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Football Lingo
By Coach Kip | September 14, 2007
I wanted to start a quick post on the Lingo of football. These posts will be mirrored on the new page called - surprisingly – Lingo. It is the football season and all the announcers and commentator will be using all the lingo that they can, usually right, but sometimes wrong. I just wanted to start a series of posts that will hopefully clear things up.
I know that there will be some interpretations that differ, and there will be slight differences in philosophy, but I hope that you at least get an idea of what is happening out there.
Coverages – I will start with different defensive coverages. The basic coverages are as follows:
Man – Man coverage is where the defense matches up with an eligible receiver and that defensive player has to cover him where ever that player goes. There are two basic man coverages
- Man or Zero – This coverage has everyone on the field locked up with an eligible receiver. If the defender does not have a receiver to cover that man will automatically rush the passer
- Man Free or Cover One – This is where everyone on the field has a man covered except for the free safety. There are many variations on this coverage due to the fact that free just means that the defense is set up so that one of the defenders is able to play free from pass responsibility. More and more I am seeing that man free means that the middle linebacker, not the free safety is free, but that is a matter of game planning.
Zone – This is where the defense does not cover a particular man, but covers a part of the field. There are hundreds of different variations of the zone coverge and this is where most of the deception and trying to fool the quarterback come from. There is only two that I want to cover today
- Cover Three or Three Deep Zone – This zone is known simply because there are three players responsible for the deepest part of the field. The rest of the cover players simply spread out and cover the rest of the field. Usually the responsibilities are as follows:
- Free Safety – Has the middle of the field usually from the Hash Mark to Hash Mark. The general rule of thumb is that no one gets deeper than the free safety. I think every coach has yelled “deep as the deepest” while coaching this.
- Corner Backs – The corner backs are responsible for the rest of the field. Usually each one is responsible for the third of the field from Sideline to Hash Mark on their side. The same rule applies, no one on the field gets deeper than the Cornerbacks.
- Linebackers and Strong Safety spread out across the field depending on how many are involved in the coverage. That will be explained on a later date.
- Cover Two or Two Deep Zone – This is where there are only two men to cover the deepest part of the field, usually from sideline to the middle of the field. Responsibilities are as follows
- Free Safety – Usually on the Weak side of the field and covers from the Side Line to the Middle of the field. No one gets deeper than the free safety.
- Strong Safety – Really can be anyone on the field, but it is typically the strong safety that takes the second half of the field. The coverage is from Sideline to the Middle of the field and again no one is deeper that this player.
Hope that clears up the basic coverages and the lingo that goes along with it.
Coach Kip
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