The Read Option, The Future, or a Fad?

[Max997]

Its a fad that wont last especially when QBs start taking additional hits and end up getting hurt

 

teams also spent the entire offseason planning how to defend it so although plays will still be made out of it i dont see it being nearly as successful this season

 

Baltimore finally defended it the way you are supposed to in the super bowl and thats sending a defender at the QB on just about every play

Edited September 5, 2013 by Max997

[Captain Hindsight]

Wildcat took the ball out of the QB, Read option doesn't. The read option is here to stay b.c it forces the LBers to freeze for a second. This will not be for every QB only the ones with run ability.

 

The read option is just as safe as any other play. No one has gotten injured off of it yet.

Until someone suffers a serious injury week one, the read option will stay

[26CornerBlitz]

It can be an effective part of the offense as long as it's not overdone by exposing the QB to too many hits. It's of course a risk/reward proposition, but why not take advantage of the full complement of skills that a team's QB may have?

[NoSaint]

It can be an effective part of the offense as long as it's not overdone by exposing the QB to too many hits. It's of course a risk/reward proposition, but why not take advantage of the full complement of skills that a team's QB may have?

 

yup - it likely always atleast stays in the playbook to keep a defense honest but whether you run it once every week or two, or 10+ times a game is a different discussion.

[Big Turk]

itll all come down to if qbs can stay healthy. if 2-3 go down in september i think you see coaches get away from it. if the injury risk isnt as large as previously portrayed it may stick around.

 

Depends on how much the NFL allows the QBs to be hit carrying out the fakes...if they take a beating it will likely only be used sparingly...

 

Funny how for a long time NFL people thought it would never work in the NFL but its turned out to work very well

[Meatloaf Sandwich]

Until someone suffers a serious injury week one, the read option will stay

 

Any player can suffer a serious injury on any play.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Meatloaf Sandwich

[KDIGGZ]

itll all come down to if qbs can stay healthy. if 2-3 go down in september i think you see coaches get away from it. if the injury risk isnt as large as previously portrayed it may stick around.

+1, it worked last year but it also showed that you don't want your franchise QB taking hits (RG3). Franchise QB's are too valuable to have them running around like that being vulnerable

[Captain Hindsight]

Any player can suffer a serious injury on any play.

When Kaepernick breaks his leg on a read option d Colt McCoy kills that team you can bet teams start to think twice about it

[26CornerBlitz]

When Kaepernick breaks his leg on a read option d Colt McCoy kills that team you can bet teams start to think twice about it

 

His leg has no possibility of being broken in the pocket?

[Taro T]

Depends on how much the NFL allows the QBs to be hit carrying out the fakes...if they take a beating it will likely only be used sparingly...

 

Funny how for a long time NFL people thought it would never work in the NFL but its turned out to work very well

The issue always was they didn't want the QB getting the snot getting beaten out of him. It remains to be seen whether a run option QB can be durable.

 

RG3 didn't even make it an entire season without suffering a major knee injury.

[NoSaint]

 

 

Any player can suffer a serious injury on any play.

 

and i might win the lottery but that doesnt mean that my odds are good or that a qb running the ball isnt more likely to get hurt than a qb in the pocket. lots of things are possible but odds can vary quite a bit.

Edited September 5, 2013 by NoSaint

[Taro T]

His leg has no possibility of being broken in the pocket?

Obviously, a QB could break their leg in the pocket. But there are a whole lot of rules governing how a QB can be hit in the pocket (or not hit, more accurately). They don't have nearly the same protections when out of the pocket nor when appearing to be a runner while still in the pocket.

 

Unless the rules on hitting running QBs change dramatically, I don't expect to see most teams using a run option as a major component of the offense in ~3 years. MOST QBs aren't built to take that kind of punishment; and even those that are, if they've got an accurate strong arm, why risk losing it for a decade's worth of production by having that be a major part of the O?

[HankBulloughMellencamp]

What an excellent thread/question ... this subject has so much buzz these days. It's almost as if RGIII, Wilson and Kaepernick have already re-invented the QB position. But I am not buying it.

 

The read-option is very hard to defend, to be sure. It requires a lot of discipline (and defensive prep time) to be handled and/or minimized effectively. But I believe this will be another fad that fades right out just as the wildcat has, with the possible exception of an offense run by a young, agile lummox such as a Newton or a Kaepernick. And even then, time will catch up to them.

 

The reason is simple: over the last 40+ years of NFL history, very few mobile QBs have stood the test of time. They eventually: a) had to adapt to become more of a pocket-passer to stick around ... or b) were beaten into submission/obliivon by the unlimited cavalcade of mean NFL defensive players. Cunningham, Young, Vick, Culpepper ... even Elway all adapted into more of what has proven to work year after year - quick-read pocket passing.

 

Not unlike young flamethrowers in baseball who rely on fastball/curve initially, but evolve into savvy veteran hurlers. It may have been fun imagining the possibilities while it lasted, but time on the job eventually forced the change. Look at what has happened to RGIII in only one season - he was concussed trying to run one in, and suffered two significant injuries to the same knee (OK so maybe the 2nd was avoidable). There is just no way he runs as many designed options and/or QB keepers from this day forward. And Russell Wilson is like a new Porsche right now, but if they run him too much, he WILL be in the shop.

 

The only QB protoype that has stood the test of time, year after year, is the quick-release, "take what they give you and don't take extra hits" style of guys like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Joe Montana etc. And these guys are now doing more than ever at the line of scrimmage, audibilizing and taking advantage of matchups to dictate the pace of the game to their advantage.

 

Take what's there, and live to play another down. Guys who depend on the scramble seem to eventually get scrambled.

 

Looking forward to enjoying the new season! Cheers, football enthusiasts!

[NoSaint]

 

The issue always was they didn't want the QB getting the snot getting beaten out of him. It remains to be seen whether a run option QB can be durable.

 

RG3 didn't even make it an entire season without suffering a major knee injury.

 

and CK didnt play a full season, so we dont know with him yet.

[shibuya]

Defenses will adjust to it, so a Read-option QB better be a great pocket passer as well..

 

For it to remain successful you have to have the personnel to balance multiple styled attacks to keep D's honest

[26CornerBlitz]

Obviously, a QB could break their leg in the pocket. But there are a whole lot of rules governing how a QB can be hit in the pocket (or not hit, more accurately). They don't have nearly the same protections when out of the pocket nor when appearing to be a runner while still in the pocket.Unless the rules on hitting running QBs change dramatically, I don't expect to see most teams using a run option as a major component of the offense in ~3 years. MOST QBs aren't built to take that kind of punishment; and even those that are, if they've got an accurate strong arm, why risk losing it for a decade's worth of production by having that be a major part of the O?

 

Excellent points to consider.

 

Defenses will adjust to it, so a Read-option QB better be a great pocket passer as well..For it to remain successful you have to have the personnel to balance multiple styled attacks to keep D's honest

 

This is exactly why Tim Tebow and Vince Young will never have sustained success in the NFL.

Edited September 5, 2013 by 26CornerBlitz

[BillsBytheBay]

It will work, until someone stops it. The new pipe line of college QB's are more athletic. It's not like they were trying to bring Arkansas's offense to the NFL, the option is one of the oldest, and somewhat common I college plays.

 

Mike Vick ran it in ATL. Worked that whole time too.

 

 

Obviously, a QB could break their leg in the pocket. But there are a whole lot of rules governing how a QB can be hit in the pocket (or not hit, more accurately). They don't have nearly the same protections when out of the pocket nor when appearing to be a runner while still in the pocket.

 

Unless the rules on hitting running QBs change dramatically, I don't expect to see most teams using a run option as a major component of the offense in ~3 years. MOST QBs aren't built to take that kind of punishment; and even those that are, if they've got an accurate strong arm, why risk losing it for a decade's worth of production by having that be a major part of the O?

its just as scary for you're QB to be counting on a tackle, who is a revolving door. If the play is designed, and the QB can make the right read, I think he is safer than stepping back in the pocket and getting wrecked.

[Captain Hindsight]

His leg has no possibility of being broken in the pocket?

Youre missing my point. Its an unneccesary play for a QB. Would you want Colt McCoy in there becuase Kaep ran a 4 yrd play to the left side and got hit awkwardly?

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the read option. I think it will stick around but if someone suffers a serious injury, it will be used far less often. JMO

[Joe Miner]

If the NFL thinks the read option will make them money, they will change the rules to make it safer for the QB.

[Taro T]

It will work, until someone stops it. The new pipe line of college QB's are more athletic. It's not like they were trying to bring Arkansas's offense to the NFL, the option is one of the oldest, and somewhat common I college plays.

 

Mike Vick ran it in ATL. Worked that whole time too.

 

its just as scary for you're QB to be counting on a tackle, who is a revolving door. If the play is designed, and the QB can make the right read, I think he is safer than stepping back in the pocket and getting wrecked.

With all due respect, it isn't the same thing. If you have a revolving door at tackle, you can still keep a TE or RB in to help him block. And when the D gets through, they still have limitations on where / how they can hit the QB. (Far more limitations than on hitting a RB)

 

And, if you have a revolving door at tackle, you are pretty much telegraphing that any read option plays will almost exclusively necessarily go away from that revolving door. Much like they would with a designed rollout to buy some extra time from that guy's side.

 

As somebody else said earlier, the guys that run a read option are younger guys. As they age, they will necessarily go away from it. It'll be interesting to see how the Skins change the way they use RG3 this year, if at all. I'd expect they'll still use the read option alot, but not nearly as much as last year.

 

I keep reading that teams are planning on hitting CK every time he runs the read option whenever possible. Knowing the QB is going to get crushed every time will likely limit the read option to a handful of guys built like a Cam Newton or Russell Wilson sooner than later. (And it's not like all 32 teams will be running read option this year.) RBs have short careers because of the pounding they take; I don't see teams continuing to have their star QBs taking that kind of punishment once Ds get used to defending it.