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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Teach Your Quarterback To Protect Himself

by: Josh Shaffer
Offensive Coordinator and QBs Coach, Ft. Pierce Central HS (FL)
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Our philosophy at Ft. Pierce Central is to demand that the quarterback be the field general and leader. In order for him to do this, he must have the ability to command everything on the field, even the direction of the protection. We ask our quarterbacks to identify the possible blitz and protect themselves.

One advantage of the spread is that defenders have to come from a distance. This distance forces the defense to show its hand. For the quarterback, it is his job to identify which direction to send his protection. In full-slide or 6-man protection, it is our philosophy to send the slide or double-read side toward the blitz. Even with a new or inexperienced QB, this is easier than it sounds if a few assumptions are made. We first assume that those in the box are not coverage defenders but automatically considered potential blitzers. Anybody outside the tackle box is considered a potential coverage defender.
The quarterback has to understand where on the field the free safety is in relationship to his hash for two reasons. The most obvious is for coverage. The second is to identify the direction he needs to call his protection. If the safety inverts or skies, then this will alert the quarterback that the coverage defender to that side has now turned into a possible blitz defender. He may or may not come; however, it is our philosophy to protect first, pass second. The quarterback has two directional calls: a right call (e.g. Rhino) and a left call (e.g. Leo). This call is made pre-snap for all plays including runs. This is so when we protect we can give a direction. In run situations this can be used as dummy calls.

The R and L in the name help the O-Line to communicate which side they are going to identify the Mike linebacker, or which direction the slide is being sent. The Mike will be the first linebacker from A-gap out in the direction of the call. When the QB communicates this R or L call, the running back is now responsible to get himself in position to block his assignment which will now be the first inside linebacker blitzing away from the call. Let’s take a look out of a base 2x2 formation (Diagrams 1 and 2).

Once the quarterback gives the R and L direction, he can change it. However, the RB rule is that you are only allowed to switch sides of the quarterback one time. After that, you have to work back over post-snap.

If you have experienced tackles or trust the tackles more than your quarterback, then they can assume calls by looking up the safety to their side. They can help to identify the potential blitz side and help identify the blitzers.

One last rule: if a potential coverage player becomes a potential blitzer it is important to now make this potential blitzer the Mike linebacker. This changes the combo of the uncovered guard and center, and it also changes the RB’s responsibility. The RB’s new responsibility is the ‘original Mike’ or the next man over to the call side. However, he still has this man to anybody else’s opposite side. This call or rule will help prevent overloads and zone pressures. It also keeps the philosophy of protecting inside first, outside second or a true Mike protection (See Diagram 3).

If you adopt this philosophy, it can create tempo and help the quarterback know where pressure is coming from and then adjust accordingly. We highly suggest that you also have plans for an uncovered Cover 0 and a way to communicate to the quarterback to ‘flip’ his call and possibly run checks to take advantage of soft alley players.






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