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This story appears in ESPN The Magazines September 5 NFL Preview Issue. Subscribe today!A DRENCHED AND exhausted Matt Ryan walks off the Falcons steamy practice field and drops into his seat in the shade with an exaggerated groan. As if practicing in the Georgia heat werent hard enough, the nine-year veteran and three-time Pro Bowl passer also had to contend with his own offensive coordinator in coverage. Kyle Shanahan nearly broke the internet when he jumped in front of a Ryan pass floating toward the end zone -- the ensuing interception was a preseason gift for the ever-ready army of trolls. (Relax, everyone, the coach was actually teaching his rookie tight end about route depth.)Ryan laughed off the viral spiral. In 2015, even while struggling to grasp Shanahans new scheme, he still ranked fifth in passing yards (4,591) and was the NFLs most accurate passer under pressure. Which is why we thought hed be perfect to offer a tutorial on the current defensive evolution.THE MAG: Heres a number that jumps out: In 2012, there were seven QBs with an average release time under 2.5 seconds. ?In 2015, there were almost triple that, 20. Is that what defenses have done, forced nearly everyone on offense to move faster?RYAN: Pressure schemes are much different than they were nine years ago, no question about it. That pressure forces offenses to route-adjust and throw quicker and get the ball out of the QBs hands. For me, pressure is when they overload one part of your protection. If youre in five-man protection and youve got three guys blocking one way and two guys sliding the other and they figure out how to bring three guys to that short side? To me, thats pressure. Thats the biggest thing thats changed. Nine years ago, if you had five-man protection and they brought five people, there wasnt enough design on defense for them to still get you. Now defenses are dropping out tackles and ends, bringing certain linebackers on certain sides, all this extra design to make the numbers not right from a quarterbacks perspective. What you end up with is perceived pressure, which is just as bad. That part has been increasingly difficult and probably leads to why so many guys are getting the ball out quicker.Part of that new design is specialty personnel packages on what seems like every down now.In the past, it was all about third downs. Second downs, you never had to worry. Now you do. One of the areas thats changed is second-and-7 or second-and-long, where youre in a passing situation. Now you see a lot of specialty packages come out. Its much more prevalent. Early on in my career, we didnt even used to break down second-and-long. Thats how much things have changed.What does that look like from the pocket?It looks like nothing, and thats the challenge. Its now become about reading the defensive front, the way theyre lining people up. But it doesnt look like it has any kind of structure to it. Youve got five guys just walking around. Thats one of the things you see more and more of: nobody with their hand in the dirt. So now you come to the line of scrimmage and on top of everything else you have ?to first identify who the bigs [defensive tackles] are, who the ends are and who the linebackers are. Thats tough to do.The idea of a classic matchup between a teams best edge rusher and your giant left tackle seems so antiquated. Then you realize that it was, like, five years ago.Thats so different now. Defenses have changed in how they move those guys around so much to try to find your weakest spot and put their best guy there to expose that. When I was getting into the league, you knew exactly where Julius Peppers was gonna line up. But now, with guys like J.J. Watt -- he could be lined up outside, he could be on the left side, he could be on the right side, it doesnt make a difference. Hes an equal-opportunity pass rusher -- he goes after everybody from anywhere.Watt is also part of this new trend of hybrid defensive players.Thats probably the biggest change: hybrid guys. Look at our rookies: DeVondre Campbell [fourth-round pick from Minnesota]. You never used to see a linebacker like this, 6-4 and 232 and runs a 4.58. He flies. Back in the day, youd never have a tight end on a linebacker in third-down situations. It was always a safety walking up. But now with a guy like Keanu Neal [6-0, 211-pound rookie safety, first-round pick from Florida], these guys are interchangeable. You slide him outside and then theyve got you thinking, OK, now we need to pass-protect for a linebacker. Youre looking for the backer and then, instead, he covers the tight end and they bring a safety off the edge. They got me on that just the other day in practice.Has it gotten to the point where defenses force you to study and prepare and think so much that you end up with paralysis at ?the line of scrimmage?Thats why its so important now to throw everything out from the previous week. Delete everything from your memory and focus on just that next scheme -- thats the biggest thing now about being a quarterback. Every week its different schemes, different pressures, different hybrids to worry about, so its control-alt-delete and on to the next defense and then control-alt-delete and on to the next one, for the entire season. If you start seeing ghosts from past games or past schemes, youre just back there thinking too much, like, Is this this defense or that defense? Am I checking this play off this key or that key? Thats not what you want to happen.Besides the mental pressure applied by the defense, theres pressure on fundamentals to be as efficient as possible, right?The big thing in throwing now, you have to be able to throw from any platform because the timing of when things are open is really short and theres so many variables that affect your footwork. Your feet could be facing right, but things change or break down and now I need to throw left. My hips are facing this way, but, same thing, uh-oh, now I need to throw the other way. Footwork, flexibility, changing arm angles, all those things are very important now because you never really know how a pocket is going to shake out.If you were teaching a young QB to face this next generation of defenses, where would you start?See spots. Thats my thing now. The older Ive gotten, the more thats become my thing. Dont worry so much about where defenders should be or where theyre supposed to be or all those kinds of things. Just see spots. And design most of your pass plays to be spot-read instead of coverage-based. Instead of getting loaded down thinking, In this coverage, Im going here; in that coverage, Im going there. With so many hybrid players, so many variations of schemes and so much pressure up front and all the things that defenses can do, the way to combat all that is to see spots.Aaron Rodgers told me the game moves so fast now, all you really can read are flashes of space and color. Is that what you mean?Windows, yes. You start with a general idea of the coverage, but whats more important now is if youve got a post route thats going [to the deep middle], I need to be seeing this spot of the field, with ?this spacing, and if that windows not open within this certain timing, then you move on to that next spot and then to the next spot. Youve got to feel it now more than ever.Do these snapshots open and close like a camera lens? And can you prolong them?Yes, so the key becomes doing things like having your head facing this way to fool the defense, but actually Im looking at this lens over here, watching out of the corner of my eye to see if it opens, without showing the defense thats what Im doing. Being able to move somebody to create that little bit of extra space needed to fit ?the ball in there, thats whats important for quarterbacks now. Its about kinesthetic awareness. Spatial awareness. The game moves so fast now, understanding space by reading body language is probably the most important thing.Were into neurology and subconscious processing. I mean, when QBs get together, do you guys lament the good old simple days, like five years ago?We are under constant barrage in the pocket now. Facing it requires a certain feel, a sixth sense. Because the minute youre looking at the edge rush and not downfield, youre toast. Thats what separates quarterbacks now, the ability to process all that information in a millisecond, make a good decision based off that snapshot and then to physically be able to get the ball to where you want it to go.I just realized we havent even gotten to all the physical challenges of playing QB yet.Exactly.Kevin Faulk Patriots Jersey . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal. Tom Brady Youth Jersey . LOUIS -- St. https://www.patriotssportsgoods.com/Womens-Jarrett-Stidham-Inverted-Jersey/ . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Rob Gronkowski Womens Jersey . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Tedy Bruschi Youth Jersey . -- Tony Stewart is 20 pounds lighter and has a titanium rod in his surgically repaired right leg.The names keep flying off this board as new prospects are seemingly called up on an almost daily basis these days. In trying to keep up with who has come, and who may be coming, lets put aside the pleasantries and get down to business.Our focus along the Houston Astros infield has been on Alex Bregman in recent weeks, but A.J. Reed beat him to the punch. Reed has appeared on our list before, and he was Keith Laws minor league player of the year for 2015; that said, the slugger had struggled upon promotion to Triple-A until recently. He hit .266/.345/.509 with 11 home runs overall, but he was hitting .282 with 14 extra-base hits (five home runs) in June before his promotion.Reed is a big dude, and there have been questions about his bat speed in the past. There will be some swings and misses, but loud contact in between. Most importantly, he should have the opportunity to work through any issues. His spring competition, Tyler White, failed in his first go-round with the Astros, and Jon Singleton is making millions to play poorly in Fresno. Reed has the most upside and sshould be afforded some extra leash.ddddddddddddBrandon Nimmo also made his major-league debut during the weekend, taking over for the recently demoted Michael Conforto. The 13th overall pick in 2011 has taken the scenic route to the majors, stopping at six different levels en route to the ultimate one. Nimmo is a well-balanced prospect without a true carrying tool; instead, he does a bit of everything at an average or slightly above rate.I am a bit lower on Nimmo than others, and higher on Conforto despite this years struggles. There will be room for both of them one day in the Mets outfield, but for now I would still take the latter over the former despite their current roster positioning. As for Nimmo or Reed, Ill take the risk with Reed, who may be up-and-down with production but has a clearer path to playing time.Who will be next?1. Tyler Glasnow RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates Last weeks rank: 3 Impact categories: W, K Current level: Triple-A ' ' '