Playbooks
Breakdown
Cover 1 Hole WK is a man coverage blitz look out of the Tite 5t 3-4 Base 5-2 set, showing five defenders rushing off the line while the deep safety sits in a single high shell over the top. The MLB (yellow) drops to the hole as the rat defender, spying underneath crossers and shallow routes to take away the primary man beater window, while the strong safety or slot corner (blue) plays trail technique on a vertical release. This is a five man pressure package with man match principles behind it, designed to disguise blitz timing and force a quick, man-beating throw before the rush gets home.
Defensive Reads
Watch the number two receiver to the trips or slot side, since the hole defender keys crossing routes and shallow drags that try to sit in the vacated middle zone. Read the running back release out of the backfield first, because if he stays in to block, the blitz timing home is faster and you can bait the quarterback into a rushed throw. Post snap, track the MLB spy in the hole as your lurk threat against any in cut or slant that man defenders funnel toward the middle of the field. This play is vulnerable to quick out and hitch combinations to the boundary, since the man corner lined up outside has no safety help on that side once the single high defender rotates late. Look for empty backfield or spread bunch formations that stress the five rushers with quick RPO packages, since those concepts can exploit a rusher's assignment before he sets his rush lane.
Usage Tips
Pre-snap, identify if the offense has a single deep safety cheating a leverage tell, since Cover 1 Hole WK is most effective when the offense expects zone and settles receivers into throwing windows that the hole defender erases.
Use this play on third and medium to third and long when you expect a quick game or spot drop beater, because the extra rusher combined with the hole defender takes away hot routes underneath.
Disguise this call by mixing it with Cover 3 Sky and Cover 3 Hard Flat from the same set so quarterbacks cannot key on the single high safety rotation before the snap.
Hot route the flat defenders into tighter man technique against slot receivers who like to run quick outs, since the base alignment leaves some cushion that skilled users can exploit with a stick or speed out.
Pair this call with Weak Blitz 1 or Weak Blitz 3 in a blitz package sequence to keep quarterbacks guessing on whether the fifth rusher comes from the same side each snap.
