Disguising Coverage Out Of 2-Deep Looks

When you think of coverage or pressure disguise, often you think of defenders moving around pre-snap trying to fool the quarterback into thinking they’re doing one thing or another.

But sometimes, the best form of disguise is to align the same way just about every time and then move to a different coverage after the snap, forcing the quarterback to do the majority of his processing only after the play has started.

This is an approach you see often out of defensive coordinators like Vic Fangio and other 2-shell/quarters-based disciples.

The Jets’ approach in Week 6 of the 2022 season against the Packers is a great example of this. Not tipping their hand on defense was critical to their game plan since they were facing a smart veteran QB in Aaron Rodgers, who had seen it all on the football field.

That day, particularly on 3rd down, the Jets were able to get to an assortment of coverages out of similar looks and keep the passing game off balance (obviously, Rodgers’ first-hand account of this defense made an impression on him).

Just take a look at New York’s pre-snap alignments on these three 3rd downs:

There are some slight differences, but each started out in a 2-safety shell and showed hints of man coverage. The Jets would end up playing three distinctly different defenses out of these looks, however.