Jarvis Jones - Snap Count

Hi Guys,

As someone who never played football growing up I have a question about something Jarvis Jones said. In an espn interview, he said:

“I learned the snap count in the first quarter, in the first half,” Jones said after the game. “They started sliding the protection my way in the second half more. They started trying to cut [block] me, but then they just started blocking me man-to-man and I was beating them off the ball, so that helped me out.”

Just wanted to know how this works. How do you learn the snap count in-game and what do offenses do to try and throw off the defense. Whatever Jones did, he dramatically improved in the second-half and took over that game. After he turned it on, we outscored them 32-3.

apollocrush, this could be a very long explanation. Make it short. Center is making noise as is the quarterback. Counts and plays along with blocking assignments could for example use colors, states or any combination of calls. For example . . . center says a number of things calls the color green, immediately after the green comes the blocking assignment for #29.

Quarterback can change that call if #29 shifts prior to snap, quarterback calls a series and the scheme can be after the color red or whatever. There are keys prior to snap, thus causing some "newbies" to miss assignments. Manning has become a master at this. Hope this helps, probably not. Will get easier your sophomore year. Just teasing . . .