Pass Defense-Defending Trips and 3x1 with Combination Coverage.
Combination Coverages
There are several ways to play defense vs trips. Man concepts, zone and combination coverage. Combination allows you to play zone on one side and man on the other.
This post deals with teams that play combination coverage, man on 1 or 2 players and zone on the rest. This can be done on the outside with man coverage on 1 player and a cover 3 or 2 concept the other way or by what I call weasel, man on an inside wr and then playing zone on everyone else.
You can also play man to man on both outside players with a read concept on #2.
Here are some of the examples:
Super Bowl
The Chiefs get bunch 3x1. They play man on the point man and 3 over 2 on the #1 and #3 wr in the bunch. To the 1 wr side they play man to man.
The #2 WR goes inside and the Sam goes with him. That leaves 3 over 2 on the #1 and #3 WR in the bunch set. They lock up the backside with tough man coverage on #1 and the RB with safety help over the top.
3 over 2 as the CB takes the outside route with the inside route being defended by the LB and the safety.
Film
Special Coverage
Special is an excellent concept!
#1 is played man to man,
the sam and safety read #2 and #3. The safety will take 2 or 3 vertically.
Utah runs special to the 3x1 side from their 3-4 base package:
They also bring the olb over with the trips set giving them an extra defender.
Man on #1 and zone with everyone else. The sam lb has all of #2 unless 3 is outside.
What you do on the single side depends. Special can be adjusted on the 1 wr side.
Options on the single side
1.You can send the will below and play man (below)
2. cover 2 on the other side and just send 4
3.Play a quarters concept on the 1 WR side
They also have olb playing the flat and the mike playing the hook:
Wash State tries to hit the slant with #1 and because its man on #1 they defend it. Good coverage by the cb.
Good coverage downfield as you can see the safety sitting on the deeper out pattern.
film analysis to go with above clips:
Another example is Jim Leonhard at Wisconsin.
He plays cover 2 away from the 3x1 side.
2 Clips of his version is below.
The Chiefs run this cloud concept vs the Dolphins in the 2023 playoffs.
They push the 2 LB to the 3x1 side and play 5 over 3 with the CB as a flat defender. This allows them to play man on Hill to the single side with help over the top.
Marshall runs the concept below,
They check the coverage based on motion. The sam sits outside and waits for 2 or 3 outside. The SS deep takes 3 vertical. The CB locks on #1 to the trips side.
Vic Fangio Combination Coverages
Vic Fangio runs combination coverage when he was with the Broncos, part man part zone. He does it with different coverages on the front side of the combination coverage.
Vs. The Chiefs they run different variations of it. In the first example they play cover 2 from a cover 3 look presnap.
Man coverage to the single side.
The CB sits and makes a nice read.
Mahomes has to put it down and run.
In example #2 you get 1/4 coverage on 1 side with a lock on the 1 wr side.
In the next example, they play man on the backside but run a variation of 1/4 coverage with the sam carrying #2 vertical. Nice design with what looks like the mike matching the RB to the flat.
The RB opens late but Mahomes is forced to scramble.
The route concept is below.
The sam carries 2 vertical as 3 goes to the flat. The weak safety plays the crosser.
Here are the 2 examples of the coverages discussed above:
Titans play a variation of combo vs the Jaguars in their 21 meeting.
Titans play man to the 1 wr side and play zone with everyone else, basically playing #2 and #3 wr in double coverage. They run a nice stunt from their load front and get the sack.
Here's the defense and how they are playing it.
The safety is reading #3 strong with the quarters concept to the front side.
Another version run by the Bears vs Rodgers
cover 2 weasel
Jimmy Lake Washington Defense with Pete Kwiatowski
2nd and 5 vs Hawaii
They bring a 3 man pressure play man on #2 and cover 2 with everyone else. Confuse Hawaii, no place to go with the ball and force qb to scramble and throw an incomplete.
Its man on the outside wr to the field. Zone with everyone else. Rotates to cover 2
Here's Washington again vs USC
USC 1st and 10
They go combo and play man free to the 3x1 side and zone to the 1 wr side. They walk the olb out to press #1 and take away USC best wr. USC runs qb draw against it. They get 4 yards but Wash holds them.
Interesting Combo as usually teams will play it the other way. They press the flat to the 1 wr side with 1/3 player behind it.
Good execution as you see the wr to the top of the field is well covered.
Cover 4 man on the backside or cone in Saban’s world.
Baylor runs cover 4 to the trips side and man to the 1 wr side.
In the first example they bring 5 man pressure.
In the 2nd they lock to the backside of 3x1 .
To the field quarters
to the boundary safety is deep 1/2 with LB playing seam curl.
The Seahawks and Patriots both have been using an exchange concept based on release of #1 with condensed formations
The Seahawks do it vs the Rams.
#1 to the single side releases inside, the safety takes him and the cb plays the crosser.
#1 releases outside the cb will take him.
This is the combo look with man to the trips side.
Adams cuts the route inside
Patriots man free combo..
3rd and 10 vs Chargers
Really this is man free but the cb and fs weak make this really interesting. The pats put the safety on #1 if he goes across, which he does and leave the cb weak to play crossers. Really an interesting concept.
Some people may consider this man but they are combo with rules. If #1 goes inside the safety takes him and the cb will play any crosser.
#1 releases vertically, the safety will look for crossers.
Nice job defensively in their communication.
Cover 3 combo
The Bengals use it with a 5 man pressure vs the Giants. They bring 4 off the weakside, play man on Engram the Giants best tight end and zone with everyone else. This is called locking the single wr side.
Nice job on the #1 wr in man.
The rest of the defense plays cover 3.
Good job in coverage as they bring 4 to a side
They get the pressure with the overload 4 to a side concept.
Nice execution.
Rams Defense
You will often see Brandon Staley run combination coverages and think outside the box. He also will show man pre snap and shift to zone looks which is rare at the NFL level. Below is when he was with the Rams.
Heres another 3rd and short. Hawks are in 3x1 .
Seahawks get 6 yards on it.
The Rams play man on the #1 wr Metcalf vs Ramsey, with cover 3 with everyone else. 4 over 3 to the bunch with the olb playing the flat.
Ramsey is in man while the rest of the defense is in cover 3.
Nice job as they limit the damage downfield.
Cover 2 Combo
cover 2 with man on #1 opposite the trips.
Here is an example of cover 2 with solo coverage on #1 to the single wr side.
#2 cover 2 combo.
3rd and 4 Ravens vs the Patriots
The wr is on #1 man for man with everyone else playing zone coverage. It looks like man free pre snap but they go cover 2 on the snap. Good disguise!
You can see the cb and sam lb playing cover 2 to the bottom of the screen with the safeties in deep 1/2 coverage.
Cover 3 steal(FS robs #3) with man on #1
Ravens vs Steelers.
Ravens do a nice job with cover 3 with the free safety robbing #3
The same game they rob #3 and play the crosser with the same side safety. CB has all of #1 again.
These are some of the combination coverages you see at the NFL and college level. Hope you found some of these concepts useful.
Cover 3 Lock
The 49ers play cover 3 lock, They lock the #1 and RB to the single side. They bring a 5 man pressure vs the Cowboys, They get the free rusher and hit on the qb.
SHARE THIS POST PLEASE!
Stay tuned for some other posts!