Pocket Presence works when the QB is under pressure (i.e. when you see "hurried by xxx" in the replay) . When you are being pressured your passes take a penalty, Pocket Presence reduces that penalty so the pass is better. I guess you could also be under slight pressure without a hurry being recorded, Bort did say he decreased the required pressure to register a hurry a while back. If so Pocket Presence probably still works, since the definition only says "pressure" not "hurry"
Pocket Presence is often confused for having an impact on QB stepping up in the pocket like what you see in that replay but I am pretty sure it doesn't play a role in that, the description doesn't say anything about the QB avoiding the rush or even moving at all. It only mentions throwing under pressure and not panicking. Pocket Presence is all about not compromising your throwing motion to try to protect yourself or flinch even though you know you are about to get hit. What you see in the play above is about avoiding the rush in first place, he is not hurried, he just has enough vision/speed/agility to step up when the linebacker blitz and the outside angle of the LDE leave a void to the right of the defense that the QB can exploit either to buy time or scramble.
Last edited Dec 31, 2008 11:21:54
