The new NFL offense is an old NFL offense: How the 49ers, Titans, Vikings and others are evolving Mike Shanahan's offensive scheme . Montana and Walsh have both been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Roethlisberger wanted to sit in shotgun, catch the snap, stand there and get rid of the ball as fast as possible. He was tied for fourth in screen targets among receivers. A Walsh innovation was scripting the first 15 offensive plays of the game. . 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 9. The pistol formation was added to the fold, which they probably had installed already with mobile QBs in Jackson, and Robert Griffin III on board. We shouldnt see much of a divergence from what the Bucs ran in 2020 on their way to the Super Bowl and what head coach Bruce Arians has always run. On defense I normally run 4-2-5 after many years of just running base 4-3. Shanahan only compiled an 812 record in Los Angeles, and was fired early in the 1989 season. It was a new evolution, the start of what we see today." Reid coached the Eagles to 5 NFC Championship Game appearances (4 straight seasons from 2001-2004, and again in 2008). Several coaches and players associated with BYU's football program had success with this offense at BYU and elsewhere, including Virgil Carter, Mike Holmgren, Andy Reid, Brian Billick, Ted Tollner, Doug Scovil, Norm Chow, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, and Steve Sarkisian. Kingsbury decided to cut down on some of his tried-and-true Air Raid principles after his first season in charge, and it led to better efficiency with a second-year quarterback at the helm. You wont see RPOs or outside zone or any other trending concepts make their way into Tampa Bay next year. Shanahan then enjoyed a strong, lengthy tenure as head coach of the Broncos from 1995 to 2008. Some 80% of those runs were leads. With Cam Newton at the helm, the Patriots have switched to a run-heavy scheme. All of this leads to an offense that ranked 28th in rate of passes of 15-plus yards. The West Coast IS an offense; a system with a very specific philosophy: Use a short, controlled, precise passing game to keep the defense off balance to open up the deep pass AND the running game. It really shouldnt be understated how the Ravens built an entirely unique offense for their star quarterback. The offense ran the ball at the fourth-highest rate in the league last season and called play action at the seventh-highest rate. The passing concepts stayed wide. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 30. Pederson served as head coach of the Eagles from 2016 to 2020. His career as head coach initially got off to a rocky start, as he couldn't co-exist with the Raiders' maverick owner Al Davis. The NFL average is 2.5%. Canadas last college offense, the 2018 Maryland Terrapins, did it at the 117th-ranked rate in the country. They also arent a spread-option team like wed see in college. Jensen tallied 34 hits, 31 RBIs, 18 runs and 18 stolen bases, while Hoffman had 32 hits, 33 runs, 16 RBIs and 34 stolen bases. The Eagles, with the help of backup QB and Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. Finizio was the anchor for the Croatan offensive line this season. West Coast - Pistol Doubles. That's not to say Stafford has been the best player in the league at these concepts, but his grade on them is 8.3 points better than. The combination of Dan Campbell, who may surprise, and a quarterback who has had success in a run-first offense means that the Lions should try to emulate whatever Sean McVay did in Los Angeles. After working as Shanahan's offensive coordinator on the Broncos from 1995-2005, Kubiak served as the head coach of the Houston Texans from 2006 to 2013. [8] Former Pittsburgh and Stanford head coach Walt Harris also used a variation of the West Coast offense during his stint at Pittsburgh. Green Bay cut down on routes over the middle and used, Head coach Frank Reich will look to run it back with, We can expect offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and quarterbacks coach Brian Schottenheimer to, with a lot of play action. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 26 We will feature a 'fully dimensional passing attack' Denver finished second last year in deep throw rate. Its a pick-your-poison affair with two of the top players at their position creating high/lows and side-to-side stretches on defenders. The horizontally stretching runs and play-action shots dominate the current NFL landscape, but that's not the only scheme teams are running. West Coast Offense Pistol Doubles - Y Shallow Cross. Since the offensive team knew that the first 15 plays would be run as scripted no matter what, they could practice those plays to perfection, minimizing mistakes and penalties. "[1] In 1993, a Bernie Kosar quotation used to describe the 1993 Dallas Cowboys' offense as "West Coast offense" was publicized by Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman ("Dr. Z"). The Seahawks eschewed Brian Schottenheimer in favor of Shane Waldron, who they plucked from Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams to be their new offensive coordinator. In the pistol offense, also commonly referred to as the "pistol formation", the quarterback lines up four yards . There's really nothing more to say about a group . Walsh's system immediately paid off, as Virgil Carter led the league in passing percentage in 1971. LaFleur has led the Packers to 3 straight NFC North division titles, thanks to the passing skills of Aaron Rodgers. HB Slam. Although Mike Shanahan's tenure as Washington Redskins head coach wasn't completely successful, his tenure did produce 3 rising star head coaches: His son, Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur and Sean McVay. Dive into each NFL team's offensive scheme below to see how they may dissect defenses in 2021. The Pistol formation has the look of a run-heavy offense, but it can . Ken Anderson later replaced Carter as Cincinnati's starting QB, and was even more successful. He adapted his offense, maybe getting back to his Saints roots, and showed more complexity last season. That 2017 offense featured a lot of spread concepts, with the Eagles showing the eighth-highest rate of 11 personnel (one back, one tight end) in the league, the fourth-highest rate of shotgun snaps and the second-highest rate of RPOs. 9. Well see a lot of sideline throws from the team, as well, playing off Lawrences biggest strengths: his ability to stretch the field sideline to sideline with his arm. Rice, who earned induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010, recorded 1,549 receptions, 22,895 receiving yards, and 208 total touchdowns, more than any other NFL player in all three categories. The 49ers are another outside zone team. They also run a lot from under center, but if Hill is the starter, a move to a more shotgun-based offense to give Payton the ability to draw up more quarterback-designed runs would be in order, although New Orleans still went under center plenty while Hill was the starter in 2020. New York, under the direction of the 49ers' East branch, will try to ease Zach Wilson into life as an NFL quarterback by giving him plenty of runs and bootlegs. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 23. With the addition of, Washington was a sneaky spread team in 2020, getting into formations with an inline tight end or a fullback at the leagues lowest rate. It will be interesting to see if Cleveland comes off this blueprint and lets quarterback Baker Mayfield drop back and sling it more. With Jason Garrett at the helm in 2020, the Giants' offense looked uninspired. Thats all going to change in Year 1 post-Brees. This is where they already had to adapt their offense in 2020, so continuing that and making sure Lock doesnt have to throw intermediate passes over the middle of the field is important. The run scheme and marrying the boot action to that run scheme wont change, as Wilson excels when he can get outside of the pocket. The West Coast Offense is a passing ball control offense. This means we can expect a lot of two-man deep route concepts off of play action. Kansas City used a trips formation with the tight end isolated on the back side more than anyone else in the league by far. They also should see their use of 31 formations, 24th in the league last year, increase with the addition of JaMarr Chase at the X receiver position. Lawrence is more like Stafford but has an uncanny ability to contort his body to get off passes while moving, so play-action boots might be in order. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union] Over the past two regular seasons, the Ravens have led the league in quarterback-designed runs or option runs, calling 184 more such plays than second-place Arizona. Montana thrived for many years as the starting QB for the 49ers. The following year, despite losing rising star quarterback Carson Wentz to a torn ACL, Pederson was still able to guide his team to a world championship. His West Coast offense passing concepts will still work, and the double unders concept shown here is a typical West Coast offense play, designed to work the first under (1) to the second under (2). Buy only this Gameplan $30.00. Head coach Frank Reich will look to run it back with Carson Wentz, his quarterback in Philadelphia when he was offensive coordinator there. The Pistol offense is a rather new offense in the NFL, made popular by in the influx of athletic quarterbacks into the league. Smith's offenses have been great at it, producing the most expected points added per play over the past two seasons when handing it off on that scheme and the second-most EPA per play when showing that look and pulling the ball for play action. Dallas doesn't need to change much from last season before Prescott went down for the season. They will also have to start targeting more routes in motion. It was Shanahan's work with the Broncos offense, particularly rising star quarterback John Elway, that earned him the head coaching job of the Los Angeles Raiders for the 1988 season. From a macro perspective, new head coach and play caller Arthur Smith will look to install a similar offense to the Kyle Shanahan attack that took the Falcons to the Super Bowl at the end of the 2016 season, but there are some differences. Also, finding a spot for tight end Kyle Pitts where hes not asked to be a primary blocker in a system that has used tight ends like that will be important. Daboll has completely done away with any route stops over the middle of the field and relies on deep crossing routes that allow his receivers to run away from coverage on longer developing routes. He served as a 49ers assistant from 1983 to 1985, coaching quarterbacks and wide receivers. Tim Kelly remains Houston's offensive coordinator under new head coach David Culley. When the team responds to a home invasion call, they uncover a murderous plot against a famous pro football quarterback. He next served as offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys under Tom Landry from 1986 to 1988. Throughout the years, coaches have added to, adjusted, modified, simplified, and enhanced Bill Walsh's original adaptation of the Paul Brown offense. The team ranked first in inside zone rate last season, so a more diverse run game would help. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 5 The West Coast offense caused a split still evident today among quarterbacks; those who were more adept at the West Coast style: Joe Montana, Steve Young, Brett Favre, Tom Brady, and Matt Hasselbeck; and those more in tune with the old style: Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, and Peyton Manning. For the California, Oregon, Washington states abortion rights coalition, see, Last edited on 18 February 2023, at 00:59, NCAA Division I-A national football championship, "Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells and the Rise of the Left Tackle", "Mike Shanahan's enduring legacy in Washington is his coaching tree", "Brigham Young's Lavell Edwards: More than a passing legacy", "In Oregon-Boise state game, expect a bag of tricks", "Auburn puts south in west coast offense", "Spider 2 Y Banana, a terrific play-action west coast offensive football play", "Ben Roethlisberger: Steelers offense is 'dink and dunk', ESPN.com explanation of West Coast offense, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=West_Coast_offense&oldid=1140015994, This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 00:59. I like having the added S and CB for when I run into a hurry up offense. Call it "the West Coast offense" of "the Gulf Coast offense," it really doesn't matter. The running game features a heavy dose of inside zone split. Wilson has the easy release to be able to throw quick or intermediate in-breaking routes, just like what the 49ers have had Jimmy Garoppolo do in the past, but they will hope that Wilson isn't similarly blind to linebackers. The quarterback makes three reads and if no opportunity is available after three reads, the QB will then check off to a back or tight end. As of the end of the 2022 NFL season, Reid has won 22 NFL playoff games, and he trails only Bill Belichick (31) for most postseason wins by an NFL head coach. If you have a threat to run, RG3, Kaep, Wilson, etc then you are forcing DE to try and figure out what is going on instead of rushing upfield. Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry are going to work the seams and then catch in-breaking routes off play action. The Sean McVay offense in Los Angeles has always been a run-first, play-action later, drop back-never offense, but that may change after the team traded for Matthew Stafford. If Teddy Bridgewater is the quarterback, the Broncos will need to convince him to throw the ball downfield, the complete opposite. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 4. The West Coast Offense as implemented under Walsh features precisely run pass patterns by the receivers that make up about 65% to 80% of the offensive scheme. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 11 Walsh was inducted into the Pro Football Hall Baltimore defeated the San Francisco 49ers, who were coached by John's younger brother, Jim Harbaugh. Aaron Rodgers is the trigger man in Mike McCarthy's modern version of the West Coast Offense. He won a Super Bowl with the Packers in 1996 behind the quarterbacking of 3-time NFL MVP Brett Favre. The 'West Coast Offense' is not easy to define. spread offense using zone reads and quarterback runs. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 2. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 26. From 1999 to 2012, Reid served as Eagles head coach. The Bengals were just better because Burrow was better. The passing game should revolve around the two tight ends the team picked up in free agency. Bill Walsh was the leader in creating the system, which . Norm Chow said the offenses had around 12 basic pass plays and 5 basic run plays that were run from a variety of formations, with only some plays tagged for extra versatility, so that the players knew the offense by the second day of practice. He started his head coaching career with the Oakland Raiders, leading them from 1998 to 2001, and turned the Raiders into a strong playoff contender. The origins of the offensive system devised by Walsh go back to Paul Brown, coach of the Cleveland Browns and later the Cincinnati Bengals. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 21. Chicago was a heavy RPO, inside zone team in 2019 but moved, like the rest of the league, to an outside zone-based system. Another key part of the Walsh implementation was "pass first, run later", It was Walsh's intention to gain an early lead by passing the ball, then run the ball on a tired defense late in the game, wearing them down further and running down the clock. 60. Over one-third of the Titans' passes were off of play action last year, and that shouldnt change much. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 12 Theyve run the ball at the eighth-highest rate during that time frame, as well. Invented by Bill Walsh, the philosophy of the West Coast Offense is to emphasize a short, well-timed passing game to take advantage of defensive weakness. We could see a slight shift away from such a heavy dose of the run game in general, though. The ground game is the foundation of the Ravens' scheme. Waldron cant just come in and copy/paste the Rams' offense. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 6. That doesnt leave much room for straight dropbacks, but they havent been very good at them recently, either. The two years prior, Las Vegas quarterbacks threw the 28th-highest rate of deep passes in each year. Green Bay '06-present, Atlanta '04-'06, Philadelphia '04-present). One thing that differentiates Minnesota as an outside zone unit compared to the team's outside counterparts is the use of a fullback. It also gave the coaching staff an opportunity to run test plays against the defense to gauge their reactions in game situations. All of this is to say that Brady has shown he can adapt to his surroundings, and he should be able to fit new quarterback Sam Darnold into the right system. The Pistol formation is an offense that marries two other types of offenses together to make a new hybrid type of offense. The Raiders' play-action usage is just below average, but importantly, their deep pass rate took a sudden shift in 2020. . The West Coast system has been the foundation of Reid's offense ever since he began his NFL coaching career as an assistant on Mike Holmgren's Packers staff in the early 1990s. The Pistol is a combination between the traditional Spread Offense run out of the shotgun formation and the Pro Style offense, which has two running backs lined up in various positions in the backfield.. With the addition of Julio Jones to pair with A.J. Chargers in the 1960s and later by Don Coryell's St. Louis Cardinals and Chargers in the 1970s and 1980s. Visit the post for more. The Jacksonville Jaguars held their Thursday session of organized team activity at the practice fields outside TIAA Bank Field, May 27, 2021. The West Coast offense was one of the most revolutionary offenses when it first hit the scene. Strong-armed Ken Anderson, initially a "project" of Walsh's, replaced Carter as Cincinnati's starting quarterback in 1972 and was even more successful in his execution of Walsh's complicated, versatile patterns, leading the Bengals to a division title in his first year as starting quarterback. He captured 4 Super Bowl titles (three of them under Walsh), 3 Super Bowl MVP awards, and 2 AP NFL MVP titles while in San Francisco in the 1980s. Gary Kubiak has had a stellar career as an NFL head coach in his own right. Despite guiding the Redskins to the NFC East division title in 2012, along with a trip to the NFL playoffs, he only compiled a 2440 record over 4 seasons with an 0-1 playoff mark. From there, New England runs all sorts of different schemes from split zone to lead zone to power to counter and outside zone. api-313469173. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 15. Often, the quarterback has no time to think about the play and must act robotically, executing the play exactly as instructed by the offensive coordinator, who calls the plays for him. Shanahan also served as head coach of the Washington Redskins from 2010 to 2013, but his time in Washington was significantly less successful than his tenure with the Broncos. But more importantly, it created big opportunities off play action, where the Browns ranked ninth in EPA per play. This was already a shotgun-based, 11 personnel-heavy (one running back, one tight end) attack that was generally based out of having two receivers on each side of the formation in 2019, and that is what it was in 2020. That doesnt leave much room for straight dropbacks, but they havent been very good at them recently, either. Some of the best formations in the Madden 22 Kansas City Chiefs offensive playbook are: Pistol Wing Flex Close (New) Shotgun Bunch HB Str. Dont expect Arians and Leftwich to depart from this winning strategy. Before he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 10, the offense ranked 22nd in EPA per play (.016), a jump from 29th and -.124 last season. This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 00:59 (UTC). Next, after two years of success as head coach at Stanford University, Walsh received and accepted the call to be head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Holmgren later became head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, leading them from 1999 to 2008. The next version of the Steelers' offense could be completely different from any attack weve seen before. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 29 Mike Shanahan's name now embodies that potent combination of Bill Walsh's West Coast passing and Alex Gibbs' deep commitment . 2018 NFL Draft Depth Chart. This means we can expect a lot of two-man deep route concepts off of play action. Offense | Updated 2/16 by JackOregon. The Dolphins are going to try to run downhill with inside zone split and duo runs. Sports Betting TipsResults for 29/04/2011. Now the term is commonly used to refer to a range of pass-oriented offenses that may not be closely related to either the Air Coryell system or Walsh's pass-strategy. The quarterback is responsible for recognizing the defense and the reaction of the receiver to it and adjusting the route if needed. The timed spots are often farther down field than in the Walsh-style offense, and the system requires a greater reliance on traditional pocket passing. HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- James Spady is bringing the pistol offense to Alabama A&M, but is still banking on winning with defense. He would soon transform the 49ers from a mediocre team to a perennial league powerhouse, recalling the dominance of Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packer teams of the 1960s, and of Chuck Noll's Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s. They play with heavy personnel groupings, ranking first in 22 personnel rate (two backs, two tight ends), second in 21 personnel rate (two backs, three receivers) and fourth in 21 personnel rate (two backs, one tight end). 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 2 The Titans lost offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to the Falcons, but given how good the offense has been the past couple of years, not much should change under Todd Downing who has been in Tennessee since 2019. The rushing attack consists of a lot of downhill runs, such as duo, power and counter, although New York was just average, finishing 14th in EPA per rush on those combined runs. The motion rate is high like any good West Coast offense, but he still loves to work from under center and without RPOs. During his Eagles days, his teams were mostly led by QB Donovan McNabb. With a better offensive line protecting quarterback Kirk Cousins, Minnesota could be a playoff team yet again. Theyve run the ball at the eighth-highest rate during that time frame, as well. The San Francisco 49ers, under both Bill Walsh and George Seifert, often executed this strategy very effectively. Both were promoted from within, so the Dolphins' offense shouldnt change much. It worked with. That formation made up 18% of the team's offense. In his 16-year career in the NFL, Anderson made four trips to the Pro Bowl, won four passing titles, was named NFL MVP in 1981 (and also appeared in Super Bowl XVI that year), and set what was then the record for completion percentage in a single season in 1982 (70.66%). Xs and Os: Introduction to West Coast Offense Route Combinations. We can expect offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and quarterbacks coach Brian Schottenheimer to ease Trevor Lawrence into his NFL career with a lot of play action. Hackett would later teach his version of Walsh's offense to several coaches, including former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 28 Those runs didnt actually go anywhere, though, producing just .008 EPA per play. The majority of West Coast routes occur within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage. To really go full BYU, the Jets could line up the running back in the pistol instead of going under center to run their offense. His Rams lost Super Bowl LIII to the New England Patriots. First, our offense uses "precision-timed passing, variable formations, and the exploitation of each player's skills" (quote by Bill Walsh) to attack the opposition. They could also go the Oklahoma route, something similar to what Hurts ran as a Sooner. Holmgren is credited for helping mold successful quarterbacks such as Montana, Young, Favre and Matt Hasselbeck. The quarterback was almost always in the shotgun formation, and often had 4-5 wide receivers . The offense might have to change drastically depending on who is playing quarterback. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 16 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 25. When Holmgren first came to San Francisco as an assistant coach, he started as Walsh's quarterbacks coach from 1986 to 1988. Walsh installed a modified version of this system when he became head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, serving as the team's coach from 1979 to 1988. The timing isn't ideal with spring practice just over a month away so the process to hire the next person has to happen quickly. By adding a second running back into the backfield the offense now has a much more diverse selection of run plays. They did run play action at a slightly above average rate last year, but even, then they were only 18th as a team in average depth of target on non-RPO play actions. They can also improve their rate of screens (22nd in the league last season) while also getting Tua under center to let him have a larger proportion of easy throws off play-action dropbacks. And as Allen has taken his game to the next level, the offense has taken off. As a team, the Eagles tallied the second-most rushes that were either quarterback-designed or had some sort of option element to them. While outside zone did make up around 36% of San Francisco's runs the past two seasons, fifth-highest in the league, Shanahan also ranks top 10 in power and counter run rate. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has created the perfect attack for quarterback, The Panthers ranked 20th in shotgun rate despite Brady playing almost every snap in the gun with, Head coach Zac Taylor didnt have to adapt his offense too much after the team drafted quarterback, was better. In addition, it requires the quarterback to be able to quickly pick the best one of five receivers to throw to, certainly much more quickly than in previously used systems. Pistol Spread Option Playbook 2009 Version. Walsh formulated what has become popularly known as the West Coast offense during his tenure as assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals from 1968 to 1975, while working under the tutelage of mentor Paul Brown. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 25 They played in Super Bowl XL after the 2005 season. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 27. Thats both a Daniel Jones and Jason Garrett problem. Once thought a contradiction in terms, it achieves ball control by using short, high percentage passing routes. The play-action game off these runs are deep vertical shots, which led to Tom Brady having the second-highest average depth of target on play actions last season. HB Counter. The origins of the west coast offense can be found with the 1970s Cincinnati Bengals in which Bill Walsh, . Since 2008, Harbaugh has enjoyed a largely successful run as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. When the Patriots do get in shotgun to run the ball, 75% of those plays have some quarterback run element. This is the "West Coast offense" as Kosar originally used the term. They were the No. Playbooks with this Play. Since 2013, he has served as head coach of the Chiefs. Quarterbacks such as Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick have been successful runners in this offense, as well as other notable scrambling quarterbacks such as Jake Plummer, Donovan McNabb, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Tyrod Taylor. The West Coast offense (WCO) is essentially a ball control offense using short, high-percentage timing routes initially and then down the field routes as the game unfolds. For offense I normally run spread option. The Bulldogs have been much more adept on that side of the ball, anyway. Some modern WCO's have even used shotgun formations (e.g. In the West Coast offense, the quarterback must be quick and accurate. Our exclusive database, featuring the most in-depth collection of NFL player performance data. Mayfields passing grade without play action placed him at only 13th in the league last season, so another season of easing him into some throws might be in the cards. Fast and agile RB's, ATH QB's, and speedy WR's to take the top off the defense when they bite on play action. Some 41% of the 49ers' offense is based in either 21 (two backs and a tight end) or 22 (two backs and two tight end) sets. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 14. [6] Today, the West Coast offense no longer only resides on the west coast, but can be found in schools across the nation, including Boise State,[7] and Vanderbilt. This provides an efficient way to communicate many different plays with minimal memorization. You can still find old-school tenets in head coach Jon Grudens current offense. Slants. Almost all offenses now incorporate spread . 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 8.