Schaub's play fakes are not the reason that Andre and other receivers get so wide open. Sorry.
Not that he doesn't do a good job of executing it, but he's not even close to the main reason the play action is so successful at drawing defenders up.
There are a lot of reasons why the play action works well for the Texans.
Eleven reasons on the field and a few on the side line.
The play action works for a team like Baylor with RG III running it from the spread.
The play action works for Stanford with Andrew Luck in a power scheme.
The ZBS has no monopoly on how the O-line makes each play look the same whether it's pass or run.
One of the main reasons it also works for the Saints is the QB.
http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/01/play-action_fakes_by_new_orlea.html
When pressed on how he does it, however, Brees opened up.
"Fundamentally, there's certain things," he said. "You just talk about your body language, making it look just like the run.
The way that you extend the ball out, the way you keep your off hand close to your belly so they're not sure if the ball is in your hands or the running back's hands. Timing -- timing of understanding when routes are going to open up down the field, and being able to get a good pre-snap read."
And here's what one of the RBs (Thomas) had to say about it:
"Coach
emphasizes that a lot in practice," Thomas said. "
He's always saying, 'make sure you get a good fake.' He wants a good fake. Because if you just give a sloppy fake, anyone can read that and it's basically like, 'who are you kidding? Who do you think you're trying to kid out there? You're not giving the ball off, you're not handing the ball off, you're just giving a little fake and nobody's going to respect that.' So you want to have that good mesh between the quarterback and the running back."
