Photo via Daily Emerald

One of the main things defensive backs have to do is effectively play the deep pass. Whether it’s a fade, a wheel or some other deep sideline pass, a DB must be equipped with the techniques to successfully stop these routes.

Here’s a step-by-step progression that’ll help your DBs win these scenarios:

Turning on time

One of the biggest issues DBs have is turning on time and not letting wide receivers step on their toes.

Turning on time means as the receiver pushes you vertically, you want to turn as soon as he “breaks your cushion.” Depending on the speed of the receiver, that cushion could be two to four yards. We want to man turn –  turning into the near hip of the receiver.

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— Raiders Analysis (@raidersupload) November 27, 2017

Alabama’s defensive back does a great job of turning on time. He begins to get his wedge on and sees the wideout looking for the football. As the he looks, the DB can look and find the flash of the football. He finishes the play with his near arm to the ball, resulting in a pass break-up.

In Phase vs. Out of Phase

Knowing whether you’re in phase or out of phase on the deep ball is important, because it’ll determine which technique you use. Being in phase means putting your hand on the receiver’s hip and just trailing with your body on his back hip to almost even.

As you transition from turning on time, you want to step on the gas and match the speed of the receiver. You don’t want to get ahead of the receiver, as this will result in a back-shoulder ball or a comeback route. As you progress to the vertical route, if you’re in phase, you can do what we call wedging the wide receiver by looking and leaning.

Wedging the receiver is using your body and leaning into the them to force their path toward the sideline. You want to limit the window the quarterback has to throw, the “lean” part of the wedge. The “look” part is getting your eyes to the sky, not the quarterback.

The trajectory of the football is coming from high in the air. The common mistake is to look flat to the quarterback and miss the ball coming out of the air. By playing the flash of the football, you’ll catch the ball coming down from the sky. 

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— Raiders Analysis (@raidersupload) November 27, 2017

Great video of our corner doing a couple things. One, he turns on time and gets his look and lean on, which closes the available window to throw to. As he does this and he feels the fade, he gets his eyes to the sky and begins to play the flash of the ball while still looking and leaning. He goes up and attacks the ball at the highest point, and has a near interception.

If you’re out of phase, everything said above is invalid. Out of phase means you’ve been beaten on the route and are playing catch-up, which happens to the best of them. When out of phase, you don’t look back at the quarterback whatsoever. Your only objective is to catch the receiver and make a play on the football, which leads to finishing.

pic.twitter.com/A4oosIlOVC

— Raiders Analysis (@raidersupload) November 27, 2017

You see the linebacker matched on the running back. The linebacker gets beat and is now out of phase, but does a great job playing the back’s hands and going up through the football to break the glass. He uses the wrong arm, but does a nice job separating those hands and jarring the ball loose.

Finishing

When finishing a deep ball in phase, you want to attack the ball at the highest point. Attacking the football is key because you want to beat the receiver to the ball and take it away.

By being in phase, wedging, looking and leaning, you’re in position to do this. If you’re out of phase, if you catch up to the receiver, you’ll play the ball up through his hands. We call this “breaking the glass.” That’s when the receiver’s hands come up. We want to take our near arm to the quarterback and break through the receiver’s hands.

By doing this, you’re forcing the receiver to make a one-handed catch, which is extremely difficult. The reason you want to throw your hand when he raises his hands is simple - there aren’t any receivers out there who catch the football with no hands. You don’t want to run with your hands in the air, as this will slow you down.

Hopefully these steps will help you and your team successfully defend the deep ball.