Beating the cover 2 defense

You can't beat it going deep when the protection does not hold up. For most DLs the Packers OL does a good enough job to allow the Packers pass plays to develop. When playing the likes of SFO, NYG, and even CHI the Packers will need to adjust and go with short middle throws to bring the 2-deep safeties up.

In the past Jennings has been the Packers cover 2 beater. They go with 2 tight ends and 2 WRs and Jennings runs the deep turn in routes. Rodgers can throw the ball outside of the deep dropping LBs but inside the corner.

H5, correct it all has to start with pass protection, and against good DLines like you mentioned, my first thought would be to continue to use the 4 wide route ideas as per the article but to pick one side to attack at a time and use the back side TE to chip or help block the edge rusher on that side since the QB will be trying to complete a pass to the other side anyway.

The OLine would know this play is designed to be thrown to one of the WRs on the right side so the TE on our left will help out with the DE on our left. We then can shift our protection to take advantage of the extra blocker to our left.

Keep the RB is for blitz pick up and you have 7 blockers for 4 or 5 rushers and you can still use the 4 wide spread techniques to freeze the safeties and force the CBs to try and cover two areas at the same time.

27 tampa

Yeah that's great as soon as Jennings is out there running the routes

Cover 2 was developed to LIMIT the big play. The TE (or dual TE) is how you kill the cover 2.

As good as the Bears D is....I ALWAYS start a TE vs. the Bears (in fantasy football). It's served me very well over the years.

Why do you think the Patriots have 15 TE's on their roster?

Is this the week Quarless is activated? And then we get to see this again?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLFMS4VP2fk

God that is awesome.

Did they do that even once against the Giants?

See what again? AR holding the ball so long that the DE who was pancaked at the snap has enough time to get up and still get pressure on the QB?

Or, AR moving out of the pocket and away from pressure because the D took away his primary read (#85) on the quick hit to the right.

AR buying time to reward the guy that steamrolled the mullet with a reception. That's just solid teamwork.

Speaking of mullets... After what Allen did to the Bears' Louis, I'd like to see the cowboy get lit up more often. He literally launched himself at Louis on a crackback after an interception and Louis blew out his ACL. He had no reason to launch himself like he did. It reminded me of what Sapp did to Cliffy...

I have no problem with either hit. I'm in the minority though.

I'm not sure why it went away, but I'd like to see the return of the back shoulder pass to Jones, Jennings and Jordy.

Seems like it went away, the Packers dusted it off a few times, the timing looked really bad, now it's rarely used.

Pretty high percentage pass, ball is out quickly. Packers have the WR's to execute it.

After they went wild with that play last year, teams started playing the ends differently and they had to shelf it for a while. I'm guessing that's still true. It's also not a play you can run any time you want. The ends need to sell the "go" up the sideline (without getting jammed, which a lot of corners have been doing) to set the CBs up for it to work.

quote:

Originally posted by Boris:
The TE (or dual TE) is how you kill the cover 2.

The Packers carry 5 TEs, four of which are fully healthy. Utilizing a mixture of multiple TE sets could exploit the Cover 2 and also give options for additional pass protection.

Wow - really good thread! So,what I get out of this is that the four receivers can beat the cover two so long as our o-line holds up, which they cannot do very well against the likes of the giants or 49ers. Therefore, we need to throw in a TE or two as receivers to help the o-line.

Running shorter routes and throwing screens would help. I'd like to see more 3 step drops as well.

Giants were taking the short routes away by jamming our wides at the line and disrupting the timing/route. Plus in the cover 2 the LBs can sit back in the shallow zones since they don't need to assist the 4 DL in rushing the passer.

A lot of people were screaming for short passes but they weren't there because our guys weren't getting separation off the line.

Put a WR in motion and he can't be jammed at the line.

Have a TE in motion, or have TE chip the DE and then run a short out.

Throw quick pass to Cobb in the flat. He can basically run away from most LBs and DBs.



I didn't really see any of that on Sunday night.

quote:

Originally posted by PackLandVA:
Put a WR in motion and he can't be jammed at the line.

Have a TE in motion, or have TE chip the DE and then run a short out.

Throw quick pass to Cobb in the flat. He can basically run away from most LBs and DBs.



I didn't really see any of that on Sunday night.

I was really surprised that they didn't quick pass it to Cobb. WR/O-Line need start winning their one on ones.

quote:

Throw quick pass to Cobb in the flat. He can basically run away from most LBs and DBs.

And with 3 or 4 LB's flooding the zones (flats and middle)in a tampa 2 while only 4 DL pressure our QB, our QB isn't going to get him the ball. It's not about what pass plays to call, it's about AR having the time to execute them.

Having a TE who can run and split the seam down the middle is what kills the cover 2. Remember how Finley used to tear the Barfs a new butthole back before he sucked?

Of course. A good TE guts the tampa 2 but only if the Q has the time it takes for that TE to get there, to the open middle. And don't forget, when the mike's aren't rushing the passer because they don't need to, they can fill that soft center.

I was at the Giants/Packers game on Sunday and on most of their passing plays the WRs ran/jogged straight down the field for 20 yards, stopped, turned around and took a few steps to the side. Nobody was ever open. Is that how you beat the Cover 2?

IMO, it takes a good TE and that can option(Block the run and get to the seam quickly) AND a lead FB that can blow up a LB on the run or catch passes in the flat.

Some true West Coast formations and playcalling can break the Cover2 ... thats how we should start a game vs. the 9ers and the Giants if we ever play them again.

The Bears front 4 on Defense and a terrible Oline allows for a more Wide Open scheme for the Pack/MM. I'd still hammer them for awhile just to loosen them up a bit.

Kind of all depends on how your D and Special teams are holding up I guess ...

If we get healthy, gonna be interesting no matter what we run.