Playbooks
Quick Reference
In 15 playbooks
Breakdown
Cover 6 Willie is a split field zone coverage look out of the 2-4 Load Mug set, pairing quarters coverage to one side with a sky/cloud style three-under, three-deep shell to the other. The two deep outside defenders sink into their deep thirds while the underneath defenders spill into short zones with staggered drop angles, and the four rushers fire off the snap on the pressure side to close throwing lanes quickly. This is a zone beater built to disguise the boundary side rotation while still getting numbers underneath, so the primary read progression starts with the flat and curl zones to the pressure side before working back to the deep half read on the quarters side.
Defensive Reads
Watch the boundary cornerback depth pre-snap, if he is bailing hard you are getting the sky rotation to that side. Post-snap, key the underneath zone defenders funneling toward the flat, this tells you the shallow crossing routes are getting squeezed. This shell beats levels concepts and shallow drag combos because the underneath defenders trigger fast on horizontal routes. It is vulnerable to deep out routes and corner routes attacking the seam between the deep half defender and the flat defender, especially against four verticals stressing the quarters side. If the offense runs a fullback dive or inside zone away from the pressure side, get eyes on the backside linebacker fitting the gap quickly since the front is light after the rush commits.
Usage Tips
Call this on early downs when you expect a balanced run or pass look since the four man rush disguises the split shell well.
Check the safety alignment pre-snap, if both safeties cheat to one side you likely have a natural overload against the quarters half.
Use the flat and curl defenders as your first key, they close underneath quickly against shallow crossers and drag routes.
Pair this with Cover 3 Cloud and Cover 3 Sky in the same set so quarterbacks cannot key deep safety depth to diagnose the rotation.
On third and medium, mix in Nickel Blitz 2 or Nickel Blitz 3 from this set to keep the same pre-snap picture while sending extra pressure.
