Bengals had most success of any NFL team running Cover-3

Cover-3 is a very common defensive concept among NFL teams. It is often used to prevent big plays down field without compromising too much of the coverage underneath. It seemed to be a staple of former Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther. In fact, Pro Football Focus shows the Bengals were the most successful team at running that coverage last season.

Overall, the Cincinnati Bengals had the most success when running the scheme, allowing a league low completion percentage of 52.9 percent, with zero touchdowns allowed and three interceptions.

Here’s PFF’s explanation of Cover-3:

Cover-3 splits the field into deep thirds, with the free safety taking the middle, and the outside cornerbacks dropping deep on either side. This allows the defense to put eight men in the box using the strong safety, so is something we often see on earlier downs. The Atlanta Falcons led the NFL in using Cover-3 on 46.4 percent of their plays against the pass, but the number dropped from 53.0 percent on first down, to just 37.2 percent on third down. Overall, the Cincinnati Bengals had the most success when running the scheme, allowing a league low completion percentage of 52.9 percent, with zero touchdowns allowed and three interceptions.

A huge reason for the Bengals’ success in Cover-3 would probably be George Iloka’s ability to cover the middle of the field. It doesn’t hurt that Adam Jones, William Jackson and Dre Kirkpatrick did a great job at getting to their spots in this coverage, too.

Still a big downside to this coverage is it relies on linebackers to cover well underneath. That is something every Bengals’ linebacker struggled with last season. Teams often took advantage of the Bengals’ inability to cover athletic tight ends or running backs, or they were able to isolate linebackers in zone coverage against much quicker receivers. This has actually been a problem for the Bengals for years, one specific example of it was when the Bengals played the Giants in 2016 and Eli Manning hit wide receiver Sterling Shepard on a crossing route at the goal line, exploiting and embarrassing Vontaze Burfict in the process. Making it worse, the play came on fourth down and the Giants went on to win the game by one point.

Allowing zero touchdowns in this coverage is obviously impressive though and something the Bengals should look to build on with new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin in the fold. As PFF says, it is a great coverage on early downs because you can have eight men in the box. It keeps the numbers in favor of the Bengals, but it doesn’t create big play possibilities.

This stat could quickly change though with Austin taking over. Austin has said he will play to the strength of his roster, and there are guys who are set to play man coverage. Besides, he was known to run a bit more man coverage than zone in Detroit anyway. That isn’t to say he won’t run Cover-3, but we may see more Cover-1 or Cover-2 with man underneath on later downs.

This success with Cover-3 really leads to more questions. How many times did a team get a first down against that coverage? How much of their defense was spent in Cover-3? When teams ran against this concept did they do better or worse?

Now allowing a touchdown in this coverage is great, but if it allows teams to convert for first downs, then it is really just a defense bending before they break. We’ll see if Austin can expand on this success in his first year in Cincinnati.