Difference between Cover 2 and Cover 2 Buc?

[Cipher 8]

Sorry but my friend and I were wondering... is there something like how deep the corner line up that makes it different or is it basically same exact play? Sorry I'm not that good with actual football terminology.

[strattjw]

Isn't Cover 2 Buc the Tampa 2. The MLB is playing deeper in his zone so he is almost at a deep zone depth to take away the post route. It's what the Colts and Bears run in the NFL.

Cover 2 would have the MLB playing a normal hook zone.

[oweb26]

Isn't Cover 2 Buc the Tampa 2. The MLB is playing deeper in his zone so he is almost at a deep zone depth to take away the post route. It's what the Colts and Bears run in the NFL.

Cover 2 would have the MLB playing a normal hook zone.

You are spot on.

I think Monte Kiffin and Tony Dungy brought it to mainstream because they virtually perfected it when they were coaching at tampa bay, hence the term Tampa 2.

[Cipher 8]

So the MLB's zone is just deeper. Thanks guys I thought it had something to do with that dominant Buccaneers defense but I wasn't sure.

[Cipher 8]

I imagine the Cover 2 Sink then is named that because the corners sink back instead of cover the flats (blue zones)?

[morsdraconis]

I imagine the Cover 2 Sink then is named that because the corners sink back instead of cover the flats (blue zones)?

Yup.

[irishfbfan1]

The cover 2's are really nice this year with improved zone coverage. You just have to make the proper adjustments from time to time to meet your needs. Cover 2 has always been my coverage of choice.

[strattjw]

I find Cover 2 nice on early downs as it's stronger against the run since the Corners stay down in the flats.

[littletomz]

The Bucs were able to perfect the Cover 2 when Dungy & Kiffin came to the Bucs. They had Hardy Nickerson at MLB who was able to drop deep in coverage down the middle and Derrick Brooks at OLB could drop and cover anyone who came into the flats sometimes he seemed to be the fastest guy on the field. They never had to worry about blitzing a linebacker when you could get so much pressure with Warren Sapp just blowing up the middle of the offensive line on every play. The when you had John Lynch sitting at safety you never had to worry about the offense running slants against you because he just lit everyone up.

[bdoughty]

To give credit where credit is due, the Cover 2 was perfected long before Tampa Bay used it and it was termed the Tampa 2.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_2


The roots of the Tampa 2 system actually are in the Steel Curtain days of Pittsburgh football. "My philosophy is really out of the 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers playbook,” said Dungy during media interviews while at Super Bowl XLI. “That is why I have to laugh when I hear 'Tampa 2'. Chuck Noll and Bud Carson — that is where it came from, I changed very little.”[2] Lovie Smith mentions having played the system in junior high school during the 1970s, though Carson introduced the idea of moving the middle linebacker into coverage. Carson's system became especially effective with the Steelers' addition of aggressive and athletic middle linebacker Jack Lambert.[3]

[JeffHCross]

To give credit where credit is due, the Cover 2 was perfected long before Tampa Bay used it and it was termed the Tampa 2.

Which is why, personally, I don't get why Cover 2 and Cover 2 Buc are both in the game. Since Bud Carson welcomed Jack Lambert onto the Steelers, Cover 2 "Buc" is Cover 2.

I suppose there is a reason to have them both, because some teams don't have the personnel (well, to be honest, very few teams do have the personnel) to effectively run the Mike deep. Though it'd still be more accurate to call the "regular" play "Cover 2 Hook" and have Buc be "Cover 2", at least in my head.