Jonathan Gannon’s 2023 defense with the Arizona Cardinals built its entire early down identity around playing in a zone shell, a truly remarkable commitment that stands out in his three years as head coach. We’re talking about a scheme that saw a staggering 76.88% of their 1st and 2nd down plays in zone coverage. Think about that for a second, nearly 77% of early downs were zone, which means Gannon’s crew was trusting their players’ eyes to complete assignments versus man coverage by cornerbacks.
Zone Coverage Dominated Early Downs
When you look at the 839 early down plays from Gannon’s 2023 season, the numbers are clear: zone was king. Only 13.47% of those snaps were in man coverage, with another 9.65% for other schemes like prevent. That’s a dramatic split, with early down play calling nearly 6-to-1 in zone versus man. This wasn’t just a slight lean; it was a full-blown philosophy, and it was the highest rate of zone on early downs we saw in his entire three-year sample in Arizona. It really shows a clear vision for how they wanted to attack offenses from the get-go.
The Cover 3 and Cover 0 Paradox
Delving deeper, Gannon’s zone-heavy approach largely relied on the most basic of zone structures: Cover 3. Over 84% of all early down plays for the Cardinals in 2023 utilized a Cover 3, or a similar structure. This is a foundational piece of any zone defense, with three corners all playing in a three-deep format. What’s wild is that this defense also wasn’t afraid to get in your face with Cover 0 on early downs, busting it out on 5.48% of plays. That’s more than double the rate we saw in both 2024 and 2025. Despite early down blitz rates being at their lowest in 2023 at 16.50%, the Cardinals defense was still “extremely aggressive” on first and second down. They were sending rushers in situations where the math just favored such a move. This aggressive, yet disciplined, strategy on early downs was a stark contrast to their coverage discipline on third down, which wasn’t always on display during the rest of the season.
So, what does this tell us about Jonathan Gannon? His 2023 season was clearly an outlier, showing a unique commitment to zone and a willingness to dial up unexpected pressure in key early down situations. The “big gap in coverage” between 2023, 2024, and 2025 across almost the entire call sheet means Gannon is a coach who can adapt his schemes significantly. It’ll be interesting to see how he continues to evolve his defensive identity as we move forward.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Acme Packing Company.
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