in the middle and nothing on the sidelines.
- 5
Accept the short middle out loud
The linebacker who used to stand there is now twenty yards downfield. Everything he was covering is open. Tell your team it is open, tell them it is supposed to be open, and coach the other short defenders to tackle it immediately rather than to drift inside and cover it.
Three other ways to cover the middle
Keep the linebacker short, and you are back in Cover 2
The base call, with the deep middle available and an extra body in the short middle. The right choice against a team throwing quick routes underneath rather than attacking the seam.
Roll to three deep instead, and you are in Cover 3
Get your third deep defender by dropping a safety and playing thirds, rather than by sending a linebacker. Simpler, it does not depend on one player's speed, and it costs you a defender underneath from the snap rather than after it.
Give the corners the deep outside, and press
With the middle covered, the corners can play tighter to the sideline and jam receivers at the line. Tampa 2's insurance in the middle is what makes aggression on the outside affordable.
What changes in your format
5v5 and NFL Flag
Not playable, and the shelf does not list it here. There is no middle linebacker at this size, and a defender sprinting twenty yards downfield out of a four or five player defense leaves a hole far larger than the one he is closing. Play three deep and accept the short middle instead.
6v6 and 7v7
Still not offered. Seven defenders can play two-deep or three-deep, but sending one of the three or four short players on a deep sprint empties the underneath. If the deep middle is beating you at this size, the answer is Cover 3, which gets you a third deep defender without borrowing one from the short zones.
9v9 and 11v11
This is where Tampa 2 belongs, and where it was invented. Nine or eleven defenders means a genuine middle linebacker exists, the short areas survive losing him, and a four-man rush can still get home. It is a passing-down call in almost every defense that has it, and it is only as good as the one player running up the middle.
When not to call Tampa 2
When your middle linebacker cannot run
The coverage is one player's legs. If he cannot cover twenty yards of field in a straight line at speed, you have shown a two-deep picture, opened the short middle, and left the deep middle just as empty as it was. This is the reason the shelf does not offer Tampa 2 in smaller formats at all.
Against short throws over the middle
You have deliberately vacated the area a linebacker normally occupies. An offense that throws five-yard routes into the middle of the field will complete every one of them, and the coverage has no answer except tackling well.
Against the run
One of your linebackers leaves the box on a sprint at the snap. Against a team that runs the ball, that is a defender you have removed from the run fit before the handoff. Tampa 2 is a passing-down call and treating it as a base defense gets punished on the ground.
When the offense sends four deep
Three deep defenders cover three deep routes. Tampa 2 gets you a third, not a fourth. A concept that floods the deep field still stretches somebody, and the linebacker running up the middle is the least practised of the three at playing a deep ball.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the free flag football play designer, collect them in the playbook maker, and print football play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw tampa 2 for your own team
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Open the free play designerRelated questions
What is Tampa 2 in football?
What is the difference between Cover 2 and Tampa 2?
Why is it called Tampa 2?
What is the weakness of Tampa 2?
Can you play Tampa 2 in flag football?
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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.