The article “Avoid a Quarterback Controversy – An Objective System for Grading Your quarterbacks” in the February issue of American Football Monthly explained the criteria we first used for evaluating and determining our starting quarterback for the 2010 season. This post will illustrate some of that criteria that we use in determining our starter and constantly evaluating the performance of our quarterbacks. As stated in the article, this is not only a system for the quarterbacks, but the data is also useful in determining what our quarterbacks are best at and what may need more work in practice.
The data tells me as their coach what we need to work on more in practice in both terms of individual technique and overall execution of scheme.
Release
Release refers to how quickly the quarterback is getting the ball out. Our routes are calibrated to the quarterbacks footwork, and each type of route has an expected timing that goes along with it. If the quarterback is using his progression properly, then each route will have a very small window when it should be thrown. For those of you familiar with Darin Slack and Dub Maddox R4 system, that is exactly what we are evaluating when we are looking at the timing of the quarterback’s release.
First is an example that shows a Rhythm route being thrown in 2.1 seconds. The flash fake usually takes us to the top end of our time, but the slight hitch step is his error.
Next is an intermediate route thrown at 2.4 seconds. He used his pre-snap process to check us into this play which resulted in a chain mover.
The check down is thrown at 2.4 after progressing through rhythm and intermediate routes. These types of routes can be thrown sooner as a hot route if needed.
Finally, the quarterback goes through his progression not seeing anything he likes and escapes to buy time. His initial movement is at 2.5 seconds when it should be in his progression. This movement buys him more time and he releases the ball 3.8 seconds after the snap. The result is a chain mover and the drive stays alive.
Accuracy is defined as proper ball placement and putting it inside the frame of the receiver or within his reach. Receivers are expected to save us on throws that are slightly off by jumping, diving and extending, but that’s not the world we want to live in on a regular basis, so we evaluate the QB on giving the receiver a ball within his reeach properly placed away from a defender. We will not count drops against the quarterback, but that amazing catch by a receiver may actually count against the accuracy grade if the receiver did something to save a bad throw.
When we are evaluating this aspect of performance, we do not count dropped balls that are within the framework of the receiver against the quarterback. We always look at completion rate, but accuracy gives us a better picture of how well the quarterback is doing with ball placement. The next video is an example of this.
Either the quarterback is making the correct decision in his execution of the passing game, or he is not. This is something very easily evaluated on film. The next example shows the quarterback missing a rhythm post for a big play. He received a minus on his pre-snap process because the depth of the safety should have alerted him to the opportunity for a big play. He clearly moves his eyes too quickly and misses the post.
While the article focused on the passing game, we also give a daily grade on run game mechanics. The expectation is that run and play action always look the same in terms of the quarterbacks body position and speed in which he is carrying things out. At times they will be forgetful and we need to remind them that they aren’t there to have the best seat in the house to watch the game.
The next example shows the proper execution of run game mechanics. That is the only grade he receives on this play, but we will calculate his total on run game mechanics. We expect him to be in the high 90% range.
Improper mechanics of run game execution in this next example causes multiple errors on the play-action pass tied to our counter play. The quarterback doesn’t get his hips all the way around on the execution of his fake which puts his eyes in the wrong place (missed his rhythm route), and puts him in poor throwing position causing him to throw an inaccurate ball behind the receiver.
Our total grade for camp is updated on a daily basis and shared with our players. Below are examples of a single practice evaluation and the overall grade for camp.
QB Practice Grades
Camp grades
As stated in the magazine article, our quarterback evaluation system is a very valuable tool for improving our offense. Hopefully these examples provide you ideas with how you can implement a system like this to improve your quarterbacks and your offense.