Editing Cornerback (section)

===Loose man===
Loose man requires cornerbacks to play off the receiver with a five to ten yard cushion. He usually does not touch the receiver and tries to keep his head on a swivel in order to move in whatever direction the receiver decides to shape his route. Typically with loose man coverage, the cornerback has little or no help from the safety in defending against the receiver.

This defense is used to discourage deeper passes, but often allows short yardage passes. A loose-man defense looks to create confusion for the quarterback by using [[blitz (football)|blitz]]es. The idea is to disrupt the coordination necessary for short routes, which leads to drops or poorly thrown passes stalling the drive. However, accurate quarterbacks with a quick release of the football can exploit this and routinely make 3 to 5 yard completions to receivers.