The Truth About... Double and Triple Coverage

"Steve Smith Sits Because the Seahawks figured out how to stop him with 'Triple Coverage'
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Hiya children. After succesful topics dealing with Secondaries, Blaq had returned with a topic dealing with secondaries again. Like the first instance, he is here to dispell a common misconception when it comes to secondaries. That is... the notion of "double" and "triple teaming". Fans of teams with elite WRs seem to think that their receivers are never played Man-up or that their WRs merit help on every play because they're just "too good to be stopped one-on-one". I would like to jump right off of the bat and say this is an incorrect saying. Why? Double and Triple Coverage doesn't exist. Well that is, not in the way they're trying to make it seem.

A "double" or "triple team" is not having 2 or more defensive backs run stride for stride with a Wide Receiver to prevent them from making a catch. That's the common misconception. These terms reffer to plays that involve some sort of zone coverage(sometimes pure zone, some times mixed with man). The thing is... it becomes a "double team" in the eyes of casual fans when the WR enters the Zone of two defenders(or the zone of a defender while being played man). Both Defenders are now meant to defend the WR. The Coach didn't tell both of them "Hey defend [blank]". "[Blank]" just happened to run a route in which they ran into another player or two's zone. The most common occurence of this is the Cover 2 Man vs. a Post Route, Streak, or any other type of deep route. When teams call a Cover 2 Man it's meant to have Safety help over the top, but if the routes never go that way the Safety simply does his job and prevents the big play from happening if the player makes something happen after the catch or contact. Now if the same play is run, but the WR runs a deep route, someone is quick to yell "double team, double team", but that's not true. It's a little bit of gameplanning for the type of routes you know your opponent is likely to call, as well as the fact that you predicted right, thus the WR ran into the supposed double team. Another example using the same defense is a WR running a post. Once again, this would be considered a double team by someone who doesn't know better.(It may fit the discription, but it isn't the double team that people reffer to). However on that same play if the WR runs a Corner route that same person would think the Safety blew their coverage or didn't know what to do.

Now that isn't to say the double team doesn't exist. Very rarely, and I do mean rarely a team will align 2 Defensive Backs over a Wide Receiver and ask them to follow said WR the entire play, but this is a rare occurence in todays NFL. It's called Bracket Coverage, and if you see it, be sure to point it out. You may see it, at most, like once or twice a game. In the past, this was very common because a big portion of our current-day Defenses didn't exist. Today there is a rare need for it because doing as much usually leaves another player wide open. So next time you see somebody yelling out "Steve Smith faced a double and triple team" explain that the Defense was running a Zone in which Smith's route went into the Coverage Zones of the Zoning Defenders.... Blaq Out.