Quarterback Decision Making Quotes

Third down is a big thing with a quarterback: pinpoint accuracy, making good decisions.

Defensive guys don't really understand. It's totally different for offense. Defensive guys are convinced they know us but they just don't understand. Quarterbacks have so much that they have to read and adjust to. They have to look at everybody on the defense. It's totally different for the offense.

I think I'm very good at reading coverage and knowing where I want to go with the ball before the ball is snapped.

As a coach, they would love to sit there and say, 'It's going to be five steps, you're going to hitch up into a perfect pocket, you're going to look at number one - no; you're going to go to number two - no.' It doesn't work that way.

As a quarterback, you try to manage the game. It's not just throwing the ball. You have to manage the running game and getting out of bad situations and there are a lot of things to it. That's what I'm trying to do.

No one coaches what to do after three seconds, after the quarterback's broken the pocket or he's been in the pocket for five, six seconds.

I think as a play-caller, you have to just go out there, rely on your guys that you have that are out there, rely on the fact that they have ability. And as a quarterback, you have to go out there and just go through your reads.

I think one thing as far as my learning curve and what I'm learning - there is a time to take a sack, and then there is also a time to try to find a way to maybe throw the ball at a receiver's feet.

Throwaways are OK. When a quarterback throws the ball away in our system, that's a plus. That's a plus decision. That's the way I've always graded it.

You don't want to give the defensive back any signals about what route you're going to run.

Generally speaking, there's going to be times when it's going to be a little more challenging, depending on how the rush goes. But there are passing lanes that open up within the pocket. I think each play is kind of its own thing. They all play out different.

If you watch most quarterbacks in the league, if you take more than two hitches, there's a good chance you'll be sacked. By recognizing things, it allows you to get to your fourth or fifth read on your second hitch and get the ball out of your hand.

The game of football, especially in the NFL, is all about situations, and coming out on the big end of that stick.

I'd say that, 99 percent of the time at Nevada, I knew what the coverage was and where I was probably going before the ball was snapped. It makes it very easy when I only had to read one person and know that I was going from here to here, and if not, I'm checking it down.

I worked at a place that followed a system where the quarterback was taught to take the sack rather than force the throw. That's kind of an old-school theory, but it has existed in this game.

When you really start figuring things out as a quarterback, you realize you don't have to be perfect every time, but you do have to be quick and decisive.

The best advice I try to give a young quarterback is, you need to know what you're doing. You need to know what you're doing, because if you know where to go with the football, you can get rid of it and throw it and you won't get hit.

The biggest thing you need to be successful with it is a quarterback who wants to be involved in the decision-making process and not just merely want to execute plays sent in to him.

I'm a big believer in your offensive limitations come from your quarterback.

When you're dropping back and everything's going on, part of you wants to force it, but you have to make the right decision and not force the ball and sometimes throw it away.

You play it the way you always play it. You look for matchups, and you go through your progression, and you throw it to the guy who's most open.

All quarterbacks, each play is its own entity, and you can pick apart each play. Sometimes they do a good job getting to the checkdown, and sometimes they progress faster.