Playbooks

Press Quarters

Dime·2-3-6·Big Dime 4-1-6

Quarters Cover 4 Zone Coverage

Likely unavailable in the playbook builder

This play belongs to no NFL team or scheme playbook, so it may not appear in the in-game builder.

Diagram coming soon

Quick Reference

FormationDime

Set2-3-6

Personnel

Big Dime 4-1-62 EDGE2 DTMIKE3 CBFS2 SS

In 4 playbooks

Franchise Defense QuartersworldDefense Superstar Blitz DefenseDefense Superstar Man DefenseDefense Superstar Zone DefenseDefense

Breakdown

Press Quarters is a Cover 4 zone shell built out of the Big Dime 4-1-6 personnel in the 2-3-6 Dime formation. Corners play press quarters technique at the line to disrupt release timing while the two deep safeties and outside corners split the field into quarters, with underneath defenders sinking into zone drops to take away intermediate crossers and curls. This is a zone beater defense meant to shut down vertical route combos and four verticals, so as the user you should key the quarterback dropback and read from deep to underneath, using your deep safety to rob the number two receiver's vertical stem before working down to any shallow crossers.

Defensive Reads

Pre-snap, check safety depth and alignment since true two high shells confirm the quarters look and tell you the offense may audible into a run or quick game beater. Watch for trips or bunch formations that can flood one deep quarter with two receivers, which is the primary way to beat this coverage, so be ready to user your flat defender or nickel to help bracket the number two receiver. Post-snap, key the quarterback's eyes and any seam route from the slot, since your deep safety on that side needs to sink and rob that throw before it separates from the linebacker's zone drop. This shell struggles against quick out and hitch combinations to the boundary since the press corner can get beat off the line, so watch for the offense attacking the flat right after the snap with a stick or spot concept. Blitz packages and RPOs with a run fake to the strong side can also exploit the linebacker depth in this look, so be ready to fill the alley with your user controlled linebacker if you see the run action develop.

Usage Tips

Call this on early downs or third and long when you expect the offense to test the deep middle with four verticals or seam shots, since the split safeties are built to squeeze those lanes. Press coverage at the corner spot works best against slower receivers, so if you are facing burner slot guys, consider hot routing the corner off press to avoid getting beat on a quick release double move. Pair this play with Cover 4 Palms or Cover 4 Quarters in your play calling sequence so the offense cannot key on press technique alone and has to respect both a hard press look and a softer quarters shell. Use pre-snap motion adjustments to check if the offense shifts into a stack or bunch, and if they do, consider switching to Cover 6 or Cover 6 Show 2 to get better matchups against condensed formations. Since this is zone based, avoid calling it against heavy man beater route concepts like drag and wheel combos that attack zone seams with crossing traffic underneath.