How Defenses Disguise Coverage...Don't Let Them Fool You!

Don't be confused when defenses try to disguise coverage and give you a muddy look. Use it to your advantage!


Hey, everybody, welcome to elite athletes TV. I'm Mike Pawlawski, former pro quarterback and quarterbacks coach here at https://www.eliteathletestv.com/ .

The other day, I was looking at film with my quarterbacks of a recent seven on seven session and I was talking to them about muddy looks on defense. And one of my young quarterbacks looked up at me and said, Coach, what do you mean by a muddy look. I realized I use that term a lot here on the channel. So I wanted to explain today what a muddy look is what defenses are trying to do, how you can decipher it as a quarterback and how you can use it against them. I'm going to show you how as a quarterback or as a coach, you can use it against the defense and how you can beat them at their own game.
As a quarterback when defenses are trying to disguise coverage, when they're trying to give you a different looks, they give you a 2 high safety look and spin down to cover three, or say give you a press look like they're running cover zero double A dog Blitz, and then bailing out into three. They're giving you a muddy look. What they're trying to do is make you hold the ball for longer than you normally would as you decipher what's going on on defense. That gives them a chance to get home for a sack and it could take you off of some of your initial reads or initial keys. Defenses do that so they can get home with the pass rush, confuse the quarterbac,k make you hold it for a beat longer and disrupt your passing game and make you generally feel uncomfortable. There are ways around it. We'll take a look at film. I'll show you what I'm talking about. And then we'll talk about how to beat it and how to use it against that defense.

Look for the twitchy guy the guy who looks like he's getting out. If they tell you with body language that they're not coming, they're probably not coming. That takes film study. It takes reps. Don't let them panic you into making a bad decision. Remember that game clock usually gives you lots of time and as a quarterback, you have to manage that clock and understand it.

Number two, use your snap count to your advantage, and get them out of position or get them to show their hands. That's what all that false clapping in college and pro football is about the one clap to clap count. It's to get that defense to declare what they're doing.

Go on first sound early. And often. If you come up, and you go on first sound and you catch them and that bluff Blitz look, or you catch them in that false pressure look and you gash them for a big one, they're gonna be real hesitant to get into that muddy look again. Use it when you have what are called CARI plays, call and run it. Use it with power, trap, counter or toss. Or maybe you've got go routes on the outside, something that's a timing route, maybe you've got outs on the outside. Now you go on first sound you can catch them out of position and get that big shot.

I appreciate you watching a little bit of quarterback training here today. hopefully improve your football skills, improve your football IQ so that you understand the game better and make you a better player.