How to Throw a Post Against a Post Safety
Top of the morning to you — today we observe the other side of fear.
The fear we face today is the panicky feeling you get in your chest when you see your QB launch a post right into a post safety. This play under scrutiny is an instance of a “rule breaker.” FSU QB Jordan Travis completed a deep post against a defensive structure with a post safety sitting right in the middle of the field.
As far as I know, these types of plays “shouldn’t” work because they break one of the rules that we often teach our players in the passing game: “when there is a post safety, don’t even think about the post.”
Watch the rule breaker:
In 21 personnel against a MOFC Man defensive structure, the Noles have a Post-Wheel concept dialed up into the boundary. Against any closed structure, we would be safe to assume the Post attacking the middle of the field would not be open because there is a safety in the middle of the field.
Alas, here we are, left in shambles and picking up the pieces of our oh-so-carefully crafted rules.
When a play is called with a post, the post space is one of the first spaces on the field to look at pre-snap to determine the likelihood of the post becoming open post-snap. And with the wheel run by a speedy RB barreling full speed ahead, a fully capable man answer is built into the play.
So why does this play work?
Why Does This Play Work?
The post safety is cheating toward the ball at the snap, which is on the right hash, and the post is to that side. So this play doesn’t work because the post safety is playing away from the post. The safety is standing at 14 yards at the snap and bounces back to 15 where he makes his fateful bounces again.
Here is the moment QB Jordan Travis begins his throwing motion:
But this play is one of those where one player made a slight mistake and Travis made him pay for it. The free safety’s late reaction made the play possible, but it was Travis’s willingness to throw it which made the play work. While the player’s assignment should’ve kept this play from working, Travis believed in what he saw and let it rip.
When we teach QBs the fundamentals of space and how to attack that space, there is a tendency to think there is a set of rules that must guide what exactly how we must think about this space. When we teach any play, we even refer to players’ assignments as “rules.”
Consistency is the key to a lot of football. It’s not about doing the right thing some times, but over time. So it’s best practice to follow these rules and due to probabilities, you’ll come out on top if you stick to these rules. In fact, on the very next play, Travis breaks the rule discussed in this post about not throwing WR screens into cloud or press corners and made his WR pay for it:
But football isn’t black and white and there is a lot of gray that players have to navigate through. On the post completion, the free safety had a particular leverage and hesitation on the post that allowed Travis to make the throw. However, not every free safety would be late to that throw. A safety who had quicker reflexes and/or was faster might’ve been able to get there and break the play up or make an interception. The circumstances of this play allowed Travis to break the rules and make a play.
And football is ultimately about making plays and big time players make big time plays.
Until tomorrow,
Emory Wilhite
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