Bills Show Dolphins Cover 2… But It Ain’t

The Buffalo Bills did a lot of good things against the Miami Dolphins yesterday. Way too many to cover in one blog and we are just talking about the Bills defense. We will feature this cover 2 disguise where they brought five and played a 3 fire zone behind it.

One of the major reasons we chose this one from the many others is that we know you can execute this at the high school level. Let’s take a look at the situation first:

SCORE: Bills 14 Dolphins 0

QUARTER: 1st With 2:04 On The Clock

DOWN & DISTANCE: 2nd & 10

Obviously, Tua is already out of the game so the Bills have the Dolphins on their heels with the score and the personnel. Regardless of if you are an odd front defense or an even you could dial this up. It’s a simple cover 2 deep shell a the snap. The Dolphins line up with 21 personnel and bring one of the backs in motion.

The pass game thought that the Dolphins have is a good one. They want to take advantage of the 2 deep shell and manufacture a cover 2 “turkey hole” throw. How? They ran #17 on a go route and then ran #88 on a rail route right behind him. For good measure they set the motion back #26 up on the sideline as well.

No Turkey Hole If It Ain’t Cover 2

Very good concept. Just one problem. The Bills rolled up to cover 3 and the corner #39 bailed. They were not in cover 2. The corner had his butt to the sideline and the whole bit. Meaning he could look right at the quarterback as he was releasing the ball.

He saw the ball thrown and he made it his own. Big pick in a game that would soon get put of hand. Both of these teams are good but on this Sunday the Bills showed us that last year was not a fluke and it’s not all about Josh Allen.

You can show cover 2 and bring five just like the Bills did here. You will likely face 2×2 or 3×1 formations when playing a throwing team. Our guess is that ball will be fluttering up in the air just like this one or you will get a sack!