Cover 2

A zone pass defense where two safeties each cover one deep half of the field, while the underneath defenders take shorter zones. It's built to take away deep passes down the middle and the sideline, forcing the offense to work underneath instead. The classic weakness is the deep middle seam and the flat-to-corner combination on either side, since the underneath defenders have to cover a lot of ground with only two deep safeties splitting the field. Cover 2 became famous through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' "Tampa 2" variant, which added a middle linebacker dropping deep to specifically patch that seam weakness. It's a coverage built around discipline and communication rather than pure athleticism, which is why it's stayed a staple defensive scheme for decades even as offenses have evolved around it. Bleacher Report's breakdown covers exactly how the scheme is built.