West Coast Offense - Good, Bad or Ugly?

[Longtimefan]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

I'd be interested to see if his short to intermediate range accuracy increased as the season progressed last year. I think that part of the reason for his struggles was due to the receivers making the adjustment from left-handed, lo-mein with shrimp armed Brunell, to right-handed, Pachelbelled armed Campbell.

I think I mentioned this in another thread where we discussed the WCO at great length.

One of the most important requirements for a QB in the WCO is to be an accurate passer. It is also important to realize that arm strength and being able to pass are not synonymous. Some QB's can throw a football 80yds. but they aren't good passers. Good passing involves accuracy, timing, and throwing the ball with enough touch so it's catchable. Most importantly, it requires a vast knowledge of the offense with an even greater sense of anticipation.

While it may be considered admirable to be able to throw the ball 35-40 yds. on a line, if the ball is off target or arrives in such a way that it's difficult to catch, such an ability is of dubious value.

Footwork is also an essential tool to be effective. Watching Montana, Young. McNabb and Hasselbeck perfect the mechanics of footwork, and how it's implemented is going to be crucial for Jason. Initally, I had a knock on this form of offense, but after watching Montana run it to perfection in the 80's made me a believer, mainly because of his extreme accuracy enabling his receivers to be able to run after the catch. My knock primarily was on it's lack of balance, I figured you would win some games, but eventually a pass first offense would come back to haunt you. Bad weather, a strong pass rush, lack of ball control, too many turnovers and a host of other reasons I offered as obstacles to sustained success. I felt like some others have said, "three things can happen when you put the ball in the air,and two of them are bad".

These are the things I'm sure we're going to make every atempt to make work for us in this offense:

1- Spread the defense over a large area of the field both horizontally and vertically;

2- Create mismatches in the speed, size, or number of receivers defenders have to cover;

3- Throw on any down and distance to avoid tendencies that defenses can key on;

4- Maintain possession through the air just as other teams have tried to do on the ground. I think these are the keys to the successful implementation of at least parts of this offense.