Evolution of the Pre-Snap Process
You throw it to the guy who’s open
Long time no see.
Two years ago I wrote about learning to teach the pre-snap process to quarterbacks.
Much has changed since then.
To set the stage for the rest of this post, please read this story from Dub Maddox, OC & QB coach at Union High School in Oklahoma:
Once upon a time I taught MOFO / MOFC, D.E.L., Mirrored route concepts, pick a side, & defender key read...needless to say that played right into the defenses favor...
Study any profession that requires performance under pressure, examine the top 1% & you will discover commonalities that allow the individual to accelerate pattern recognition.
I’ve made the mistake in the past of coaching my QBs in a white board world. Using a language that operates in the absence of pressure. It’s critical to develop a language of leverage that accelerates pattern recognition under pressure.
I challenge all coaches that go to a clinic to listen to a coach speak on QB play & the passing game to ask this question...”How do you teach your QB to know what “open” is?”
The context of coaching the passing game is applied & affirmed from that definition. And in the absence of a clear definition of “open” who is right when a QB throws an INT to WR that the Coach says was not “open”?
“Eye discipline” for open is like, “Balance” for throwing... They are canned coaching terms that leave the QB empty in the environment they play w/in. I can have the most disciplined eyes & best balance in the game & still not know “open” or how to “throw”...
I start with this story to frame the problem we have when teaching quarterbacks a pre-snap process.
Namely, the ability to see what is open while facing pressure.
Within a pre-snap process then, our goal is to better help the quarterback to anticipate what is going to “open” based on clues the defense gives him pre-snap to relieve the pressure. Our groundbreaking theory moving forward in this post is that if the quarterback knows what in the world is going on before the play then he will perform better.
But here’s the issue we’re facing that is so often ignored:
If different plays require different actions post-snap, how can we teach one process pre-snap process?
Not to pile it on, but according to Maddox these are the essential questions the quarterback needs to answer for any given pass play:
What is intent of the pass concept being called?
What coverage am I seeing?
What is the weakness of the coverage?
What is the protection?
What is my hot?
What is my drop?
Who are the primary defenders placed in conflict?
How do I visually read the pass concept?
How do I visually process defender leverage & intent?
When do I confirm a throw to maintain route integrity?
When do I visually deviate from a prescribed progression?
Where do I recalibrate vision when this occurs?
Why did the decision succeed or fail?
How do I communicate defender leverage & intent with my receivers and coach?
Each play is different. Each play requires the quarterback to identify different defensive threats. Each play requires the quarterback to use different tools to combat those threats.
This is a problem.
Problem solver
Your quarterback has to think for himself.
He has to interpret information accurately and make good decisions. He needs to be able to adapt and be creative.
And as a coach trying to solve this problem, it’s so easy to give the quarterback the answers and call it a day.
For example, you might run a split field concept where one side is a zone beater and the other side is a man beater. Your quarterback then observes if the defense is in zone or man and picks the appropriate side.
The sneaky problem is that your quarterback might not know what makes one side a zone beater and the other a man beater while knowing which side is the zone beater side and which is the man beater side.
It’s so easy to say, “we like this slant-flat concept vs. man” and end the conversation there. But does the quarterback know why we like this concept vs. man?
Some quarterbacks will easily grasp why the slant-flat concept works vs. man coverage through their own thinking or experience. Others might not.
In my 5 years of coaching, I have learned over and over again that telling doesn’t equal teaching. Just because you tell a player something, doesn’t mean he knows it. This is obvious, but I’ve done it and seen others do it.
How many times have you thought to yourself, “I told him that already!”? I have often, but I’m still waiting for that thought to prove productive.
Because if I had truly taught him, he would know.
Are you teaching if your student never learns?
The only solution
Enough of this type of teaching/telling will produce an order taker, not a problem solver.
And isn’t that his job? To solve problems?
Question for you: So how do you help your quarterback turn into a problem solver?
Answer for you: Make him solve the problems himself.
This is the process (or theory) we are working through right now.
What if I give the quarterback the tools, but allow him figure out how to use them?
Now we aren’t hanging him out to dry and saying, “here’s the hammer, now go figure out how to build the house.”
But every play is different. I don’t think that there is a process that you can teach your quarterback that will work for every play you have in your playbook. I wish there was.
You need to be looking at different things on different plays.
But how do you help your quarterback get there?
How can he identify the unique keys for each play?
The only solution is common sense.
Teaching common sense
Now that I’ve laid out the problems we’re facing, I will explain how we implement an open and fluid pre-snap process that gives the quarterback tools to figure out where the ball should go post-snap. We will model this process after the late, great Mike Leach’s intricate process.
Mike Leach knew how to teach quarterbacks better than anyone. Take a look at any of his quarterbacks’ production every single year. It’s an incredible demonstration of proficiency and consistency.
So naturally, his process was complex, multi-faceted, and took years to master. Luckily for us, he explained the entire process in excruciating detail.
Read Leach reveal his process for teaching a play to his quarterback:
“OK, so you go here, and you go here, and you get here,” Leach continued. “And you, the guy with the ball? You throw it to the guy who’s open.”
He crumbled up the paper and threw it at a trash can about 6 feet away. Nailed it.
“There,” he said, “You’re a football coach.”
Could it be so simple?
I believe yes, it can be. Seeing the world through Leach’s lens provides ultimate clarity. There is no room for misinterpretation. Half the battle in getting anything done is focus on the right things. Knowing what to put your effort in to produce the best results.
In relation to quarterbacking and the conversation here regarding the pre-snap process, we’re talking about what we’re teaching our quarterback to look at and how to help him interpret what he’s looking at.
And we must do it through this lens: our goal is to get the ball to the open guy.
This extends to all aspects of the game, run or pass and even play calling. If the run play is the best chance to get the open guy the ball then let’s do that. If it’s a quarterback keep on a run, then let’s do that. If it’s throwing a deep ball, then let’s do that.
With that in mind, here goes our process:
What is the play?
What is the defensive structure?
Where will the ball probably go based on the answers to the first two questions?
Less technically speaking:
What are we trying to do?
What is the defense trying to do?
What’s our best chance at gaining some yards?
Life is a game of odds. So is football. The quarterback needs to play this game of odds and find the best probable solution to the problem the defense is giving him.
For example, if we are running a 4 verticals concept with a check down and the defense is playing cover 4, where will the ball PROBABLY go?
The check down. That is common sense IF you understand what space 4 verticals is attacking and what space cover 4 is defending.
And that is the essence of the process: what space is our play attacking and what space is the defense defending?
And that is also the essence of what our focus should be when we’re teaching quarterbacks. You have to make sure your quarterback knows those two things.
The goal isn’t to simplify things for the quarterback simply to simplify things.
We shouldn’t run from the complex, if needed. There are still 11 guys over there on defense roaming about and screwing with us or screwing up their own assignments.
But remember, football isn’t rocket science.
Quarterbacks struggle because they don’t what to look at. There is a lot of chaos all around them.
Two primary things will solve this problem:
Understanding where to go with the ball.
Repetition.
Isn’t that how you solve most problems? Understand the solution and then do it over and over again.
Back to the basics
This post’s purpose was to identify the limits that we are working within when teaching quarterbacks a pre-snap process and then introduce my proposed solution (that I am actively testing).
This solution and process is about driving in the fundamentals through repetition to give the quarterback the intuition that will become common sense for him.
The goal for is as the coaches is the strip away the complexities by giving the quarterback the right perspective and focus. The quarterback will develop the right perspective when he understands his goal: throw the ball to the open guy.
These are the thoughts about coaching the position that I am thinking through as a result of my own failures coaching the position. It’s my “working theory” moving forward and as always, open to change.
Because overcoming the complexities of the sport are vital, but there is only so much time in the day and care in the world. My bet is the best approach begins with clear expectations and a clear goal.
Until next time,
Emory