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After snapping the ball, the quarterback typically attempts to throw or hand the ball to another player, or attempt to advance it himself. If he is tackled while behind the line of scrimmage, before he has a chance to do any of these things, it is known as a sack.
Throughout much of the history of the professional game, the quarterback called the team's offensive plays himself, based on the flow of the game and a reading of the defense. The play itself is given to the other offensive players in the huddle before the offensive teams lines up for the snap.
In recent years, with the rise of offensive coordinators, scripted game plans, and the use of radio headsets, the quarterback now usually receives the play as directed by the coach on the sidelines. In 2003, the only quarterback in the NFL who routinely called his own plays was Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts.
The quarterback also often gets to choose the "count" of the cadence for the snap. The quarterback usually calls out the signal for the ball to be snapped and may optionally change the play at the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped by shouting out additional signals to the other players on his team. This is known as calling an audible. A typical cadence might be something like, "Down, Set, Hut", where the ball is snapped on "Hut". If an audible were to be called, it would be shouted somewhere between "Down" and "Hut". For strategy, the ball may be snapped on "Set" or after multiple shouts of "Hut" to catch the defensive team off guard. This is what is meant by the count of the cadence.
In modern game quarterbacks are typically evaluated on their passing statistics, including total yardage, completion ratio, touchdowns, and the ability to avoid interceptions. Up through the 1990s, most of the prominent NFL quarterback were "drop back passers", who typically took between five and seven steps behind the line of scrimmage immediately after snapping the ball to look for an open passing receiver down field.
In a more intangible sense, however, quarterbacks are evaluated on their ability to lead a team to victory, especially in close games. A quarterback who possesses the ability to dictate the flow of the game as a whole and to score points in critical situations is considered more valuable, on the whole, than one with good statistics who cannot lead his team to victory over time.
In recent years in the NFL, partially in response to more mobile defense linemen and blitzing defenses, there has been a resurgence in the importance of the "running quarterback", whose mobility, speed,and power allows him the opportunity to gain yardage by running around the outside of the defense line, even after initially dropping back to pass. Although the emphasis of quarterback's performance is still on his passing abilities, such running ability provides an additional threat that allows greater flexibility in the team's passing game.
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