The QB Power Read
Each play, the QB is assigned a player on the defense to read. This player is normally on the back side of the play and we are looking to make a fast flowing team be honest. If they are not honest and keep somebody on the back side of the play, the QB will pull the ball and make the defense pay. We utilize this read on every run play in the power spread.
The QB has two simple rules.
- Rule #1 = “DE squeezes and chase, Pull and replace”. This means the QB will pull the ball and go opposite vs. a hard flowing DE.
- Rule #2 = “When in doubt, give the ball”. This means if the read is foggy, it is safer to give the ball to the called back, than it is to keep it. ***The QB can never be wrong giving the ball.***
If you do this enough, teams will start playing LB/DE games in order to force a QB pull, etc. That is okay because you are still giving the defense 1 more thing to prepare for and think about. A defense that has to think is a slow defense.
Teaching the QB Read
We teach the QB read in a very simple fashion, we have the QB give the ball EVERY play from the start, but they also read the KEY defender as well. As the QB gives the ball on every play, he must read his key and say "Give" on a give read and "pull" on a pull read. Although the QB does not yet have free reign to pull the ball, he is training his eyes and you are hearing his thought process. We do this in exchange drill (coach Simulated), inside run and team. We have found that this a very effective way to teach the QB his read and give the coaches time to build trust in the QB's decision making process.
Giving the QB options on the back side
You might be thinking, "my QB is not a runner". He doesn't have to be a great runner to go get some yards, but you can also give the QB a throwing option like a bubble to #2 or a juke route to #1. When the QB is attacked, if he is behind the LOS, he can throw the ball out there to his "pitch" read. A couple issues with this, is the QB has to run a little flatter with the ball and it is pretty "expensive" to practice. That is okay if you want to make it a main portion of your offense.
Another option would be to wrap the front side back around to the back side and give the qb a true pitch read. We have done this on Belly, Counter, and trap when the front side back does not have a blocking responsibility.
Here is a picture of what trap would look like:
The QB read game can be called or read and can be truly effective to slow down the pursuit of a defense.
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