Passing pocket
The passing pocket, or the pocket, is a term used in American football to describe the area in the backfield created on a passing play where the offensive line forms a wall of protection around the quarterback.[1] This allows him adequate time to find an open receiver and to pass the ball. The offensive line will drop back slightly, creating a U-shaped protected area for the quarterback to find an open receiver and pass the ball.[2]
If the quarterback is unable to find an open receiver, he will attempt to run the ball himself, throw the ball out of bounds to prevent a sack and/or turnover, or if there is no lane, may collapse to the ground to protect the ball and try to avoid a fumble. Even with a well structured offensive line, the quarterback only has seconds to pass the ball within the pocket. Moving the pocket can help avoid a sack.[3] When that fails, quarterbacks may scramble (run around behind the line of scrimmage), either to gain more time for the wide receivers, to avoid a sack, or to rush the ball.
Pocket protection packages[edit]
There are many different player personnel packages that can be used to protect the quarterback. The pocket could be protected by five linemen, two tight ends, as well as two running backs. When two running backs are used, they do constitute the tackle box but they are typically used to clear any stray rushers that may get past the inner linemen. They are used to create more space for the quarterback to step into in order to make a good throw. There can be one or two running backs used along with one or two tight ends depending on the packages called for. Sometimes, running backs and tight ends will partially block an advancing defender quickly, or what's known as "chip blocking" an advancing defender, and then they will go run their receiving route.
Tight ends can do the same thing, which means that the tackles would then have to set the depth of the tackle box.
When the tackle box collapses[edit]
When the defense succeeds in their goal of confusing the offensive linemen, major problems form for the quarterback. The term that is used when the defense is getting close to the quarterback is that the tackle box is collapsing. When the tackle box collapses, the quarterback is trained to do one of a few different things: to scramble out of the tackle box and look to gain yards by running, to get outside of the tackle box and throw the ball out of bounds, or—in extreme situations—to just take the sack and not lose possession of the football. While the pocket will always collapse eventually, situations where the pocket collapses faster than anticipated create a difficult conundrum for quarterbacks, as they are faced with a plethora of possible choices with virtually no time to choose between them. A quarterback who is able to effectively react to the pocket collapsing and salvage the play is said to have good pocket awareness or pocket presence.[5]