LATROBE, Pa. – It has been a part of every Steelers practice during this training camp, and because it seems as though it's going to be a big part of the defense moving forward Tunch Ilkin took to the whiteboard to explain some of the basic concepts of cover-2.
Ilkin, a former Pro Bowl tackle during his playing career in Pittsburgh who now serves as the analyst on the Steelers Radio Network as well as being a regular contributor on Steelers.com, starts off his lesson by explaining why he believes this will be a perfect scheme for the defensive backs personnel the team has assembled.
According to Ilkin, both Mike Mitchell and Shamarko Thomas should be able to thrive in the cover-2 because they are athletic safeties who can cover a lot of ground. Also, cover-2 will have the cornerbacks playing 5 yards off the line of scrimmage so that they'll never have to turn their backs to the opposing quarterback.
Cover-2 cornerbacks will try to prevent the opposing wide receivers from getting a free release off the line of scrimmage, but their positioning is designed to have them looking at the quarterback while reading the wide receiver.
Tunch Ilkin breaks it all down in this video tutorial.
