On Patrick Mahomes, decision-making and reading defenses

Patrick Mahomes talked on HBO about learning how to read defenses. When? In the pre-snap phase. What happens on a given play for a QB?

Putting it together

(Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)

A quarterback must always be thinking about what the defense is doing, and how he can best attack the coverage. It starts before the snap, but continues throughout the play until the whistle blows. It begins with reading the defense, looking at the front, the safeties, the corners and the linebackers. It continues to the pre-snap phase. Are the defensive backs moving around? Where are the cornerbacks looking? Are they looking at me (which indicates zone) or are they looking at their receivers (which indicates man)? Where is that helmet stripe pointed? Are the safeties moving around? What are the linebackers doing, are they stationary or shifting? If the offense uses motion, how does the defense respond?

Then it continues through the play itself. Watch a quarterback’s eyes once the ball is snapped. Chances are they snap right to the middle of the field, to read the post-snap coverage look from the defense. Are they rotating or spinning the coverage? If you thought they would be single-high before the snap, are they staying in that, or rotating to a Cover 2 look?

All of these questions have to be answered by the quarterback on a given play, before he makes his decision. Remember, of course, while this is happening rather large men are aiming for his chest, hoping to cause him physical harm.

So as a quarterback, every little bit of information you can gleam from the defense before the play begins matters. That, more than anything else, is what Mahomes was referring to in those comments on HBO. Picking up on those pre-snap cues, those indicators. This isn’t a matter of telling the difference between Cover 3 and Cover 2 after the snap, but Mahomes is trying to see if he can predict the future. If he can tell where the defense will end up before the play even begins. That is what allows quarterbacks such as Brady and Drew Brees and other veterans to continue to play at a high level, because they know more times than not where the defense is going to end up, regardless of what they show them before the play begins.

Even still, despite that wealth of knowledge to draw upon, Josh McDaniels, Brady’s offensive coordinator, strives to give him so much information before the play, using motion, personnel, alignment and shifting so Brady can be almost certain what the defense is going to look like once the ball is snapped. That leads to quicker reads, smarter decisions, and well-executed plays.

Decision-making does not happen in a vacuum. For a quarterback, it begins at the huddle, or even before. It begins in the film room, on the iPad, studying the tendencies and the subtleties of a defense. That is what Mahomes wants to improve, his ability to diagnose a defense before they commit to a coverage.

If he’s getting better at that part of the game? Well, watch out, friends.

After ten years of practicing law in the Washington, D.C., area, Mark Schofield now dedicates his time to his first love: The game of football. The former college quarterback’s work has been featured a number of places, including The Washington Post, Bleacher Report, SB Nation, Pro Football Weekly and the Matt Waldman Rookie Scouting Portfolio.