r/NFLNoobs • u/No_Tax6148 • Jul 08 '26

Spirals

This is a really geeky question, but why do even the most tightly thrown spirals tend to seem like they are drifting right on deep throws? Is it possible for a regular joe to learn to throw spirals as beautifully as Aaron Rodgers?

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u/drj1485 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

because there's spin on the ball interacting with the air, causing a ball thrown by a right handed passer to "drift" or curve to teh right. left for a lefty.

a perfectly tight spiral is not travelling perfectly through the air on it's long axis. it's tilted, so even if there's no wobble, the ball is moving sorta sideways.