CFZ The Dreaded Two Deep Safeties

[ScipioCowboy]

Two deep safeties. It’s the coverage that has befuddled the Cowboys offense and tormented Dak Prescott since the Denver game last year. It’s nothing exotic. It’s a basic coverage. Yet, it’s been the Cowboys’ kryptonite. Its weaknesses are the seam between the safeties and the corner route on the sideline. But, for whatever reason, Dak doesn’t throw to either spot. Consequently, the Cowboys were given an early playoff exit when they could neither run against a four man front or keep it off their quarterback.

Fast forward to this year. The Cowboys haven’t forced Dak’s hand here. They haven’t asked him to throw into coverage. Instead, they’ve countered it by running the ball or throwing quick passes to Pollard and Zeke out of the backfield, hoping they can make a defender miss. You saw all of that against the Texans on Sunday, but our Lone Star neighbors weren’t having it. Once again, Dak was rendered absolutely impotent…until the last three minutes of the game. That’s when he started attacking the weakness in a two deep defense.

But before we revisit those, let’s review Mike McCarthy’s comments during the presser. In addition to Lovie’s Tampa 2, the Texas played quarters coverage several times and mostly a vision-and-break style defense, in which the defenders drop into a zone, look at the quarterback, and then break on the ball.

You can see the vision-and-break style on the first play of the fateful 98 yard drive to win the game. The linebackers take a very shallow drop. They’re clearly expecting a check down to Zeke. It’s as if they haven’t even considered the possibility Dak will throw behind them. Well, surprise, because he does and hits Schultz for a twenty yard gain over the hands of leaping defenders. Later in the drive, Dak makes another big throw to Schultz to set up a first and goal. The pass was right down the seam between four defenders.

But the same pass wasn’t even the best throw of the drive. That distinction belongs to the corner route to Noah Brown a couple plays earlier. Dak drops the pass right between the corner and safety. I can’t remember the last time Dak threw a corner route, much less successfully.

What does it mean going forward? I don’t know. It’s just the Texans. But, for one glorious drive, Dak was attacking the coverage holes in a two deep defense.

 

[817Gill]

Two deep safeties. It’s the coverage that has befuddled the Cowboys offense and tormented Dak Prescott since the Denver game last year. It’s nothing exotic. It’s a basic coverage. Yet, it’s been the Cowboys’ kryptonite. Its weaknesses are the seam between the safeties and the corner route on the sideline. But, for whatever reason, Dak doesn’t throw to either spot. Consequently, the Cowboys were given an early playoff exit when they could neither run against a four man front or keep it off their quarterback.

Fast forward to this year. The Cowboys haven’t forced Dak’s hand here. They haven’t asked him to throw into coverage. Instead, they’ve countered it by running the ball or throwing quick passes to Pollard and Zeke out of the backfield, hoping they can make a defender miss. You saw all of that against the Texans on Sunday, but our Lone Star neighbors weren’t having it. Once again, Dak was rendered absolutely impotent…until the last three minutes of the game. That’s when he started attacking the weakness in a two deep defense.

But before we revisit those, let’s review Mike McCarthy’s comments during the presser. In addition to Lovie’s Tampa 2, the Texas played quarters coverage several times and mostly a vision-and-break style defense, in which the defenders drop into a zone, look at the quarterback, and then break on the ball.

You can see the vision-and-break style on the first play of the fateful 98 yard drive to win the game. The linebackers take a very shallow drop. They’re clearly expecting a check down to Zeke. It’s as if they haven’t even considered the possibility Dak will throw behind them. Well, surprise, because he does and hits Schultz for a twenty yard gain over the hands of leaping defenders. Later in the drive, Dak makes another big throw to Schultz to set up a first and goal. The pass was right down the seam between four defenders.

But the same pass wasn’t even the best throw of the drive. That distinction belongs to the corner route to Noah Brown a couple plays earlier. Dak drops the pass right between the corner and safety. I can’t remember the last time Dak threw a corner route, much less successfully.

What does it mean going forward? I don’t know. It’s just the Texans. But, for one glorious drive, Dak was attacking the coverage holes in a two deep defense.

This isn’t just Dak btw, it’s something that muddied offenses throughout the league.

I posted a thread on this weeks back, it’s one of the explanations for scoring and offenses being down this year from years past. Football is an ebbs and flows sport, the offensive explosion of the last few years has slowed.

Defenses want to force teams out of big explosive plays and make them march down the field methodically. You can break this by running the ball and being patience and precise in the short to intermediate passing game.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

This isn’t just Dak btw, it’s something that muddied offenses throughout the league.

I posted a thread on this weeks back, it’s one of the explanations for scoring and offenses being down this year from years past. Football is an ebbs and flows sport, the offensive explosion of the last few years has slowed.

Defenses want to force teams out of big explosive plays and make them march down the field methodically. You can break this by running the ball and being patience and precise in the short to intermediate passing game.

Yeah. It’s definitely a team-wide issue. You rarely find the receivers sitting in the soft spots of zones.

 

[blueblood70]

Two deep safeties. It’s the coverage that has befuddled the Cowboys offense and tormented Dak Prescott since the Denver game last year. It’s nothing exotic. It’s a basic coverage. Yet, it’s been the Cowboys’ kryptonite. Its weaknesses are the seam between the safeties and the corner route on the sideline. But, for whatever reason, Dak doesn’t throw to either spot. Consequently, the Cowboys were given an early playoff exit when they could neither run against a four man front or keep it off their quarterback.

Fast forward to this year. The Cowboys haven’t forced Dak’s hand here. They haven’t asked him to throw into coverage. Instead, they’ve countered it by running the ball or throwing quick passes to Pollard and Zeke out of the backfield, hoping they can make a defender miss. You saw all of that against the Texans on Sunday, but our Lone Star neighbors weren’t having it. Once again, Dak was rendered absolutely impotent…until the last three minutes of the game. That’s when he started attacking the weakness in a two deep defense.

But before we revisit those, let’s review Mike McCarthy’s comments during the presser. In addition to Lovie’s Tampa 2, the Texas played quarters coverage several times and mostly a vision-and-break style defense, in which the defenders drop into a zone, look at the quarterback, and then break on the ball.

You can see the vision-and-break style on the first play of the fateful 98 yard drive to win the game. The linebackers take a very shallow drop. They’re clearly expecting a check down to Zeke. It’s as if they haven’t even considered the possibility Dak will throw behind them. Well, surprise, because he does and hits Schultz for a twenty yard gain over the hands of leaping defenders. Later in the drive, Dak makes another big throw to Schultz to set up a first and goal. The pass was right down the seam between four defenders.

But the same pass wasn’t even the best throw of the drive. That distinction belongs to the corner route to Noah Brown a couple plays earlier. Dak drops the pass right between the corner and safety. I can’t remember the last time Dak threw a corner route, much less successfully.

What does it mean going forward? I don’t know. It’s just the Texans. But, for one glorious drive, Dak was attacking the coverage holes in a two deep defense.

it looked worse because of the fumbled punt followed by dropped 2 TD passes , like 3 drops by WRs, poor routes , one INT was Dak being it on the arm, that first big play that fell just short dak also hit and couldn't follow through, and some questionable pay calls. get some of those pays back and we win by 14 easily. it was bad game and don't think it was just that defense that created our issues.

execution was bad in all phases until they needed it most and got the win..

 

[Jenky]

It’s a numbers game. Make an inaccurate qb work his way up the field, hope he throws as much as possible and the % for a turnover increases.

Running helps mitigate some of this but Moore out smarts himself sometimes. I bet when we play the eagles again, they’ll go run heavy and conservative on offense and play this type of defense coupled with a lot of zone looks to make the Cowboys turnover the ball.

 

[Cowboyny]

Two deep safeties. It’s the coverage that has befuddled the Cowboys offense and tormented Dak Prescott since the Denver game last year. It’s nothing exotic. It’s a basic coverage. Yet, it’s been the Cowboys’ kryptonite. Its weaknesses are the seam between the safeties and the corner route on the sideline. But, for whatever reason, Dak doesn’t throw to either spot. Consequently, the Cowboys were given an early playoff exit when they could neither run against a four man front or keep it off their quarterback.

Fast forward to this year. The Cowboys haven’t forced Dak’s hand here. They haven’t asked him to throw into coverage. Instead, they’ve countered it by running the ball or throwing quick passes to Pollard and Zeke out of the backfield, hoping they can make a defender miss. You saw all of that against the Texans on Sunday, but our Lone Star neighbors weren’t having it. Once again, Dak was rendered absolutely impotent…until the last three minutes of the game. That’s when he started attacking the weakness in a two deep defense.

But before we revisit those, let’s review Mike McCarthy’s comments during the presser. In addition to Lovie’s Tampa 2, the Texas played quarters coverage several times and mostly a vision-and-break style defense, in which the defenders drop into a zone, look at the quarterback, and then break on the ball.

You can see the vision-and-break style on the first play of the fateful 98 yard drive to win the game. The linebackers take a very shallow drop. They’re clearly expecting a check down to Zeke. It’s as if they haven’t even considered the possibility Dak will throw behind them. Well, surprise, because he does and hits Schultz for a twenty yard gain over the hands of leaping defenders. Later in the drive, Dak makes another big throw to Schultz to set up a first and goal. The pass was right down the seam between four defenders.

But the same pass wasn’t even the best throw of the drive. That distinction belongs to the corner route to Noah Brown a couple plays earlier. Dak drops the pass right between the corner and safety. I can’t remember the last time Dak threw a corner route, much less successfully.

What does it mean going forward? I don’t know. It’s just the Texans. But, for one glorious drive, Dak was attacking the coverage holes in a two deep defense.

This was the same scheme that frustrated Mahomes last yr as well. The way to beat it is to run the football, take all the underneath throws, until the defense is forced to adjust. TB used this defense in the opener with great success, as did the Texans. Dak must learn how to counter this scheme.

 

[links18]

Isn't this what we ran under Kiffin and Marinelli and had like one of the worst defenses in history?

 

[cnuball21]

This was the same scheme that frustrated Mahomes last yr as well. The way to beat it is to run the football, take all the underneath throws, until the defense is forced to adjust. TB used this defense in the opener with great success, as did the Texans. Dak must learn how to counter this scheme.

Yea, you run the ball and you dump it off and call zone beaters.

After the first drive, the run game was very stagnant then we started dropping a bunch of passes. It also doesn’t help when Kellen calls a double slant inside that led to a pick - that’s the opposite of a zone beater.

 

[DuncanIso]

Dak hates Cover 2 Robber.

 

[Zman5]

You can beat this type of defense by playing multiple TE sets and going no huddle. We did do this in other games but I'm not sure why KM didn't use this formation more yesterday when the offense was struggling.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

You can beat this type of defense by playing multiple TE sets and going no huddle. We did do this in other games but I'm not sure why KM didn't use this formation more yesterday when the offense was struggling.

During the 90s, the Packers eviscerated defenses with Chmura and Jackson on the same side.

 

[ChuckA1]

The Cowboys offense can beat it as was proved on the last and winning drive of the game

 

[links18]

During the 90s, the Packers eviscerated defenses with Chmura and Jackson on the same side.

I remember Madden pointing out GB's formation with two TEs on one side two WRs on the other giving us problems in the 1995 championship game.

 

[Risen Star]

Isn't this what we ran under Kiffin and Marinelli and had like one of the worst defenses in history?

Yes but the other teams didn't have Prescotts.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Two deep safeties. It’s the coverage that has befuddled the Cowboys offense and tormented Dak Prescott since the Denver game last year. It’s nothing exotic. It’s a basic coverage. Yet, it’s been the Cowboys’ kryptonite. Its weaknesses are the seam between the safeties and the corner route on the sideline. But, for whatever reason, Dak doesn’t throw to either spot. Consequently, the Cowboys were given an early playoff exit when they could neither run against a four man front or keep it off their quarterback.

Fast forward to this year. The Cowboys haven’t forced Dak’s hand here. They haven’t asked him to throw into coverage. Instead, they’ve countered it by running the ball or throwing quick passes to Pollard and Zeke out of the backfield, hoping they can make a defender miss. You saw all of that against the Texans on Sunday, but our Lone Star neighbors weren’t having it. Once again, Dak was rendered absolutely impotent…until the last three minutes of the game. That’s when he started attacking the weakness in a two deep defense.

But before we revisit those, let’s review Mike McCarthy’s comments during the presser. In addition to Lovie’s Tampa 2, the Texas played quarters coverage several times and mostly a vision-and-break style defense, in which the defenders drop into a zone, look at the quarterback, and then break on the ball.

You can see the vision-and-break style on the first play of the fateful 98 yard drive to win the game. The linebackers take a very shallow drop. They’re clearly expecting a check down to Zeke. It’s as if they haven’t even considered the possibility Dak will throw behind them. Well, surprise, because he does and hits Schultz for a twenty yard gain over the hands of leaping defenders. Later in the drive, Dak makes another big throw to Schultz to set up a first and goal. The pass was right down the seam between four defenders.

But the same pass wasn’t even the best throw of the drive. That distinction belongs to the corner route to Noah Brown a couple plays earlier. Dak drops the pass right between the corner and safety. I can’t remember the last time Dak threw a corner route, much less successfully.

What does it mean going forward? I don’t know. It’s just the Texans. But, for one glorious drive, Dak was attacking the coverage holes in a two deep defense.

so what was Moore's game plan to counter this type of coverage against Houston? I saw several pass plays, multiple that Dak was looking at the down field options and nobody was open so he threw to his outlet, the RBs....the passing scheme and passing game plan yesterday was extremley vanilla. and to your point, when Schultz made the big catches, they were down the seam catches against the coverage...where were those routes all game. sorry, didn't see any, except running CD short and hoping he breaks tackles.

and with that said, a lot of teams pass to players that they think can break tackles. its putting the player in position to win, because of what they are good at.

 

[plymkr]

Two deep safeties. It’s the coverage that has befuddled the Cowboys offense and tormented Dak Prescott since the Denver game last year. It’s nothing exotic. It’s a basic coverage. Yet, it’s been the Cowboys’ kryptonite. Its weaknesses are the seam between the safeties and the corner route on the sideline. But, for whatever reason, Dak doesn’t throw to either spot. Consequently, the Cowboys were given an early playoff exit when they could neither run against a four man front or keep it off their quarterback.

Fast forward to this year. The Cowboys haven’t forced Dak’s hand here. They haven’t asked him to throw into coverage. Instead, they’ve countered it by running the ball or throwing quick passes to Pollard and Zeke out of the backfield, hoping they can make a defender miss. You saw all of that against the Texans on Sunday, but our Lone Star neighbors weren’t having it. Once again, Dak was rendered absolutely impotent…until the last three minutes of the game. That’s when he started attacking the weakness in a two deep defense.

But before we revisit those, let’s review Mike McCarthy’s comments during the presser. In addition to Lovie’s Tampa 2, the Texas played quarters coverage several times and mostly a vision-and-break style defense, in which the defenders drop into a zone, look at the quarterback, and then break on the ball.

You can see the vision-and-break style on the first play of the fateful 98 yard drive to win the game. The linebackers take a very shallow drop. They’re clearly expecting a check down to Zeke. It’s as if they haven’t even considered the possibility Dak will throw behind them. Well, surprise, because he does and hits Schultz for a twenty yard gain over the hands of leaping defenders. Later in the drive, Dak makes another big throw to Schultz to set up a first and goal. The pass was right down the seam between four defenders.

But the same pass wasn’t even the best throw of the drive. That distinction belongs to the corner route to Noah Brown a couple plays earlier. Dak drops the pass right between the corner and safety. I can’t remember the last time Dak threw a corner route, much less successfully.

What does it mean going forward? I don’t know. It’s just the Texans. But, for one glorious drive, Dak was attacking the coverage holes in a two deep defense.

Definitely not a Dak Stan but isn't it on the OC to scheme around what the defense is doing. Dak has had trouble reading defenses but I'm wondering if it's Dak, Moore or a combination of both. I feel it's a combination of both.

But as far as yesterday goes Dak was able to read the defense and execute when it mattered most. So he figured it out in time for the win. Or Moore figured it out or both. And Peters was a helpful upgrade over Ball.

 

[Dak_Attack_09]

Two deep safeties. It’s the coverage that has befuddled the Cowboys offense and tormented Dak Prescott since the Denver game last year. It’s nothing exotic. It’s a basic coverage. Yet, it’s been the Cowboys’ kryptonite. Its weaknesses are the seam between the safeties and the corner route on the sideline. But, for whatever reason, Dak doesn’t throw to either spot. Consequently, the Cowboys were given an early playoff exit when they could neither run against a four man front or keep it off their quarterback.

Fast forward to this year. The Cowboys haven’t forced Dak’s hand here. They haven’t asked him to throw into coverage. Instead, they’ve countered it by running the ball or throwing quick passes to Pollard and Zeke out of the backfield, hoping they can make a defender miss. You saw all of that against the Texans on Sunday, but our Lone Star neighbors weren’t having it. Once again, Dak was rendered absolutely impotent…until the last three minutes of the game. That’s when he started attacking the weakness in a two deep defense.

But before we revisit those, let’s review Mike McCarthy’s comments during the presser. In addition to Lovie’s Tampa 2, the Texas played quarters coverage several times and mostly a vision-and-break style defense, in which the defenders drop into a zone, look at the quarterback, and then break on the ball.

You can see the vision-and-break style on the first play of the fateful 98 yard drive to win the game. The linebackers take a very shallow drop. They’re clearly expecting a check down to Zeke. It’s as if they haven’t even considered the possibility Dak will throw behind them. Well, surprise, because he does and hits Schultz for a twenty yard gain over the hands of leaping defenders. Later in the drive, Dak makes another big throw to Schultz to set up a first and goal. The pass was right down the seam between four defenders.

But the same pass wasn’t even the best throw of the drive. That distinction belongs to the corner route to Noah Brown a couple plays earlier. Dak drops the pass right between the corner and safety. I can’t remember the last time Dak threw a corner route, much less successfully.

What does it mean going forward? I don’t know. It’s just the Texans. But, for one glorious drive, Dak was attacking the coverage holes in a two deep defense.

Ty Hilton as a deep threat is the answer to solving that.

 

[ChrisL97]

The one game where we were killing it with the 3 tight end set. I think we had so much success with it that we're saving it for when it matters. At least that's what I'm telling myself as to why we haven't seen it since that one game.

 

[Kingofholland]

I can't get worked up over 1 game that ended in a W. But I think the Texans threw out an entirely different defense that caught Moore and the offense off guard. We'll see what they can do this week.

 

[eternaljester81]

Dak hates Cover 2 Robber.

According to Broaddus Houston was exclusively in cover 2 on the 98 yard drive.