Updated Title: Will Portis Shine Again in a West Coast Offense?

[SC Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I think the basic point being raised is will Portis be used more as he was in Denver vs. the power based schemes used under Gibbs.

Right, and the basic point I'm raising is whether there is any real basis to say that the running game under Zorn will have any relationship to the running game deployed in Denver. The connection seems tenuous at best since we really don't know what the offense will look like and the only real connection comes through a misappropriation of the term 'West Coast Offense' when what you are talking about in Denver is a zone blocking scheme with lots of stretches and qb boots. From what I can gather the true Walsh WCO didn't even deploy zone blocking. So the question I'm asking is how we get from Zorn's offense to Denver's offense. Is there any basis for this linkage beyond an overuse of the term 'West Coast offense'?

[MTK]

Originally Posted by SC Skins Fan

Right, and the basic point I'm raising is whether there is any real basis to say that the running game under Zorn will have any relationship to the running game deployed in Denver. The connection seems tenuous at best since we really don't know what the offense will look like and the only real connection comes through a misappropriation of the term 'West Coast Offense' when what you are talking about in Denver is a zone blocking scheme with lots of stretches and qb boots. From what I can gather the true Walsh WCO didn't even deploy zone blocking. So the question I'm asking is how we get from Zorn's offense to Denver's offense. Is there any basis for this linkage beyond an overuse of the term 'West Coast offense'?

I'm guessing the assumption is Zorn's offense will be more wide open thus giving CP the chance to be more explosive as he was in Denver.

I agree there's no direct correlation to this offense and Denver's.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by SC Skins Fan

Right, and the basic point I'm raising is whether there is any real basis to say that the running game under Zorn will have any relationship to the running game deployed in Denver. The connection seems tenuous at best since we really don't know what the offense will look like and the only real connection comes through a misappropriation of the term 'West Coast Offense' when what you are talking about in Denver is a zone blocking scheme with lots of stretches and qb boots. From what I can gather the true Walsh WCO didn't even deploy zone blocking. So the question I'm asking is how we get from Zorn's offense to Denver's offense. Is there any basis for this linkage beyond an overuse of the term 'West Coast offense'?

Your earlier post was very good BTW.

I agree with you, I think the comparisons between our offense and Denver's offense aren't really valid. If we want to look at what we'll be running I believe it will be very similar to Seattle's offense, or Green Bay's when Holgren was there. The Zone Blocking scheme will probably not be used, as Holgren's version of "WCO" or rather "Walsh offense" is closer to the original than Denver's.

Here's an interesting article from 2004 on the production of the Seattle offense.

NFL almanac says this is time of year for Seattle's offense

If form holds true, and I don't see why it wouldn't barring major injury issues, we should have another strong Nov./Dec., but may struggle early as the players adjust to the speed and timing of the new system.