Part 1 of this series is available here. Part 2 is available here. Part 3 can be found here.
So far, we’ve covered the bread and butter of Brian Flores’ defense — his blitz schemes and man coverages. However, if an NFL defense lines up and tries to call the same play snap after snap, it will get torn to shreds unless it has truly exceptional talent across the board like the Seattle Seahawks’ Legion of Boom. Therefore, Flores has a number of changeups, particularly in coverage, that he can run to keep opposing offenses off guard. Let’s look at the zone coverage calls he has below:
Country Cover 3
The natural compliment to Cover 1 is Cover 3. While Cover 1 is a man coverage, and players are each assigned a defender to cover, Cover 3 is a zone coverage where a defender is responsible for a specific area of the field (Nick Saban calls this Country Cover 3) or has a specific set of rules for who to cover, which changes over the course of the play (this is Man-Match Cover 3, or Rip/Liz in Saban terminology). “Country” Cover 3 is easy for offenses to exploit because defenders drop to predefined spots and there are a litany of pass concepts designed to beat it. However, it is easier to install than Man-Match, and has it’s uses as a mixup when game planning on defense — if you run it even once, your opponent has to waste time prepare for it.
Flores used a mix of Country and Man-Match Cover 3. Lets look at Country Cover 3 first:
As you can see, the outside corners and free safety have deep zones, the two LBs in the middle have hook zones, and the strong safety and Will are responsible for curl/flat zones. The advantage of this coverage is against the run, where an extra safety is in the box for run support.
Here is a play in action:
The play above is against a 3×1 set, so the zones are a little different, but the overall structure is there. You can see the outside corners and free safeties drop into deep zones while the two LBs at the edges of the line of scrimmage are in curl/flat zones. The Mike and strong safety drop into the hook zones. The reason you can tell this is Country Cover 3 instead of man match is how the defenders react. All of the defenders have their eyes on the QB while they are dropping to a specific spot on the field, as opposed to reading the releases of the WRs.
Man-Match Cover 3
Man Match Cover 3 has the defenders follow specific rules to determine who to cover. See the diagram below:
The above diagram has only shows six players in coverage, but the Will is meant to play coverage on the RB if he does not stay in to block, but the rules for the defenders stay the same, there is just only one hook defender. The idea is for the “Apex” or slot players (labeled SS and FS in the diagram) to try to redirect the slot receivers to each side towards the inside, where they have help from the Mike shallow and the Rover (a third safety in this case) deep. They players in the middle read each side and help with any routes crossing their face, just like in 1 Rat/Robber. The outside corners are reading 2 to 1, which means they’re checking for a vertical from the inside receiver before turning to the outside, who they should already be in position against. The FS and SS in the above are also responsible for the flats after they try to redirect routes to the middle of the field.
Here is a play in action of the diagram above:
Watch how the players respond based on the diagram below, hopefully this illuminates the rules from the diagram above:
The value in playing man-match is that it “takes the air out” of the defense. In the above, you can see that illustrated in the TE’s vertical route. At the snap, an LB moves over to cover him before backing off and passing the coverage off to the corner in the deep third. If you look at the Country Cover 3 play, multiple players have 10-yard runways before someone is in the area on defense. There are benefits to allowing your players to read the QB and break on the ball, but QBs are very good at manipulating defenders with their eyes, and offenses are adept at exploiting holes in spot drop zones. Match coverages remove the open space, and therefore help limit free yardage for the offense.
Cover 7
Cover 7 is the Nick Saban term for Quarters. While Flores uses these concepts, there are a limited amount of them and he tends to prefer man coverage. NFL teams have a limited amount of practice time to install defenses, so I believe the installation will be more basic than what is run at Alabama. There are a number of different types of quarters coverages, but the primary purpose is to have four defenders that can defend against deep routes, and therefore defeat a popular pass concept in Four Verticals. The two corners are responsible for the outside deep threats, and the two safeties are responsible for deep threats inside. The other players in coverage play underneath hook zones and the flat.
Here is an example of the responsibilities from a Matt Bowen article on Bleacher Report:
Watch the play below:
As I mentioned above with Man Match Cover 3, carrying players vertical and eliminating the space in the defense is a critical part of Man Match Cover 7. You can see that performed well at the top of the screen, where the nickel defender carries the No. 2 receiver vertical before changing his responsibility to the flat. Seeing his player go underneath, the outside corner picks up the vertical part of No. 2’s route. At the bottom, the LB does a good job of carrying the vertical stems of the TE/WR, but does not get to the flat quickly enough, and the RB is able to get a solid gain. Still, you can see how with proper execution, all players would be in good position to make plays while limiting the room the offense has to throw. A pass to the RB where the defense has a chance to rally and tackle is considered a win.
The coverage in the play above is called “Box” by Saban. There are a variety of different calls with different rules for how the players are supposed to respond in the Cover 7 system. For a more detailed look at different quarters coverages under the Saban tree, please listen to former Vikings’ DBs coach Karl Scott, who also coached at Alabama, give a clinic on Cover 7 at this link.
A concept that Scott talks about in the video above that is important to learn is the passing strength of certain calls. In Cover 7, the defense will often call a different coverage to the “strong” and “weak” side of the formation. This is also relevant in Cover 3 looks, where the safety that is tasked with playing in the box is either the “strong” or “weak” safety based on the call. Referring to a defensive alignment as “Weak Rotated Cover 3” means that the weak side safety is rotated down into the box, while the strong safety is playing a deep middle coverage.
How does a defense determine strong and weak sides? There are some nuances, but generally the “strong” side is the one with more receivers or more receiving threats, while the “weak” side generally has fewer options. Let’s take a look at the formations below for how a defense declares strong/weak:
Tampa 2
Tampa 2 is a coverage that was developed by Tony Dungy with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the ‘90s and came to prominence in the 2000s, with the Bucs and Chicago Bears fielding dominant defenses during that era. While its time as a primary coverage has passed, it still has use as a changeup and a “safe” coverage, and is run by almost every team in the league. Flores is no exception.
The difference between standard Cover 2 and Tampa 2 is the drop of the Mike. In Tampa 2, he drops all the way back to the vertical seam, while in normal Cover 2 he would just drop to another hook. This allows the safeties to get wider on the field, as they are able to play on top of the numbers instead of closer to the hashes. This helps close the “turkey hole” that exists between the corner and safety in normal cover 2. In fact, this makes Tampa 2 play more like Cover 3 than Cover 2.
In the play above, you can see the Dolphins running Tampa 2. Take note of how quickly the Mike gains depth in his drop. He is looking to both sides for players crossing the middle. The coverage is good, and eventually a checkdown is forced, allowing the defense to rally and tackle. Unfortunately there is a missed tackle on the play, but this was a schematic win for the defense.
Conclusion
Brian Flores brings an aggressive style of defense to the Vikings that is an about face from the passive defense that Ed Donatell ran last season. Hopefully after reading this series, you have an understanding of the variety of fronts and blitzes that Flores likes to run, as well as the coverages that he will use. At its core, the defense will be an attacking one that blitzes heavily and uses man coverage behind it. That leads to simple assignments for defenders, who are taught to play every role. Still, his defense has the ability to mix up play calls to confuse the offense, and his background of learning every coverage under the sun will allow him to adjust for specific opponents.
Because of the aggressive nature of the coverage, the Vikings will need to make some roster moves this offseason to help the defense. Flores is able to put his players in spots that play to their strengths, and he should be able to do that for the front seven. However, the DB room, particularly at corner, needs an overhaul. As it stands, the Vikings only have three corners who played snaps last year set to be on the roster: fourth-year Cameron Dantzler and second-year Andrew Booth Jr. and Akayleb Evans. That room will need significant additions, probably both in the draft and free agency. Look for Flores to bring in a couple of players he worked with in Miami or New England to also help with the scheme transition. There are a number of former Flores players on the open market: Trey Flowers, Melvin Ingram, Andrew Van Ginkel, Elandon Roberts, Duke Riley, Jonathan Jones, Eric Rowe, Nik Needham, and Devin McCourty all may garner consideration.
