I'm football when a team is on the defense they often go into a formation known as zone. When in this formation, each player covers a certain area. This way instead of having to cover a specific player, they have the ability to cover multiple players of the opposing team, point them out to their teammates, and better predict where/how the opposing team will move or what they plan to do. Although this isn't the most effective position for protecting from runs, it is very effective at protecting from passes. This is because when in zone formation, the defense is mostly playing the field, meaning they are almost all in the field preventing the Quarterback from making effective passing plays.