Playbooks
Cover 6 out of the Dollar 3-2 Big Dime personnel is a zone defense that splits the field into a quarter coverage look on one side and a half coverage look on the other, giving you Cover 4 rules to the strength and Cover 2 rules to the weak side. The three down linemen and two linebackers hold the shorter zones and spy the middle of the field while the six defensive backs handle deep quarters and flat responsibilities. This is a zone beater killer against half field concepts, so your primary read progression starts with identifying which side the quarterback attacks first, then rotating your deep safety help to whichever side declares vertical routes to take away the big play.
Read the quarterback eyes immediately after the snap since Cover 6 is vulnerable to quick out and hitch combos to the two receiver side where only a half field shell is protecting deep Watch for offenses stacking their best receiver to the quarters side because the underneath defender has to widen for the flat, opening a seam route window between the levels Identify play action rollouts early since the linebackers biting on run fakes will leave the intermediate crossers wide open against this coverage Key the slot cornerback alignment pre snap, if he is playing off you can anticipate quick game beaters attacking that cushion before the zone settles Watch for post snap rotation from the safeties, if the quarterback sees late rotation to the quarters side he will often check down to the two receiver flat for an easy completion against soft zone
Check the offensive formation pre snap and look for stacked or bunch sets to the quarters side since Cover 6 rotates safety help away from single receiver sides
Use this on second and long or third and medium situations where you want to protect against explosive plays while still having underneath defenders available for shorter completions
Hot route your flat defender on the two receiver side into a shallow spy if you are worried about RPO reads or quick game beaters attacking the boundary
Combine this call with Cover 4 Drop Contain and Cover 3 Match in your play calling sequence so quarterbacks cannot key on your shell based on personnel alone
User the underneath linebacker to rob crossing routes since the zone shell leaves a natural void in the intermediate middle that savvy offenses will attack with dig and slant combos