Building blocks of Xs and Os: Quarters coverage

Cover 4, quarters, palms, 2-read, what does it all mean and why is it so common?

Back in the day, when you called Cover 4 in Madden you got this…

…which looks an awful lot like prevent defense. Everyone in the secondary is dropping back to divide the deep field into four zones with three guys with the linebackers presumably, left to cover everything underneath. It seems like a perfect way to get gashed underneath by short quick passes while preventing single-play touchdowns.

Yet most every team in college football runs Quarters these days as at least one of their base coverages and they don’t do it as a way to play it safe in prevent mode. The reason everyone runs Quarters is largely because it doesn’t work like that Cover 4 diagram Madden used to offer you in your menu of defensive play calls.

Today we’ll talk about how it does in fact work.