Graziano: DeMarcus Ware versus the read-option

[xwalker]

Really? It will be a 15 yard flag every single time it happens. This is a league that protects the QB, you honestly believe "refs can't call a penalty on it?". RG3 always puts his hands up when pressure is coming and he doesn't have the ball. I doubt the refs will listen to "I thought he had the ball." The read-option is what it is.....dangerous. The only gameplanning for the read-option is scoring more points then the Commanders offense.

Yes, the defender has to be within 1 step of hitting the QB in order to avoid the penalty. If you review the games, the defender is normally more than 1 step away at the time of the hand-off.

In reality, in this scenario, the defender would always "take" the QB but only hit him if he keeps the ball or if the defender got there earlier than normal. The QB would always hand-off the ball and the RB could not cut outside in the direction of the QB defender; therefore, the offense would be more predictable.

There is some benefit to the defender deciding in advance which player (RB or QB) that he is going to "take"; however, it is not as easy or simple as "always hit the QB".