How to Attack the Football for Interceptions

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson, for Expert Village. What we want to talk about is when intercepting a pass one important thing you have to do when you're covering a receiver or you're covering a tight end coming out or a running back out of the backfield. You want to make sure that once you read the quarterback and you have a good beat on the ball you cannot allow the ball to come to you. You have to attack the ball. That's one of the worst things you can ever do as a cover man when trying to intercept the ball is wait for the ball to come down. You have to attack it. This is what it looks like (video demo). If I'm playing back and the receiver is coming out and I'm a defensive back and I open up, once I turn and find the ball coming to me, I don't want to wait for the ball to come down. That will give the receiver a chance to adjust and come back to the ball. If it has a high loft and I'm waiting for it to come back he's got just as much right to it as I do and he's going to come back and get it. I can't see him coming from the side. One other way is if he's playing a tight end position and I'm a linebacker and I'm camped out in the middle and I'm reading the quarterback's eyes and I see the ball coming, I'm giving him a chance to come underneath the route and catch the ball keeping me from making the interception. If I had just taken one step up and attacked that ball, I would have gotten that interception instead of him making the catch."