What beats cover 2 shell?

[xwalker]

You beat cover 2 with:

1. Great o-line play. With run blocking if you can get past the d-line and the first wave of crashing attackers you can prevent the defenders from constantly dropping back. If you want to pass you need good pass protection to give your receivers time to drift into the soft zones in between the half coverage of the safeties and the quarters coverage of the LBs and CBs.

2. A stud TE who is fast. Really fast. TEs who can best prese coverage and threaten the middle between the two safeties make life miserable for C2 safeties. Kellen Winslow SR was a master at this as he was often the fastest receiver the Chargers put our besides Joiner.

3. WRs who can beat press coverage and gain the sideline route fast. CBs are taught to reroute WRs inside with leverage in C2. If you can beat the press and the leverage and your QB can drop dimes into the soft zone between the CB and Safety you can find opportunity there.

The best answer(s) that I've seen.

1: Gash them with the run and they'll stop playing Cover-2.
2: Fast TE or great route runner. Witten in his prime was not overly fast but he could get open against any coverage.
3: That is a huge part of playing Cover-2 but I have not seen anybody else mention it.
- D-Coordinators will often abandon Cover-2 if the CBs can't consistently win the leverage battle.
- Even Marinelli moved away from from his beloved Tampa-2.
- I think a big part of that was consistently getting beaten in that area between the CB and Safety.
- Marinelli's version of Cover-2 consistently put the CBs into no-man's land with a WR behind them and a RB on a flat route.
- Better coordinators find ways to keep CBs out of that situation with some other player responsible for the RB.

Side Note:
- The Legion of Boom Hybrid Cover 3 was the opposite.
- A big key for them was having the CBs play inside leverage.
- Richard Sherman would do everything possible to force WRs to the outside.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Run routes outside that keep the safeties outside and then attack the middle of the field with posts and the like.

 

[Risen Star]

A real QB.

 

[adbutcher]

Schultz does not appear to be as much of a weapon on those as Jarwin is. He's clearly a step slower so the linebackers are able to get into the passing lanes easier on him. Maybe getting Jarwin back in the lineup will help in that regard. But running outside more is something we've all been screaming for all year. Even when the offense was rolling we weren't doing enough of it. I just don't believe Moore thinks much about the running game.. Seems like he only has like 2 or 3 running plays that he always comes back to when he remembers that he hasn't run the ball in over an hour and it's the idiotic delay shotgun handoff up the middle. Which would be great if our line could block.. But they really don't so those plays seems to fail as often as they succeed..

I think Kellen is holding his cards to his chest. We haven't been shifting or motioning a lot during presnap.

 

[CowboyRoy]

If you can guarantee 3 yards on all of his carries, the Cowboys would never lose...they have 4 downs to get 10 yards...

Sadly, with Zeke, you cant guarantee even that.

 

[glimmerman]

Look back at the 6 game streak. We were running the ball. Elliot was injured in the vikings game. He took a pass and broke tackle and then was taken down much like Dak was. I was glad his leg was not broken. Then he got tackled in the endzone and his ankle got twisted and landed on. He is just now getting back to his old self. We should have been leaning more on Pollard but they kept using Elliot who was obviously hurt. Then they use him and he gets hurt. Now that they are both back they NEED to clearly go 50/50 run pass. Just shut up and do it. If one of them are stopped for 1 yard or no yards then line up and run again. Time for this O-Line coach to go. MM needs to take leadership and realize his buddy can’t do the job with this line. We are a aggressive line that gets nasty.

 

[fivetwos]

Schultz does not appear to be as much of a weapon on those as Jarwin is. He's clearly a step slower so the linebackers are able to get into the passing lanes easier on him. Maybe getting Jarwin back in the lineup will help in that regard. But running outside more is something we've all been screaming for all year. Even when the offense was rolling we weren't doing enough of it. I just don't believe Moore thinks much about the running game.. Seems like he only has like 2 or 3 running plays that he always comes back to when he remembers that he hasn't run the ball in over an hour and it's the idiotic delay shotgun handoff up the middle. Which would be great if our line could block.. But they really don't so those plays seems to fail as often as they succeed..

Great stuff on the whole thread R.

Appreciate you man....

If you would hit the paragraph button here and there for us visionally challenged old folks you would teeter on awesome.

 

[fivetwos]

As far as the OL play as a whole....

The sharp decline as a unit concided with McGoverns promotion. That didn't work and they've abandoned it, but now Tyron is out still.

You don't lose a HOF LT and not feel it.

It's not helping that Biadasz' run blocking was somehow much better earlier on. All probably related.

They just need to get where they need to personnel wise...Smith/Williams/Biadasz/Martin/Collins....and all will be.....good enough to have a chance.

 

[Typhus]

Pollard.

Bet we activate Ito in a couple weeks, and that takes nothing away from Pollard.

 

[OldCoach]

It depends if they are playing man or zone underneath.

If they are in man, you have to be able to run the ball or beat coverage with good route running on short to intermediate routes. You’d think we’d be able to do both with our “talent.”

Running against zone is more difficult because defenders keys make it easier to diagnose run plays. To pass the ball you have to read the defense, call the right play, and throw the ball to the right place. This is where Dak, the receivers, and Kellen have to be better.

To beat a half field safety deep you need a route up the middle and one on the boundary to make the safety choose. You also need time to let this develop.

This is hardly some brand new method of playing defense against an explosive offense.. It has been around forever.. So I had to take a step back and try to understand why it has been so effective against the Cowboys.. No matter how many times I looked I kept coming back to the same thing.. Patience.. Patience to keep running the ball even if the results are not spectacular. Patience to keep taking the short throws over the middle that the two deep shell presents. Patience to get the ball to the backs in the flat quickly and give them space to work. All this stuff falls on Dak and Kellen Moore.. They need to pull their heads out and do what it takes to possess the ball, control the clock and punch it into the end zone. They need to quit being greedy and impatient.. Moore needs to instill in Dak the importance of not checking out of runs at certain times and Dak needs to be smart enough not to fall for the banana in the tailpipe every time the defense walks guys up to the line of scrimmage and try to show a run defense look on 2nd and 3rd down. They're trying to bait you into a pass call then they're going to drop 7 guys into coverage while the 4 remaining linemen completely disregard the run on the way to taking your head off. This is especially pronounced in the red zone where there is a lot less space to maneuver. Get under center.. run the damn ball off tackle, double at the point of attack and tell any TE who refuses to block that he's not going to play.

Problem solved... You're welcome..

 

[Typhus]

Easy answer. Just pound the great Zeke for 3 yards per carry. Perfect way to make them pay for a two deep zone.

And you told me RB3 was a joke when I posted the most relevant roster positions preceding last aprils draft and FA period.
You love your laughing childish icons, but maybe you actually start paying attention to what is relevant.

 

[lkelly]

Amari: "We run the ball all the time and have to figure out how to score from outside the red zone."
(Looks at the game logs and sees that Zeke's last 30+ yard TD came in the 2019 season opener.)

 

[glimmerman]

We need to plan screens to Elliot. Or dump offs to Pollard. Just let him drift over the line. But plan it. Put both in the back field. Being out different looks.. Dak has been using them as last resorts. And for Gods sake run the ball. And use swings and tosses it off tackle more. Quit using the WR screen on 3rd and 12. And where is the hulk package.

 

[beware_d-ware]

There's a difference between cover 2 and a 2-deep shell... teams aren't running a lot of the former, but are running a lot of the latter. Zone these days comes with complex pattern-matching rules that often plays like man.

 

[Coogiguy03]

OUR LONG DEVELOPING PASS PLAYS WILL OPEN IT RIGHT UP

 

[sbark]

I would also help if the receivers would not drop the ball when it hits them in the hands.

It surprises them when it's placed in stride now and then

 

[Zekeats]

Not Dak

 

[Kalyan]

probably run outside with pulling gaurds and destroying those corners, after 20 times, they will bring the safeties up to help run support

 

[Mr_437]

Cowboys run the ball 41.2% of their plays. Looks like KM has the same stale run plays from JG's playbook. Gotta make teams pay for a light box.

 

[CowboyRoy]

And you told me RB3 was a joke when I posted the most relevant roster positions preceding last aprils draft and FA period.
You love your laughing childish icons, but maybe you actually start paying attention to what is relevant.

Wrong....................You said it was one of our biggest priorities. Which was laughable.

We need one, but it wasnt more important then say a REAL backup QB, ect.....ect......