Reading defenses is freakin' hard

Reading NFL defenses as an NFL quarterback is one of the most difficult things to do in all of sports.

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Reading a defense, in simple terms, is looking at the defensive alignment at the line, and after the ball is snapped, knowing what will or won’t work against it.

It has nothing to do with real-world intelligence. It really doesn’t. It’s a completely different animal. The world’s top neurosurgeon could take a football field and not be able read a defense properly, with all the bells and whistles defensive coordinators throw at a QB these days.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Gil Brandt, who worked in player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys from 1960-88, believes Jets QB Sam Darnold struggles in this area.

“Here is the thing — the scouting report on him as a quarterback (coming out of USC) was it was hard for him to read defenses and it kind of played out when USC played Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, when he was sacked like eight times,” Brandt said on SiriusXM NFL Radio after the Jets-Broncos game.

In Darnold’s final college game, Ohio State beat USC, 24-7, in the Cotton Bowl. The Trojans QB had a rough game, including a pick-six and 2 fumbles. Ohio State’s defense is always loaded with NFL level talent, and Darnold struggled facing the closest thing to an NFL defense he was going to face before playing on Sundays. No defenses in his home conference, the Pac-12, are on the level of Ohio State’s.

Brandt watched the recent Jets-Broncos game closely, and saw the issue the QB has reading defenses rear its head.

“I know there were some times (against Denver) when it looked like he had somebody open, but never looked for the second or third receiver,” Brandt said. “If it wasn’t going to be the primary receiver, he was going to get sacked or take off and run.”