Each week Coach Bass brings his 30 years of NFL coaching experience to USA Football. Email Coach Bass your question.
Randy had the following question for Coach Bass:
I am looking for information on "invert" and "roll up" for DB coverages (coaching points, drills, etc). Any info you could provide would be useful.
Hi Randy,
Roll up coverage is usually associated with some type of two-deep coverage with the two corners rolling up on each side of the formation. We always like to have our corners set the distance for their roll up based on the down and distance of the play.
On third-and-long situations, we had our corners start back and sit down 2 yards before the yardage needed for the first down. This is where we wanted the contact to occur and where we wanted to interrupt the timing of the pass route.
On normal situations, we asked our corners to line up in their normal alignment and then to take two steps forward on the snap, moving to a position on the outside shoulder of the wide receiver.
We asked the corner to jam the wide receiver by striking him in the chest with the palm of his inside hand. We wanted to first stop the receiver's forward momentum and then to re-direct his path to the inside to the safety that had deep half coverage on his side.
Once contact was made, we coached the corner to drop back into his outside under zone at 10 to 12 yards and key the QB. It is important that the corner not lunge at the receiver, but he must let the receiver come to him.
Because our corner had to support the run, we coached him to always look into the TE if there was one on his side or the near back on his side of the formation so that he could quickly change his path and come up to support any wide run to his side.
For this type of coverage, we set up a drill with a TE or near back, a wide receiver and our corner back. We would then call out the down and distance and have the offensive players either run a pass route or simulate a running play. We would try to do this drill at least two times a week during individual practice.
Two-deep pass coverage is usually run with the two safeties deep each covering half of the field and three linebackers and two corners in the under zones. This leaves you with four or three DL up front. If you play with a five- or six-man DL, you will have to give up an under zone or drop a DL into coverage.
Invert coverage is usually run with some sort of three-deep coverage with the safety on one side keying for the run just like the corner and then moving wide before swinging around into his backpedal to his assigned under zone and focusing back on the QB ready to react to the throw.
Three-deep pass coverage is usually run with the one safety deep in the middle of the field and the two corners each covering the deep outside third of the field and three linebackers and one safety in the under zones. This leaves you with four DL up front. If you play with a five- or six- man DL, you will have to give up an under zone or drop a DL into coverage.
Like the roll up coverage, we would do the same type of drill twice a week for the safeties. It is difficult to interrupt the timing of the pass route by getting a bump on a receiver when using invert coverage.
When it was a key run - for both types of coverage - we asked our players to aim for a spot 3 yards outside the end defensive player on the line of scrimmage and 2 yards across the line into the offensive backfield (our force point). We then asked them to take on any blocker coming from the inside with their inside shoulder and forearm keeping their outside hand, arm and leg free to move to the outside if the ball carrier tries to go wide to the sideline.
Both styles of coverage have their strong points. With invert coverage you do have better protection deep with both corners and a safety covering a third of the field.
With roll up coverage, you have the opportunity to get a hit on the wide receivers and interrupt the timing of the pass.
I preferred to use two-deep roll up coverage on second and 7 or less yards or on third and 6 or less yards and to feature the three-deep coverage on longer yardage situations.
If your opponent does not have a QB with the ability to throw deep, then you may have the luxury to be able to play two-deep coverage the entire the game.
I hope this gives you some ideas that you can incorporate into your practice sessions and teachings.
Coach Tom Bass
Coach Tom Bass, the technical writer and advisor for USA Football, is a 30-year NFL coach who has also authored several books, including "Play Football the NFL Way" - the first "how to" book ever authorized and published by the NFL. Coach Bass is happy to personally autograph his books to you. Book ordering information can be found at http://www.coachbass.com/.
