QB- Reading a Defense
I love watching football games from the QB perspective to try to understand what they see on each play. I find it fascinating to study defenses and have tried on my own to watch and determine what defenses teams are playing each game, set of downs or certain plays.
A few months ago I came across some studies from high school coaches that actually ask their players to play Madden or NCAA Playstation games to help them get accumstomed to seeing defenses and finding weaknesses so I went about trying the same thing and it works without a doubt. Granted you aren’t getting the free lancing of Ray Lewis or Troy Polamalu but you are getting the basic sets and reads down which is very important.
As a young Qb i distinctly remember the first time I read a defense during a play. The team was in a 2 deep zone with 2 safeties playing 15-20 yards off the ball and we called a deep pass to the halfback out of the backfield. As the halfback got past the linebacker he was let go and I had an option, to either throw the ball quickly or simply wait and throw the ball over the safety to the running back. The safety had 10 yards on my receiver so I threw the ball as hard as I could past the linebacker and in front of the safety to the halfback. He caught the ball and ran back to the huddle and asked me why I threw it so quick and I told him about what I saw. That started something for me that I’ve loved ever since.
Whenever I play my nephew in a game of NCAA football and utterly destroy him, I try to teach him to watch the safeties and read the blitz and count the rushers. I try to teach him about hot routes and who to throw to if a certain player blitzes so that he is always prepared. The best QB today at reading is Kurt Warner. I thought it was Peyton Manning and it may be but for my fun I love watching Warner throw against teams because until he gets to the red zone he’s as good as it gets at picking defenses apart and taking what is given him.
Am i suggesting to play video games to learn how to understand defenses, yes!!! It works and it’s fun. Don’t hesitate to use instant replay to see why a play was successful or why it failed so you can learn. As a tool it doesn’t get better than that.
