Play 1 of 3 · Why You Call It

Cover 6 vs The Flood

The same flood that beat Box, run at the cloud side. Play it and watch the nickel. He sinks into the curl and sits right where the sail breaks out, the level Box left wide open.

Cover 6 vs Flood
a defender at all three levels · the sail is covered
SNAP
ReceiverDeep (quarter/half)Cloud / curlWho he's got
HB →
The back swings to the flood side as a second flat. The cloud corner already has the flat, so the Mike widens to take the swing. The cloud side has the extra underneath body to handle it.
Freeze it at Ball Out and compare to Box. Same flood, but now there is a hat at every level. The cloud corner sat the flat, the half safety capped the go, and the nickel sank into the curl and is sitting right on the sail. That out-breaker that ran into open grass against Box has a defender on it here. That is the entire reason this call exists.
Play 2 of 3 · The Cost Of Clouding

Cover 6 vs Verticals

Clouding the bunch side puts only one true deep safety over three receivers. Play it: they send the cluster vertical, your corner carries one and the safety takes one, and the third seam splits the field with no one deep.

Cover 6 vs Three Verticals
one deep safety, three seams · the inside one is open
SNAP
ReceiverDeep (quarter/half)Cloud / curlWho he's got
HB →
The back stays in or checks down short, which is fine. The problem is not underneath, it is up top: there are three vertical threats to the cloud side and only one safety deep over there.
Watch the inner seam. The cloud corner carries the outside go up to the half safety, and the half safety takes the next seam. But the third receiver runs straight up the middle of that half and the nickel cannot run with a vertical from the curl. The inner seam splits the field, because clouding a three-receiver side leaves you one deep safety short. Box's job was rubs, this call's cost is verticals to the clouded side.
Play 3 of 3 · Why It Is Situational

The Flood, Wrong Side

Same flood, but you clouded the boundary and the bunch is on your quarters side, exactly what a motion does to you. Play it: the quarters side has no cloud corner, so the void is right back, and two defenders are stranded on the lone receiver.

Cover 6 vs Flood, Cloud On The Wrong Side
no cloud where the flood is · the void returns
SNAP
ReceiverDeep (quarter/half)Cloud / curlWho he's got
HB →
The back swings to the flood side and the Mike chases across, same as Box. With the cloud sitting uselessly over the lone receiver on the boundary, there is no help left in the middle.
This is the snap that burns people. Look at the boundary: your cloud corner and a half safety are both sitting on one receiver running a curl, doing nothing. Meanwhile the flood hit the quarters side, where the corner is deep on the go and nobody owns the intermediate out. The sail is open in the exact void Box left. Cover 6 only helps the side you cloud, so read the flood and check your cloud to it, or a motion will move the bunch off it.
⚠ Use It Right

Cover 6 is a situational flood answer, not a base. Call it when you read a team that floods or sails to a side and keeps the bunch put. Set your cloud to the flood side pre-snap, and if they motion the strength across, get off it, because your three-level side just moved to where the ball is not.