Reading this week’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback, Easterbrook mentions that Drew Bennet of the Titans set a pick, which is illegal. Except that it apparently was a fake pick, which isn’t illegal. What the heck is going on here?
Setting a pick is being in a position such that when your teammate runs past you, the defensive back you is guarding him either runs into you or is forced to detour around you to avoid you thereby freeing your teammate from coverage at least momentarily.
I’m not sure what a fake pick is. Presumably pretneding to do the above, but I’m not sure how you pretend to do the above.
So it’s kind of like a screen in basketball?
Actually is is like “setting a pick” in basketball.
Well, a ‘pick’ is taken from basketball, where it’s a legal strategy. In a football game, the idea would be that one wide receiver (A) would stop in the middle of the field at a position where the defensive back (D) trying to guard one of his teammates (B) would be likely to run into him (D into A), thus leaving the teammate (B) wide open. You’re not allowed to get in the way of the DB intentionally like that, but if you can make it look accidental, you’ll probably get away with it. If you’re actually running a route to catch a pass, you can go wherever you want, though; in this case, the receiver evidently ran a stop-and-go route where the stopping point (location and lenght, and the receiver’s attitude when he stopped there) made it look (to the DB’s) like he was trying to set a pick.
Clear as mud, right? 
The Steelers used a couple of picks on the Eagles when they routed us… hopefully the officials will catch that in the Super Bowl rematch… 
What Easterbrook referred to, I think, was a play where Bennett looked to be running downfield on a pattern where he was going to stop and pick off the DB. Which would then allow a teammate to be uncovered.
However, when Bennett paused, the other DB thought “Hey, he’s setting a pick, so I’ll hold up and not run into him…” And once that DB stopped, then Bennett took off and was open.