Philosophy

Learning Level: PRIMARY

    Consider this fact: the three highest scoring offenses in NFL history, the 1998 Minnesota Vikings (556 points), the 1983 Washington Redskins (541 points), and the St. Louis Rams (540 points in 2000; 526 points in 1999; 503 points in 2001) employed for the most part the same offensive system: the basic offensive philosophy was to spread the field both horizontally and vertically, often featuring a single back, and often varying the combinations of tight ends and wide receivers.  Each of these systems, in turn, are derivitives of Don Coryell's explosive San Diego Chargers offense of the late 1970s and early 1980s that featured Hall of Famers Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner and Kellen Winslow.  The Chargers led the league in passing yardage in seven of eight seasons.  Joe Gibbs was an assistant under Coryell at San Diego State University and then again with the St. Louis Cardinals; Brian Billick was later an assistant coach at SDSU.  Mike Martz, a tight end at Mesa Community College while Coryell coached at SDSU, admired Coryell and later remarked, "I can’t tell you how badly I wanted to play for him."
    In my opinion, there are three basic points which demonstrate why this offense is ultimately successful.  The first and foremost element of this offense is that it is a proven winner.  Teams have proven, up to and including those at the professional level, that this offense can take you all the way.  Second, as we saw in the initial paragraph, an important element to this offense is scoring.  As the saying goes, "Offense wins games, defense wins championships."  The only way to win games is to put points on the board; the more points you score, the more likely you are to win.  Third and finally (and I might add, the most important element), this offense is fun.  Run successfully, it is an action-packed, crowd-pleasing system with explosive potential.
    While these coaches have employed this type of offensive scheme, it is important to point out that each of them tailored it to their personnel and general philosophy.  Each coach made the necessary changes to make the general offensive concept a specific winning scheme for their team.  Likewise, I've done the same.
    This philosophy can be painted in three broad themes: confusion, exploitation, and domination.  While these themes probably overlap, let me separate them so that I can address them individually:

• Confusion.  The first theme of the offense is confusion.  This is accomplished primarily through a) mulitple formations, shifting, motion, personnel packages and bunching; b) running the same basic plays from many different formations; c) running "systems" or "progressions" of plays; and d) deception, in the form of well-executed play-action passes, boots and waggles, misdirection and counter-plays, and trickery.
• Exploitation.  The second theme is exploitation.  This is accomplished in two parts: first by stretching the defense both horizontally and vertically.  Should the defense take a man out of the box to defend the pass, this will open up the run, and vice versa. The key here is taking advantage of the entire field: a three-wide set forces the defense to spread out, thus better exposing weaknesses.  The second part to exploitation might seem simple but it is nonetheless effective: not only should this offense stretch the field horizontally and vertically, but play calling should take advantage of this fact and use the entire field.
• Domination.  The third and final theme of the single back offense is domination.  This can be best explained in three different contexts.  First, in the context of the running game, domination means establishing the opportunity for a successful passing game: power football by outnumbering the defense at the point of attack, using every player in every play, and forcing the defense to bring another man into the box .  Second, in the content of the passing game, domination means establishing the opportunity for a successful running game: keeping the defense honest with the deep threat (early and hopefully often), releasing 4 or 5 receivers on each play, and forcing the defense to take a man out of the box.  Third, domination in a general offensive sense takes into account our previous themes.  Overall offensive domination means confusing the defense, finding the weak spots in the defense caused by this confusion, and exploiting them non-stop for four quaters of football.

    It should be added that this does not purport to be a philosophy for guaranteed offensive success.  Certainly, the availability of talent can vary widely and thus have meaningful effects on overall success.  Likewise, the presentation herein does not suppose that small variations from this philosophy are somehow less intellectually honest to the base concept; it does not claim to be the be-all and end-all offensive philosophy.  The philosophy is meant to be the base concept upon which progressive offensive schemes can be built.  To this end, I have presented an offensive system in its entirety, including the philosophy and terminology behind it.
    Finally, a point about ideas.  A football play is an idea.  It can't be copyrighted or protected.  Therefore, citations of credit are not necessary.  However, I think it is important to note that while I consider the themes of this offensive philosophy to be my ideas, the ideas meant to carry them out are certainly not all mine.  This system was developed through my experience playing football and the ideas of countless numbers of coaches and teams.  Where I felt credit was due, I gave it (see credits); otherwise it should be assumed that ideas are sufficiently in the public domain as to not warrant such credit.

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