Playbooks
Tampa 2 out of the Over Wide 3-3-5 Big Nickel package is a zone defense built to take away the deep middle while still playing sound underneath. The Mike linebacker drops vertically into a deep middle hole read, splitting the field with the two deep safeties to form a modified three deep look, while the corners and remaining linebackers play zone drops underneath to squeeze curl and flat routes. Your primary read progression starts with the deep middle hole defender: he mirrors the number two receiver vertically before working to the true middle of the field, and the safeties key any vertical stem from outside receivers to prevent the deep post or seam from splitting the coverage.
Watch for four verticals or seam concepts attacking the honey hole between the deep hole defender and the outside safeties, since that is the classic Tampa 2 weakness if your user rushes the drop. Corner routes and deep outs to the flat defenders are dangerous if your underneath zone defenders bite on shallow crossers, so keep eyes on the sideline stems. If the offense runs quick game or a bunch flood concept, sink your flat defenders fast to prevent easy completions before the deep coverage sets. Play action rollouts can pull your linebackers up before they get depth, so trust your zone drops and do not chase ball fakes with your user defender. Look for tight end drag routes settling in the deep hole void, this is where user awareness on the Mike linebacker directly determines success against man beaters disguised as zone beaters.
Call this on early downs or second and medium when you want to take away explosive plays without fully committing to a two deep shell.
Pre snap, identify if the offense is stacking or bunching receivers to one side, since the Mike linebacker needs a clean lane to sink into his deep middle drop.
User the Mike linebacker in the deep hole to jump any deep crossers or dig routes that try to work behind the underneath zones, since that is the biggest exploit window in Tampa 2.
Combine this with Cover 3 Sky or Cover 3 Sim Pressure in the same set so quarterbacks cannot key run reactions off your linebacker depth pre snap.
Mix in Sam Blitz 3 or Double CB Blitz from the same personnel to disguise the same initial alignment before showing very different coverage shells.