Playbooks

Cover 4 Palms

Dime·2-3-6·Big Dime 4-1-6

Cover 4 Cover 4 Palms Zone Coverage

Play diagram for Cover 4 Palms from Dime 2-3-6 in Madden 27

Quick Reference

FormationDime

Set2-3-6

Personnel

Big Dime 4-1-62 EDGE2 DTMIKE3 CBFS2 SS

In 52 playbooks

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Breakdown

Cover 4 Palms is a zone coverage shell out of the Dime 2-3-6 set that uses a big dime 4-1-6 personnel grouping to defend against pass heavy offenses. The diagram shows both cornerbacks sinking into deep quarter zones while the slot corners and the nickel defenders squat underneath to jump any smash or flat route combinations, with the lone linebacker spying the middle of the field and four down linemen dropping straight upfield to generate pressure. This is a zone beater designed to funnel the quarterback into throwing underneath, and the primary read progression starts with the corners reading the number two receiver to determine run or pass before sinking to their deep quarter, then working down to the flat defenders if the pattern reads pass.

Defensive Reads

Watch the number two receiver at the snap since Palms is designed to have the corner squat on any out or flat breaking route while the safety bakes off top for anything vertical. Look for trips or bunch formations from the offense since Palms is specifically built to answer smash concepts and corner route combinations from the slot. If the quarterback immediately looks to the flat, be ready to jump the route with your user controlled defender since that throw is the trap this coverage sets. This coverage is vulnerable to quick game against the flat defender if the slot receiver runs an immediate speed out, so tighten your flat zone depth against three step drops. Play action rollouts and rollout passes can stress this shell if the linebacker bites on the run fake, so keep an eye on run action before committing the second level defender forward.

Usage Tips

Call this on early downs or second and long when you expect a stretch or bunch concept designed to isolate your corners in man coverage since Palms is built to bracket the number two receiver. Key the number two receiver pre-snap and be ready to jump any smash or corner combo since the corner's job is to sink only if the slot receiver breaks vertical. Use your user controlled corner to squat on the flat route and bait the quarterback into a throw you can jump for a pick six. Pair this call with Cover 4 Quarters and Cover 6 in the same set so your shell disguises identically pre-snap, forcing the quarterback to guess between quarters, palms and cover 6 rotations. Combine this with Cover 3 Match on the previous snap to keep the offense off balance since both plays look similar before the snap but rotate very differently.