8/7/2019 Capers 3-4 D

1/8

Running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Euphemism for these @$$lkj!! donthave a clue as to what theyre doing!"

But is that really the case? Watch Troy Polamalu do his little spinner dance and jig around the lineof scrimmage on a Sunday and you might say, what the h2!!@. But thats until he makes a niceinterception or game changing sack. Then it doesnt look so bad..if youre a Steelers fan of

course. Raise your hand if it has ever appeared that Packers defense has had more than 11 playerson the field with all the movement and guys standing up and the success they had on a particulardefensive stop. Im raising mine right now. By the end of this X and O session you might start tounderstand why.

To begin, lets look at a staple single high coverage in the Capers playbook. He calls it Cover 7.Why is it called that? I really dont know. What I do know is that each team and coach run similarthings but call them different things. For instance, a high school team may call their defense a 5-2while at the professional and college level it will most likely be called a 3-4. What its called isntas important as to how the scheme is implemented and what a coach has his players do within thegiven scheme.

What is Cover 7? Well, to sum it up, it is this: 4 men rushing the QB with the intent of having theweakside OLB rush along with 3 other men, a safety that will always cover the middle of the field,and the corners locked up man to man on the X and Z receivers wherever they align.

Before you look at the diagrams, here is what is represented on them. First, Capers calls his insidebackers the Mac and the Buck with the Buck aligned strongside and the Mac weakside. In Capersterminology he calls the OLB to the TE the closed side backer (TE present giving a 3 man surfacewith the TE, OT, and OG). The other side is the open side backer (no TE giving a 2 man surfacewith the OG and OT). Ive called them the Sam and Will for learning purposes. The yellow circlesrepresent eligible receivers. The star receiver will represent D. Jackson from the Eagles. Theblue lines show receiver route concepts or blocking and the red lines show the coverage drops bythe Packer defense. The orange hour glass shapes show men locked up in man to man coverageprior to the snap and receiver distribution post snap. The green lines show defensive players thatwill be in on the rush. For the majority of the diagrams it will show the Will rushing.

Thats about it. Before I forget, if you ever have questions just let me know. If you ever have aquestion about certain vernacular Ill be happy to clarify.

Here we go.

Diagram 1:

8/7/2019 Capers 3-4 D

2/8

The corners are locked on man to man with #1 to their respective sides. Based on the routecombination presented by the offense, The Sam will man up on #2 to the flat while the Buck willcollision the TE on the under route and pass him off to the Mac who will now carry the TE acrossthe field. The Buck will then zone off (sluff off) and keep his eyes on the half back who has set upin protection or will be used in a screening or checkdown capacity. The Free Safety will rotate tothe middle of the field (center field) and will peek at the closed side (TE side) of the formation as he

drops. The Strong Safety (having no vertical threat by the TE will sluff off and read. By gameplan he could read the QB or give help elsewhere (most likely reading the route of the flanker). TheWill is rushing giving the Packers a 4 man rush.

Diagram 2:

This look is similar to Diagram #1 with the exception of the route by the TE. Here we have the TErunning what is called a stick-nod route (WCO nomenclature). You can be sure the Eagles havethis in their offense seeing as how Reid is running the most pure form of the WCO today. Again,the corners are locked up man to man on the 1s. The Sam will sink a little on the TE release butjump to #2 to the flat as he crosses his face. The Buck and Mac react to the strongside run action

and then sluff off looking for a check down. The Buck helps out the Strong Safety by getting underthe TEs route. The Strong Safety plays outside-in leverage on the TE. The Free Safety rotates tothe middle of the field. The Will rushes giving a 4 man pressure.

Diagram 3:

The offense presents what is called a Far backfield set (Halfback is away from the TE). Thecorners are in man coverage on the 1s. With the threat of a release by the halfback, the Free Safetyplays man coverage on him. This means that the Strong Safety now rotates to the middle of thefield. The Mac will pick up the fullback should he release, otherwise, he can sluff off and keep his

8/7/2019 Capers 3-4 D

3/8

eyes on the fullback should he release after setting up in the protection scheme. The Sam maintainsoutside leverage on the TE running a vertical route in to a flag, while the Buck helps out bymaintaining inside leverage on the TE. The Will rushes giving a 4 man balanced rush.

Diagram 4:

The offense presents what is called a Far backfield set (Halfback is away from the TE) just asthey did in diagram 3. However, because a back motions out to the TE we now have a 3 x1 setcreated that forces the Strong Safety to cover the displaced back man for man. The corners are inman coverage on the 1s. The Free Safety will now assume the middle of the field coverage. Thisnow forces the Mac to cover the releasing halfback out on the weakside. This is a tough proposition

as the Mac is leveraged by alignment. It is possible to change the responsibilities of the Will andthe Mac (Mac rushes off the edge while Will covers the halfback out) to alleviate this concern but it

also can take one of your better rushers out of the rush (i.e Matthews). The Sam bangs the TE onhis under route and sluffs off to help on anything that might come into the seam area. The Buckwill pick up the TE on his under route and run with it. Again, the Will or Mac will rush dependingon how Capers chooses to handle the threat of the halfback releasing. Either way, it becomes a 4man rush.

Diagram 5:

Here we have what is commonly referred to as a King backfield set (FB off set to the TE). Again,the corners are locked man for man on the 1s. The Sam will take the fullback in the flat. The Buckwill drop in relation to the TE but come off of him as soon as he sees the flanker run a drive routeunderneath. The Buck will help the corner as the corner has a lot of trash to get through. TheStrong Safety plays outside in leverage on the TE. The Mac will take the releasing halfback to the

8/7/2019 Capers 3-4 D

4/8

flat on the weakside should he release. The Free Safety rotates to the middle of the field. The Willrushes giving a 4 man rush.

Diagram 6:

The offense presents what can be called a Spread formation. The corners have the 1s man toman. The Strong Safety has the displaced back man for man. If you notice, the route concept onthe left side is the same as in diagram 5 (Dig route by the TE and a Flat route by a back). Thedifference between the two approaches is that the Sam will run vertical with the TE and maintainoutside-in leverage. The Buck will run to cover the flat route whereas he stayed inside on the TE indiagram 5. Instead, the Mac will drop and relate to the TE and maintain inside leverage. Basically,the Mac and the Buck are exchanging responsibilities due to the formation and where the backreleased. The Free Safety plays the deep middle third and the Will rushes presenting a 4 man rush.

Diagram 7:

This diagram is the same formation presented in diagram 6. The route concepts are the same asdiagram 5 with the absence of a flat route to the TE side of the formation. Even though the Mac isnot leveraged by alignment, this formation and back release can present a problem. There is thethreat of the Mac getting picked off as he tries to navigate his way through potential shallow crossesbeing run by the receivers on that side of the formation. A simple exchange of responsibilities bythe Will and Mac can alleviate this concern, however, there is a potential to lose something by wayof the rush depending on the personnel at each position. Its kind of like robbing Peter to payPaul (no pun intended) in a sense.

8/7/2019 Capers 3-4 D

5/8

Diagram 8:

I suspect the Eagles will put Jackson in the slot to get a one on one matchup. Even though thePackers will align like this vs. a static formation (Jackson already set and not in motion), this is thebest way for Reid to get Jackson a free release without immediate safety help over the top in thedeep half of the field.

Diagram 9:

Here the Eagles put Jackson in the backfield and motion him out to get a favorable match-up on aStrong Safety rotating down to cover the displaced back who happens to be Jackson. Rememberwhen coach Holmgren used to put Sterling Sharpe in the backfield and motion him out? Well, hereyou go. Walsh did that with Rice too. Makes a lot of sense to try this tactic. Dont be surprised ifyou see this on Sunday. Dont be surprised to see Capers have an answer to this.

Diagram 10:

8/7/2019 Capers 3-4 D

6/8

Finally, when we break down what Capers has called Cover 7 we see 3 consistent concepts. First,there will always be a middle of the field defender. Second, the corners will be locked on man toman with #1 to their respective sides (they will always man up on the X and Z receivers and no oneelse). Third, the weakside (open side) outside linebacker (Will) will always be in the rush providedthat an exchange in responsibilities is not taking place between the Mac and the Will.

Diagram 11:

In this diagram, Ive put the Packers in their base package of 3 down linemen and 4 linebackers.Take a moment to again see who is rushing the passer and who is playing coverage.

Diagram 12:

8/7/2019 Capers 3-4 D

7/8

In this diagram Ive put the Packers in their sub front of 2 down lineman, 4 linebackers and 5defensive backs. Imagine, for a moment, that the nickel back (N) is Charles Woodson and now hegets in on the rush because weve substituted him for a down lineman. Even better, imagine nowthat the Sam will rush and Woodson will play coverage. The concept of Cover 7 stays the same butthe athletes executing the scheme are different.

Diagram 13:

How about we put Woodson in a deep half field safety position? Then lets creep him down rightbefore the snap and have him rush the weak side of the formation. But we have to slant the line tothe strong side of the formation to get a balanced rush. This diagram shows how the varyingpossibilities to this coverage and how creative Capers can get with his personnel.

Diagram 14:

Lets drop off a defensive Tackle to play underneath the TE in the hook/seam area and send theBuck on the rush (as long as its not Howard Green!)

In conclusion, I hope this gives everyone an idea just how complex a simple coverage like this canbe to an opposing quarterback. When looking at a defensive structure do just that..look at thestructure. Ask yourself questions. Do they always have a deep middle safety? Are they alwaysbringing a guy off the weakside (open side)? Are the corners playing man? I have alwayslooked at the secondary first when trying to determine what a team is doing defensively. There is asimple saying among coaches. Your coverage determines your front.

8/7/2019 Capers 3-4 D

8/8

When youre watching the game this weekend with your friends look at the deep middle of thefield. If a guy starts there and stays there you can bet that it is some form of man-free coverage(Cover 7 or Cover 1). If a man rotates to the middle of the field you can bet it is some form of man-free coverage or quite possibly a fire zone (5 man rush with a 3 under 3 deep coverage shell (Illdiscuss fire zones in the next installment.that or the zone blocking system. We can also look atthe Psycho package down the road).

If youre interested, copy off the diagrams as is and then change the coverage responsibilities ofthose not in man to man coverage and see what different variations you can come up with. Changeup who is rushing, who is covering where and whom and ask yourself, is this even plausible?You might find that what you have come up with is actually workable. In other cases, not so much.But thats the fun with a flexible defense like the Packers.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Capers will run Cover 7 because, well, after all, it is one of hisprimary coverages. Dick LeBeau and the Steelers still run this coverage. Its one of the primarysingle high safety coverages from the Capers/LeBeau defensive lineage. It is a sound coverage yetprovides some creative flexibility. Practically any player on the field can assume the variousresponsibilities (Diagram 13) depending on their skill sets and favorable match-ups.

Dont be surprised to see some firezones from Capers against Vick. Im still not convinced Vick isthat great of a passer and I believe he will struggle on Sunday against the exotic looks Capers willpresent him. Im also not convinced that Capers will always have a spy on Vick and that when hedoes spy him, that it will be relegated to one player (i.e. Woodson).

The beauty of a Capers defense is the complexity that appears. When broken down though, we seethe consistent concepts. Who ends up in those positions is determined by the aforementioned itemsand that is what gives the appearance of organized chaos (i.e. running around like chickens withtheir heads cut off.) Will Capers sit in Cover 7 all day? You can bet your sweet arse he wont.Football is a game of chess, not checkers, and you can be assured that Capers will have his countersready for Reid and Vick. Capers and this defense have been prepared each and every game.

As the great Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu, said, Win the war, then fight the war. Truerwords have never been spoken.