WCO in the NFL

[LaTunaNostra]

Let me get out of here before someone mentions the Pats though.

But they DO run a wco variation.

The article I linked to above included a little section written by Steve Young

Two weeks ago I visited the Patriots and met with quarterback Tom Brady. When I asked him about his drops and his reads, he said everything is about finding space, zone routes, man-zone reads, short drops and timing. Brady's footwork tells him when to throw the ball. So, while offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has no West Coast history or ties to Walsh and the 49ers system in his coaching background, the Patriots essentially are running the West Coast offense.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

San Diego's offense was much more vertical then the WC that San Fran used under Walsh. Honestly, Oaklands offense reminds me more of Coryell's offense then does any WC being run today.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

San Diego's offense was much more vertical then the WC that San Fran used under Walsh. Honestly, Oaklands offense reminds me more of Coryell's offense then does any WC being run today.

I should say, Oakland's old offense. Not Norv's timing offense.

 

[Kangaroo]

The cowboys aren't set up to run the west coast offense.

We don't have a great pass catching RB,
We aren't deep at WR,
We are deeper at TE,
Our line is better in run blocking,
Our QB is a 7 step drop QB,
Running the WCO would prevent Glenn from running outs and post routes (His bread and butter)
And finally, we don't have enough big targets at WR.

We will run the same offense we have run for years. A play action, power running offense. We run well between the tackles and we pass well in mid range.

The run sets up 8 men in the box which makes seam routes dangerous. Seam routes usually are slower developing than traditional Slants and hooks that you run in the WCO. That's why we use the 7 step drop instead of 3 and 5 step drops. Our line is large and slow, which is good for creating and holding a pocket. We don't have a mobile QB, which combined with our line, means you won't see many rollouts or bootlegs.

Taking advantage of the Seams forces teams to pull up their saftey's into a tighter zone coverage and opens up the deep route for a speedy reciever (Glenn) to stretch the field.

Finally, when the D starts stunting to show 8 in the box before pulling back into zone coverage we run draws to take advantage of the soft interior D.

That's our Offense in order...

Run in gaps 1-5,
Pass around the hash marks and in the seams (10-15 yards),
Take a shot down field on a go route,
Run the Draw,
Repeat...

By the way I take exception to the idea that all the teams you cited really run a WCO. Green Bay is a good example of a "sort-of" WCO. Farve more and more is doing a full drop. Plus they are more of a running team now, then a team that uses the short pass as a run. Even their best WR (Walker) is running mostly routes (15+ yards) that aren't what you would expect from the number 1 in a WCO.

The cover two and various other zone defenses, combined with faster linebackers, taller front 4 linemen, and better bump and run coverages have really hurt the WCO.

We also run a counter with JJ when they drop back in zone that is how we chewed through seattles defense on 3rd downs running that counter (If I remeber coorectly it is a counter trap) but what the heck do I know

 

[TobiasEagle77]

There seems to be some confusion of the Coryell offense of the old Chargers with the WCO of the 49ers.

This link describes the differences between the two: http://www.geocities.com/epark/raiders/football-101-coryell-offense.html

It makes sense. The Coryell is much more vertical: Turner, Gibbs, Martz, Vermeil.

On a side note, I don't think it's right to characterize the current Eagles offense as a WCO. It's so vertical these days. It has the vertical aspect of the Coryell, but the running game is patterned after the WCO. No power running in Philly, atleast not yet. I'm hoping Andy comes around a little.

 

[JackMagist]

I should say, Oakland's old offense. Not Norv's timing offense.

Norv's Offense is a direct descendant of the old SD Offense. Norv learned offense from Ernie Zampese with the LA Rams (and became a much better play caller than Ernie) who learned if from Coryell (sp?) in SD. In fact Norv used to use tapes of Dan Fouts in his training of Aikman because they were running basically the same system. I'm not sure but Norv might have also been in SD with Coryell and Zampese before the old LA Rams days.

BTW this is the same system that the Rams were running when they won the SB and I think they are still running it. But like the WCO the Air Coryell System has variations from team to team that use it.

As for what the Cowboys run now it is basically the same Offense that Parcells has run everywhere he has gone. I don't know a great deal about it's origins or pedigree; I think it was originally George Halas' offense with the Bears but I could be wrong. But it is an adaptable system based on the running game that can be adapted into a passing oriented offense as Parcells did in NE with a young Bledsoe.

I don't see much resemblence in Parcells offense to the WCO. BTW the WCO was developed by Paul Brown NOT Bill Walsh. Walsh learned it from Hank Stram who used it in Kansas City with Len Dawson at QB and where Walsh was an assistant.

 

[Phoenix-Talon]

No power running in Philly, atleast not yet. I'm hoping Andy comes around a little.

With a healthy Buckhaulter and Westbrook one-two combination, our run game could get interesting. Do you remember the days of Rickey Watters, and Gardner (I think it was Gardner -- he went to the Raiders or Chargers). Anyway they were called thunder and lightning!

 

[StonetheCrow77]

On a side note, I don't think it's right to characterize the current Eagles offense as a WCO. It's so vertical these days. It has the vertical aspect of the Coryell, but the running game is patterned after the WCO. No power running in Philly, atleast not yet. I'm hoping Andy comes around a little.

Yea, it's most definetly a morphed version.... but, one aspect I see a lot is replacing the running game with short passes to Westbrook... maybe Buckhalter changes that bit, but I doubt to any large degree... what Philly does on offense is effective, no reason to change a lot... I don't see a lot of the same crossing patterns that the old 49ers ran, but the routes don't necessarily dictate the O philosophy... a quick out is almost the same as a slant... both short possesion routes...

 

[StonetheCrow77]

I don't see much resemblence in Parcells offense to the WCO. BTW the WCO was developed by Paul Brown NOT Bill Walsh. Walsh learned it from Hank Stram who used it in Kansas City with Len Dawson at QB and where Walsh was an assistant.

If you look most of the people are saying that Walsh made it popular, not that he developed it...