The Tampa 2 is a Cover 2 scheme that features two safeties splitting the deep part of the field. The defense has had success throughout the past two decades and was a key part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Super Bowl victory at the end of the 2002 season.
Although Houston Texans coach Lovie Smith believes in the Tampa 2 as much as he believes in old school R&B music, the 63-year-old knows that the scheme has to adapt some elements to challenge modern NFL offenses.
“In an ideal world, you win or lose games based on how you can play man coverage,” Smith told reporters at rookie minicamp May 13. “If you look at our defense, we play man, we play three-deep, we play quarters, we play two, we blitz. We have a multiple package.”
