Football coverages are tough to diagnose; I totally get it. A person can re-watch a replay five times over and still be left with the question of, "What did the defense just do? Why did that corner run all the way back and that safety came down and then that linebacker went there?"
Now just for one second, imagine you are an NFL quarterback. Instead of being able to watch a bird's eye view five times, you have to make this read extremely quickly, in under three seconds quickly, and make a throw based off of what you just processed. Sounds pretty hard, right? Well, that is because it is hard. Defenses are trying to become more and more complex in an effort to confuse quarterbacks and stop the high flying offenses of today's NFL.
It does not always have to be hard; however, as there are keys and alignments that can quickly allow us to spot what the defense is doing and what coverage they are running.
To start off, let us take it easy and just get our feet wet by discussing Press Man Coverage vs Off Man Coverage. This has been a point of contention among Ravens fans for too long as to what the ideal coverage is. However, the answer is simple: there is no right or wrong when you understand how to play both.
Let us dive in, shall we?
Press man coverage gets its name because of the "press" that a defensive back will give to the receiver to disrupt his route, but the hands are not where this coverage starts. Instead, it starts with the feet. Coaches will commonly say, "Feet before hands," because of the importance of a proper stance.
Corners should line up with their feet directly under their armpits, slightly tighter than shoulder width. Then, the weight of the upper body should be over top of the balls of their feet, bending at the waist. This allows for the highest amount of explosion to match the release of the receiver and also gives the defensive back the best position for balance when pressing. The arms then should be at a ready stance- elbows and thumbs up, ready to deliver a strike to the chest plate of a receiver. Lastly, the eyes of the corner should never leave his man. Coaches will typically teach their defensive back to watch the bottom of the numbers, but a defensive back should never look at the quarterback.
With all of that in mind for how to align, it is then important to think of where a defensive back will align in relation to his wide receiver. Defensive backs should not align directly over top of their man; instead, a defensive back will want to leverage himself based on the coverage called and whether or not he has safety help over the middle of the field.
If there is safety help over the middle of the field, a corner will want to align himself with outside leverage. The inside foot of the defensive back will split the wide receiver in half so that the inside foot is directly in the middle of both feet of the wide receiver. If there is not safety help, the corner will align with inside leverage. This is the exact opposite of outside leverage- the outside foot of the defensive back will now split the receiver in half. This allows the defensive back to funnel the wide receivers route toward the sideline and use the sideline as an "extra defender."
It is also important to note how close a defensive back will line up to his man. Truthfully, there is not right or wrong answer, but there are general rules. If the receiver is on the line of scrimmage, most defensive backs will line up within one to one and a half yards of the wide receiver. However, some coaches will tell their defensive backs to be close enough that their finger tips can touch the wide receiver. If the wide receiver is off the line of scrimmage, the defensive back will typically line up roughly two yards off the line of scrimmage.
With all of this in mind, we can now look at the namesake aspect of this coverage: the press. A defensive back must be patient in his approach to the press to not over-commit and get caught out of position. Wide receiver will use a variety of stutter steps, jab steps, head fakes, and other "window dressings" to try to bait a defensive back into committing early. However, a defensive back must stay disciplined and wait for the wide receiver to fully commit to his release inside or outside.
If a receiver commits to an inside release, the defensive back should use the outside hand to deliver a strong strike to the chest plate of the wide receiver to try to turn the body of the receiver outside. Conversely, if the wide receiver gives an outside release, the defensive back needs to use the inside hand to deliver a strong strike and try to turn the body of the wide receiver inside.
However, more important than the strike is that the defensive back keeps his feet moving. The goal is to impede the progress of the receiver, so opening the hips is counterproductive. The defensive back needs to keep his feet shuffling and stay in front of the wide receiver for as long as possible, opening his hips only to mirror and stay in phase with the wide receiver.
With all of this in mind, let us take a look at Marlon Humphrey perfectly executing press man coverage against the Cleveland Browns.
Marlon Humphrey aligns with proper technique. Due to the tight alignment, Humphrey aligns with outside leverage. His eyes are solely on the receiver.
The wide receiver uses a jab step to fake an inside release, but Humphrey does not take the bait.
The receiver commits outside and Humphrey begins funneling the receiver further and further out wide. Humphrey keeps his shoulders as square to the line of scrimmage as possible, shuffling his feet to the sideline.
Humphrey stays in phase through the entire route. The only place the quarterback can put the ball is toward the sideline, risking an out of bounds throw.
The first thing to note is that the alternative name to off man coverage is "catch man coverage." It is called this because the defensive back will "catch" the receiver in his route. And while it may not offer the same physical redirect as press man coverage, off man coverage does allow for the defensive back to reroute the wide receiver by forcing him to adjust his release or run the defensive back over for a juicy offensive pass interference flag.
With that in mind, the term off man coverage is used because the defensive back will play, typically, around six to eight yards off of the wide receiver. However, this can vary by the comfort level and confidence of the defensive back and be shortened down to even three to four yards off.
Like press man coverage, off man coverage still allows the defensive back to leverage the wide receiver. Is there safety help over the middle? The defensive back will line up with outside leverage and funnel the wide receiver inside to the safety. Is there no safety help? The defensive back will line up with inside leverage and funnel the wide receiver to the sidelines and use the boundary as an "extra defender."
It sounds like, at this moment, the defensive back is just doing the same thing as press man, so where is the difference? The biggest difference, other than the cushion provided, is in the first three steps of the quarterback.
For the first three drop back steps of the quarterback, the defensive back will keep his eyes on the quarterback, reading the eyes of the passer. This will allow the defensive back to know whether or not he needs to break downhill on a short pass or continue to wait for a longer route to develop.
For the first three drop back steps, the defensive back can take a flat footed approach. That means that he will stand flat footed and not move off of his mark until the quarterback begins that fourth drop step. This allows the corner to quickly breakdown hill on any passes without fear of being beat deep because he still has a cushion.
Alternatively, a defensive back can go into his backpedal and elect to not risk getting caught flat footed and playing catch up due to biting on a double move or a pump fake. When backpedaling, the receiver will "skate" backward, not run, and keep his weight over the balls of his feet and his shoulders down low. Playing high makes it much more difficult to explode out of the stance and work downhill. The defensive back will also want to weave during his backpedal. This means that the defensive back takes diagonal steps backward while keeping his shoulders square to the defensive back to maintain leverage. A defensive back will leave to keep his hips to the inside or outside hip of the wide receiver, depending on leverage. While weaving, a defensive back should never open his shoulders to the receiver or the receiver will break the opposite way.
Following along with the backpedal, the defensive back must be capable of breaking downhill on short passes. There are two commonly taught methods to breaking downhill: the "T-break" and the "quick-step break."
When breaking downhill on the T-step break, the defensive back will plant the opposite foot of the direction he wants to go and then bring the heel of the other foot to the the inside of the plant foot, "clicking his feet together," with the toes of the opposite foot pointing in the direction of the way he wants to go. To picture this, imagine the defensive back wants to break downhill and to the left. He will plant his right foot and then "click" his left foot before breaking downhill. The disadvantage here is that the body of the corner will turn and open up. However, if a corner has strong legs, the "click" step may not be necessary and he can plant and go off of the opposite foot. However, if this is not possible and potentially opening the body of the defensive back is not desirable, the quick-step may be more appropriate.
With the quick step, the defensive back will use the balls of both of his feet to brake the backpedal and then drive downhill. Both feet will be brought under the defensive back and then steps will be taken to break downhill. I personally am not a fan of this method because it feels like too many false steps are taken, but it does keep the defensive back square to the line of scrimmage.
However, what if a receiver does not break after the first three drop steps of the quarterback and wants to run a longer route? That is simple- the defensive back will glue his eyes to the wide receiver continue the backpedal and continue to try to keep the cushion while maintaining leverage. At this point, the defensive back will want to watch the hips of the wide receiver because it is impossible to break off a route without opening the hips. The defensive back should never peer into the backfield because there is nothing back there that concerns him.
However, at some point, the receiver will eat the cushion, at which point the corner will need to open his hips. It is in the best interest of the defensive back, though, to try to keep the cushion to be able to break on any sharp cuts from the wide receiver using one of the techniques listed above. As a general rule of thumb for when the defensive back should open his hips: If the wide receiver is close enough to be touched, he is close enough to run past you. Flip those hips while keeping eyes on the wide receiver.
The above route tree picture shows all possible routes from a wide receiver lining up on the left of the formation. Is is especially important for defensive backs to know because all routes will break within three yards, at 12-15 yards, or deeper. This allows the receiver to anticipate breaks and come downhill or open his hips accordingly.
For three step drops, the only possibilities are a flat, screen, drag, or slant. For a five step drop, the route will break between 12-15 yards and be anything other than one of the aforementioned routes or a corner, fade, or post route. If the receiver does not break off his route 15 yards, flip those hips and get ready to run to the end zone because the wide receiver is not stopping.
At no point will a route ever break short of 12-15 yards on a five or seven step drop, so if the wide receiver begins to break a route at eight yards, get ready for a double move. The defensive back must remain disciplined and do not bite.
With all of that in mind, let us take another look at how Marlon Humphrey defends in off man coverage against the Cleveland Browns.
To begin, Humphrey aligns at a depth of around 10 yards with his sole focus on the quarterback, not the wide receiver. Humphrey's eyes are glued to the passer.
The quarterback still has not yet completed his first three drop steps, so Humphrey backpedals with his eyes to the quarterback. He keeps his shoulders low, ready to explode downhill.
The quarterback has completed his first three drop steps and Humphrey's immediate attention turns to the receiver. He continues to backpedal and keep his cushion.
Humphrey opens his hips to turn and run with the receiver, but still be in a position to break downhill on any out-breaking routes. If the receiver were to break to the middle of the field, Eric Weddle is in position.
The wide receiver has cleared the 15 yard mark. Humphrey knows there is no more possibility of him breaking off his route and instead turns to fully commit to running in phase with the wide receiver.
Off man coverage is one of the toughest coverages for a defensive back to effectively master. When scouting college cornerbacks, I prefer to watch how they play off man coverage rather than press man coverage. Any college defensive back can try to reroute the route of the wide receiver and run in a straight line, but not all can fluidly backpedal, show the fluid hips to quickly change directions, and show the clean footwork needed to break downhill. It is for this reason that I had college cornerbacks like Desmond Trufant and Kevin Johnson rated so highly.
Truth be told, it always comes as a surprise to me that people are so vehemently against off man coverage. After all, this was a defense largely developed by the legendary Bears 46 defense with Buddy Ryan and then further refined by defensive masterminds, like Dom Capers and Rex Ryan.
The reason I still advocate for it is because of the flexibility it offers. Yes, press man coverage offers the ability to influence the wide receiver's route right off the snap, but it tells the offense the intent of the defense. On the other hand, remember that name, "catch man?" Again, it is called "catch man" because of the ability to "catch" the wide receiver in the break of his route. However, "catching" that wide receiver comes much later in the progression of the play, so the defense can mask its intentions and shells, giving a disguised look to the quarterback.
Off man coverage sees no disruptions from motions or shifts in the offense. If a wide receiver runs across the formation, the press of a defensive back can be nullified. However, this has no effect on the defensive back playing off man coverage.
Lastly, when playing press man coverage, a defensive back has two very large pitfalls. First, if the initial press is whiffed and the wide receiver is allowed a free release, the wide receiver will run past the defensive back with a large amount of separation. Second, if a defensive back is prone to opening his hips, a strong wide receiver can fight through the press and release to the opposite side of where the defensive back opened his hips and run wide open down the field.
That is not to say, though, that press man coverage is not a good idea and that off man coverage is preferred. Off man presents its own issues.
Off man places quite a large bit of strain onto the defensive back to break downhill on short passes while also maintaining depth to not be beaten deep. Offenses can exploit off man by throwing short passes and taking easy yardage for first downs. This can force defensive backs to cheat forward and break downhill faster, leaving them prone to biting on double moves and being beat deep by a defender who slips past.
Essentially, it comes down to the skill set of the defensive backs and the confidence they have within themselves. Do they possess the rubber band like hips and quick feet? They may feel confident to play off and bait throws. Do they have those long arms? They may feel confident pressing and redirecting their man. Either way, there is not right or wrong answer.
This is the first part in a multi-part series detailing coverages that are employed by NFL secondaries.
Now just for one second, imagine you are an NFL quarterback. Instead of being able to watch a bird's eye view five times, you have to make this read extremely quickly, in under three seconds quickly, and make a throw based off of what you just processed. Sounds pretty hard, right? Well, that is because it is hard. Defenses are trying to become more and more complex in an effort to confuse quarterbacks and stop the high flying offenses of today's NFL.
It does not always have to be hard; however, as there are keys and alignments that can quickly allow us to spot what the defense is doing and what coverage they are running.
To start off, let us take it easy and just get our feet wet by discussing Press Man Coverage vs Off Man Coverage. This has been a point of contention among Ravens fans for too long as to what the ideal coverage is. However, the answer is simple: there is no right or wrong when you understand how to play both.
Let us dive in, shall we?
Press Man Coverage
This is the coverage that every fan clamors for. Fans want to see those big, long corners using their length to get into the face of a wide receiver and battle with him at the line of scrimmage. Think of the Richard Sherman, Jimmy Smith, Patrick Peterson cornerback types. These are your prototypical press man cornerbacks. However, even smaller corners can get into the mix if they simply understand proper technique.Press man coverage gets its name because of the "press" that a defensive back will give to the receiver to disrupt his route, but the hands are not where this coverage starts. Instead, it starts with the feet. Coaches will commonly say, "Feet before hands," because of the importance of a proper stance.
Corners should line up with their feet directly under their armpits, slightly tighter than shoulder width. Then, the weight of the upper body should be over top of the balls of their feet, bending at the waist. This allows for the highest amount of explosion to match the release of the receiver and also gives the defensive back the best position for balance when pressing. The arms then should be at a ready stance- elbows and thumbs up, ready to deliver a strike to the chest plate of a receiver. Lastly, the eyes of the corner should never leave his man. Coaches will typically teach their defensive back to watch the bottom of the numbers, but a defensive back should never look at the quarterback.
With all of that in mind for how to align, it is then important to think of where a defensive back will align in relation to his wide receiver. Defensive backs should not align directly over top of their man; instead, a defensive back will want to leverage himself based on the coverage called and whether or not he has safety help over the middle of the field.
If there is safety help over the middle of the field, a corner will want to align himself with outside leverage. The inside foot of the defensive back will split the wide receiver in half so that the inside foot is directly in the middle of both feet of the wide receiver. If there is not safety help, the corner will align with inside leverage. This is the exact opposite of outside leverage- the outside foot of the defensive back will now split the receiver in half. This allows the defensive back to funnel the wide receivers route toward the sideline and use the sideline as an "extra defender."
It is also important to note how close a defensive back will line up to his man. Truthfully, there is not right or wrong answer, but there are general rules. If the receiver is on the line of scrimmage, most defensive backs will line up within one to one and a half yards of the wide receiver. However, some coaches will tell their defensive backs to be close enough that their finger tips can touch the wide receiver. If the wide receiver is off the line of scrimmage, the defensive back will typically line up roughly two yards off the line of scrimmage.
With all of this in mind, we can now look at the namesake aspect of this coverage: the press. A defensive back must be patient in his approach to the press to not over-commit and get caught out of position. Wide receiver will use a variety of stutter steps, jab steps, head fakes, and other "window dressings" to try to bait a defensive back into committing early. However, a defensive back must stay disciplined and wait for the wide receiver to fully commit to his release inside or outside.
If a receiver commits to an inside release, the defensive back should use the outside hand to deliver a strong strike to the chest plate of the wide receiver to try to turn the body of the receiver outside. Conversely, if the wide receiver gives an outside release, the defensive back needs to use the inside hand to deliver a strong strike and try to turn the body of the wide receiver inside.
However, more important than the strike is that the defensive back keeps his feet moving. The goal is to impede the progress of the receiver, so opening the hips is counterproductive. The defensive back needs to keep his feet shuffling and stay in front of the wide receiver for as long as possible, opening his hips only to mirror and stay in phase with the wide receiver.
With all of this in mind, let us take a look at Marlon Humphrey perfectly executing press man coverage against the Cleveland Browns.
Marlon Humphrey aligns with proper technique. Due to the tight alignment, Humphrey aligns with outside leverage. His eyes are solely on the receiver.
The wide receiver uses a jab step to fake an inside release, but Humphrey does not take the bait.
The receiver commits outside and Humphrey begins funneling the receiver further and further out wide. Humphrey keeps his shoulders as square to the line of scrimmage as possible, shuffling his feet to the sideline.
Humphrey stays in phase through the entire route. The only place the quarterback can put the ball is toward the sideline, risking an out of bounds throw.
Off Man Coverage
No coverage will draw the ire of fans more than off man coverage. Viewed as a soft and weak coverage, fans will blow up at their TV screens when they see a defensive back lining up off the wide receiver. After all, defensive backs are supposed to be more close and intimate than that wide receiver's partner. All joking aside, off man coverage offers its own benefits that press man cannot offer, but we will cover that in a future section. For the time being, let us take a look at what makes off man coverage a desirable option.The first thing to note is that the alternative name to off man coverage is "catch man coverage." It is called this because the defensive back will "catch" the receiver in his route. And while it may not offer the same physical redirect as press man coverage, off man coverage does allow for the defensive back to reroute the wide receiver by forcing him to adjust his release or run the defensive back over for a juicy offensive pass interference flag.
With that in mind, the term off man coverage is used because the defensive back will play, typically, around six to eight yards off of the wide receiver. However, this can vary by the comfort level and confidence of the defensive back and be shortened down to even three to four yards off.
Like press man coverage, off man coverage still allows the defensive back to leverage the wide receiver. Is there safety help over the middle? The defensive back will line up with outside leverage and funnel the wide receiver inside to the safety. Is there no safety help? The defensive back will line up with inside leverage and funnel the wide receiver to the sidelines and use the boundary as an "extra defender."
It sounds like, at this moment, the defensive back is just doing the same thing as press man, so where is the difference? The biggest difference, other than the cushion provided, is in the first three steps of the quarterback.
For the first three drop back steps of the quarterback, the defensive back will keep his eyes on the quarterback, reading the eyes of the passer. This will allow the defensive back to know whether or not he needs to break downhill on a short pass or continue to wait for a longer route to develop.
For the first three drop back steps, the defensive back can take a flat footed approach. That means that he will stand flat footed and not move off of his mark until the quarterback begins that fourth drop step. This allows the corner to quickly breakdown hill on any passes without fear of being beat deep because he still has a cushion.
Alternatively, a defensive back can go into his backpedal and elect to not risk getting caught flat footed and playing catch up due to biting on a double move or a pump fake. When backpedaling, the receiver will "skate" backward, not run, and keep his weight over the balls of his feet and his shoulders down low. Playing high makes it much more difficult to explode out of the stance and work downhill. The defensive back will also want to weave during his backpedal. This means that the defensive back takes diagonal steps backward while keeping his shoulders square to the defensive back to maintain leverage. A defensive back will leave to keep his hips to the inside or outside hip of the wide receiver, depending on leverage. While weaving, a defensive back should never open his shoulders to the receiver or the receiver will break the opposite way.
Following along with the backpedal, the defensive back must be capable of breaking downhill on short passes. There are two commonly taught methods to breaking downhill: the "T-break" and the "quick-step break."
When breaking downhill on the T-step break, the defensive back will plant the opposite foot of the direction he wants to go and then bring the heel of the other foot to the the inside of the plant foot, "clicking his feet together," with the toes of the opposite foot pointing in the direction of the way he wants to go. To picture this, imagine the defensive back wants to break downhill and to the left. He will plant his right foot and then "click" his left foot before breaking downhill. The disadvantage here is that the body of the corner will turn and open up. However, if a corner has strong legs, the "click" step may not be necessary and he can plant and go off of the opposite foot. However, if this is not possible and potentially opening the body of the defensive back is not desirable, the quick-step may be more appropriate.
With the quick step, the defensive back will use the balls of both of his feet to brake the backpedal and then drive downhill. Both feet will be brought under the defensive back and then steps will be taken to break downhill. I personally am not a fan of this method because it feels like too many false steps are taken, but it does keep the defensive back square to the line of scrimmage.
However, what if a receiver does not break after the first three drop steps of the quarterback and wants to run a longer route? That is simple- the defensive back will glue his eyes to the wide receiver continue the backpedal and continue to try to keep the cushion while maintaining leverage. At this point, the defensive back will want to watch the hips of the wide receiver because it is impossible to break off a route without opening the hips. The defensive back should never peer into the backfield because there is nothing back there that concerns him.
However, at some point, the receiver will eat the cushion, at which point the corner will need to open his hips. It is in the best interest of the defensive back, though, to try to keep the cushion to be able to break on any sharp cuts from the wide receiver using one of the techniques listed above. As a general rule of thumb for when the defensive back should open his hips: If the wide receiver is close enough to be touched, he is close enough to run past you. Flip those hips while keeping eyes on the wide receiver.
For three step drops, the only possibilities are a flat, screen, drag, or slant. For a five step drop, the route will break between 12-15 yards and be anything other than one of the aforementioned routes or a corner, fade, or post route. If the receiver does not break off his route 15 yards, flip those hips and get ready to run to the end zone because the wide receiver is not stopping.
At no point will a route ever break short of 12-15 yards on a five or seven step drop, so if the wide receiver begins to break a route at eight yards, get ready for a double move. The defensive back must remain disciplined and do not bite.
With all of that in mind, let us take another look at how Marlon Humphrey defends in off man coverage against the Cleveland Browns.
To begin, Humphrey aligns at a depth of around 10 yards with his sole focus on the quarterback, not the wide receiver. Humphrey's eyes are glued to the passer.
The quarterback still has not yet completed his first three drop steps, so Humphrey backpedals with his eyes to the quarterback. He keeps his shoulders low, ready to explode downhill.
The quarterback has completed his first three drop steps and Humphrey's immediate attention turns to the receiver. He continues to backpedal and keep his cushion.
Humphrey opens his hips to turn and run with the receiver, but still be in a position to break downhill on any out-breaking routes. If the receiver were to break to the middle of the field, Eric Weddle is in position.
The wide receiver has cleared the 15 yard mark. Humphrey knows there is no more possibility of him breaking off his route and instead turns to fully commit to running in phase with the wide receiver.
The Big Difference
Now that we have gone over what goes into how to effectively cover from press man or off man, why would a team call one over the other? I just got finished telling you how difficult off man coverage is to run, but I still advocate for it. What gives? Truth be told, it always comes as a surprise to me that people are so vehemently against off man coverage. After all, this was a defense largely developed by the legendary Bears 46 defense with Buddy Ryan and then further refined by defensive masterminds, like Dom Capers and Rex Ryan.
The reason I still advocate for it is because of the flexibility it offers. Yes, press man coverage offers the ability to influence the wide receiver's route right off the snap, but it tells the offense the intent of the defense. On the other hand, remember that name, "catch man?" Again, it is called "catch man" because of the ability to "catch" the wide receiver in the break of his route. However, "catching" that wide receiver comes much later in the progression of the play, so the defense can mask its intentions and shells, giving a disguised look to the quarterback.
Off man coverage sees no disruptions from motions or shifts in the offense. If a wide receiver runs across the formation, the press of a defensive back can be nullified. However, this has no effect on the defensive back playing off man coverage.
Lastly, when playing press man coverage, a defensive back has two very large pitfalls. First, if the initial press is whiffed and the wide receiver is allowed a free release, the wide receiver will run past the defensive back with a large amount of separation. Second, if a defensive back is prone to opening his hips, a strong wide receiver can fight through the press and release to the opposite side of where the defensive back opened his hips and run wide open down the field.
That is not to say, though, that press man coverage is not a good idea and that off man coverage is preferred. Off man presents its own issues.
Off man places quite a large bit of strain onto the defensive back to break downhill on short passes while also maintaining depth to not be beaten deep. Offenses can exploit off man by throwing short passes and taking easy yardage for first downs. This can force defensive backs to cheat forward and break downhill faster, leaving them prone to biting on double moves and being beat deep by a defender who slips past.
Essentially, it comes down to the skill set of the defensive backs and the confidence they have within themselves. Do they possess the rubber band like hips and quick feet? They may feel confident to play off and bait throws. Do they have those long arms? They may feel confident pressing and redirecting their man. Either way, there is not right or wrong answer.
This is the first part in a multi-part series detailing coverages that are employed by NFL secondaries.