Another aspect that makes the West Coast one of the most difficult to master is that it requires a deeper connection between quarterback and receiver, and an ability to communicate mid-play. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 30. In Lynn's one year coordinating the Bills' offense in 2016, the unit ranked almost dead last in pass rate. Sean McVay has served as the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams since 2017, and has already built a strong track record as a winning coach, guiding Los Angeles to 2 Super Bowl appearances. Gary Kubiak has had a stellar career as an NFL head coach in his own right. 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. They heard us. The NFL average is 2.5%. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 28 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. Running backs must be versatile. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 28. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 22 The West Coast offense derives its name from the location where its creator made his name. The Saints have always fielded a diverse offense, using the entire field in the passing game and having a unique running game. Originally the offense used two split backs, giving it an uneven alignment in which five players aligned to one side of the ball and four players aligned on the other side (with the quarterback and center directly behind the ball). And on post-snap RPOs, Mahomes pulled to throw downfield routes more than anyone else. Traditional offensive thinking argues that a team must establish its running game first, which will draw the defense in and open up vertical passing lanes downfield; i.e., passing lanes that run perpendicular to the line of scrimmage. After serving as the Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator in 2014, he became head coach of the Broncos in the 2015 season, and won Super Bowl 50. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 12 The NFL is normally resistant to new ideas, but pro teams like the Redskins and 49ers are finally adopting the Pistol Offense and having huge success using it. McCarthy, who was the Packers head coach from 2006 until December 2018, would go on to win a Super Bowl himself with the use of the West Coast offense in 2010, with the help of superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The San Francisco 49ers, under both Bill Walsh and George Seifert, often executed this strategy very effectively. Offensive schemes in football ebb and flow from year to year, adapting along with the game itself. Colin Kaepernick Not Expecting Huge Changes From Nevada Pistol Offense To Jim Harbaugh . Later in the game, an observed tendency in a certain situation by the opposing defense could be exploited. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady came to Carolina from LSU, where they did only a few things but very well. In the passing game, Washington's league-low 6.2-yard average depth of target is going to skyrocket with new quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Denver finished second last year in deep throw rate. Tampa Bay generated the fourth-highest rate of rushes where the running back made a cut away from the initial path. Led by coordinator Byron Leftwich, this is a downhill running attack that looks to create double teams and have the running back cut off linebacker movements into open space. ; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; additional terms may . 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 23. 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. Oh, and the Chiefs also have Patrick Mahomes. He was the one who popularized the power-coast offense. 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. On defense I normally run 4-2-5 after many years of just running base 4-3. Although Walsh-influenced teams now commonly use formations with more or fewer than two backs, the offense's unevenness is still reflected in its pass protection philosophy and continues to distinguish it from single back passing offenses. Those runs didnt actually go anywhere, though, producing just .008 EPA per play. [8] Former Pittsburgh and Stanford head coach Walt Harris also used a variation of the West Coast offense during his stint at Pittsburgh. Formations and plays vary greatly, as does play calling. PA Post Shot. [4] Kyle Shanahan has been the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers since 2017. Philadelphia needs to stay away from routes in the intermediate middle of the field because Hurts had trouble in that area last year. And as Allen has taken his game to the next level, the offense has taken off. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 16 Head coach Nick Sirianni comes from working under Frank Reich, who had success in Philadelphia with a young Carson Wentz. 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. They have run more snaps with a pistol backfield than the rest of the league combined. 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. Throughout the years, coaches have added to, adjusted, modified, simplified, and enhanced Bill Walsh's original adaptation of the Paul Brown offense. Attention to detail and elite level of coaching are what Lombardi needs to bring from New Orleans, but the offense itself might look very different. Pederson first worked for the Eagles under Reid from 2009 to 2012, and then served as the Chiefs' offensive coordinator under Reid from 2013 to 2015. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 19 During his Eagles days, his teams were mostly led by QB Donovan McNabb. Pistol. Montana and Walsh have both been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. [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. 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. When the team responds to a home invasion call, they uncover a murderous plot against a famous pro football quarterback. Waldron cant just come in and copy/paste the Rams' offense. 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. 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. 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. Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry are going to work the seams and then catch in-breaking routes off play action. That would entail a diverse run game where the Eagles use quarterback counter and quarterback power to go along with the option stuff and heavy play-action sets that allow Hurts to throw to deep crossing routes. It will be interesting to see if they play fake in order to boot him to the sideline or keep him in the pocket. . Jump to content. 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%). Given the bar that has been set, McCarthy and his West Coast system will need to stand up to the task. Teams for many years have been using the bubble and fast screen and tagging them into their run game. Middle Hook. The offense ran the ball at the fourth-highest rate in the league last season and called play action at the seventh-highest rate. That horizontal stretch run play made up 24% of the Bears' rushing offense in 2019, but 48% last year. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has created the perfect attack for quarterback Josh Allen to flourish in. He guided the Ravens to victory in Super Bowl XLVII. Theyve run the ball at the eighth-highest rate during that time frame, as well. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 27. The West Coast offense requires a quarterback who throws extremely accurately, and often blindly, very close to opposing players. Since 2018, he has been helped by superstar QB Patrick Mahomes. Five step and even 7 step dropbacks are now implemented in modern-day WCO's because defensive speed has increased since the 80's. The West Coast Offense (hereafter referred to as WCO) is an offense that is all about precision, timing, and trust. 2020 Rush Efficiency Rank: 22. The driving philosophy of the system is "pass to set up the run." This means we can expect a lot of two-man deep route concepts off of play action. He has won both of his 2 Super Bowl titles with the Chiefs. This explains the communication mistakes that commonly occur on West Coast offensive plays where the quarterback throws to a spot that the receiver is running away from. Staff. The Multiple West Coast Offense Pass Protection 7/21/2014 2 Pass Protection The system has the capacity to protect with anything from a 5-man protection scheme sending 5 receivers into the pattern to an 8-man maximum protection scheme. OCTOBER 08, 2020. Offense | Updated 2/16 by JackOregon. The West Coast Offense is an innovative horizontal passing offense based on timing and route running. A Walsh innovation was scripting the first 15 offensive plays of the game. As a result, Walsh's version has come to be known as the "West Coast offense". Three decades later, the West Coast offense has gone a bit ecumenical, with the glitzy name now a catch . If Jordan Love is the quarterback in 2021, maybe a heavy dose of under-center outside zone runs and bootlegs will go a long way to helping him settle in at the NFL level. but that doesnt make this offense any less unusual. The quarterback was almost always in the shotgun formation, and often had 4-5 wide receivers . However, McVay won Super Bowl LVI, when the Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals. Thats how he operated in his last year at BYU, although his receivers obviously wont be as open they were last year. CeeDee Lamb lined up in the slot, and Amari Cooper is the wide side Z receiver. The Seattle Seahawks use the West Coast offense.. All of this leads to an offense that ranked 28th in rate of passes of 15-plus yards. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 3 Since the magical Super Bowl run of 2018, Los Angeles ranks 19th in EPA per play on non-play action, non-RPO dropbacks. referee signals. Their run to the conference final in 2020 saw them place fifth in the same category. 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. West Coast Offense: Directed by Stephanie A. Marquardt. 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. With a better offensive line protecting quarterback Kirk Cousins, Minnesota could be a playoff team yet again. Tim Kelly remains Houston's offensive coordinator under new head coach David Culley. You can still find old-school tenets in head coach Jon Grudens current offense. Theyll need some easy completions for their quarterback as he gets his feet wet. Schottenheimers offense in Seattle used more boots for the diminutive, The Chiefs' passing scheme is often based upon creating a weakside triangle by placing tight end, Kansas City used a trips formation with the tight end isolated on the back side more than anyone else in the league by far. This imbalance forced defenses to abandon their own favored, conventional formations. api-313469173. 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. The West Coast offense requires sure-handed receivers who are comfortable catching in heavy traffic, and the system downplays speedy, larger receivers who are covered easily in short yardage situation. Conversely, the Walsh "West Coast offense" could in theory have more freedom, since route combinations are not limited by 0-9 digits, but at the price of much more memorization required by the players. Finally, receivers must follow precise, complicated routes as opposed to improvisation, making meticulous, intelligent players more valued than independent, pure athletes. Baltimore leads the NFL in rushing yards per game (197.2), yards per attempt (5.5), rushing first downs (98), and rushing touchdowns (15 . 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 17 Under the Kubiak clan, the Vikings have been a heavy outside zone team, ranking first in usage in 2019 before falling to seventh last year as they became a little more downhill. The term "West Coast offense", though most often associated with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback coach and, later, San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh, may actually derive from a remark made by then New York Giants coach Bill Parcells after the Giants defeated the 49ers 173 in the 1985 NFL Playoffs. But after picking up his fourth foul with 3:36 left, the slender 6-foot-1 guard . In American football, the West Coast offense is an offense that places a greater emphasis on passing than on running. For instance, past Michigan Wolverines offenses utilized the 5- and 7-step drops about 85% of the time with West Coast pass schemes implemented by then-quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler. The Pistol formation has the look of a run-heavy offense, but it can . The two issues I had were there was only a big play if a defensive player missed a tackle, and we really only stressed the defense horizontally. 2020 Pass Efficiency Rank: 14 These formations will give you many opportunities to bomb yo. The West Coast Offense, as developed by former San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh, is a finesse offense that utilizes a short passing game designed to control the ball. A running quarterback can compensate by acting as a runner himself, paralyzing an overly aggressive defense. For example, a pass play in 3 digit form might be "Split Right 787 check swing, check V". Visit the post for more. In most conventional offenses, the idea is to run the ball to draw the safeties and linebackers in closer to the line of scrimmage, thus opening up . He has also developed what seems to be a promising, impressive coaching tree. 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. 60. Put him in the shotgun, let him deal with the protection calls and then he can prosper. From there, New England runs all sorts of different schemes from split zone to lead zone to power to counter and outside zone. The West Coast Offense is a passing ball control offense. Theyll need some easy completions for their quarterback as he gets his feet wet. They will also have to start targeting more routes in motion. The former Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator was given the 21st-ranked offense in 2019, according to EPA per play, and improved the unit all the way to 10th. What will change is the Rams' tendency to call quick in-breaking routes for, Tampa Bay generated the fourth-highest rate of rushes where the running back made a cut away from the initial path. That doesnt leave much room for straight dropbacks, but they havent been very good at them recently, either. Gruden's scheme and quarterback Derek Carrs accuracy have helped Raiders receivers produce the second- and fifth-highest yards after the catch per reception marks the past two seasons, respectively. Weak Flood. LaVell Edwards and Dewey Warren created an offensive system similar to the West Coast offense at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1973.[5]. And of course, they happen to have a premier one-two punch in Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson. Should Trey Lance become the starter, we will assuredly see more quarterback-designed runs. His Rams lost Super Bowl LIII to the New England Patriots. Many people reasoned that Johnny Unitas, a strong-armed field general would not have fared well in being subservient to the offensive coordinator, and that his long but sometimes wobbly passes would not have worked in the West Coast system. Theyve run the ball at the eighth-highest rate during that time frame, as well. 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. Hes run just over 25% of the team's snaps in that personnel grouping over the past two seasons. Besides the 3 Super Bowl wins, Walsh won 6 NFC West division titles and compiled a 92-59-1 regular season record, with a 104 mark in the NFL playoffs. Anderson's 447 passing yards were enough to overshadow Simpson's 197 yards on the ground in a Bengals win that proved a milestone, providing a striking contrast between the "old" ground game of defense-oriented football and the new game envisioned by Walsha game of higher scores, more action, and much air travel. 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. 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. He next served as offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys under Tom Landry from 1986 to 1988. Their inside zone runs shot up from 19% to 32% last year, giving them more balance in their rushing attack. Several members of Bill Walsh's coaching tree went on to successfully implement his West Coast Offense system.