The Illusion of Choice Facing an All-Out-Pressure
Beating Cover 0 all-out-pressures requires the quarterback to abandon all choices but the one that allows him to get the ball out as fast as possible. All other choices are fruitless.
When there is an all-out-pressure from the defense, the offense loses a lot of choices for success. There is usually only one choice: get the ball out.
This post will go over three plays to demonstrate what this lack of choice looks like. The QBs on each play are faced with dire situations and the lack of choice is evident.
Getting Beat By The Pressure
Seven defenders walked up.
These are the moments where the QB must prepare for the worst and be prepared to get the ball out as fast as possible.
The most obvious issue on the play is the lack of a quick route. No route is ready for a throw before 10 yards. And only one route is a run-away route — the vertical by the number three WR at the top, but that route isn’t ready to throw quickly because the WR makes a move inside before getting vertical.
So the QB doesn’t have a good option given the pre-snap look and the post-snap action. It’s in these moments where the situation doesn’t give the QB a choice.
I mean this in two ways. First, the play doesn’t give the QB a choice to defeat the pressure within the design. There is no route where he can catch the ball and throw if the all-out-pressure comes. Second, the all-out-pressure doesn’t give the QB the choice to hold the ball for very long if he has any hope for success.
The all-out-pressure comes and the defense wins the down because the QB didn’t or couldn’t get the ball out fast. There was no choice/chance for success other than getting the ball out.
Beating The Pressure
Now seven defenders come but they don’t show it as obviously as the play before. However, the QB makes the play work.
This play is different for the QB in that the free-runner comes through the A gap so the QB can see it a lot quicker. Though that means the pressure has the potential to hit a lot faster than from the edge. It also means the QB has a chance to make a play on the edge.
Once again, there is no real choice for the QB. While the play design has a choice for him to go to on this pressure as opposed to the prior play, any success for the play requires the QB to get the ball out to this route and this route alone. If you want to beat the all-out-pressure, the ball must get out. That’s the mindset the QB must in these situations to succeed consistently. In that way, there is no choice — get the ball out or get sacked.
Stafford evidences his own mindset on the onset of his escape because he keeps his eyes downfield by getting them to his outlet immediately. He is showing that he understands where the ball must go to beat the pressure. He is showing that he understands he has no choice but to get the ball out. And as it would be, he is still dragged down, and any second later holding the ball would’ve resulted in a sack. No choice.
Beating The Pressure
The defense shows six potential blitzers but only bring five. Still three come free right into the QB’s face.
These free runners mean there is no choice for success other than getting the ball out as fast as possible. The QB does get it out fast and to his quickest route — the bubble in the snag concept to the bottom.
This example is of a QB knowing where to go when he is hot. And while the defense plays the route well in terms of covering it quickly, a missed tackle turns the play from an example of a QB getting the ball out fast into an ample 11 yard gain. But this only happens because the QB realized he didn’t have a choice but to get the ball out.
You can see it in the QB’s drop. He takes a three step but is drifting back on the throw as if he knew he’d have pressure from the moment he caught the ball. This drop choice is evidence to the fact that the QB knew his only choice. His drop did not give him the opportunity to throw any other route in the pattern.
First, he was facing right eliminating the option of throwing left immediately. Second, by dropping with a drift, he didn’t give himself the choice to plant and make a deep throw. And third, his drift didn’t give himself the choice to reset to the left if need be. He understood the situation and responded appropriately.
The Choice
So I have framed this conundrum for the QB facing an all-out-pressure as one where he doesn’t have a choice. But the more accurate wording is that he doesn’t have a choice if he has any hope for success. I am not sure how much this framing matters but it certainly helps me communicate it better to our own QBs.
We are operating under the assumption that on any given play we aren’t hoping to survive, but succeed. With that as the given understanding of what should dictate our options, then the lack of choices becomes more apparent. But at its base level, there is a choice.
If the QB chooses not to get the ball out then he is choosing to eliminate a good portion of the probabilities that lead to success. Of course there are opportunities for him to scramble and escape, especially when there is the immediate interior pressure. But that comes secondary to the immediate answer of getting the ball out before the pressure because that is the most efficient way to lead to a higher chance of success than attempting the scramble.
So while there is a choice if one is choosing between success and failure, there is no choice if one is aiming for success.
Until tomorrow,
Emory Wilhite
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