look at the place where it is not

Brett Favre had a cannon for an arm. He could throw the ball through some pretty narrow windows. However, Brett threw a lot of picks; It wasn’t because he couldn’t read defenses. He just ignores his training and game plan. Brett loved to take risks with soccer.

Quite a few high school quarterbacks like to emulate Brett Favre. They try to throw the soccer ball through narrow windows. Some of them ignore going through the proper progressions before deciding where to shoot the ball. One big difference between the average high school quarterback and Brett Favre is arm strength. They can’t throw as fast as Brett threw; therefore, they can’t squeeze the ball in tight spots like Brett did.

Another tendency high school quarterbacks have is to watch their receiver all over the field. While they’re busy looking at their receiver, defensive backs can wander the field virtually unnoticed. By the time the quarterback decides to throw the ball, the receiver is usually covered by 2-3 defensive backs. Surprisingly, in this situation, the quarterback decides to throw the ball to that receiver despite double or triple coverage.

Quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rogers go through their progressions, but are more concerned with reading and manipulating defenses. Great quarterbacks like to create defensive confusion.

They like to create 2v1 or 3v2 situations in favor of their receivers. They make a passing decision based on a defensive player’s coverage decision. Once they do their reading, they throw to an open place. By throwing to a spot, the quarterback can see that there is no defensive player there. A good quarterback expects his receiver to be there at the right time. If the receiver is not there, then it is the receiver’s fault. If the quarterback refuses to look at the intended receiver, then he doesn’t reveal the plan. Only he and the receiver know where the place is. The element of surprise is still on his side and by the time he finally looks the spot it’s too late for the defensive backs to react.

After practicing together for long periods of time, quarterbacks and receivers start to think alike. They start reading the coverage in the same way.

Don’t look at your receiver across the field and learn to throw to a spot where the defensive back isn’t. You’ll throw for a lot of yardage and make a lot of defensive backs think they should have picked water polo over football.