Analysis of Nick Rallis' Cover 6 Part 1: What Went Wrong Early
photo courtesy of New York Times
By Walter Mitchell
Currently in the NFL, Cover 6 defenses have become a popular way for DCs to BOX a 3-receiver side and TRIANGLE the opposite side.
How Cover 6 Works (AI Google)
A standard defense splits its responsibilities based on the alignment of the offense, usually dividing the scheme between the field side (the wide side with more space) and the boundary side (the short side near the sideline).
| Field Zone | Defensive Scheme | Deep Responsibility | Underneath Responsibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field Side / Passing Strength | Cover 4 | Two deep quarters. The cornerback and the safety on this side each drop straight back to cover one-fourth of the deep field. | Underneath linebackers or nickelbacks bracket shorter crossing routes and intermediate concepts. |
| Boundary Side / Weak Side | Cover 2 | One deep half. The safety covers the entire deep half of this side of the field. | Cloud Cornerback. The cornerback stays low (flat zone) to jam receivers at the line or aggressively attack quick, short throws. |
Play 1 from Week 1
The Chargers are in an empty backfield with 3 receivers at the top of the screen and 2 receivers at the bottom.
Notice how the Cardinals are playing the 3-receiver side with a 4 man BOX and the 2-receiver side with a 3-man TRIANGLE.
Because of the 2-deep safeties, this can look like a COVER 2, but it is really a hybrid COVER 4 (4 quarters - LCB, SS, FS, RCB have deep quarter responsibilities)
Things to notice:
1. No WR is getting beyond the deep men in coverage.
2. The BOX (at the top) side appears to be playing zone.
3. The TRIANGLE side is playing man coverage with a safety over the top.
4. Will Johnson picks up the deepest threat McConkey in man, while Denzel Burke picks up the slot WR. The safety looks flat-footed at the top of the box and the linebacker is starting to run back toward the middle in case Justin Herbert takes off.
5. When the ILB bolts, the TE is going to be left wide open on his out route.
6, McConkey is going to cross Will Johnson's face on a dig route and then beat the safety to make a wide open 15-yard catch.
Result:
18-yd Pass
8:13 - 1st
(Shotgun) J.Herbert pass deep middle to L.McConkey to LAC 43 for 18 yards (W.Johnson).
2nd & 8 at LAC 25
What the Cardinals needed:
1. Stronger pass rush on this late developing play
2. Will Johnson to stay stride for stride with McConkey and leverage him to the inside
3. Budda Baker to double team McConkey
4. Stronger man assignments so as not to leave the TE uncovered as well.
Play 2:
The Chargers this time have the 3-receiver side to the bottom of the screen. Notice the Cardinals align in their 4-man BOX and align in their 3-man TRIANGLE to the top.
1. Max Melton at the top has let the WR go by him which means either they were zoning the weak side and Max was feeding the WR to the FS, or that Max simply got beat on the route. Max's open stance would typically indicate that he was playing zone.
2. At the bottom of the screen, McConkey is splitting the CB and the SS (in what appears to be loose coverage).
3. The two box defenders on the bottom appear to be stuck in mud and they are not guarding anyone. A rule of thumb for the ILB is that of there is no receiver in his area, he is supposed to peel back up the hash marks to be able to defend the intermediate post or dig route. That is not happening here.
McConkey fakes a deep out, breaks quickly over the middle and sets up in the hole between Will Johnson and Budda Baker.
Will Johnson gets turned around on this play when he is supposed to be clamping down in man coverage, McConkey is also effectively able to create added distance between Budda Baker, who winds up making the tackle.
Result:
23-yd Pass
6:57 - 1st
(Shotgun) J.Herbert pass deep middle to L.McConkey to ARZ 34 for 23 yards (B.Baker).
2nd & 10 at LAC 43
Yikes.
Play 3
Result:
The WILB Jack Gibbens needs a deeper drop and the CB has to pick up the WR sooner and far more closely.
19-yd Pass
6:16 - 1st
(Shotgun) J.Herbert pass short middle to L.McConkey to ARZ 15 for 19 yards (B.Baker).
1st & 10 at ARI 34
Three pass plays to a wide-open Ladd McConkey for 18, 23 and 19 yards (60 yards)
Play 4 (Open all day every day against Rallis' defense)
The Chargers have 2-receivers to both sides. Cardinals put their Cover 6 BOX to wide side of the field and the TRIANGLE to the short side of the field.
The Chargers run a play action QB waggle to the short side, where the TE blocks and pops on an out route. Look at how wide open the TE is.
Result
26-yd Pass
4:37 - 2nd
(Shotgun) J.Herbert pass short left to O.Gadsden pushed ob at ARZ 21 for 26 yards (A.Wingard).
2nd & 8 at ARI 47
The best way to defend this QB Waggle, TE Pop, imo, is for the Cardinals edge player to stay with the TE when the TE releases, which should give the WILB a strong chance to chase down the QB.
Or --- you have the playside ILB cover the TE, but that's difficult when the ILB is asked to defend the fake run first. But if the opposite SILB knows the WILB has the TE then the SILB can key more strongly on stopping the RB.
As said on this week's Red Rain Podcast (where we break down a number of plays each game), only when Nick Rallis proves he has a plan for these wide-open TE passing plays (3 of which the Cardinals gift-wrapped for wide open TDs, ending the 2025 season with a 37-20 loss after the Cardinals had taken a late 3rd quarter 20-16 lead versus the Rams), that's when Nick Rallis can be taken seriously as an NFL defensive coordinator.
In the next analysis, we will show you what went right for Nick Rallis and the defense after they made some highly effective adjustments.
Personnel Issues:
Note: imo it would be wise of Nick Rallis to take Budda Baker out of the deep safety role and put him exclusively in the box. Deep safety is not Budda's strength in pass coverage. Making tackles, yes, but pass coverage?
Next, on passing downs, it would be wise to switch Garrett Williams and Will Johnson to the deep safety position opposite Andrew Wingard. They lack the speed and agility to play sticky man coverage, but both of them are superb at keeping plays in front of them, reading the QB's eyes and making breaks on the ball. With Kitan Crawford sidelined for 4 weeks this could be an advantageous time to move Williams and Johnson to deep safety.
While Jack Gibbens is playing super hard and physical, they are asking him to cover slot WRs and RBs who run 4.4s while he runs a 4.8. Savvy coaches are going to try to exploit that speed differential.
This is why Cardinals fandom needs Walter Mitchell and Red Rain. No other Cards site or podcast is going to show you how a defense is actually schemed and whether the players are executing their assignments. You learn football here. Everywhere else it's character assassination of whichever player is unpopular that week — PHNX, Revenge of the Birds, take your pick.
ReplyDeleteAnd the peel rule Walter flagged on Play 2 is the whole ballgame this week.
Darnold's out, so Lock starts. He'll hold the ball, which means the same four-man rush that let those Chargers concepts breathe actually cashes in Sunday. Keep the shell, fix the middle.
And the middle is the problem. McConkey lived in the hole between the box and the triangle. Kupp's option routes are built to find that exact spot — he's not beating anyone deep, he just needs the ILB a yard shallow.
Three fixes:
Match, don't spot-drop, on third down. Travel with Kupp inside, safety over the top.
Put Gibbens on Price. Seattle leans on the run with a backup QB — let him hunt, keep the 4.8 out of the slot.
Make Lock move. Simulated pressure beats a straight rush against a guy making his first start since 2024.
Get the middle covered and the personnel right, and Kupp never finds the window McConkey did.
A big factor lost in the discussion of coverage schemes is how the schemes deal with scrambling QBs. I think a major reason teams have increasingly gone away from man defense is because man defense forces the DBs to turn their backs to the QB more often which hurts their ability to deal with the ever increasing number of scrambling QBs in the league.
ReplyDeletePutting Budda in the box as you suggested with be a nightmare for scramblers which is an added bonus on top of everything you mentioned.