Football formations help?

Question

this will take a while but the first great explanation will get 10 points.

can someone explain some offense and defense formations to me like cover 2, nickle, dime, west coast, etc. thankss

Answer 1

Cover two is not a formation, but a scheme. It means there are 2 safeties that have the deepest coverage zones. It is a zone scheme but can have combination man-to-man underneath. The safeties split the field in half and have the deepest zones.

Nickle and Dime are also not formations, but personnel packages. Nickle means there is a 5th DB added (usually at the expense of a LB) and Dime means there is a 6th DB added to the defense. Obvious application is when the defense thinks the offense will be passing.

Lastly, West coast is yet another philosophy and not a specific formation.  The typical personnel package is a two-back set with 2 wide-outs and a TE. The offense relies on short quick passes than compliment the run game to sustain a ball control philosophy.

Answer 2

First - West Coast, refers to the offense,

lots of roll outs with dump pass to the half backs, full backs, running backs, Tight Ends, and WR doing slants...It is a fast and quick offense

Second- Defenses

nickel- main focus is on the run, and can either be played in a zone (where players cover areas) or man- to- man, where the linebackers play a man (Outside Linebacker covers man on the left in the backfield, Right Linebacker covers man on the right in the backfield, middle watches out for the Tight End, and the Defensive End also, watches out for the Tight End)

Dime- 4 man front, middle line backer and the rest in coverage against the pass

Cover 2 is for a spread out defense that has the corners play low, and the safeties play high, with the linebackers covering the slants

go online and google Madden play book  and look at the plays from the MADDEN football game it is a good source to learn and to watch how the plays develop and are performed.

Answer 3

You might want to rethink your question because you have different aspects of a game that you're asking about -

For example; Defensive coverages are regional, and pertain mostly to the Defensive secondary and it's pass coverage "scheme". There are some colleges that will go Zero to 6 (ie cover 0, cover 1, cover 2, ...) others that maintain only 4. They will tell you the depths of pass coverage and give you insight to defensive strategy (ie, Man to man vs Zone)

As mentioned Cover 2 alludes to Man to man with two safeties to cover deep. Cover 1 can mean the same when the Defensive formation puts 8 men in the box (ie 4-4 defense).

Bill Walsh fathered the creation of the West Coast Offense during Joe Montana's rise to legendary status and it's purpose was to dominate field possession and ball time.

Nickle and Dimes are defensive packages designed to stop passes with either 5 (nickle) or 6 (dime) deep players as "safeties".

Formations on Defense like 5-3, or 4-4, or 4-3 are how many men occupy the "box". It always ALWAYS starts with the number of men on the line...and the second number is how many linebackers there are. For example, a 3-4 defense is 3 D-linemen and 4 linebackers.

To address Offense formations, typically they'll address the positions of the back field ORR the number of receivers.

For example, in an "I" formation the backs are lined up one behind the other like the letter "I" and in "Trips", you'll see three receivers.

I hope that helps.

Answer 4

west coast isn't a formation its a offensive stratagy that involves lots of short passes, nickle is a 4 DT/DE 2 LB 3 CB 2 safety formation, dime is a 4 DT/DE 1 LB 4 CB 2 safety formation, cover 2 is a play in which there is man 2 man coverage but the safetys play zone. i may be wrong about the break up of the positions but im pretty sure thats right, i know the CB'S and DT/DE part is right though