In football there are some generic, objective truths like
you need to score more points than the other team in order to win games, and
turnovers are a negative on the team’s potential to win. The wildest debates though, surround the
subjective elements of the game, namely the reasoning behind different coaching
philosophy. The overwhelming reality is
that any particular offensive or defensive scheme is not better than another. It
is the execution by the team of the plays the coaches draw up that determine
whether that strategy will actually work.
Some of the best football minds have never won a Super Bowl Championship
as Head Coaches (Marv Levy, Bud Grant, Mike Martz) so Football intellect or
philosophy does not equal championships.
For the sake of this discussion, I choose two head coaches
who have had some playoff success, but never won a Super Bowl. This way there is no ambiguity about who has
the “best perspective”. This discussion,
again, is factoring in subjective viewpoints of a game that is dependent on
eleven guys on a singular play executing their roles in order to gain any
positive yards per snap of the football.
If the players cannot execute the game plan, it doesn’t matter how
“smart” a coach may be. Also, having a
high Football IQ does not equal great communication skills; some coaches are
great analysts on TV but they cannot translate that into sustained coaching
success on the field.
Let’s first profile out two head coaches.
-Rex Ryan is a defensive minded Head Coach with a background
as Baltimore Ravens Defensive Coordinator before being hired to be New York
Jets Head Coach. While in New York, he
captained the ship of teams that went to two AFC Championship games, twice was
30 minutes away from a trip to the Super Bowl. Now the Head Coach of the Buffalo Bills, Ryan
has shown the ability to be a great defensive talent evaluator and has overseen
teams with some of the top 15 Overall Defense and Running Offenses over his
tenure as Head Coach.
-Andy Reid is an offensive minded Head Coach with a
background as a former collegiate offensive lineman and Green Bay Packers
Quarterbacks Coach before being hired by the Philadelphia Eagles to be Head
Coach. As Eagles Head Coach he oversaw
his teams reach five NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl appearance. Now the Head Coach of the Kansas City Chiefs,
Reid has shown the ability to maximize the abilities of his Quarterbacks and
utilize multi-dimensional running backs to orchestrate his offenses.
We start with Rex Ryan’s QB philosophy because of how much
his Bills’ starting Quarterback position battle has been publicized. Over the years, Ryan has shown deference towards
having a mobile Quarterback starting for his team. His reasoning is twofold:
1. Ryan claims it is more difficult from a defensive
coordinator’s perspective to prepare for a mobile Quarterback who has designed
running and scrambling plays than for a QB who is less mobile and a stationary
passer. Ryan, a former Defensive
Coordinator, has said numerous times he hated game planning for running
Quarterbacks and that the unpredictability drove him “nuts” during the week
leading up to the game.
2. Ryan also believes mobile Quarterbacks combined with an
above average running attack puts the opposing defense in a precarious position
because they over plan for the running game, leaving holes open for the passing
offense.
Rex Ryan has already announced that Tyrod Taylor will get
the start at Quarterback for the Bills’ next preseason game. Taylor, a mobile QB with a solid throwing
arm, is being giving the opportunity to take the starting job if he performs
well over next couple preseason games.
Now let’s review Andy Reid’s QB philosophy. Reid in his time as Head Coach in the NFL has
only had one preseason in which he had players competing for the starting
Quarterback position. His starting QB in
Kansas City is Alex Smith. Reid’s
philosophy is as follows:
1. Reid runs what is known as the “West Coast Offense”,
original modern design from NFL Hall of Famer Bill Walsh. Reid’s version is
using the passing attack to set up opportunities for his multi-dimensional
running back. He leans heavily on his
Quarterback to read the opposing defense to find the open receiver; unlike other
offenses that typically have a “Go-To” receiver on each play. His offense is
designed with multiple safety valves for the Quarterback to throw to if his
Wide Receivers are not immediately open.
2. Reid wants his Quarterbacks to operate from the pocket;
if the QB does scramble Reid wants it to be for positive yards instead of
scrambling around aimlessly. In the
past, Reid has preferred mobile Quarterbacks as his starters, but he wants to
them operate from the traditional “pocket” behind the offensive line and only
run as a last resort. Also, the QB
staying in behind the offensive line gives the running back a chance to slip
out from behind the line of scrimmage and become a second safety valve for the
quarterback in case no other receivers are open. The longer the Quarterback stays set looking
to pass, the more time the called play has to materialize.
Of Reid’s starting Quarterbacks in Philadelphia and Kansas
City, five have been mobile (Donovan McNabb, Mike McMahon, Jeff Garcia, Michael
Vick, and Alex Smith) so history shows Reid is not against having a mobile
quarterback. But instead of the QB
functioning as an offensive weapon, Reid wants his starting Quarterback to be
the Captain of the offense and orchestrate the plays as they are called on each
down.
Two coaches with different backgrounds and philosophies that
utilize the same type of Quarterbacks, both have made playoff runs, both have
been fired from their previous jobs, both have changed the culture of the
organization at both coaching stops. So
is one of them better than the other? No because both have flaws in their way
of thinking, both have been inflexible and adversarial to changing their ways.
The reality is that while Ryan’s offensive philosophy makes
a lot of Football sense, he lacks the discernment when judging offensive talent
to properly construct the roster needed to execute that type of game plan on a
consistent basis. He also lacks the
foresight to realize that certain players may not fit within a certain system
or game plan. Instead he tries to “fit
square pegs into round holes” to use an old saying.
The biggest problem with Reid is that he is so committed to
his offensive system, that even when he has a very talented running back, he
still will pass the ball in situations when running the ball would have better
odds of success. Also, Reid is infamous
for his overvaluing players with average or above average skills. During his time in Philadelphia, he was
always drafting and signing players who were specialists but lacked other
skills to make them well rounded contributors to the team as a whole. Or he would draft or sign free agents with
above average all-around skills but lacked any special skills that allows the
player an edge over opponents.
Lastly, both coaches are below average talent evaluators for
players who play positions that are not the coach’s forte. Reid has a history of passing over more
talented players on draft day for those with specialized skill sets on defense;
over time almost all of those picks came back to hurt the Eagles roster
depth. Meanwhile Ryan’s eye for
offensive talent leaves something to be desired with the game plans his Jets
put in place in comparison to those players drafted leaving many people questioning
his long term goals.
In the long run, having a mobile Quarterback is not a “good”
or “bad” idea; what is problematic is if that player is not utilized properly
according to his skill set. Rex Ryan
wanted Tim Tebow to run the Wildcat Offense on random downs when Tebow excelled
as a Triple-Threat Option Offense QB.
Andy Reid wanted Michael Vick to use the Passing Game to set up the
running attack in Philadelphia when previously Vick had not been successful at
reading defenses quickly.
Legendary UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden once stated
“Great coaches build the system around their players; average coaches force
players into their system.” Reid and
Ryan have garnered success in the NFL, but their stubbornness over the years
has led to them to being fired from their previous jobs. The mobile Quarterback is a great weapon in
the NFL and has a history of winning Super Bowl titles (see Aaron Rodgers,
Russell Wilson, Steve Young, and Roger Staubach as examples). But it still
takes having the right talent around that QB, execution of the game plan, and
the system in place bringing out the best in the leader of the offense in order
to win in the NFL. So whatever your
offensive philosophical preferences, there are many more variables involved to
having successful in the NFL than just if your Quarterback likes to run then
throw or stay stationary then fire away.
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