Post by Coach Campbell on Jan 7, 2013 11:01:44 GMT
Teaching a quarterback where to throw the football
Chris
If your quarterback can't deliver the ball to the open receiver, it doesn't matter how well designed, well protected, or otherwise well executed your pass plays are. Surprisingly, however, this supposedly natural skill — the ability to locate and throw the ball to an open receiver — is taught in a variety of ways, some more effective than others. To my mind, there are really essentially two legitimate methods: the progression read and the coverage read. (The illegitimate way is to simply "scan" across — the most common tactic when a quarterback who gets in trouble — but this should never be taught to a young quarterback as an every down technique.)
Progression Reads: A progression read is designed to have two, three, four, or five sequential choices of where to throw the ball. It is important for the quarterback to pre-read the coverage to get an indication of the coverage, but, more importantly, a progression read requires the quarterback to know where each of the receivers will be given the pattern called. This kind of read calls for throwing the ball with rhythm drops — i.e. on a five-step drop, the ball is thrown to the first receiver when the fifth step hits (the "rhythm" throw), the second receiver after a hitch-up or gather step (the "read" or "gather" throw), and the third receiver after resetting the feet.
Limitations of progression reads:
•A tendency to stare at the receiver that is first in the progression, which attracts other defenders.
•It is frustrating for coaches to watch because they can see that a receiver who is later in the progression is wide open. Thus coaches need to know the progression as well as the quarterback — the QB's job is to throw it to the first open receiver in the progression.
•Quarterbacks will lose patience or think that because the first receiver in the progression was thrown to the first time that he won't be there when the play is called again. Progression reads require the coach/quarterback not have their mind made up ahead of time.
Coverage reads: The simple form of this requires that a pass concept be called and the quarterback is told to "throw it to this guy if the defender does this; throw it to that guy if the defender does that." To make this work, the coaches and quarterback must understand the exact coverage called; there might be five receivers deployed but the coverage determines which two or three are "live" for the quarterback. In essence, the quarterback reads defenders, who dictate where the ball will go.
Reading the coverage is normally done in the NFL by looking at the pictures that are taken upstairs during the series (when the quarterback is on the sidelines). In high School and college, press box coaches do most of the work. The quarterback can pre-snap read and get an idea of what might happen. He can see the rotations of the defensive secondary and defender drops at the snap of the ball, but it's difficult to say with certainty what the coverage was (including in the NFL). Reading the coverage is really looking at a defender or defenders. Based on what they do you get to the correct receiver.
Advantages of coverage reads:
•Eliminates the struggle of the progression read trying to determine who was more wide open.
•Eliminates the QB from making up his mind before the snap (we shouldn't do this regardless of if we Progression Read OR Read the Coverage). Read the defenders to get you to the right receiver in Coverage Reads.
•Keeps quarterback on the same page as the Coach because they both know the read and the goal of the play called.
•Quarterbacks don't need to to stare at your receivers to determine who to throw to because they will be looking at defenders (giving more natural look offs).
Despite listing limitations of progressions and advantages of coverage reads, I much prefer progression reads to coverage reads. Coverage reads are great in theory (and maybe are great for long-term, established NFL quarterbacks) but they are not easy to teach and — because while one defender might react as expected you might not be able to predict where the others are, thus causing problems — they can even be misleading.
Of course, what I really recommend are progression reads where the coverage keys what progression is used. It's possible to have progressions with all five receivers in the progression, but it's not likely or common for the quarterback to hit number four or five in the progression. Instead it makes more sense to give him multiple 1-2-3 reads, either keying off the movement of a particular defender or reading the general coverage structure.
The all-curl play provides a good example of a progression keyed off a specific defender. The base idea of the read is that #1 is the middle curl or sit route by the tight-end or inside receiver; #2 is the curl receiver; and #3 is the flat. The idea is to hit the tight-end early until the linebackers squeeze him, then to throw the curl if the flat defender widens to take away the flat.
The Mike or middle linebacker ("M") is the key defender. If he drops straight back or weak, the quarterback should have sufficient numbers to the playside (Y, Z and F against the Sam linebacker ("S") and the strong safety ("$")). But if he drops to the Y side, the better read is Y to X to H against the weakside or Will linebacker ("W"). You can apply this same principal to reading the weakside safety, depending on the pass concept.
The other read that dictates the coverage is the general secondary structure, i.e. whether "1-high" (one deep middle safety, which indicates either Cover 1 man or three-deep zone) or "2-high" (indicating Cover 2 man or zone or Cover 4/quarters). (For a refresher on coverages, check out this.) For example, in the play below against 1-high the quarterback would read the middle dig by Y to X and to R on the curl and swing route, respectively. Alternatively against 2-high the quarterback will read the levels concept to the other side, with Y to A to Z. This is a popular play in the NFL: against single safety defenses you get the same horizontal stretch shown on all-curl above; against two-deep safety defenses you get the high-low read with the various in routes, as well as the trail stretch by the two outside quick square-in routes. For more on this concept, see here and here.
Then again, simply saying "progression" or "read from Y to X to R" is still not to say exactly how to know whether to throw the ball to a receiver. One answer is simply repetitions: endless drills and seven-on-seven will help a quarterback learn when a guy is open and how to get him the ball. Another is to focus on the "accelerators" Darin Slack discusses.
The approach I encourage is to focus on "passing lanes" or "passing windows," or what the Airraid guys call "open grass." The idea is that while the "progression" or sequence of receivers superficially tells the quarterback to look at each receiver — Y to X to R — in fact it tells the quarterback to look at the area that their route is running into. From there the quarterback looks to see if there is a passing lane or "open grass" into which he can throw the ball. Looked at this way, his job is less to throw the ball to the open receiver than it is the "throw the receiver" open by throwing it to the open area, and it is the receiver's job to be there.
Putting all of this together, you build your passing game by first picking out a handful of passing concepts that work independently and together, and in each one telling the quarterback to go through a three step process: (1) determine the deep shell — is it one-high or two-high?; (2) based on that, what is my progression; and (3) during the play, where is the open grass and is the receiver in that spot? Now, just keep this as consistent as possible for the quarterback and rep it every day, and you'll see how those Airraid guys keep turning out such prolific passers. And, more importantly, you can use this approach with any offense. As the OBC says, just pitchin' and catchin'.
Chris
If your quarterback can't deliver the ball to the open receiver, it doesn't matter how well designed, well protected, or otherwise well executed your pass plays are. Surprisingly, however, this supposedly natural skill — the ability to locate and throw the ball to an open receiver — is taught in a variety of ways, some more effective than others. To my mind, there are really essentially two legitimate methods: the progression read and the coverage read. (The illegitimate way is to simply "scan" across — the most common tactic when a quarterback who gets in trouble — but this should never be taught to a young quarterback as an every down technique.)
Progression Reads: A progression read is designed to have two, three, four, or five sequential choices of where to throw the ball. It is important for the quarterback to pre-read the coverage to get an indication of the coverage, but, more importantly, a progression read requires the quarterback to know where each of the receivers will be given the pattern called. This kind of read calls for throwing the ball with rhythm drops — i.e. on a five-step drop, the ball is thrown to the first receiver when the fifth step hits (the "rhythm" throw), the second receiver after a hitch-up or gather step (the "read" or "gather" throw), and the third receiver after resetting the feet.
Limitations of progression reads:
•A tendency to stare at the receiver that is first in the progression, which attracts other defenders.
•It is frustrating for coaches to watch because they can see that a receiver who is later in the progression is wide open. Thus coaches need to know the progression as well as the quarterback — the QB's job is to throw it to the first open receiver in the progression.
•Quarterbacks will lose patience or think that because the first receiver in the progression was thrown to the first time that he won't be there when the play is called again. Progression reads require the coach/quarterback not have their mind made up ahead of time.
Coverage reads: The simple form of this requires that a pass concept be called and the quarterback is told to "throw it to this guy if the defender does this; throw it to that guy if the defender does that." To make this work, the coaches and quarterback must understand the exact coverage called; there might be five receivers deployed but the coverage determines which two or three are "live" for the quarterback. In essence, the quarterback reads defenders, who dictate where the ball will go.
Reading the coverage is normally done in the NFL by looking at the pictures that are taken upstairs during the series (when the quarterback is on the sidelines). In high School and college, press box coaches do most of the work. The quarterback can pre-snap read and get an idea of what might happen. He can see the rotations of the defensive secondary and defender drops at the snap of the ball, but it's difficult to say with certainty what the coverage was (including in the NFL). Reading the coverage is really looking at a defender or defenders. Based on what they do you get to the correct receiver.
Advantages of coverage reads:
•Eliminates the struggle of the progression read trying to determine who was more wide open.
•Eliminates the QB from making up his mind before the snap (we shouldn't do this regardless of if we Progression Read OR Read the Coverage). Read the defenders to get you to the right receiver in Coverage Reads.
•Keeps quarterback on the same page as the Coach because they both know the read and the goal of the play called.
•Quarterbacks don't need to to stare at your receivers to determine who to throw to because they will be looking at defenders (giving more natural look offs).
Despite listing limitations of progressions and advantages of coverage reads, I much prefer progression reads to coverage reads. Coverage reads are great in theory (and maybe are great for long-term, established NFL quarterbacks) but they are not easy to teach and — because while one defender might react as expected you might not be able to predict where the others are, thus causing problems — they can even be misleading.
Of course, what I really recommend are progression reads where the coverage keys what progression is used. It's possible to have progressions with all five receivers in the progression, but it's not likely or common for the quarterback to hit number four or five in the progression. Instead it makes more sense to give him multiple 1-2-3 reads, either keying off the movement of a particular defender or reading the general coverage structure.
The all-curl play provides a good example of a progression keyed off a specific defender. The base idea of the read is that #1 is the middle curl or sit route by the tight-end or inside receiver; #2 is the curl receiver; and #3 is the flat. The idea is to hit the tight-end early until the linebackers squeeze him, then to throw the curl if the flat defender widens to take away the flat.
The Mike or middle linebacker ("M") is the key defender. If he drops straight back or weak, the quarterback should have sufficient numbers to the playside (Y, Z and F against the Sam linebacker ("S") and the strong safety ("$")). But if he drops to the Y side, the better read is Y to X to H against the weakside or Will linebacker ("W"). You can apply this same principal to reading the weakside safety, depending on the pass concept.
The other read that dictates the coverage is the general secondary structure, i.e. whether "1-high" (one deep middle safety, which indicates either Cover 1 man or three-deep zone) or "2-high" (indicating Cover 2 man or zone or Cover 4/quarters). (For a refresher on coverages, check out this.) For example, in the play below against 1-high the quarterback would read the middle dig by Y to X and to R on the curl and swing route, respectively. Alternatively against 2-high the quarterback will read the levels concept to the other side, with Y to A to Z. This is a popular play in the NFL: against single safety defenses you get the same horizontal stretch shown on all-curl above; against two-deep safety defenses you get the high-low read with the various in routes, as well as the trail stretch by the two outside quick square-in routes. For more on this concept, see here and here.
Then again, simply saying "progression" or "read from Y to X to R" is still not to say exactly how to know whether to throw the ball to a receiver. One answer is simply repetitions: endless drills and seven-on-seven will help a quarterback learn when a guy is open and how to get him the ball. Another is to focus on the "accelerators" Darin Slack discusses.
The approach I encourage is to focus on "passing lanes" or "passing windows," or what the Airraid guys call "open grass." The idea is that while the "progression" or sequence of receivers superficially tells the quarterback to look at each receiver — Y to X to R — in fact it tells the quarterback to look at the area that their route is running into. From there the quarterback looks to see if there is a passing lane or "open grass" into which he can throw the ball. Looked at this way, his job is less to throw the ball to the open receiver than it is the "throw the receiver" open by throwing it to the open area, and it is the receiver's job to be there.
Putting all of this together, you build your passing game by first picking out a handful of passing concepts that work independently and together, and in each one telling the quarterback to go through a three step process: (1) determine the deep shell — is it one-high or two-high?; (2) based on that, what is my progression; and (3) during the play, where is the open grass and is the receiver in that spot? Now, just keep this as consistent as possible for the quarterback and rep it every day, and you'll see how those Airraid guys keep turning out such prolific passers. And, more importantly, you can use this approach with any offense. As the OBC says, just pitchin' and catchin'.
