Look Off Meaning

(transitive, idiomatic, American football) To mislead by directing one's apparent attention away from one's true object of intent.

Example: 1957, Rex Stout, If Death Ever Slept, page 40:
  She can look a man on or look him off, either way. I wouldn't have thought any woman could look him off, I'd think she'd need a hatpin or a red-hot poker
2004, Danny Wuerffel; Steve Spurrier, Mike Bianchi, Danny Wuerffel's Tales from the Gator Swamp, page 24:
  I went back to pass, tried to look off the safety, turned and fired it out to Jack. It didn't work. The safety closed on the ball and knocked it down.