Meaning & use
man coverage
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablesport
A defensive method in which each defender follows and guards one specific opposing player instead of protecting an area of the field.
Grammar: Used without an article in general statements: the team plays man coverage.
Patterns
- play man coverage
- in man coverage
The cornerback stayed with the receiver all game in man coverage.
The defense switched to man coverage on third down.
Against fast receivers, man coverage can be risky.
Common combinations
- play man coverage
- The team likes to play man coverage on passing downs.
- switch to man coverage
- They switched to man coverage after halftime.
- tight man coverage
- The receiver struggled against tight man coverage.
- beat man coverage
- A quick route can beat man coverage.
- man coverage or zone
- The coach could not decide between man coverage or zone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- man-to-man
- Man-to-man is the same idea and is common in basketball as well as football, while man coverage is mostly used for football.
- man defense
- Man defense is a looser phrase for the same method, used especially in basketball.
- one-on-one coverage
- One-on-one coverage stresses a single defender against a single attacker and is less strictly a team strategy.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: man coverage or zone coverage?
man coverage vs zone coverage
In zone coverage, defenders guard an area of the field, not a specific player, which is the opposite of man coverage.
Practice
In man coverage, each defender is responsible for ___.
Choose one answer.
Man coverage assigns defenders to opposing players. Guarding part of the field describes zone coverage, which is the tempting wrong choice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “man coverage”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.