OK, WTF is a "cover corner"?

Share this page

Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap

dicktowel.com
Joined
Jul 7, 2003
Messages
9,995
Reaction score
377
Points
83
Location
Paradise City
I keep hearing people calling our 1st round pick an excellent "cover corner", but I don't understand what that is.

Are there corner backs that are drafted because of their poor cover skills? Is there any such thing as a "non-cover corner"?

The point is, aren't they ALL supposed to be able to cover people??? :spaghetti:
 
A cover corner is someone who can play man to man well without help.

McCourtey can play both man and zone well though.
 
MAYHEM said:
Teams that play alot of zone.
Click to expand...

Um, Ok.

I'll start looking for corners that can't cover anyone man to man and build my team around them.

Even in a zone, at some point, you gotta cover the freaking receivers!!!
 
Spinal Tap said:
Who the hell wants a corner that can't play man to man without help?
Click to expand...

Well, we have been primarily a team that plays zone recently, so...us for instance.

Supposedly it is a different skill set wherein the zone guys are more disciplined and a premium is placed on positioning, guarding your area of the field and knowing when to let your guy go and where the safety help is coming from etc. etc.

Man guys tend to get up in somebodies face, knock them off their route and follow them wherever they go.

It's sort of a fine distinction, but it is what it is. Kind of brainy guy vs. pure athletes.

Remember the Denver game last year? Where Royal and Marshall caught about 20 balls short with our guys playing way back and nobody ever stepped up to challenge them? When we made Kyle Orton look like a machine?

That was our zone in action.
 
Spinal Tap said:
Um, Ok.

I'll start looking for corners that can't cover anyone man to man and build my team around them.

Even in a zone, at some point, you gotta cover the freaking receivers!!!
Click to expand...

Its pretty fvckn hard to mirror a reciever man to man down the field.

If they can hit, they dont need to be lock down in man IMO.

A corner in zone knows where help in the zone is and will shade a reciever and release recievers to other defenders so they dont need great man skills.
 
CleatMarks said:
As stated, Asante couldn't play man to man to save his life.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you got what I referred to since my post didn't follow the one I was responding to. It looks confusing now.
Anyway, that's the reason I wondered why Philly, who blitzes a good bit (or did at the time under JJ) would have wanted AS for damn good money. It made no sense.
 
MAYHEM said:
A cover corner is someone who can play man to man well without help.

McCourtey can play both man and zone well though.
Click to expand...

This^

Hawg73 said:
Well, we have been primarily a team that plays zone recently, so...us for instance.

Supposedly it is a different skill set wherein the zone guys are more disciplined and a premium is placed on positioning, guarding your area of the field and knowing when to let your guy go and where the safety help is coming from etc. etc.

Man guys tend to get up in somebodies face, knock them off their route and follow them wherever they go.

It's sort of a fine distinction, but it is what it is. Kind of brainy guy vs. pure athletes.

Remember the Denver game last year? Where Royal and Marshall caught about 20 balls short with our guys playing way back and nobody ever stepped up to challenge them? When we made Kyle Orton look like a machine?

That was our zone in action.
Click to expand...

And THIS^^^^

Its important to remember that this kid did both zone and man at an elite level in college. More complete than any other corner on the board. Some draft boards had him higher than Haden. He can play in either type of coverage without hesitation and has a complete understanding of the entire D, and how he fits in it...

Best ST player in the draft only adds dessert to the pick.
 
MAYHEM said:
Its pretty fvckn hard to mirror a reciever man to man down the field.
Click to expand...

Especially if one considers a few facts related to how pro football is played.

The QB and the WR know when and where the WR is going to make his break and in what direction. The DB doesn't.

Anything over a half a step is wide open in the NFL. So the DB has to have the closing speed to eliminate the gap that will always occur because he has to react to the move made by the WR and the agility to move on a path that let's him defend the ball without getting a pass interference call.

This is a unique set of skills.

It is a much simpler process to defend in a zone since the DB knows to which side he has help and so defends the other side. If you position yourself so that the WR will be moving towards you if he breaks a certain way, then you don't have the same issues that you have in a man to man coverage. If he breaks towards your help, then that is what the defense is designed to do
 
shirtsleeve said:
Its important to remember that this kid did both zone and man at an elite level in college. More complete than any other corner on the board. Some draft boards had him higher than Haden. He can play in either type of coverage without hesitation and has a complete understanding of the entire D, and how he fits in it...

Best ST player in the draft only adds dessert to the pick.
Click to expand...

Don't forget that the scouts praise him for his tackling ability. That was certainly a sore spot for our secondary in recent years.
 
O_P_T said:
Don't forget that the scouts praise him for his tackling ability. That was certainly a sore spot for our secondary in recent years.
Click to expand...

Not only for his own responsibility, but for other defenders as well, closing on the ball quickly to assist the defender. AND against the run, ESPECIALLY on third and fourth down, limiting conversions. Led all DB's in these categories.
 
Most of the big, fast athletic guys tend to become receivers since that's where the $$$ and glamor is.

So there just aren't many guys that are capable of covering them by themselves. Which is why teams play so much zone.

I think it's hard to overstate the value of an elite coverage corner in today's pass happy game. A guy like Revis can shut down the opponent's biggest weapon. In and of itself, that's a big impact.

But, furthermore, it opens up all kinds of possibilities for the rest of the D. Without having to assign a second guy to deal with Moss, you have more opportunities to attack the QB and stuff the run.

And that may be why Belichick went with a CB in round 1, when no one else saw this as a great need. Maybe he feels that the answer to the pass rush is to be able to be more aggressive with the blitz; and that he didn't feel he was able to do that last year because he couldn't depend on his coverage guys in isolation situations.

And, maybe he thinks that McCourty just might be the guy that could change that.
 
It's just a term to describe one skill that a cornerback might have. A "cover corner" means that he's good at covering a receiver in man to man coverage. It doesn't mean that he has good hands, it doesn't necessarily mean that he has good ball skills, and it doesn't mean that he can tackle.

You might also say that someone is a good "press corner." Ty Law was a great press corner. That means that they are good at jamming the receiver at the line of scrimmage, and knocking them off their route. It doesn't mean that they can run with a receiver in coverage though. It also doesn't exclude them. Law could do both.

Asante Samuel isn't a good cover corner, but he is a ball hawk with outstanding ball skills (other than in the Super Bowl of course).

These are all individual skills, that different players possess in varying degrees. A good coach will assess each players best skills, and hopefully play them in situations and defenses that best suit their skill set. The better a coach is at assessing, and taking advantage of such skills, the better results he will see. You don't want to ask a guy to cover someone man to man, if the player is incapable of doing it. By the same standard, you don't want to ask a small, fast, corner to jam a Terrell Owens at the line if he's not strong or quick enough to hold him up.
 
It's the opposite of a corner that can rush the passer. Hope this helps.
 
dropKickMurphy said:
Most of the big, fast athletic guys tend to become receivers since that's where the $$$ and glamor is.

So there just aren't many guys that are capable of covering them by themselves. Which is why teams play so much zone.

I think it's hard to overstate the value of an elite coverage corner in today's pass happy game. A guy like Revis can shut down the opponent's biggest weapon. In and of itself, that's a big impact.

But, furthermore, it opens up all kinds of possibilities for the rest of the D. Without having to assign a second guy to deal with Moss, you have more opportunities to attack the QB and stuff the run.

And that may be why Belichick went with a CB in round 1, when no one else saw this as a great need. Maybe he feels that the answer to the pass rush is to be able to be more aggressive with the blitz; and that he didn't feel he was able to do that last year because he couldn't depend on his coverage guys in isolation situations.

And, maybe he thinks that McCourty just might be the guy that could change that.
Click to expand...

When you put it like that, the pick makes a lot of sense.:clap:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top