Almost uniformly, NFL quarterbacks succeed at a higher rate when using play-action fakes than when they don’t. Last year, NFL quarterbacks not using play-action averaged seven yards per attempt with a 90.0 rating. Over the past three years, per PFF’s data, the percentage of passes using play-action has crept from 21.4 to 24.1 to 24.7. In 2016, playing under then-Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, Matt Ryan led the NFL by using play-action on 27.6 percent of his dropbacks. In 2018, Ben Baldwin of Football Outsiders wrote a convincing article arguing that setting up play-action passes using running plays is unnecessary.

Source: Washington Post October 23, 2019 14:34 UTC