All Bengals

Forgotten Part of NFL Quarterbacking Part 2: What Processing Opens Up

The hallmark of an elite QB is the ability not only to not miss anything, but to take more than the defense gives you. The mental game is the key to that.
Max Toscano|
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) throws a pass in the third quarter of the NFL game against the Denver Broncos at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024.
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) throws a pass in the third quarter of the NFL game against the Denver Broncos at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In this story:

Cincinnati Bengals

Part II:  What Processing Speed Allows

Any halfway competent QB can get things when their hand is held and things are easy. We all understand that the key to being great is to take more than that and produce when things are difficult, but our understanding of what that actually means is deeply flawed. Anything in structure is easy and anything out of structure is when it gets hard right? If they're living in structure, it's the system, and if they're creating out of it, it's them? Not at all.

It depends on the system, but getting to answers in-structure when the chips are down and things are tough is often the hardest thing QBs can do. In some situations, out of structure creation can actually be a crutch as we discussed in part 1. Just because an answer is part of the play, does not mean it isn't difficult. Elite processing opens up more than any other attribute.

Miss Part 1 Of Our Series? Read It Here

A: The Ability to Survey

It is hard to properly emphasize how much easier it is to call plays if you don't have to consistently get a specific route or two open. The more routes you can put out there, the more answers you have on a given play.  Here, the Rams get 4 out of 5 guys covered but since Allen surveyed everything, it wasn't enough. He found the 5th guy. The catch is that you can't just move your eyes to the right places and satisfy the requirements, you have to be able to fully determine, in that brief time window, whether each option you're looking at is or is not gonna be open. If you're skipping things/cheating just to stay on time, you're not really accomplishing anything, especially when windows get cloudy.

What coordinators will often do is pair a frontside concept with something backside that complements it. For instance, here, because the S rotates down into the flat and the MIKE pushes to the frontside, there's a window for a dig behind them. Stafford will see that 1 isn't open, 2 isn't open, and work to 3 to hit the dig. That sounds easy enough, but snapping your eyes to a new picture and making sense of a new image is difficult, especially in the middle of the field where the window between Smith and Baun will close fast. Stafford also needs to register that Smith is in this window when he gets to it and sync up the timing on the fly so he can hit it when it clears. Try as they might, coordinators can't fully guarantee exact timing to the point he can just see the window and throw blind.

If you need that extra beat to gather and digest it, you're too late. The same opening exists, but this time the D gets away with it and the offense's designed answer never leaves the whiteboard. Simply being able to seize every opening drives so much volume and production.

Pure progression
Sean McVay 2014 O

The above clips with Allen and Stafford are all on pure progression, which simply means a read in a fixed sequence of 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 (or however many routes are out in the distribution), as you see above. On this concept for example, the QB will work from the "drag china" to the "flag" to the "race" (short dig) to the "pivot" to the checkdown. Same order and timing every time. That is, of course, incredibly difficult to execute at NFL speed, but it's still the more simplified, generalized way to read concepts. It strips out as many layers of consideration as possible and simply gives the QB an "open, not open" proposition. The Shanahan guys stick to this. They like the rigid order and what it does to ease the QB and standardize timing. Shanahan likes to have routes strategically break at certain times relative to each other, which necessitates a certain order of operations for the QB. Again, just determining what is and is not open in time is hard, but many play-callers like Andy Reid, Sean Payton, and Zac Taylor, demand a lot more.

A more complex read
Zac Taylor 2015 Dolphins O
The assiignment
Zac Taylor 2015 Dolphins O

If you look at the assignment for the QB in the second image, it's not quite as simple as a fixed order of options. The elite of the elite processors can change the sequence of their read on the fly on identification of coverage. So instead of just going 1-2-3, they'll identify the coverage and that will determine what 1-2-3 is. This allows QBs to tailor a bit more than pure progression concepts will and streamline the options they actually look at. While this seems easier in theory, that additional layer and need to straddle the choosing of your own adventure is much more difficult. For those who can handle it, it's optimal for many concepts as it eliminates waste in timing and helps you ensure the ball is out quicker. The better your QB's processing, the more real-time adaptability you get to have. 

So here, Ohio State has a concept to the frontside on called "shock," which is a hitch outside, a slot fade, and a stick. This is good against cover-1 where you'd throw the slot fade, good against cover-3 where the outside hitch should be available with cushion, and good against quarters where you like the stick from number 3. It sucks against Cover 2, (and sometimes against quarters) because if the Mike pushes to the frontside, everything there is taken away with the CB in the flat taking the hitch and the Mike taking the stick.

The slot-fade would be capped by the deep-half S. To provide a contingency for this, Ohio State places a hi-lo backside. If they end up in Cover 2 and the Mike pushes, you should be able to isolate that backside hook defender. If that guy stays underneath on the stop route, throw the dig to Harrison and vice versa. They spin to 2 and Stroud works backside, makes the read, and hits the dig. Ohio State can have an answer for everything packaged into this concept because Stroud's quick coverage ID and read on the backside key defender accesses it. 

Once Burrow sees them spin to 2-man (or a modified version with a designated double on Chase), he can understand that the entire frontside concept, designed to beat Cover 3, will be out. This enables him to streamline, work backside to the dig quickly, and throw on one hitch instead of working all the way from 1 to 2 to 3 which would normally take 2 hitches. Bad options are crossed out and the ball is out more efficiently than if he had to go through other options to get to what was the best answer the whole time.

B: The Ability to See Things Early, Adjust Timing, and Pick Closing Windows

The value of fitting things into tight windows is the big reason arm strength is lauded as such a ceiling-raiser, but it's not the only way to do that, nor does it help you time things up and react when you need to actually adjust your timing. Ultimately, while velocity helps, the difference between the velocity Burrow is putting on this ball and the velocity Josh Allen would is fairly marginal relative to the impact of timing, especially with how quickly these windows open and close. As long as you can put *enough* heat on the ball, it's about timing.  While plays like this don't get the same run on social media as a bomb or a scramble, the ability to dot these flashing windows is elite playmaking all the same, only more frequent and impactful.

You have to have the clarity of vision to know exactly how much window you have. If you don't, you'll put these balls in danger just as often as you get them completed. That requires awareness of where everything is and the speed at which everything is moving. Jackson knows he can hit this over but that the defenders to the other side of the play will end up in the window if he takes too long. He gets all that in time to know there can't be any fat at the end of his dropback so he throws right on the 5th step. If he throws it any later, then the window would be gone.

That's not as hard to do if you're locking onto a route though. When you have to come off of something and work deeper into a read, maintaining that clarity is much more difficult. Here, on 4th and short, Chase's short hook is what they're trying to get. The Chiefs though have a designated double on Chase, so Burrow has to work back to Gesicki's crosser.

The tough thing is that the doubling safety is still on the edge of the window, so Burrow has a hard clock on deciding and hitting this. Not only does he have to see that double and be off of Chase's route quick enough, he has to confirm the over. He seizes the tiny opening and moves the chains in a collapsing pocket. Not open to a slower processor.

You still have to see things early no matter how many moving pieces there are. You have to be able to anticipate where guys will end up based on their positioning and momentum and see the windows open up ahead of time. The quicker you see things, the clearer it all is in your brain. Without that clarity, testing these windows is like running blind into traffic. This is in fact why QBs who struggle to process avoid the middle of the field, at least when PA isn't involved to clear it up and/or minimize the options.

C: Pressure Management

As discussed in part 1, the real difficulty is in the simultaneous management of your surroundings with your actual read. As a result, the rubber hits the road in dirty pockets, and the more adverse your game script/opponent quality, the dirtier they will be. While athleticism and the ability to break structure is great in theory for these situations, the hard, ignored truth is that leaving structure anytime pockets get unclean is going to force you into low percentage plays and missing open options pretty often. Even if you're going to make *some* plays, a defense will call it a W if you're not getting anything in structure. 

Burrow played career-best football in '24 behind a basement-dwelling protection unit and produced some of the best play under fire you'll ever see at the QB position, especially in the Baltimore (2nd one), Dallas, and Denver games. He's not alone though, Patrick Mahomes, CJ Stroud, and Geno Smith have done incredible things in pocket conditions that would be inoperable for most QBs, including many good ones, in the league. Here Burrow is looking to hit the short over to Gesicki right off the flash fake, but it's covered and he needs to move through his read to Chase backside. The instant the fake is finished though, he has interior pressure. He doesn't have the time to find the space and run up because the window will close. He buys himself that one beat he needs for the window to clear and gets it out early enough to avoid the hit. No room for any delay in the read with the clock sped up.

Elite processors can stay on schedule under fire when most have their clocks and awareness sped up and spun out.

There are times when that happens because your OL whiffed (which is the hardest to deal with), but there are situations where it happens because of design. Beating the blitz is the hallmark of an elite passer. It's hard though, because your processing is sped up and you have to be able to operate against a free runner. Despite that, the weaknesses it creates in coverage presents opportunity. You need to be able to catch the grenade and throw it back.

The baseline way to do that is to just react quickly and get to your hots, which are the routes designed to replace pressure. In theory, if they send one more than we can block with how many we have in the protection, we should have one more than they can cover, so the offense designates a route for the QB to skip to in case a guy not accounted for rushes.

When offenses with good QBs sniff it out, they'll often have them drift back, pick a 1v1 outside, or hunt the void in the deep middle (specific to Cover-0) and let it rip. Arm talent is critical here but despite not having *much* to process post-snap, you have literally no time, so it's still stressed.

The defense normally can sniff out a blitz answer if they don't have any easily visible bad 1 v 1s and get the hot covered, but if the QB can make reads while hot it's so hard to deal with.

While this has less to do with pure processing and more to do with command of the offense, white-board intelligence, and deductive reasoning, the pre-snap chess match is a lost art at this position. By adjusting protections at the line, you can ensure (to the highest reasonable degree) that you can be kept clean. These plays will never show up on highlights, but this happening up front is worst-case scenario for a DC when sending extra guys. This is why attempting to blitz the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, especially since their lines could block it up physically, to punish their lack of mobility was a death sentence. In general, keeping yourself clean and in high percentage situations despite extra rushers is gonna beat constantly having to make some hero play whenever you get heated up. It's a lost skill that used to be emphasized, but teams are trying to take more and more off of QB's plates, in my view, often to the detriment of the unit. Not everyone has a Burrow, Allen, or Dak but those teams get a lot out of their flexibility at the line. 

The Next Level

GOAT
Dec 18, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) prepares to pass during the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

All of that is what makes up the baseline of a good, consistent dropback passer. To me, the ability to consistently sniff out openings, stay on time, and manage pockets is "upside." We take those things for granted as fundamentals, but they require a skillset that precious few QBs have. It's much easier to find someone with a rocket arm than someone who can do this. College football is full of guys who can throw the ball hard and far. They're hardly scarce and frankly are a dime a dozen at this point. We all know, however, that the best of the best have to do a bit more. This is where arm strength and athleticism take over right? Processing helps you hit what's open, tools help you create what isn't? Again, no, you don't need 101 to strike hitters out. Processing unlocks that too.

D: The Ability to Decipher Disguises and Shifting Pictures

The best QBs are the guys that can continue to move the ball through the air when it's extra hard. Windows are hard to find regardless, the game is fast, but in obvious passing situations, your reads get 10x harder. They're throwing exotic pressures at you and shifting things in coverage. Things are moving much, much more, and if this is going to take you out of structure, defenses can smoke and mirror their way to getting away with leaving openings. This is where elite processors are needed, especially with the increased pass rush.

Especially when you have to get by Kansas City and the funhouse visuals Steve Spagnuolo will throw. While the Bengals' OL undoes a lot of it, there's no better equipped QB in the NFL to take on a 3rd and 8 against Kansas City than Joe Burrow, excluding the one who wears their helmet. This is a huge part of moving the sticks when the chips are down. Coming from behind, 2-minute, and 3rd down, you have to be able to see through these things. 

E: Manipulating Defenders

It takes another layer of recognition and presence to not just see something open, but see the possibility of something open, move the defender, and open it. You can essentially make *more* decisions if you're seeing things quickly and clearly. In that tiny span, Burrow registers that the hook defender is squeezing the bender, but if he can just widen him *a bit* he can break behind him. He hits the pump into the flat and creates the window.

Some guys like Stafford and Mahomes take it to an extreme with the no-look stuff. I won't post *that* one, but here he works off the frontside, registers that he has to move 54 to open the window, and adjusts his timing to get it in before 51 gets in the way.

The throw itself is fine but the decision to move this guy in an instant is almost unimaginable neurologically considering he was not looking at it when the ball was snapped. Just look how fast that route flashes and hits in real-time.

I know what you're thinking at this point though. I've emphasized that you can't take for granted the process, but doesn't it seem like I'm neglecting the actual throwing part? In part 3, we will touch on that and examine how it all weaves together.

Published
Max Toscano
MAX TOSCANO

Max Toscano breaks down football strategy. Prior to joining Bengals On SI, he interned with the coaching staff at the University of Connecticut, assisting the defensive staff in opponent scouting as well as assisting the Head Coach and GM with analytics on gameday. Max's areas of specific expertise include Quarterbacks and Tight Ends, including also hosting a publication dedicated to the tight end position. He also writes for "And The Valley Shook" on SB Nation.

Home/AllBengals Insiders+