{"id":1496,"date":"2017-08-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webinology.website\/nation2021\/when-to-use-the-cover-three\/"},"modified":"2021-11-03T12:54:16","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T16:54:16","slug":"when-to-use-the-cover-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coachup.com\/nation\/articles\/when-to-use-the-cover-three","title":{"rendered":"When To Use The Cover Three"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cover Three Zone is a standard defense used on the high school, collegiate and professional level. This defense provides balance for stopping the run and the pass. Both corners have the deep third on their side or the field and the free safety is responsible for the middle. The Will (weak side) linebacker and strong safety will cover the left and right side underneath routes (known as the flat).<\/p>\n<h4>Good Times<\/h4>\n<p>The best time to use the cover three zone is on second or third and long. The offense will be pressed to pick up large chunks of yardage, often by throwing the ball downfield. Having defenders in position to make a play <strong>maximizes your chances of preventing big gains on these plays<\/strong>. However, please note that some teams may try and slip underneath to a speedy receiver or handoff to a shifty back in order to catch the defense off guard. Prepare your players for these scenarios where sure tackling will keep the chains from moving.<\/p>\n<h4>Bad Timing<\/h4>\n<p>Cover three zone is less likely to be effective when facing short yardage situations, where offenses are inclined to run the ball or make quick throws. There is <strong>not enough defensive support<\/strong> towards the line of scrimmage and the offense will have the numbers advantage. In addition, teams with strong running games can be punishing for defenses that run the cover three zone because they do not have enough players in the box.<\/p>\n<p>Defensive coaches that are aware of the pros and cons of the cover three can utilize this zone to their advantage during games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>CoachUp is the safest and easiest way to find a coach for personalized training. With our 100% money-back guarantee and vetted coaches, anyone can achieve their full athletic potential.&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.coachup.com\/\" data-mce-href=\"http:\/\/www.coachup.com\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><em>Find your perfect coach<\/em><\/span><\/a><em>&nbsp;today and become the athlete you want to be!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cover Three Zone is a standard defense used on the high school, collegiate and professional level. This defense provides balance for stopping the run and the pass. Both corners have the deep third on their side or the field and the free safety is responsible for the middle. The Will (weak side) linebacker and strong [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":1497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1212,1213,460,27,642,1214],"class_list":["post-1496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-cover-three","tag-cover-three-zone","tag-football-defense","tag-football-offense","tag-football-plays","tag-zone-defense"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>When To Use The Cover Three - CoachUp Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.coachup.com\/nation\/articles\/when-to-use-the-cover-three\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When To Use The Cover Three - CoachUp Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cover Three Zone is a standard defense used on the high school, collegiate and professional level. This defense provides balance for stopping the run and the pass. Both corners have the deep third on their side or the field and the free safety is responsible for the middle. The Will (weak side) linebacker and strong [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.coachup.com\/nation\/articles\/when-to-use-the-cover-three\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CoachUp Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/coachup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-23T04:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-03T16:54:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.coachup.com\/nation\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-dreamstime_s_25413401.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kamal Walker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@coachup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@coachup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kamal Walker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/articles\\\/when-to-use-the-cover-three#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/articles\\\/when-to-use-the-cover-three\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kamal Walker\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a7bcc33d09a9042046ad060cfa87a4d\"},\"headline\":\"When To Use The Cover Three\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-23T04:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-03T16:54:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/articles\\\/when-to-use-the-cover-three\"},\"wordCount\":314,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/articles\\\/when-to-use-the-cover-three#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/cropped-dreamstime_s_25413401.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Cover Three\",\"Cover Three Zone\",\"Football Defense\",\"Football Offense\",\"Football Plays\",\"Zone Defense\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Football\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/articles\\\/when-to-use-the-cover-three#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/articles\\\/when-to-use-the-cover-three\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.coachup.com\\\/nation\\\/articles\\\/when-to-use-the-cover-three\",\"name\":\"When To Use The Cover Three - 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