Attacking The 2 Deep Zone

[Nevada_Ballin]

I thought I'd share an article on attacking the 2 Deep Zone from a real-world standpoint so that everyone can practice applying the principals of it in Madden. Hope it's helpful if not at the least informative. (this will be a multi-post article)

Pass 58 Shoot / Twist & 24 Double Go – Attacking the Two Deep Zone
By John Anderson

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One of the most enduring aspects of zone coverage over the last 30 years has been the advent of the Two deep zone coverage. It has been featured in a number of ways, either using man coverage underneath, pure zone, Zone Blitz concepts, match-up zone concepts, and a plethora of mixes of the above.

Let's review what makes up the two deep coverage. The defense will show two deep safeties at a depth of around 10-15 yards deep depending on the game plan. Each of the two safeties are responsible for their deep half of the field, meaning that the deep zones are split in half and each is responsible for that half of the field. Now, there are many variations of coverage that a defense can run underneath.

One of the aspects of Cover 2 is that it can be disguised into Cover 4 relatively easy. The Corners can align at 5-7 yards depth and simply take off down the field with the wide receivers. But if you try this, you had better have great speed at the linebacker positions, because if not the backs and tight ends will eat you alive. But, we are going to address Cover 2 though you can keep in mind what the capabilities of this alignment are.


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Cover 2 has some traditional weaknesses:
1) The deep middle zone between the safeties,

2) The deep fade holes outside the safeties and behind the corners.

What we want to do on to this defense is stretch the width of the safeties as much as we can, send three receivers deep and force them to defend the width of the field in that two deep secondary.


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We have three ways of doing this (actually one is a variation of one, the 58 shoot). We will send three receivers downfield into those areas that are traditionally very difficult to defend. This is basically a three-on-two break.

We will begin with the pass protection. We prefer to use the five man protection plan for this play, but we make allowances
for six man protection. If we have to protect with seven, then we will look for another play. Sending three deep with no threat
underneath, basically allows the linebackers to run downfield in “trail” technique and possibly cover the play which would
force us into a unfavorable situation. We will use the following types of rules to utilize our protection to give our QB time.

58 calls

- Double read by the Guards versus 3-4 front
- “Open” away call versus 3 man line
- Versus 4 man line, Center checks inside gaps first before fanning out into “B” gaps.
- “Viking/Gang” calls versus over or under shift fronts
- ”Lightning” call versus under shift to pick up LB
- “Hot” principle in case of Sam/Mike blitz (Should pick up Mike in double read by guard)
- “Cougar” call versus 60 Blitz


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*24/25 calls *

- Basic man protection – Possible “open”, “snuggle”, or “gap” calls
- Versus Nickel, the uncovered lineman has the call side LB (“stay”, ”slide”, “elephant”, “LA”/”Raider”).
- Navajo- Basic Navajo protection. Alert for “Gap” situation
- “Open” away from call versus 3 man line; “No Open” versus 4 man line.

Fullback – Outside LB alert for “bag”, “open”, “gap”, “elephant”, and “score” calls. Versus Nickel: check 2nd LB to call side. Release routes could change weekly.

Halfback – Outside LB alert for “bag”, “open”, “gap”, and “elephant” Calls. Release routes could change weekly.

*note- In 324/325 the line never opens away from the call due to the 3-step drop by the QB. RB’s have “B” & “W”.


We want to give our QB a chance to have protection, but have some options in his arsenal to react to some of the
different things that defenses do. His steps must be quick and precise.

The QB executes a 7 step drop on this series due to the depth of the pass being thrown and the depth of the breaks. We teach our QB’s to have his mind made up as soon as his final step hits the ground. This is so he can be in a passing position as he is squaring himself up to make his throw. He must remember the two different techniques as he is preparing to throw:

- If he is throwing down the middle post of the field, he must put a little air under his pass to get it over the LB’s.
- If he is throwing to the sideline areas, he must fire this ball into that area, a little too much air will be intercepted by the safety
rotating over from the inside. Sometimes depending on how the defense plays this, some air under the ball may be required.

Route Structure –

This is one of the simplest routes to understand in this package, the 58 Shoot. The QB simply reacts to what the safeties are doing. By game planning, we always look for the best match-up, but we will keep ourselves open to changes if they occur. We want to throw the ball into the biggest void in the zone that the defense gives us, its that simple! In a basic formation, we send both the wide receivers and the tight end downfield into those three voids and try to find the most open receiver.
This is by far, the simplest thing we do. We will do several things with the backs in this scheme: Shoot routes, Check routes, and Wide routes. But, it will mostly involve the Shoot routes.

Quarterback –

The QB basically reads what the secondary is doing. If he sees a two Deep coverage, he knows he will have one of three choices: Put some air under the ball to the tight end, or zip the ball to either of the WRs. If the underneath coverage plays tight underneath and runs with the deep routes, he has some underneath routes to go to. This is either going to be a five or seven step drop depending on the quickness of the QB, and throw the ball as his back foot hits the ground. When making the read going to the tight end, we want the QB to see the strong safety outside the tight end in relation to the route of the tight
end. We want the QB to see the strong safety outside the tight end as the tight end prepares to make his break to the middle. This is a key to the QB after seeing the safeties split. If the safeties do NOT split, then we may have a cover 3, in which case the tight end adjusts to a crossing route.


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Tight End –

The tight end will have a two-fold responsibility on this play. The tight end must get a good release from the line of scrimmage (LOS). He must work for width on his release to get the strong safety in two deep coverage to work for width as well. The reaction of the strong safety in two deep, and the free safety in three deep is the key to this play. The tight end is instructed to read the defense for any snap rotation that may occur during the start of the play. If he sees the safeties split and assume a two deep posture, he is instructed to bend his route at 12 yards into the seam splitting the two deep zone. If he sees one of the safeties rotate over top of his seam route, he is instructed to execute a crossing route at 12 yards. This is where we see the term “Middle Of Field Open” (MOFO), or “Middle Of Field Closed” (MOFC). This is important in the scheme of the play. The tight end and the quarterback must be on the same page and see the defense the same way for the play to be successful.


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Wide Receivers –

The Wide Receivers are instructed to split approximately ten yards from the tight end or tackle ( last man to that side of the
stack.
The Wide Receivers have a pre-snap read on The corners and safeties to their side of the field. If they see Cover two, then they know that the fade route is on. If the defense continues to run the cover 2 at the snap, they know the fade is on. The next thing they will check for is the technique of the corner to their side of the field. If the corner shows outside technique, the WR will aim at the outside shoulder of the corner for 5-7 yards, then turn up field deep into the fade hole that cover 2 provides. The purpose of the outside bend is to give more distance for the safety to cover, in that this opens up more distance between the corner and safety. If the corner shows inside technique, the WR runs his fade route in that he runs downfield to a point keeping a position about 6 yards from the sideline. He must play body position with the corner as in a basketball position, keeping the corner from having a shot at the ball.


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If the defense either shows, or rotates into cover 3, the WRs have an adjustment to the Seam route inside the corners. The
Seam route is basically a skinny post that tries to take advantage of the space between the corner and the free safety in the three deep zone. The WR plants his outside foot at about 10-12 yards depending on the speed of your WR. The idea is for the WR to make his break at precisely the point that the QB releases the football. The ideal point is for the WR to break at exactly 11 yards, and the ball to arrive at a point 19 yards deep. This is one of those timed pass routes that works very well against zone coverage.

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Running Backs –

The Running Backs will run the pattern called, but the primary pattern is the “Shoot” route. This is a two-three yard deep route that looks for the ball over the shoulder as soon as they come out of their break. As they are turning to the sideline, they want to make sure they are gaining depth with the route. What I mean is that they are running the route at a slightly downfield angle.
This gives the back a better chance to turn up field after he receives the ball. The Shoot route is good in that it immediately challenges the underneath coverage and doesn’t allow the LB’s to run underneath the WR’s pass routes, if they do it will be a big gain up the sideline.


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This is the same principle involved as with Pass 58 Shoot. The difference is that the route responsibilities change between the Y End and the RB. The play challenges the underneath coverage of the LB’s and has a “shot” to the deep middle of the field. The Y End (TE) runs the “Whip-Read” underneath the inside coverage, while the RB makes a dash down the middle using the same technique the TE would use. This is a good Red Zone variation as well, on those teams who really bite down on the tight end.

One of the things cover two teams do is to drop the MLB very, very deep. This is supposed to give help to the safeties
by giving them a trail technique underneath and force a perfect throw. 58 Twist gives us a play to use the same down-field principles, while attacking the middle hook zone and threatening this area to draw up the MLB. If the OLB jumps this play underneath, then the whip-read still gives us a valid play in gaining separation and make a positive play.

Pass 24 Double Go -

This is the same concept, but with a different pass protection scheme. The above mentioned pass protection scheme is more
of a protection first scheme. The 24/25 package is primarily a protection scheme that gives the back a check-off responsibility first, then run the swing route to both sides.


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Variations
- Both WRs running Speed outs – take advantage of deeper dropping DB’s
- Both WRs running hook routes – take advantage of deeper dropping DB’s
- Changing the route package for the RB’s to run Circle routes underneath the LB’s who are dropping deep or jumping
outside too quickly.


*Done*