00:00I got to get your thoughts. Yesterday, we had Warren Moon and Phil Simms on and John Gruden had made
00:05a comment this week saying that the game is not evolving.
00:09It's dissolving at the quarterback position. And he's referencing quarterbacks not being prepared to read the complex defenses of today.
00:19As a guy who's been an offensive coordinator on numerous teams, a former NFL head coach, do you agree or
00:25disagree with that statement on where the game is today with the quarterback position?
00:30Well, you know, the term dissolving is also can be evolving. In John's case, it sounds like it's evolving or
00:39digressing. I don't think it is. I think it's as great a game as it's ever been.
00:46When it comes to the quarterback position, you know, what you hear more about is progression reading as opposed to
00:54reading coverage.
00:55And I think what you're seeing in a lot of a lot of places is I've always taught the quarterback
01:00that there's certain, you know, pre-snap and post-snap identifiers that can get you to the weakness of the
01:07coverage.
01:08A lot of coaches feel like the coverage is so complicated that there's no way for quarterbacks to read them,
01:14but they give them progressions.
01:15And when they give them progressions, the guy who might be wide open is the guy who's number four or
01:20five.
01:20And, you know, the clock just runs out. And I think that the teams you see progression read oftentimes are
01:26the teams with the most sacks.
01:27And the object of the game is to get the quarterback to complete a throwing motion as fast as he
01:31can.
01:32And you see that from the Brady's and the Montana's. You go back and, you know, the people will hit
01:37Gannon, but the ball's going to be out fast because we can find the weakness right away.
01:42I still believe you can just watching tape. That's why there's when it's 11 on 11, there's exponential and variations
01:50that go on forever.
01:52But I think that's where it all starts. Defense, the athletes are better. The speed of the game is better.
01:59It's harder to it's harder to give the quarterback a quiet space to complete a throwing motion.
02:04And really, that's the object, you know, when it comes to the passing game is how can I get my
02:08guy to get the ball out as fast as he can?
02:10And if the weakness of the coverage is number five in the progression, that makes it very a little more
02:16difficult.
02:16But that's where a lot of a lot of quarterback coaches have gone and it works for some and for
02:22others.
02:23They have different ways of doing it. But I don't think the game's dissolvable.
02:26I think it's a beautiful game and you stand behind the quarterback in today's game.
02:30It just as I say in the book, it just leaves you breathless.
02:34Do you agree that in what Warren Moon said yesterday, Warren said back in the day,
02:40one of the reasons that the completion percentages weren't where they are today is because the game was played more
02:45in space today.
02:46Back then, it was more of a vertical game. He thinks now because like you just said, coach, getting the
02:52ball out on time, checkdowns, you know, being able to have look at Tom Brady.
02:57He made a complete career out of those checkdowns, not with deep vertical passing.
03:01Are we in just in a different place today? Just the environment has changed for the quarterback.
03:08Yeah, I mean, it's it's all about how fast can he get the ball out of his hands.
03:12And, you know, over the last generation of teams and the game of football, the bubble screens have just been
03:19overwhelming in terms of how many times a ball is thrown, you know, on or near the line of scrimmage.
03:26There's there just seems to be and I can't I don't have the data for it, but there just seems
03:31to be more and more of this going on that, you know, increases the percentage.
03:36But, you know, it's still zone coverage. You ought to be in the high 60s, maybe low 70s and man
03:42coverage.
03:42If you convert 56, 57, 58 percent against man coverage, you're you're a high end quarterback throwing the ball on
03:51the black of the plate.
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