Cover 2, MLB and the Weakest Link

[KCJohnny]

The Cover 2/Tampa 2 defense requires agile, speedy LB play to cover the area from the secondary to the safeties. Who is the weak link?

Cover 2

In traditional Cover 2 schemes the free safety (FS) and strong safety (SS) have deep responsibilities, each guarding half of the field. The NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears, and Detroit Lions run a variant of this defense called the Tampa 2.

Cover 2 can be run from any seven-man defensive fronts such as the 3-4 and the 4-3. (It is difficult to implement Cover 2 from an eight-in-the-box front, because the strong safety or someone replacing him is usually the eighth man.) Various "underneath" coverage played by cornerbacks and linebackers may also be implemented. For example, Cover 2 Man means 2 safeties have deep responsibility while the cornerbacks and linebackers follow their offensive assignment in one-on-one coverage. The NFL's San Diego Chargers inherited a base Cover 2 Man 3-4 from Wade Phillips. Cover 2 can also be paired with underneath zone schemes: Cover 2 Zone refers to 2 safeties with deep responsibility but now the CBs and LBs drop back into specific coverage zones where they defend passes only in their assigned area.

Teams that play Cover 2 shells usually subscribe to the "bend-but-don't-break" philosophy, preferring to keep offensive players in front of them for short gains while limiting long passes. This is in stark contrast to a more aggressive Cover 1 type scheme which leaves the offensive team's wide receivers in single man-to-man coverage with only one deep helper. By splitting the deep field between two defenders, the defense can drastically reduce the number of long gains.

The main weakness of the Cover 2 shell occurs in the middle of the field between the safeties. The safeties attempt to gain width upon the snap of the ball to cover any long passes to quick wide receivers down the sideline. This movement creates a natural hole between the safeties that can be attacked. By sending a receiver (usually a tight end) into the hole, the offense forces the safety to make a decision: play the vulnerable hole in the middle of the field or help out on the wide receiver. The quarterback reads the safety's decision and decides on the best matchup (i.e. which mismatch is better: TE vs S or WR vs CB).

So far this year, only the Lions and Saints are giving up more YPC than us. Our run defense is seriously broken. While our pass D is only allowing 133.5 YPG, our rush D is folding to the tune of 213 YPG in this young 2008 season. Its stands to reason that the pass defense stats look good because teams can beat us without throwing much.

I'm an offense guy, but isn't this a Mike Backer problem? Isn't the MLB in the Cover 2 scheme supposed to be the "QB" of the scheme? Isn't the Cover 2 scheme without the right horses a high-risk defense?

Not picking on Pat Thomas, but where is the weakest link?

I have no desire to ever again in my life watch the rapacious way the Chiefs D was steamrolled by a one-dimensional losing team on the road about to fire its coach.

Help me out, people.

KCJ