3 – 4 Man Coverage Defense

By: Zach Davis

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

- Galatians 2:20

Preface

The reason I am writing this eBook is because I want to share my limited

football / life knowledge with as many people as possible. I welcome feedback about

this eBook and please send an email to zach.davis24@gmail.com if you want to engage

in meaningful conversation about the eBook. There are no “new” ideas in football, just

repackaged ones and this eBook is my own “repackaging”.

I have known I wanted to be a coach since I was in high school. I love the mental

aspect of the game and the amount of preparation it takes to be a great football player

and coach. I used to think all it took to be a great high school football coach was to

know your scheme and be able to teach the appropriate techniques, but I was wrong!

Being a great coach requires pouring yourself into the lives of young men and

showing them what it means to be a man. I am a Christian, so it is my belief that you

cannot be a successful coach without the gospel. In my own flesh, I can never love my

players the way they need to be loved. But, if I walk in the spirit, I can love my players

with the love of Jesus, and that is what they desperately need! There are a lot of

coaches who know the game, but they do not show their players what it means to be a

follower of Jesus Christ. In 100 years we will all be dead and the only thing that will

matter is the relationship we had with the Father and the relationships we formed with

others.

Thank you for reading this eBook and may the Lord bless you and keep you!

Introduction

There are many different versions of the 3-4 defense and all of them have been

used successfully over the years. This eBook will detail a version of the 3-4 that uses

man coverage and an attacking front. It is my belief that moving the defensive line

wreaks havoc on an offensive line. I played offensive line in high school and college, and

the teams that gave me the most trouble were ones that moved the front on a

consistent basis.

There are two parts of an offense that a defense must defeat in order to win a

football game. The first is the offensive line. An attacking front causes confusion along

the offensive line and leads to negative plays and turnovers. The second part a defense

must defeat is the quarterback. An attacking front, along with man coverage in the

secondary, makes the quarterback speed up his reads and forces him into bad throws

and turnovers. The 3 – 4 defense gives you the flexibility to drop 8 into coverage or blitz

6, and since you have two safeties, it is easy to roll the coverage.

This version of the 3-4 is simple, sound and easy to install. The bulk of your time

will be spent perfecting the different techniques of each position, and that is what

makes coaching fun!

Organization

This eBook will be organized according to the different coverages used with this

defensive scheme. I think that makes the most sense because when I read an eBook

about football I usually skip all of the introductory content and go straight to the X’s and

O’s. From here on out, we will focus on how we use our schemes to stop the different

offenses we see at the high school level.

Cover 1

It is my belief that cover 1 is the greatest coverage in the history of football. It

allows you to play man coverage on all eligible receivers and still take away the middle

of the field. Throwing the football to the middle of the field is the easiest throw, so I

want to take it away and force the offense to make a more difficult throw.

Cover 1 is also great against the run game because you can load the box and use

your free safety in the run game. I have recently become a proponent of “soft” cover 1

where the corners, outside linebackers, and safeties play at least 6 yards off of their man

with outside leverage, so they can react to the run game and they can break on any ball

throw underneath. The outside linebackers must be able to play man coverage on a slot

receiver / TE, and still be able to play the run. They must be the best players on your

defense because they will be asked to do the most as far as technique and assignments.

On the next page is a diagram depicting how to align in cover 1 versus a 2x2 formation:

We are blitzing the Rush (R) in this call and the Sam (S) is in man coverage on #2.

The Rush is a quarterback player versus the option and squeezes all pullers. The Dog (D)

covers #2 to the side of the blitz and the Corners (C) have #1. The Sam, Dog and Corners

are pitch players versus option. The Stinger ($) is a between the hashes player (high

school hashes) and he plays quarterback to pitch versus option. We could also blitz the

Sam and the Stinger would cover #2 and the Dog would become your hash to hash

player.

We do not assign the Mike and Will a gap to fill, we tell them to read the guard

to the near back and attack the play with the appropriate technique. If they see a drive

block, they shock and lock the linemen, locate the football, and then they use a rip move

to disengage. If they get a down block, they scrape to the next available gap unless the B

gap opens up. If they see a reach block, they will scrape to the next open gap. If they see

a pull, they scrape in the direction of the pull and locate the ball carrier and fill inside

out. If they see a down block and an isolation block by the fullback, they will spill the

football to the safeties / outside linebackers who are folding. They are dive players

versus the option and they two way the tailback in coverage.

The Buck (B) reduces to a three technique and he is responsible for spilling all

pullers and tackling the dive versus the option. The Nose (N) slants to a 2i and is

responsible for spilling all pullers and tackling the dive versus option. The End (E) plays a

tight 5 technique and is now a quarterback player who squeezes all pullers.

Versus trips you can roll the Stinger down on #3 or you could flip the Dog

over. An example of this is below:

If there is a nub TE, tackle or a wing, the corner will flip over and cover #2. This is

pictured below:

Versus bunch we will make a combo call which is illustrated below:

Lastly, versus traditional “I” the Mike will take the first back out to the TE side and the

Will plays low hole. This is illustrated below:

Cover 1 gives you all the benefits of man coverage and the ability to take away

the throw to the middle of the field. Cover 1 is the best coverage in football, but you

need a “change – up” so you can keep the offense guessing. Our “change – up” is soft

cover 0. Cover 0 allows us to blitz 5 or 6 and still be safe, simple and sound in the

secondary.

Cover 0

The primary pressure we use with cover 0 is blitzing both outside linebackers as

force blitzers. They must set the edge of the defense and be contain rushers. This

concept is illustrated on the next page:

The ends pinch and tackle the dive / spill all pullers and the nose two gaps the

center

The coverage behind this blitz is cover 0, but we feel safe running this blitz

because we are usually in off man coverage with inside leverage (6 yards off), and we

get good pressure with this blitz. The Sam and Rush are quarterback players versus the

option, the Mike and Will are dive players, and the secondary are pitch players. This

coverage concept is illustrated below:

Versus trips the Dog would flip over and cover #3 strong. We can also press the

corner on #1 to the trips side. This concept is illustrated below:

Versus Trips Open we will lock the corner on #1 and “Banjo” #2 and #3. This

concept is illustrated below:

Lastly, versus traditional “I” the Mike will take the first back out to the TE side

and the Will plays low hole. This is illustrated below:

We can also blitz both of the inside linebackers and the outside linebackers take

on the ILB’s coverage responsibility. These two concepts are illustrated below:

We can also blitz the Will as well as both of the OLB’s to create our 6 man

pressure. This concept is illustrated below:

Versus jet motion we bump the coverage instead of running with the receiver to

maintain leverage on the jet sweep and slant / shoot concept. This concept is illustrated

on the next page:

Versus empty we treat #3 strong as the back in traditional empty (3x2)

and #4 strong as the back versus 4x1. The Mike would align on #3 or #4 strong

and play him man to man.

As you can see, our cover 0 package is not complicated, but it is multiple

enough to get pressure on the quarterback and confuse the blocking schemes.

Couple cover 1 with cover 0 and you have a defense that can put pressure on an

opposing offense all night long!!

Final Thoughts

The key to playing great defense is to keep your package simple enough

so your players can play without thinking. When defensive players have to think

rather than react, they play slow and are not aggressive. I have never heard a

coach say that he wished his defensive package was more complex. Good

coaches are constantly trying to find ways to simplify the game so their players

can play fast and be physical. It is not the team with the biggest playbook that

wins, but the team that can EXECUTE its scheme at a high level. I recently wrote

a blog post on zachdavis24.blogspot.com (my blog site) about execution:

When I watch film of other teams or watch football on the weekends, I

notice a common factor of successful teams.. EXECUTION. There are many

defensive and offensive schemes in the game of football and people have won

a lot of games with different schemes. The scheme is not important, but the

EXECUTION of the scheme is of paramount importance. It does not matter

how many different schemes a coach can draw up on a board or put in a

PowerPoint, what matters is the ability of his players to execute their

assignments on every play. Now, you need to have some versatility in your

package, but NEVER sacrifice EXECUTION for a larger playbook.

Steven R. Covey says, "You have to decide what your highest priorities are

and have the courage to say no to other things. And the way you do that is by

having a bigger 'yes' burning inside."

If more football coaches listened to that statement, more people would have

successful seasons. In order to be successful, you have to coach what you

know. It is better to be excellent at a few things than be a jack of all trades

and a master of none. Your players will always know less than you, so you

must be an expert on your scheme. If you are not an expert; do some

research, talk to other coaches, go to clinics, so you can become an expert on

your scheme. If you are going to demand that your players EXECUTE their job

to perfection, you better know your scheme inside and out, so you can

prepare them for the different situations they will face.

I pray that you will find this eBook useful and you will use some of the

ideas as you go through your coaching career. Please feel free to contact me at

any time! My email is zach.davis24@gmail.com and my Twitter handle is

@zachdavis24. May the Lord bless you as you journey through your coaching

career.