Evaluating a young QB- Part 1

Quaterbacks (QBs) have a tough job. Mini Education #1. QBs have to be able to be leaders. You can’t be a successful QB without leading, continuously. They have to be able to throw the football accurately, but also to throw it on time so it doesn’t get intercepted or knocked down by the other team. They also have to be able to dissect a defense and know what’s going on. Dissecting the defense will help them to know if the play that was called will possibly work or not. And if they called a passing play, QBs not only have to look at what the defense looks like before the snap, but they need to assess what’s going on after the snap too. Such as, is that inside linebacker blitzing? Did that safety just drop down out of the middle? Did that corner bail out at the snap or did he press my WR? These are part of the many things a QB has to go through, snap after snap. But let’s just take a look at one play and see what could have happened. This one play is NOT an indictment on this young QB.

Before we actually look at the play, lets go to class again. Mini Education #2. Let’s talk about 12 personnel. That is 1 RB and 2 TEs. That also means there are 2 WRs on the field. Twelve (12) personnel is usually a RUN package for the offense.

Knowing that, defenses usually use their base personnel defense, which is usually a 3-4 or 4-3 instead of the Nickel or Dime defensive package. And base personnel defenses run two main coverages in the secondary on first down against 12 personnel, especially if the offense lines up in a tight formation. They run man-to-man or Cover 3. In both coverages, one safety lines up about 12-15 yards deep, in the middle of the field. This is called single high. The other safety usually drops down close to the Line of scrimmage for run support. Then, the two cornerbacks are usually 7 -10 yards off of the WRs. In Cover 3, the deep safety protects the middle deep 3rd of the field, and the corners protect the deep thirds on the outside of the field. The Linebackers have to cover everything underneath in that defense. Or, if it’s man-to-man, the LBs play man coverage on the TEs and the RB and the CBs check the WRs.

Finally, the play– This is from the Tennessee/Baltimore game in London. Malik Willis had just come into the game, replacing an injured Ryan Tannehill. After a couple of successful plays and a first down, Tennessee came out in 12 personnel. Baltimore responded with it’s base defense to support a possible run play.

But at the snap, Tennessee runs a play action to Derek Henry. This is the best time to pass the ball, on first down when you have a base defense playing in one of those two coverages that we talked about above, man or cover 3. Let’s take a look below for the post snap analysis.

The offense has snapped the ball and performed a play action fake run play to Derek Henry. Look at the 2 LBs and 1 Safety (circled in red) around the 37 to 39 yard markers here. They’ve been occupied because of the run fake. This gives the WRs (circled in green) room to clear some space behind those Linebackers. And because the back 3 defenders are so far off, there is plenty of space for the WRs. The Defensive backs are protecting their zones or they are playing a loose man-off coverage. Again, this is what a defense does when the offense lines up in 12 personnel and in a tight run formation. It helps the QB to know what coverage the defense is going to run.

Look at the WR (D-Hop) at the bottom of the screen. He’s cleared the Linebackers/Safety . If D-Hop runs a corner or an out route, he will be wide open. Let’s go forward.

Now look at D-Hop, who’s running an out route. That defensive back is toast. The middle safety is looking at the WR on the other side. And the LB or Safety covering the flats is not in position to make a play on D-Hop’s route, yet. And more importantly, look at that clean pocket that Willis has to throw in. This should be an easy throw and catch for an NFL QB. Also, look at the WR up top. He’s running a curl route and he’s open too. That should be another easy completion for an NFL QB. With two WRs open, which one does Willis throw to?

Let’s look and see what happened.

It’s too late to throw to the receiver up top, he is no longer open. But D-Hop is still open at the bottom of the screen. The ball should have been in the air to one of these two guys well before this screen shot, but it is not.

Willis bails out of the pocket. Instead of reading the coverage and anticipating open receivers, he runs for 4 or 5 yards. The open throws would have been for at least 12 yards on one and 15 on the other, both for 1st downs.

A young Quarterback can’t miss these gimme (easy) plays for passing yards. Willis will have to get better at this in order to continue playing. I suspect he has already gone back and looked at film multiple times and will make plays like this in the coming weeks. He has too. Good luck to him.

For Part 2, click here.