Safety (American and Canadian Football Position) - Cover-2

Cover-2

Instead of the safeties dividing up their jobs in terms of run support and pass support, the safeties will sometimes divide up the field into a left half and a right half, with each being responsible for anything that comes into his half of the field. This type of division of responsibility is becoming increasingly common, and is called a "cover-2" defense. The cover-2 was first used by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, but was made famous by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the late 1990s. Led by head coach and former Steeler player Tony Dungy and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, the Buccaneers built a dominating defense, with strong safety John Lynch at the forefront. This particular variation of the cover-2 is referred to as the "Tampa 2", though it is essentially a cover-3 scheme with the middle linebacker covering the deep middle. Since then, the popularity of the cover-2 has soared. Both of the teams in Super Bowl XLI, the Colts and the Bears (the former being coached by Dungy, the latter by his former protégé at Tampa, Lovie Smith), ran a base cover-two defense.