Weekly Gameplans
Today we are going to talk about gameplanning against certain coverages. Hopefully this is a practical reminder and can help you as you get ready for the upcoming week.
I am going to be referring to some past posts on the site that you may not have read for a while. But, it’s always good to review and remind ourselves what works against each coverage.
Remember what we talked about last week. If the plays on the list are no longer in your arsenal, don’t feel like you have to add them. Take the list and examine what you do well and then mix up your formations and run what works over and over.
Ok, first things first. When we watch film as a staff, we are never all in the same room. We watch on our own, each looking for a few specific things. OL and RB coaches watch with the express purpose of identifying our best run concepts and protection schemes for the week. The WR and QB coaches watch to identify the best pass concepts for the week. I watch for all of it. Then we come together and make our gameplan, which also becomes our practice plan for the week. If we are only going to run trap and zone for the week, we don’t practice anything else. If they show 90% Cover 4, we practice our best cover 4 beaters all week. On a side note, watching film this way and keeping it simple gets rid of the need for 5 hour staff meetings on Sundays. That allows you and your staff to actually spend time with your family, go to church, go to your son’s soccer game, and get geared up for the week ahead. I cannot stand 5 hour staff meetings simply because we think we have to…But I digress.
Ok, once we identify key concepts for the week, then we check them against our list and against our own self scout. For the purpose of today’s post, we are going to talk about the best concepts against the most common coverages.
If your opponent plays a lot of man coverage, I look for two things. First, are they playing press or soft? Second, are they are truly going to single cover my best player. If they are, don’t overcomplicate the game. If your guy can beat their guy, get in trips, isolate your best player and lets play 1 on 1. Click here to read our past about the best routes against man.
Cover 2 and Cover 2 Man are my favorite coverages against spread sets. If your opponent can do it well, it makes it tough on a lot of our routes because it takes away the flats, quick screens, and, theoretically, the inside release. But, the good news is that most high school teams don’t play Cover 2 very well. Most corners allow an inside release and most safeties can’t react the the rail shot up the sideline. Plus, you get to run the ultimate “cue the fight song” play…Smash Z Kill. For our best routes against Cover 2, click here.
If you are basing out of trips and Ace, I doubt that you are seeing a lot of Cover 3. Most D coordinators will check out of it against a 4 wide set because it is almost impossible to Cover 4 verts unless you have a really good free safety. That said, if you are running 2-back sets or using a TE, you might see a heavy dose of Cover 3. Here is list of my favorite plays against Cover 3.
If you are living in 4 and 5 WR sets, you are probably seeing a heavy dose of Cover 4 simply because most teams aren’t good enough across the board to play Man or Cover 2 and Cover 3 doesn’t work on the chalkboard. But, honestly, if you are patient and you are willing to take 5-8 yard completions and then take a shot every once in while, Cover 4 is one of my favorite coverages to see. I like it because you can get everyone involved. Some of your guys might not be good enough to beat press, but everyone can run a 6 yard hitch against Cover 4. The other reason I really like to see Cover 4 is that I know my back is going to have a big night running check downs against the Mike backer. Here are my favorite Cover 4 routes.
Ok coach, hopefully that helps as you gameplan for this week. Next week we will focus on gameplanning for the run game. As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions. Have a great week!
