I heard Joe Theisman say of Tom Brady last week that he completes more that 79% of his passes in between the numbers. That percentage drops to 17% outside the numbers. Traditional point drop zones leave open windows in the high percentage areas of the field, so what coaches actually want is to force the ball outside the numbers and down the field. Those are the zone of the field where completion percentage is actually lowest.
When coaches at my clinics say, "Its too risky, we can't do that Coach" that is risk aversion talking. Last night in the superbowl Tom Brady had a poor statistical night by his standards. ESPN stats reported that he was 14-24 throwing inside the numbers, one of his lowest outings of the season. Although I know a lot of OC's that would take 14-24 as a pretty good night, it doesn't fit with the typical Tom Brady stat line. A completion percentage below 60% occurred for him ony 4 times in their 19 games, reinforcing just how dominant he had been between the numbers.
With this in mind, I think it is simply too risky to play a traditional point drop and allow the QB to High low our Mike LB, or throw curls inside of a flat defender. What we really want is to force the ball outside the numbers, and down the field. Last night ESPN stats reported that Brady was 0-5 on passes over 20 yards.
My take: even a top flight NFL QB can be proven mortal if you force the toughest throws on the field, and continue to pressure him. I don't know about you, but I don't have a team on my schedule with a Tom Brady on it- so how much more effective would such a stragey be for those of us who coach in College or High School?