Scouting Your Opponents Quarterback

by: Dan Weil
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Scouting an opponent’s quarterback is crucial in developing a game plan, as the quarterback often represents the most important player on the field. Here are what four accomplished coaches view as the key elements in scouting the opposition QB.
    For Warren Maloney, defensive coordinator at University of Saint Francis, an NAIA school in Fort Wayne, Ind., the first question is whether the quarterback is the one who makes the offense go. “We like to see whether the guy makes big plays,” Maloney said. “Is he the catalyst in his offense? Sometimes it’s not the quarterback who’s the big playmaker.”
    If the quarterback is indeed the man who makes things happen on offense, the next step is figuring out exactly what his strengths are, Maloney said. “It’s not necessarily his raw passing ability,” he pointed out. “Sometimes it’s a guy who avoids bad situations. We played Carroll College [of Montana] in the NAIA championship game for the last two years. Their quarterback consistently made big plays. He’s not the biggest guy in the world, or the fastest. He’s just a playmaker.”
    It’s not about having the strongest arm or the fastest feet but about the ability to get the job done, Maloney said. “Does he have an ability to keep his football team in a position to succeed? If he does, we want to see how we can neutralize that and what steps we can take to keep the quarterback from being successful.”
    Like Maloney, University of California Head Coach Jeff Tedford and his assistants look first at the full range of skills the upcoming opponent QB has – or doesn’t have. “First you need to see the escapability dimension the guy has,” Tedford said. “Does he bring an ability to run if the pocket breaks down? How much attention do you need to give to that?”
    Second on the list of skills Tedford looks for: “Is he able to throw to all spots on the field? Is he a deep thrower? Can he throw wide across the field? How is he under pressure? Can you get him to pull the ball down easily or is he unflappable in the pocket, keeping his eyes and throwing the ball down field no matter how much pressure you put on him?”
    As Tedford suggested, gauging a quarterback’s mobility is important, other coaches agreed. “First and foremost, what we look at is mobility,” said Tim Schaffner, defensive coordinator for Butler Community College in El Dorado, KS. “Does he move, and if so, is it to buy more time to throw, or is he moving with the intention to run? With some guys it’s clear that once they tuck the ball, they’re gone [running]. The tough guys are the ones who move, and you’re not sure what they’re going to do.”
    Tony Levine, who was a linebacker coach for University of Louisville until joining the Carolina Panthers staff this year, noted that it can be a huge momentum shift if on third down and nine, you have great coverage, but the quarterback scrambles 11 yards for a first down. “You might have to shorten your drops or have a defensive lineman spy on the quarterback,” he said. “Sometimes the linebacker might have to spy him. It all varies. But you have to have that in your game plan.”
    And a mobile quarterback can hurt you with more than just scrambling, Levine noted. “A good call on third and medium is a quarterback draw. So sometimes you’ll do a line game inside. You take the two defensive tackles and twist them and bring the ends inside to flush the quarterback to the outside.”
    Maloney points out that in preparing for a mobile quarterback, you will have to make some sacrifices. “You have to find a way to account for him, and in doing that, you’re taking away from something else,” he said. “Mobile guys will make things happen. Defensive backs can’t cover the receivers forever. It’s difficult to pressure the mobile quarterbacks. Some guys you actually want to keep in the pocket, because they get more dangerous in open territory. If they freelance, there’s no accounting for what will happen.”
    So how does Maloney adjust his game plan to neutralize a mobile quarterback? “If he’s a passer, we’re going to find his favorite targets and eliminate those guys from the game plan right away. Once you take away those options, you just have to deal with him as an individual player.”
    From there, Maloney’s strategy may differ game-to-game. “There are times we’ve assigned a linebacker to spy him. But if you do that, you’re taking someone out of pass coverage. You’re sacrificing something,” he said. “We make sure we contain him. We don’t want to chase him out of the pocket. If we use pressure, we bring it from the outside. We want to be very careful how we bring pressure in blitzes.”
    In that sense, a mobile quarterback really constrains Maloney’s game plan. “We are a team that lives and dies by bringing pressure. A guy that reduces the pressure we can bring changes our style of play. It’s not what we want to do.”
    Determining how much physical and mental toughness an opponent QB has is also an important part of the scouting process, coaches agree. “We try to see what kind of decision makers they are under pressure,” Schaffner said. “It’s like a heavyweight fight: we may not knock him out in the first round, but constant pressure will make some guys fold up in the fourth quarter, which is when you win the game.”
    Schaffner’s defense likes to pressure quarterbacks with blitzes. “We try to see if he’s a front runner, what kind of leadership skills he has. If he’s a front runner, we’ll do something quick, but if he’s a real leader, it’s tough.”
    Good quarterbacks are the toughest players on the field, Schaffner said. “That’s the first thing we talk to our guys about,” he said. “We like to find the quarterback’s quit button, but we tell our guys that if he’ll take shots and still stand in there, we just have to keep going. You just want to make sure your people understand it’s going to be a long day.”
    The task is easier, of course, against quarterbacks who are fragile. “Some guys have a glass jaw and will fold easily,” Schaffner said. They’ll start yipping at their linemen and receivers. Against weaker guys, it’s just a matter of time. Even if you don’t take them out of the game physically, you can do it mentally. The worst thing is if they start pointing fingers at linemen or receivers – then you have them beat.”
    Figuring out a quarterback’s tendencies is a key element of the scouting process, the coaches said. “You try to pick out tendencies in a quarterback’s drop, tendencies in the snap count,” Tedford said. “Does he flinch right before the ball is snapped? Does he give things away with his eyes and shoulders? Are there any flaws in his mechanics that give you an advantage over what he’s doing?”
    There are other subtle things to look for as well, Tedford said. “If at some point he puts his foot back in a different way or does something different on a goal line fade, that’s something you recognize on the tape. We also look a lot at when he puts his hands under center. A lot of quarterbacks just stand there for a while giving cadence. The defense knows the ball won’t be snapped. You can wait to shift your defense until he puts his hands under the center.”
    Levine went through a similar inspection of opposing quarterbacks when he was at Louisville. “We looked for hand signals, cadence, snap count. We looked at a quarterback’s demeanor when checking a play as opposed to when he was giving dummy signals. A big thing is whether he stares at his receiver after the snap. It’s amazing how many college quarterbacks look right at their receiver the whole time.”
    Schaffner said the staring sometimes starts even earlier than the snap. “Some quarterbacks glue in on their receiver from the time they leave the huddle.”

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