Coach to Coach – Four Strategies in Preparing Your Quarterback for Success

At the start of the 2012 season, there were a lot of questions from coaches, players, fans and the local sportswriters regarding the state of our quarterback position. We had graduated a MVP quarterback in 2011 and the heir apparent was an undersized junior without any varsity experience. The questions regarding the position were legitimate and I knew that in order for our team to make another championship run, it was imperative that we continue to have great play at the quarterback position.

Former NFL quarterback and current NFL analyst  Ron Jaworski once said, “The heartbeat of a football team is the quarterback position and I think everyone who has any intelligence about the game understands you must have consistency at that position to be a championship team”. I have coached quarterbacks for 16 seasons and I know without a doubt that there is a correlation between having a championship caliber team and great quarterback play. The relationship between quarterback success and team success can be observed at every level.

In preparing for the 2012 season, I was confident that our quarterback would play very well. I believe in our system and our specific teaching formula that has always allowed my quarterbacks to flourish. We opened the season against an out of state opponent who had played in their state’s large school championship in 2011. They were a great team from a much larger school than ours and they presented a tough challenge for our team and for our quarterback.

Our quarterback passed his inaugural test by throwing for 250 yards, completing 80% of his passes with five touchdowns and no turnovers. His success was sustained throughout the season where he threw for almost 2600 yards, completed 65% of his passes with 34 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He broke almost every meaningful quarterback record in school history. There is no doubt that this young quarterback is gifted, but I also know that our system and our simple teaching formula helped this inexperienced player develop into a great player.

As we consider ways to prepare our teams and players for the 2013 season, I want to share with you four key strategies that may help you and your quarterbacks have great success in 2013.

1. Despise Mistakes and Develop Mental Toughness

Tom Brady is quoted as saying, “Every quarterback can throw a ball; every running back can run and every receiver is fast. But that mental toughness that you talk about translates into competitiveness.” Great players and especially great quarterbacks do not just play the game to play the game. Most possess an assassin’s attitude that desires to bury the competition each and every play. You can make a legitimate point that mental toughness is innate in some while painfully absent in others.

While I believe that there is some truth to that statement, mental toughness and the desire to compete every day on every play should be consistently emphasized and practiced. Admittedly, I can be very tough on my players and especially my quarterback in practice. I explain early in their careers that if they can’t handle my pressure in practice, then how are they going to handle the pressures of the game. I believe that practice should be tough so that the game is easy.

To develop mental toughness and the will to compete, I schedule several periods of competition between the offense and the defense in each practice script. One of my favorites is our third down challenge. During this competitive period, the offense and defense battle for third down supremacy. The stakes are high (we reward the victors and punish the losers), the coaches are amped and very vocal and each side expects to win. I apply as much mental stress on my quarterback during this period as I can. Through the chaos, the noise, the pressure and the obstacles, I expect him to succeed. This period has a game day feel to it and it is one of the ways I teach the art of mental toughness. Another thing I stress is that we must learn to despise mistakes.

Some mistakes are unavoidable but most are not. In my practice, it’s not acceptable for my quarterback to throw interceptions. It’s not acceptable to miss a read or miss a throw. We have a standard and that standard is excellence. I think that too many players and people in general want to make excuses or point the finger when they make a mistake. There is no place for that within my team and especially with my quarterback. In life, most people avoid things they despise. If a player or coach is okay with mistakes then they will encounter a bunch. Despise them and they will be a rare thing in practice and in games. Terry Bradshaw said “What’s the worst thing that can happen to a quarterback? He loses his confidence.” I agree and, therefore, the teaching and practice of mental toughness and the development of a gunslinger’s swagger is a part of our daily practice regiment.

2.  Keep Reads Easy and Familiar

To help our quarterbacks become very comfortable with their reads, I package all of our pass plays into similar read concepts. The packages consist of plays that I categorize as vertical defender reads, flat defender reads, under coverage man reads and over coverage man reads. Even though I have several plays and route combinations in each category, the  read for the quarterback stays relatively the same within each concept. I script practice based on these packages.

On Mondays, we may rep the zone flat defender and man under read plays only. On Tuesday we work on vertical read and over man coverage plays. By being specific each day, we get a ton of familiar reps which leads to efficient execution. This approach allows my quarterback to become very confident in his understanding of each concept as it applies to what area we are trying to attack and who we are trying to beat.

3. Know How To Handle Defensive Pressure

When I design a pass concept, I always have what I call a “blitz beater” route built into each play. These routes are designed to give the quarterback a quick option versus pressure while at the same time making the defense pay for vacating coverage areas. These routes usually  consist of quick under/replace routes versus zone coverage or under/stretch routes versus man coverage.

I schedule a blitz beater (pertains to the wide receivers, running backs and quarterbacks) as well as a blitz pickup (pertains to all protection positions) period into every practice. During these periods, my quarterbacks practice identifying pressure and hitting the blitz beater receiver in the correct area. I teach my quarterbacks to welcome defensive pressure as a great opportunity to make a defense pay for being overly aggressive. The knowledge that each of our pass plays has a route designated to beat pressure schemes and the daily practice of defeating pressure develops confidence in our quarterback and receivers.

4. Read A Defense with a 7 Point Pre-Snap Progression

The majority of the quarterback’s decision making should take place pre-snap. Teaching the art of reading defenses will go a long way towards eliminating doubt, hesitation and mistakes. Our quarterback had a touchdown to interception ratio of almost 6/1 last season. He obviously did a great job of taking care of the football and making great decisions. One of my previous quarterbacks, Ricky Ray, just won his third CFL Grey Cup Championship and is regarded as one of the most intelligent and accurate quarterbacks to ever play in Canada.

Consistency comes in large part from educated confidence. The best way to obtain educated confidence is by anticipating what the defense is going to do before they do it and being right. To help my quarterbacks make the right decisions and reads, I teach a seven point pre-snap read progression. Once the quarterback knows what he is looking for, the read progression can easily be done with a basic scan of the field. The defense will also show these in previous games and thus we will have a point of reference from film study and position meetings to prep him for the game.

7 Point Pre-Snap Read Progression

1.      Is the middle of the field open (cover 2 or 4) or closed (cover 3 or 1)?
2.      Technique of the CBs: soft, press, bail etc.  (where are his hips and eyes)?
3.      Leverage and depth of the flat defender  (Usually the OLB, SS, CB).
4.      Pressure /blitz tell (shallow safety stacked over a OLB, reduced OLB,  creeping ILBs).
5.     Motion adjustments (bounce, roll, travel).
6.     Favorable personnel matchups.
7.     Boundary coverage and field coverage alignments.

I hope these four points in preparing your quarterback for success have been informative. Next month I will expand on the topic of the passing game and quarterback play by introducing three passing concepts that have been extremely successful for me over my career. These concepts are easy to teach and execute and I look forward to sharing them with you.   s