Understanding coverages allows you to know what the defense is trying to do. If you can understand where the defenders are going to be and what their responsibilities are then you can figure out ways to exploit and beat the defense. Mastering the mental side of the game is the separator from good to great and great to elite. Once you start playing at high levels, everyone is big, fast, athletic, and talented so the separation comes from preparation and understanding the mental side of the game better than anyone else on the field.
Cover 3 is a type of defense that has “3” defenders playing deep zones. There are different variations of cover 3 like “cloud”, “buzz”, and “sky”, and in this post we are going to focus on a 4-3 cover 3 cloud defense. Alright, let’s break it down…
4-3 is referring to how many defensive linemen and how many linebackers there are. You always start with the defensive linemen. One easy way to remember this is to start with the position group that is closest to the ball (Defensive linemen are closer than linebackers). The first 4 in 4-3 means there are 4 defensive linemen. The second number corresponds to how many linebackers there are so 4-3 means there are 3 linebackers.
Cover 3 means there are three defenders in deep zones. A good way to think about this is that the defense is dividing up the field into 3 deep zones.
“Cloud” is a terminology that is used to describe that a corner is playing in the flat rather than playing deep ⅓. Often you will hear this corner be described as a “clouded corner”. Because one corner will be up in the flat the safeties will rotate towards the clouded corner’s side. More on this later…
The non-clouded corner is responsible for the outside deep ⅓ of the field. This corner wants to try and keep everything in front of him and not get beat deep. Often he will line up around 5-8 yards pre-snap, but this can vary. He can also “disguise” the coverage and line up pressed and then bail at the snap of the ball. Two common techniques for non-clouded corners in cover 3 are backpedaling or facing the quarterback and shuffling.
The clouded corner is responsible for the flat area on his side of the field. He can line up pressed or off depending on the team. Clouded corners will allow the WR to release behind them because they have a safety helping out over the top in the outside ⅓ of the field.
The safety away from the clouded corner is responsible for the middle deep ⅓ of the field. He will rotate at the snap of the ball or just prior to the snap so that he can get to the deep middle ⅓ zone. He wants to try and keep everything in front of him and not get beat deep. Typically, he will line up around 12 yards pre-snap but this can vary team to team and can range from 10-20 yards. The safety will often read the quarterback’s eyes to try and make a play on the ball. This can be used to your advantage on offense because you can often look the safety off and throw opposite of where you are looking.
The safety towards the clouded corner is responsible for the deep outside ⅓ of the field. He will rotate at the snap of the ball or just prior to the snap so that he can get to the outside ⅓ zone. Typically, he will also line up around 12 yards pre-snap but this can vary team to team and can range from 10-20 yards.
The outside linebacker away from the clouded corner is responsible for getting to the flat. The flat is the area underneath the corner (5-10 yards over by the sideline). The outside linebacker towards the clouded corner side is responsible for the curl/hook zone. A good way to remember who goes where is to think if there is already someone in the flat on their side. On the cloud side, there is already a corner in the flat so there is no need for the backer to go there so he has curl/hook.
The number one thing outside backers must do in cover 3 is “jam” or reroute the inside WR from releasing vertical up the field. If the WR in front of them releases vertical they will try to get their hands on them and shove them off of their route before dropping to their zone. The reason this is vitally important is because if they let that WR release clean up the hash then it will put too much stress on the safety to cover both WRs running down the seams. Often, outside backers will line up in the 4-6 yard range pre-snap.
The middle linebacker is responsible for dropping to the curl/hook zone away from the clouded corner. Before dropping to his zone, he will step up for run action. This means that if you give a good play fake on play action then he will step up before getting to his zone. Typically, he will line up anywhere from 3-6 yards pre-snap.
A good way to remember which side he will drop to is to think which side already has someone in the curl/hook zone. The clouded side will already have an outside backer in the curl zone so he will drop away from the clouded corner.
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