The Opening Drive 12/18: Pure Progression Reads vs Coverage Reads
The popular trend discussion is worth bringing to your attention.
There’s a fun league-wide discussion happening around quarterback play that I want to show you. In case you’ve missed it, the discussion on quarterback play started last week and the idea is whether quarterbacks are reading half of the field, the whole field, or reacting purely to how the defense plays post-snap — or reading leverage. I think the best response to the question, or easiest to understand, I have found comes from Kirk Cousins. Have a listen.
Basically it’s either letting the defense pre-snap dictate your preferred side by seeing split safety looks or single, or simply using the 1,2,3,4,5 type of progressions. Now, as with anything, there’s a wide amount of variance involved and nobody plays the position like a robot — well, some did but not for long. The defense is trying to deceive but they do give you clues and it’s your job as a quarterback to react accordingly and especially adjust to things as the game goes on. Josh Allen discusses that exact topic here with some thoughts on avoiding information overload and just doing your job as an offense.
Here’s a look at how a playbook design would translate for the pure progressions world. Top-down read that has the immediate deep option that allows a quarterback to then work the eyes from right side to left side and through the process.
Let’s hear more on the topic.
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Dan Orlovsky also got into the details this morning going through how quickly quarterbacks try to solve the process post-snap and how you can eliminate things by quickly solving man vs zone. This is why those pre-snap motion indicators — something you hear me discuss often — play a big role in the modern offense approach.
Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips spoke about the process and how that coverage indicator both pre and post play into the speed of those progressions. Then Kevin O’Connell, who I very much enjoy as a football mind, digs into how the evolution of defense disguise basically forced this movement from offenses. Defenses are getting more elaborate in their approach and at times you can’t even decipher the whole coverage plan until two seconds into the drop. Smarter defense demands a smart offense response.
The beauty of what is going on here is that the education of football is happening through this banter. This is the basis of why I got into covering the sport back in 2018. People deserve to know more about the details of what they’re watching every Sunday. The sport is beautiful and it’s a far bigger chess match snap-to-snap than people think or care to know.
The sooner you find a quarterback and coach calling plays who see these things the same way, the more winning will happen inside your franchise. Let’s hope the Browns find that mesh soon enough.
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Love this Jake!