Quarters coverage is becoming more and more popular across the NFL. That means offensive coordinators are likely focusing more of their attention on different ways to break it down than they have in years past. The play I’ll focus on in this breakdown shows you one of the many creative ways it was done during the 2022 season.
In this example from the Ravens-Jets matchup in Week 1, Baltimore was able to get the Jets into a specific quarters-coverage variation before attacking it brilliantly.
Let’s look at the situation first. This was a 3rd-and-10 from the Jets’ 17-yard line against a Robert Saleh defense. Quarters coverage is a common red-zone defense for any team. But when you throw in the fact that Saleh’s defenses had either led the NFL in quarters usage or been in the top 3 each year from 2019-21, there was a pretty good chance that they would play some version of it on this play.
So the Ravens came out in a 3x1 bunch formation with the back offset to the weak side. Of course, the Jets responded with a 2-shell coverage look:
Then the Ravens shifted their running back to the other side of QB Lamar Jackson, putting 4 pass catchers to one side of the field: