2000 St. Louis Rams Pass Plays

Sorry for the video quality but here are some cut-ups with only pass plays from the St. Louis Rams Offense. This is from the Mike Martz, Kurt Warner, & Marshall Faulk era.  The interesting thing about the 2000 team is their offensive numbers were actually better than the '99 Super Bowl winning team.  You'll see a lot of the mainstay concepts from the classic "Air Coryell" offense.  Lots of F-Post to Faulk out of the backfield and with motion.  Also, the Rams did a great job with the deep 20yd In route which is a "4" route in their terminology.  It takes a long time to develop but they were deadly when Torry Hold or Issac Bruce caught one in stride.  Here is a link to the Rams playbook of that era.  Rams Playbook

In my opinion the best part of watching this offense was the use of shifting and motion.  It's something you don't see much anymore at the pro or college level due to all the no-huddle hurry up offenses.  But for some reason I always enjoyed it and thought it was effective.  See for yourself:

Boise St Offense Install Video

This is an offensive teaching tape from the 2001 Boise St. Broncos.  Dan Hawkins was the Head Coach but Chris Peterson was the Offensive Coordinator.  The offensive philosophy is based on what Peterson ran when he was the Off Coordinator with the Oregon Ducks under Jeff Tedford.  Boise added some fly sweep and more motion which was a staple of Dan Hawkins' earlier years.  Sorry for the tape quality but her is a link to the Boise St. Playbook that coincides with the videos.

The 1989-1990 Houston Cougar Run & Shoot

   It's possible that we may never see anything like it ever again in College Football.  An offense that changes the game forever.  Some will argue that the current shotgun spread offenses have changed the game but I disagree.  Those offenses are just taking old concepts and putting them in a shotgun spread formation.  What the Run & Shoot did for offensive football was something completely different.  It brought a scheme that had never been used.  For the first time receivers changed their routes based on what the defense was doing not only pre-snap but also post-snap.  It also stretched the field vertically and horizontally.  The west coast offense of the time wanted to stretch defenses horizontally and the classic drop back teams using the Sid Gilman system wanted to beat you vertically.  The Run & Shoot combined the two by spreading you out and giving the quarterback deep and short options on every play.  It also didn't completely sacrifice the run game because at least in the old run and shoot, the quarterback was under center. 
    You'll see in the Houston Cut-ups that they spread out much further than the traditional run & shoot teams of Mouse Davis and June Jones.  Houston's receivers were out past the numbers and the slot receiver was much wider than the 1-2 yards that Mouse Davis preaches.  Houston of the late 80's and early 90's was actually very similar to what Baylor is running today in 2013.  They wanted to make you declare your coverage and make it nearly impossible to double cover any one receiver.  
    Now I will say that defenses were much different in this era.  Most Defensive Coordinators were scared to death to play man to man or blitz so most hung back in a 2 or 3 deep zone.  This would usually cause a slow death as the quarterback could select almost anyone to throw the ball to while barely having any pressure to deal with.  The teams that were successful against the R&S were usually the one's who had more talent up front on the defensive line and could just flat out beat you without blitzing.  Then others had the guts to just bring everybody from everywhere.  Bob Davie did a great job of this when he was at Texas A&M.
They usually handled Houston pretty well and consistently put pressure on the quarterback while making the receivers uncomfortable as well.
     When I see high powered offenses today I wonder why more defenses don't play tough man to man with 1-2 safeties over the top.  Sure it makes you vulnerable to the run but most offensive teams are not patient enough to just run the ball and they will eventually try to force the big play.  Plus, it forces the offense away from the dink and dunk strategy that they want. 

Anyway, enjoy these clips from one of the best offenses of all time.  Featuring Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware and First Round Draft Pick David Klingler.

Chip Kelly and the College vs NFL Offense

     There’s been plenty written and talked about Chip Kelly and his high flying no huddle spread offense.  Many thought he could revolutionize the NFL game by bringing this up tempo college offense to the NFL.  For the first few weeks that seemed to be the case however, Kelly and the Eagles offense has reached rock bottom with two straight scoreless performances by the offense.  Now many, including me are questioning whether this offense can work in the NFL.             

     When looking at the Chip Kelly / Oregon Ducks offense over the past few years there is a common theme.  They run very few plays out of very few formations.  However, they run them very well and very fast.  This is the tipping point for any offense, especially at the college level.  Due to practice restrictions college coaches have to make a decision that is fairly straightforward.  They either can run a bunch of plays out of very few formations, or they can run a bunch of formations and motions with less plays.  Then there is a previously mysterious third category.  People like Mike Leach and Chip Kelly have chosen to run very few plays and few formations.  The genius in that is they constantly rep the plays to the point of near perfection.  Combine that with top FBS college talent and that’s the difference between going to a BCS game and not making a bowl at all.           

  
     Over the past 10 years many fledgling programs have been turned around by one of the myriad of coaches running these systems. I’d be willing to bet that over 30% of FBS teams run some version of the spread “Air Raid” offense.  The offense typically puts up huge numbers and teams using it have better than average records to say the least.        
    
     The logical reaction to this type of success is, “why not run it in the NFL”?  After all, better talent should equal better results right?  As Lee Corso says, “not so fast my friend”.  The average playbook in the NFL is over 500 pages long.  The average team has 20-25 different protection schemes and Defensive Coordinators have hundreds of blitz combinations they can run at any given time from any given set.  Although there are time restrictions with players in the NFL, the coaches have nothing to think about but football.  No recruiting, not making sure their star receiver goes to class, etc.  There is no offensive scheme around that a defensive coordinator can’t figure out how to stop with enough time.              

     I’m not saying that these college offenses can’t be used at all.  What I am saying is they do not have enough volume to be effective over a long 16 game season.  Especially with the amount of film that is available to study.  In my opinion teams in the NFL would be better suited by packaging these systems and using them as part of their offense rather than being “the” offense.             

     The gold standard in the NFL for consistent offense has been the New England Patriots.  They are masters at adding new wrinkles each week without going away from their base offense.  They might come out one week with mostly 3 and 4 WR sets, followed by two back formations the next week.  They keep defensive coordinators guessing which leads to better matchups and the offense controlling the tempo.        
    
     If there is one team that has continued to be simplistic by NFL standards with its offense and has still been successful it’s the Colts of the Peyton Manning era and currently the Denver Broncos.  They stay in mostly one back sets with balanced 2x2 or trips 3x1 formations.  They only have a few different runs and their route combinations are fairly simple as well.  They also put up big numbers and look unstoppable at times.  However, in the playoffs when the going gets tough, they have a history of not performing up to their capability.  Maybe it’s less about Peyton Manning and more about the Offense and their lack of volume to defend against.