Playbooks
Quick Reference
Breakdown
Cover 1 Hole is a man coverage defensive play out of the Over set in Nickel personnel, showing single high safety help with a robber or hole defender sitting underneath. The diagram shows the deep safety rotating over the top while the underneath defenders align tight to the line with a spy or hole player positioned in the middle of the field to rob crossing routes and dig concepts. Four rushers are shown attacking downhill off the snap, giving you a four man pressure package with man coverage locked on the outside receivers and a free defender in the box to help against any in cut or drag working across the field.
Defensive Reads
Watch the quarterback pre-snap for eye discipline toward the middle of the field, since Cover 1 Hole is designed to bait throws into the box where your hole defender is sitting. Check safety depth before the snap, if the single high safety is shallow the offense may be selling run and you should trust your four man rush to get quick pressure. Post-snap, key any receiver breaking inside on a drag, dig, or slant since the hole defender shown in the diagram is specifically there to jump those throwing lanes. This call gets exposed by rub routes and pick concepts at the line of scrimmage, so if you see stacked or bunched receivers be ready to switch your man assignments to avoid picks. Beware of play-action rollouts and RPOs that attack the flats quickly, since your four rushers are committed downhill and there is minimal flat coverage support outside of the man defenders shown.
Usage Tips
Use this call on third and medium to third and long when you expect the offense to attack the middle of the field with drags, digs, or crossers since the hole defender is sitting right there to jump those routes.
Identify the offensive formation pre-snap and check for bunch or stack releases that could create natural picks against your press corners, and be ready to bump your DBs off the line if you see a two receiver stack to the same side.
User the hole defender yourself if you want full control over robbing intermediate crossing routes, since the CPU AI can be late to react on some in breaking combos.
Pair this call with Cover 1 Robber Press and Cover 1 Contain in your play-calling sequence so the offense cannot key on your coverage shell just from safety depth or corner alignment at the line.
Avoid calling this against heavy run formations unless you trust your four down linemen to hold up, since there is no extra run support beyond the underneath defenders shown in the diagram.
