Horizontal leverage
What it is
Which side of an opponent you are lined up on, and therefore which side you are taking away.
Why it matters
Horizontal leverage is a decision made before the snap and paid for after it. A defender who aligns inside a receiver has taken away the slant and given up the out; one who aligns outside has done the reverse. This is only sound when it agrees with the help: inside leverage with no post safety is an invitation to a go route, and outside leverage with no inside linebacker is a dig. On the run side the same idea is called force and spill — every fit is a statement about which way the ball is being pushed.
Also called
Programs call this inside leverage, outside leverage, leverage to your help or half-man. The Coach answers to any of them.
See it on the field
Man underneath with one safety over the top, which is what lets corners play inside leverage. The alignment comes from the engine’s own front resolver against real offensive splits, so it is a picture the simulator genuinely produces — not a diagram drawn to make a point.
Cover 1 — man freeRelated
This entry is authored, not generated. It is one of 205 in the index that the AI-ssistant Coach retrieves from, and that Film Study tags clips against.