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attack. Normally cornerbacks and safeties cover the receivers, and linebackers cover the running backs and quarterback. No matter where their assignment goes, the defensive player must stay with their assigned player.

Zone:
In zone defenses, each defensive player is responsible to defend a certain part of the field. Defensive backs generally cover the sidelines and deep positions, and linebackers cover the middle of the field and the "flats". A "Cover-2" defense is one where the safeties drop back into deep coverage and each protects a wide zone on each half of the field. A "Prevent" defense is where all the defensive backs and linebackers drop into deep pass coverage, which allows short passes but defends against long gains.

Blitz:
A blitz play is one where one or more linebackers ignore their coverage assignment and go after the quarterback. This is to disrupt the flow of the offensive play and potentially sack (tackle) the quarterback. But this means that one or more offensive player may not covered unless the other players go into a zone defense, but this still means that there could be holes in the defense for a time. Sometimes a defensive back may be the blitzing player, but this is rare.

Of course there are many more plays and variations on these, but most defensive plays are built around these basic ones. Once you have an understanding of these, the rest becomes a matter of adding to what you already know.

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