Jets Country

New York Jets Superstar Trolls Mel Kiper Jr.’s ‘Cover Two’ Comment

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers had a great explanation for why it’s been hard to find wide receiver Garrett Wilson.

Matthew Postins

Sep 19, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) reacts as he talks to running back Breece Hall (20) during the third quarter against the New England Patriots at MetLife Stadium.
Sep 19, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) reacts as he talks to running back Breece Hall (20) during the third quarter against the New England Patriots at MetLife Stadium. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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To hear New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers tell it, his star wide receiver, Garrett Wilson, hasn’t had it easy so far this season.

Now, Wilson is off to a great start. He’s second on the team with 15 receptions. Only running back Breece Hall has more with 16. He leads all Jets with 150 receiving yards. Plus, he caught his first touchdown pass of the season in the second half.

Opposing defenses know that Rodgers is on the lookout for Wilson, and the future Hall-of-Famer says those teams are using one particular defensive formation to try and limit Wilson. It’s a formation that is not going to please ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.

"The entire focus of all three defenses we've played has been taking Garrett Wilson away,” he said to reporters after Thursday’s win. “It's been Mel Kiper’s worst nightmare. A lot of Cover 2.”

Earlier this week Kiper went on a tear during his appearance on ESPN’s “Get Up” when asked about why NFL offenses are, overall, struggling to start the season. He pointed to the use of a defense with two high safeties, commonly called a Cover Two, as the culprit.

He said that the defense “should be outlawed,” reasoning that banning the defense would bring back the deep passing game he loved as a kid.

"Well, I grew up with the best of the National Football League, ’60s, ’70s, into the ’80s," Kiper said. "You're talking about deep shots. The go route, the nine route, the post. You're talking about Terry Bradshaw in the Super Bowl hitting John Stallworth. You see (the defensive back) diving, right? Just off his fingers. There's the receiver. They laid it out there, right? Hit the receiver in stride. 65-yard touchdown. It's a beautiful thing to watch. That's what I want to see brought back to the National Football League, okay? Checkdown kings. Bubble screen sensations. Boring football. Uh-uh. Game manager I get it. I want to see those deep shots. That's what the NFL was built on.”

The Cover Two is designed to force quarterbacks to pass to receivers on underneath routes and prevent big plays down the sidelines, though the same formation can be vulnerable to the downfield pass in the middle.

Perhaps no team in NFL history executed the defense better than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under then-head coach Tony Dungy and his defensive coordinator, Monte Kiffin, from 1996-2001, using a version widely known as the Tampa Two.

What’s ironic about Kiper’s example of the Pittsburgh Steelers is that Dungy said he was first exposed to the defensive scheme in 1970s when he played in the NFL. At the time, he was playing for the Steelers and their defensive coordinator, Bud Carson, was using one of the first versions of the Cover 2.

So the Steelers built the very thing Kiper is railing against.

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Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets and Houston Astros for Sports Illustrated/FanNation.

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