Cover 2

Hydrocortisone · November 27, 2003, 8:19am

Can someone tell me what a cover 2 defense is in football? How about a cover 3 or cover 4?

Reeder · November 27, 2003, 1:45pm

Cover 2
A football defensive configuration in which 2 safeties provide deep zone pass COVERage. Normally, there’s a four-man rush, and the remaining five defenders (two corners and three linebackers) cover the underneath yardage (i.e., near the line of scrimmage) in five zones. So the basic Cover 2 is all zone coverage, but defenders have to read the pattern as the play unfolds and adjust accordingly. This frequently puts one or two underneath defenders in man-to-man coverage.
Man Under is a variant of Cover 2 that looks similar before the snap, but the five underneath defenders play man-to-man on the five eligible receivers. One advantage of Man Under is that it can be used as a change-up, if the offense has been led to expect Cover-2 and has made offensive adjustments for zone coverage.
Cover 3
A football defensive configuration using 3 defenders in zone COVERage.

http://www.plexoft.com/SBF/C10.html