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Effective Cover 1 Robber Coverage

by: Terry Jacoby


© September 2007

John Burrell sits in his office on a warm afternoon in late July. The Western Connecticut
State University coach wishes he could walk over to the clock on the wall and stop the
hands from moving. But with a game scheduled for late August that clock just keeps on
ticking towards another season. There never seems to be enough time to get ready. And
getting ready for Burrell often includes creating something different. A new twist. A
wrinkle no one has seen before. An adjustment here. An adjustment there.

The team WCSU puts on the field this year won’t be the same team that finished 5-5 last
year. Burrell believes coaches must always be learning. Always improving. Always
finding different ways to score. And different ways to stop teams from scoring. Even if
you have found something that works – change is usually a good thing because you’re
more than likely changing for a reason. From 1999 through the 2001 season, Burrell
created a defense that few offensive coordinators could figure out – let alone stop. The
Cover-1 defense was known as the "Robber Coverage" and it helped the Colonials post a
28-4 record for a .875 winning percentage over that span – the fourth best in Division III
college football. The defense featured nine players in the box. Yes, nine players in the
box designed to stop a team’s running game before it ever takes a step – without getting
beat by play action. The defense put WCSU in step with the best teams in Division 3
college football. But as Burrell sits in his office looking at the clock and putting together
plans for the 2007 season, the "Robber Coverage" is stuffed in the drawer. "We don’t use
it anymore," says Burrell, who will be entering his sixth season as head coach of the
Colonials (57-25). "The only reason we don’t is because two years ago we switched from
a 4-3 to a 3-3-5 so we are no longer a two-deep shell in the secondary. We just can’t find
any defensive tackles. The 3-3 allows us to play only one instead of two and we have a
ton of guys who are athletes that can run who are kind of a cross between a linebacker
and a safety and this allows us to get another one of those players on the field."

In other words, the "new" defense is a better fit for Burrell’s "new" personnel. But a lot of
defensive coordinators still prefer to line up in the 4-3 defense. And Burrell believes the
"Robber Coverage" is still a very effective way to slow down even the best running
attacks in the country.

Building blocks

To best understand the "Robber Coverage" is to begin at the beginning. "Like anything
else in college football, it’s not something that I came up with all by myself," said
Burrell, who before taking over as head coach was WCSU’s defensive coordinator for
four years and has been on the staff for 13 years. "It’s something that I really learned the
basics of from Don Brown at the University of Massachusetts when he was their
defensive coordinator. We went up there for spring practice and a lot of it came from
there. But we were already running a version of cover one, but it wasn’t as sound as I
think this is."

The defense didn’t happen over night or come together in a single season. It’s something
that evolved over time. "We had been doing a version of it for a couple of years and then
after we met with the coaches at UMass we picked up a few more things that we really
liked and incorporated it into the coverage."

Burrell credits Brown as having a big influence on how WCSU lined up and played
defense in those days. Brown, who was then the defensive coordinator, begins his fourth
year as head coach at UMass. Last season Brown led UMass to the Division I-AA
national championship game after capturing the Atlantic 10 title with an 8-0 record. "He
had a great influence on what we did then and even what we do now," Burrell said. "A lot
of what we did when we changed to a 3-3 we were already doing when we were in a our
nickel and dime package. We had gotten most of that from him as well."

When the Colonials played the "Robber Coverage" they were ranked No. 1 in Division
III in takeaways per game, fourth in pass efficiency defense, 11th in scoring defense and
12th in total defense.

Safety net

"The great thing about this coverage is that it really, when it’s played correctly and the
players understand it, reduces the problem of getting beat by play action," Burrell said.
Burrell says the two safeties are the key to the coverage’s success.

"They are the ones who have to be able to identify what is going on," he said. "They have
to identify the backfield sets, make the proper calls. The coverage changes slightly based
on the backfield set. And this is one of the ways we are able to reduce the threat of play
action. They also are the two guys who against the run have to make the correct reads and
get themselves dropped down into the box."

One of the safeties then becomes the force player to the direction of flow and the other
safety becomes the cut-back player. "So depending on what happens with the defensive
lineman and linebackers, the two safeties are the vital cogs in the ability to stop the run,"
Burrell says. The ideal safeties must be smart, experienced and "well, fast always helps,"
Burrell says. "But they really have to be physical players. They have to be able to come
down and take on kick-out blocks by a fullback or a pulling guard and they have to be
able to stop the running game in its tracks. And when we played this our safeties were
generally second and third in tackles. They made a lot of plays."

Burrell says that one of the places that really helps against the run is "by bringing your
backside safety down as the cut-back player which allows your outside linebacker away
from flow and to not have any run responsibilities. So if you have a really good weak side
outside linebacker and it’s a team that’s going to run strong a lot, now that linebacker can
just run and make a tackle in the backfield. He doesn’t have to be the cut-back player like
he would in a typical cover-two situation. He can be really aggressive and you can really
turn him loose."

The basics

Going into any game, Burrell’s first goal is to eliminate the opponent’s main weapon.
"Against a balanced attack we will stop the opponent’s ability to run the ball," he said.
"We believe that when we put the offense in a long-yardage situation we will control the
game."

The easiest way to stop the run, the coach believes, is to outnumber the offense at the
point of attack. "Whenever possible we will do this by playing Cover 1, (our robber
coverage), out of our basic 4-3 two deep look," he said. "Cover 1 allows us to get nine
defenders in the box in normal situations (first and 10, second and seven, third and four)
and obvious running situations while protecting ourselves against the threat of play action
passes.

"For Cover 1 to work it is imperative that the linebackers and defensive backs understand
how they relate within the overall plan vs. run strong, run weak and pass. We use the
acronym C.A.S.K.E.R. to help each player remember his role. Before each play the
defender must know his Calls, Alignments and adjustments, proper Stance, primary and
secondary Keys, Eligible receivers in his area and Responsibilities."

The corners play pass first and run second. They will play any inside breaking route
outside and over the top, expecting inside help. Coaches can tag the coverage with Bail or
Press to change the look and technique of the corners. When a run comes to the safety he
must attack the line of scrimmage immediately. "He will defeat a lead blocker at or
behind the line keeping his outside arm and leg free," Burrell says. "The inside defenders
will spill the ball carrier outside to the safety who must make the play or force the ball
carrier back towards pursuit. On flow away, the safety becomes the ninth man in the box
after checking for play action. His aiming point is the inside hip of the offensive tackle.
Once the cutback safety is five yards from the line he will break down and shuffle
laterally maintaining inside leverage on the ball carrier."

Burrell says that against an I-back set the safeties must key the backfield action after
getting a pass read. Backfield action will determine the safety’s responsibility. "It is vital
that the safeties communicate with each other," he said. "The safety aligned to the side of
full flow plays the low hole. The low hole is the area from about five yards to 15 yards
deep. The low hole player’s first concern is any vertical or inside release by the TE. He
has to be able to play over any shallow cross and under the dig. The low hole safety can
be very aggressive against the run because he doesn’t fear being beaten deep. The safety
away from backfield flow plays the high hole. The high hole is the area from 15 to 25
yards deep (centerfield). The high hole safety is primarily concerned with taking away
the post route."

Split flow and a split backs set are played identically. Coaches predetermine that the
rover will play the low hole and the free will play the high hole. The middle linebacker
(Mike) and the weak side outside linebacker (Will) are responsible for covering the backs
if they release. They must key flow to determine their back. Versus full flow, Mike or
Will has the first back out to his side or the second back out away from him. Against split
flow, Mike covers the back releasing strong and Will takes the back releasing weak.

Offset back adjustments

When the offense aligns in a backfield set where one of the backs is offset from the
midline (Odd, Even, Strong or Weak) the safeties and linebackers will make a couple
simple adjustments to make Cover 1 more effective against running plays and play action
passes. The safeties will make either a "psycho" or "whacko" call designating that the
back is offset strong or weak.

"The safety to the offset back will cheat his alignment down to 7 yards from the line of
scrimmage," Burrell explains. "He will anticipate a run to his side and because he is
already in the box he has a much shorter distance to travel to support against the run. This
inverted safety is responsible for covering the offset back man to man. Against most
opponents an offset back is most likely to release on a route so we label him the most
dangerous back (MDB)."

The safety away from the call will keep his normal alignment and run responsibilities. He
is automatically designated as the high hole defender vs. pass. Any run action fake should
occur away from this safety thus reducing his tendency to attack the LOS. "When Mike
and Will hear "Psycho" or "Whacko" they respond with a "Banjo" call," Burrell says.
"Our banjo technique calls for Mike and Will to key the back aligned behind the QB once
they have received a pass read from their primary key. We designate this back as the
remaining back (RB). The release of the RB determines Mike’s & Will’s pass
responsibility. Mike covers the back if he releases strong and Will has him vs. a weak
release. If the back releases away from the linebacker then he drops into the low hole."

Other adjustments

The corners will make a "cowboy" call and align on the same side of the field vs. Twins.
"When we face 20 personnel (two RB, no TE, three WR) the Rover leaves to cover No. 2
strong," he said. "The Free moves to a typical high hole alignment over the center. This
adjustment allows us to keep seven players in the box while the offense only has six
potential blockers. The linebackers will make a "trio" call and play this technique vs.
pass."

Trio is a blend of combo and banjo techniques involving all three backers. Versus full
flow, the linebacker to that side and Mike will cover the backs and the LB away from
flow will play the low hole. Against split flow, Sam and Will cover the backs and Mike
becomes the low hole player.

"We can play Cover 1 against all one-back formations by designating the Rover as the
single back adjuster," Burrell said. "Rover will cover the extra wide receiver and Free is
responsible for the high hole. Sam still has man technique on the TE and Mike and Will
play banjo technique against the RB. In this look we are very similar to Man Free
coverage except that we retain a low hole player. We will usually check out of Cover 1 if
there is no natural TE (10 personnel) to avoid a mismatch between our backer and a
speedy receiver."

High School confidential

Burrell believes the defense can be played successfully at the high school level. "I don’t
see why not," he said. "If a high school program is committed to running a 4-3 defense it
can work. A lot more high schools are now running a spread offense, but there are teams
that still run the Wing-T and your first commitment on defense is stopping the run. A lot
of teams in high schools are running 4-4s or a 5-3 of some sort so they can get eight in
the box to stop the run. But if you’re a 4-3 team, this will allow you to get nine in the box
and really outnumber the opponent and stop the run. This can be a great high school
coverage."

There are concerns and red flags though that high school coaches should consider before
making the switch.

"In high school you have a lot of players that go both ways and for this coverage to be
successful, it takes some time to get the safeties prepared to make the right reads and
making the right calls," Burrell said. "If I were to implement this in a high school
program for the first time I would make sure my safeties were seniors and quick learners
and physical players."

Chalk talk

Burrell says his strategy is to "play unselfishly as a unit to develop great team defense.
They achieve this by dominating the line of scrimmage, being excellent tacklers and
attacking the ball relentlessly. We also want to disguise our intentions as much as
possible while confusing the offense," he said. "This concept is achieved using three
tactics: A) The secondary will show a two-deep shell whenever practical. B) We will
show one front and stem into another pre-snap. C) The linebackers will move their
alignments up and back or show blitz."

Coaches that implement this coverage will find the safeties making loads of tackles at or
behind the line of scrimmage without losing sleep over being beaten deep by a post route
off play action. "The only reason we dropped it is because now with our front we have a
three-deep look in the secondary and the coverage is really designed for use with a two-
deep look in the secondary," Burrell said. "We used it for several years with great
success."

The former Middlebury College standout at running back says one thing that has changed
recently involves the number of teams using one-back and three or four wideouts. "This
coverage is really designed to take away the run against a team using more of a pro-set
with two backs. There are still plenty of teams out there doing that, but not as many as
there used to be. You would certainly have to modify this defense if you were getting a
steady diet of one-back and three or four wides."

And how did offensive coordinators try to beat this defense?

"The coverage is really a modification of the old quarters coverage and the way teams
want to beat the quarters is with play action," Burrell said. "Coaches are still going to
come at this coverage with play action, but it’s really got built into it the ability to take
that threat away. And this can be played against a one-back team, but it becomes a single
high safety coverage at that point because our rover would leave and be in man-to-man
against the extra wide receiver."

The goal of the chess match is to have more tacklers in the box than blockers – and that’s
what this coverage accomplishes. "They’ve got seven blockers and not only do we have
eight in the box we are getting a ninth in the box on the back side."

Checkmate.

GLOSSARY

When designing his Cover 1 defense, Western Connecticut State University Coach John
Burrell used the acronym C.A.S.K.E.R. to help each player remember his role. Before
each play the defender must know his Calls, Alignments and adjustments, proper Stance,
primary and secondary Keys, Eligible receivers in his area and Responsibilities. Let’s
look at each position’s function in Burrell’s Cover 1 (The Robber Coverage) vs. a basic I
Pro set:

CORNERBACKS

C – No pre-snap calls.

A – 6 yards off the No. 1 WR to his side with outside leverage.

S – Outside foot forward so he can get eyes inside to see his key.

K – End Man on the LOS (EML) for run/pass read.

E – Concerned only with No. 1 WR.

R – Run to: secondary support. Run away: insurance. Pass: Man on No. 1.

SAFETIES

C – "Left/right" call declaring strength. "Sky" call indicating run support.


A – 10 yards off LOS, 2 yards outside EML.

S – Balanced stance, square to LOS. Weight on balls of feet.

K – Offensive tackle for run/pass read. Flow vs. run. #2 receiver vs. pass.

E – #2 to #1.

R – Run to: primary support. Run away: cutback. Pass: depends on backfield set and
action.

LINEBACKERS

Sam (Strong side Outside Linebacker)

Calls, Alignment, Stance and Keys are determined by the front call.

E – TE.

R – Run to: fill and spill. Run away: free player. Pass: man on TE.

Against run away from him, Sam can attack any open seam to make a play in the
backfield. He can cover the TE aggressively knowing he has help behind him.

Mike (Middle Linebacker)

Calls, Alignment, Stance and Keys are determined by the front call.

E – Both running backs.

R – Run: gap assignment. Pass: "Combo" technique.

Will (Weak side Outside Linebacker)

Calls, Alignment, Stance and Keys are determined by the front call.

E – Both running backs.

R – Run to: fill & spill. Run away: free player. Pass: "Combo" technique.

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