Part 1 of this series can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.
Coverage structure is the biggest change the Vikings’ defense will be making in 2023. Brian Flores runs a different array of coverages than Ed Donatell did, and he often allows his players to run tight, physical coverage. As a Belichick disciple, Flores has access to a wide array of coverages, but he prefers man coverage, aka Cover 1, if he can get away with it. He will also run the man-match coverages that Nick Saban is famous for (Saban developed the principles of man-match when he worked under Belichick with the Cleveland Browns), and his defense runs Cover 3 at a high rate. Flores doesn’t run a lot of two high coverages (the 2021 Dolphins ran two high just 29% of the time, dead last in the NFL), but he also runs some Cover 7 (Saban’s term for Quarters) and Cover 2, particularly Tampa 2. As I mentioned in Part 2 of this series, Flores loves to blitz, which means that he also plays a really high rate of Cover 0. Let’s dive into the different coverages, and what can be expected from the 2023 Vikings’ defense.
Cover 1
Cover 1 is a man-to-man coverage where the coverage players are responsible for guarding the player across from them, all the way around the field. The “1” in Cover 1 means that there is a single deep safety in the middle, who is there to help with inside breaking routes deep.
In Cover 1 with four pass rushers, there is also a “hole” player, who is responsible for a “hook” zone, roughly at the sticks in the middle of the field. This player’s job is to read shallow crossing routes and help cover them. If the hole player is an LB, this is known as Cover 1 Rat, while a safety taking this role is known as Cover 1 Robber. In blitz looks, the hole player is instead tasked with blitzing the QB.
Take a look at the play below, which is Cover 1 Rat:
In the diagram above, the defense has matchups that they want. You can see that the two outside corners are on WRs, the X and Z, while the * or slot corner is on the slot receiver. The corners have a choice of playing press man or off man. Flores uses a safety to plan man coverage on the TE, while the LBs have coverage on the RB. The LBs are playing a “Banjo” technique, which means that they will read the RB at the snap. If the RB goes to their side, they have to cover him in man coverage, otherwise they are the “rat” to help with routes crossing the middle of the field.
See the call below in action:
You can see all of the DBs play their guys in man, LB to the RB’s side takes him in man coverage. The LB at the line of scrimmage drops back into the hole and is the “Rat,” watching the QB’s eyes.
An important thing to note in the above is where each defender lines up in relation to the receiver across from him. The defender will line up either slightly inside or outside the WR depending on where they are on the field. If the WR is inside a certain landmark, the CB will lineup outside the WR. This is known as “outside leverage” and is meant to take away out-breaking routes from the WR. In Cover 1, the inside DBs have help over the middle of the field from the rat and middle field safety. The outside DBs, however, do not. Therefore, they will line up with “inside leverage” to prevent in-breaking routes. The “help” for the outside CBs is the sideline. The rules for how a DB determines where to line up are called divider rules. Here is an example of the play above, showing the rules:
Divider rules are based on the location of the ball at the snap:
- Ball at near hash: Divider line is at the bottom of the numbers
- Ball at middle of field: Divider line is two yards outside the numbers
- Ball at far hash: Divider line is four yards outside the numbers
If a receiver crosses a divider line in his route, the DB is responsible for changing his leverage.
Robber is very similar to Rat but has a safety as the hole player instead, and an LB locked on the RB in man coverage.
The play below shows a pass off between a corner and the robber:
While the Dolphins line up in a mug look, this is Cover 1 Robber. The safety (No. 29 Brandon Jones) backs off and helps over the middle of the field. No. 55 Jerome Baker has the RB in man coverage, but blitzes (this technique is known as a “green dog”) the QB because the RB stays in to pass protect. If the RB would have run a route, he would have covered him. Watch the No. 3 receiver (the receiver closest to the line of scrimmage at the top of the screen) on the play. He runs across the field. The CB responsible for covering him is playing with outside leverage, which means that he will have a difficult time keeping up with any in-breaking routes. Therefore, the robber in the middle of the field sees this and takes the receiver in man coverage. Once the corner passes it off, he becomes the new robber and looks for any additional crossing routes.
The Flores defense also runs a special kind of man coverage that Bill Belichick made famous known as “1 Double.” The intent is to take away the opponent’s best receiver by double teaming that player. The play goes all the way back to Belichick’s famous game script in 1990 when he was the New York Giants’ DC against the Buffalo Bills, where they used it to stop Andre Reed. He has used it against Chad Ochocinco and a number of other great receivers. The coverage is called “1 Double [Jersey Number]” or “1 Double [Position]” so doubling Justin Jefferson would be “1 Double 18” or doubling the slot receiver would be “1 Double Slot.”
In 1 Double, typically, the defense will put their second best corner on the opponents top WR, and bracket him with a safety. This leaves the team’s best corner to cover the opponent’s second best receiver man-to-man, while still taking away their top WR. Who is double depends on the opponent, but the play is drawn up below:
In the case above, the nickel and free safety are doubling the slot. The nickel has to cover in-breaking routes, while the safety covers out-breaking ones. The leverages depend on the call and where the player is lined up.
The video below shows 1 Double in action:
In the video, the Dolphins are using their 1 Double coverage against Cincinnati Bengals receiver A.J. Green at the top of the screen. You can see that the corner up top is playing with outside leverage because he knows that the safety inside is doubling Green no matter what. At the snap, the safety turns his head and looks directly at Green. The corner’s job is to not let Green get open outside, while the safety’s job is to prevent Green from running an in-breaking route. In a normal Cover 1 Robber look, the safety would see the No. 3 receiver at the bottom of the screen come across the field and help with that, but here that slot corner has no help.
Cover 0
The most aggressive coverage a team can play is Cover 0, because all of the defenders are manned up against a receiver with no safety help, because every other player is blitzing. We looked at an example of how the Dolphins run Cover 0 above with the Cincinnati Bengals’ front. While we covered the blitz above, now let’s take a look at the wide angle to see how the coverage works.
Flores runs a unique version of Cover 0 where the DBs are in an off-man alignment. In a lot of Cover 0 systems, the corners are pressed tight to the receivers on the line of scrimmage. You can see the difference between a press and an off man alignment below:
Playing off man allows the DBs to read the QB’s eyes and react rather than asking all DBs to win one-on-one matchups with receivers. Because the defense is blitzing one more player than the offense can block, the defense knows the ball needs to be thrown quickly. Playing off man allows the DBs to break on and potentially intercept short passes, while also keeping their eyes in the backfield for a potential QB scramble, which can defeat this look pretty easily. This also helps the DBs rally and tackle on screens, another common counter. Let’s look at the play in action:
On the play, you can see the Dolphins read Minshew’s shoulder fake and all go to tackle the out route. The defense is susceptible to fakes in this look, as Gardner Minshew is actually throwing the deep route. However, the bet is that the free rusher will get to the QB so quickly that the fake won’t have time to develop into a play that can hurt the defense. In this case, that proves true as Minshew is affected by the pressure and makes an inaccurate throw.
Cover 5
Cover 5 is Belichick and Flores’ terminology for a coverage also known as 2 Man. This is two safeties in deep zones with man coverage underneath. This is a safer coverage than Cover 1, and tries to prevent any chance at a deep pass, but can be susceptible to the crossers that the Rat/Robber help defend against. Here is a diagram:
On the play above, the Dolphins do a good enough job to prevent a throw and force a scramble. There is another interesting component to this play, and that is how the Dolphins handle the bunch, which is the group of three receivers to the bottom of the screen. A popular technique to deal with bunches is “Box,” which is how Saban typically handles them. In that, the defenders cover players based on how they release from the bunch, looking at who is first inside, who is first outside, and who is deep to cover it.
“Lock and Level” is another way to deal with a bunch formation in man coverage. With Lock and Level, every player stays in coverage on their man no matter where they go. This can be difficult without coordination, as bunch releases often ask WRs to cross one another’s paths, which leads to the CBs following potentially running into each other. The “lock and level” technique is meant to prevent this from happening. Each defender takes a different level. In the video above, you can see this technique in action. The defender in the middle of the bunch is up on the line of scrimmage and presses his man. The defender to the outside steps back at the snap, while the defender to the inside steps forward, creating three distinct levels for them to cover their man.
This concludes part 3 of this series. Part 4, the finale, will cover the types of zone coverage that Flores runs.
