Quick Kicks July 18, 2016 - Dave Archibald on Identifying Pass Defenses - a podcast by Inside The Pylon

Watching film can be a difficult endeavor, even for experienced scouts. Offenses and defenses in the modern game are experts in the art of disguise, making it challenging to identify coverages and schemes. The July 18 Quick Kicks Podcast has hosts Chuck Zodda and Mark Schofield joined by fellow Pyloneer Dave Archibald, as they look to identify keys to reading defenses for both fans and players. Dave's recent article on the topic was the genesis of this episode, and features and in-depth look at several critical focus areas. Topics this show include:

-The number of deep safeties and their alignment, and how this provides a clue towards the type of coverage employed (2:03)
-Disguised coverages and the mechanics of how teams look to show one look and roll into another post-snap (3:11)
-Use of motion by an offense to get a defense to tip its hand as to whether it is aligned in man or zone coverage (4:34)
-Outside cornerbacks and the two types of turns utilized by them in coverage, and how these turns reveal information about the defensive scheme (5:55)
-The decline of the Tampa 2 system and other similar schemes, and the key reasons for this drop-off (8:19)
-Understanding zone positioning and how identifying the proper location of a zone helps to clarify the scheme in use (11:10)
-The challenge presented to quarterbacks to identify all of this information in real-time and still make the correct read (13:04)
-How combining a number of different keys helps to give clarity to the scheme being used, as certain concepts on their own can exist in multiple coverages (14:29)

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