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What kind of offense does Fassell run?

Stricknine

By Stricknine
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Stricknine

Stricknine

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been trying to look it up but from the articles i've been finding...he's pretty conservative

Yeah, Ive been doing the same. Im finding the same idea...conservative. Just waht we need...run, run, pass for 4 yards on 3rd and 7...punt. Gibbs will love this hire.

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SkinsMaster88

SkinsMaster88

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Detailed Biography of Jim Fassel

Under Fassel's guidance, the Giants became the fifteenth team in NFL history to finish in first place in their division the season after finishing in last place. The worst-to-first turnaround has occurred 13 times, including the 1997 Giants, since the 1970 merger. Fassel's group finished with a 7-0-1 Division record and became the first team ever to go undefeated in NFC Eastern Division play. The 1997 season marked Fassel's return to the Giants organization. He entered the NFL as an assistant coach with the Giants in 1991 as quarterbacks coach, then as offensive coordinator in 1992.

Following his service with the Giants, Jim Fassel spent two campaigns as assistant head coach/offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos in 1993 and 1994. He spent the 1995 season as quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders and was the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 1996. Under Fassel's guidance, Broncos quarterback John Elway enjoyed his finest season as a pro in 1993, earning honors that included the American Football Conference player of the year and most valuable player. "You've got to have a belief in yourself," Jim Fassel says. "You've got to have a belief in your team. You've got to have a determination. You've got to work at it, and you've got to push through the tough times. All our guys are on the same page. And if you put all those ingredients together, which is the hardest part, you can dream that dream."

Link: http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakerbio/Jim_Fassel.php

Also:

Most recently, Fassel was the offensive coordinator for 2+ seasons with the Baltimore Ravens (2004-part of 2006 season). He is most well-known for being the former head coach of the New York Giants from 1997-2003. Fassel was named NFL Coach of the Year in his first season at the helm in New York, when he led Giants to Super Bowl XXXV, where they lost to the Ravens. Prior to that, Fassel had coaching stints in Arizona, Denver and Oakland, where he earned the reputation of being a quarterback guru for his success working with several of the league's top signal callers. Fassel coached NCAA Football for many years prior to joining the NFL, most notably while as quarterback coach/offensive coordinator at Stanford from 1979-1983, where he tutored future Hall of Famer John Elway.

Link: http://affiliates.westwoodone.com/sports/jim-fassel-bio.asp

From Wikipedia, he was the head coach of the University of Utah from 1985-1989 with only a 29-33 overall record.

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SkinsMaster88

SkinsMaster88

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A good KFFL article when Fassel was hired by the Ravens: http://www.kffl.com/article.php/23622/74?printarticle=1

Jim Fassel, Offensive Coordinator, Baltimore Ravens

January 28, 2005

16:00:00

By Matthew Scott Carr

Edited by Randy Smith

Jim Fassel, who served last season as a consultant to the Baltimore Ravens, has been hired to replace Matt Cavanaugh as offensive coordinator. Fassel has a considerable tenure in the NFL, both as head coach and as a coordinator. He has worked exclusively with Ravens QB Kyle Boller the past year, trying to get the young quarterback acclimated to his professional role.

The Ravens barely missed the playoffs, needing a miracle series of losses to divisional teams in the final week to make the cut. Fassel will not need to overhaul the offense, which already has two Pro Bowl caliber weapons in TE Todd Heap and RB Jamal Lewis, not to mention the offensive line. All the keys are there short of a No. 1 receiver and consistent play from the QB position. Renowned as a "quarterback guru", Fassel brings his experience and play calling that will hopefully create a more balanced attack in Baltimore.

Jim Fassel's Career

Fassel began his coaching career in 1973 with Cal State-Fullerton and spent the next 10 years as an offensive coordinator at the collegiate and the short-lived WFL level. The time of note are the years 1979-1983, where Fassel was offensive coordinator for Stanford under Bill Walsh, and is credited with recruiting John Elway. Walsh originated the "West Coast" offense, which emphasizes short, quick passes with three-step drops or half-rolls by the quarterback.

In 1984, Fassel became the offensive coordinator for the USFL's New Orleans Breakers, who finished third in their division. He went on to head coach Utah from 1985-89 where he recruited QB Scott Mitchell who set 10 NCAA and five Western Atlantic Conference records, plus nearly every school passing record.

Fassel's first NFL gig came in 1991 as the quarterbacks coach for the New York Giants, where, ironically, Matt Cavanaugh was the third string QB behind Phil Simms and Jeff Hostetler. In 1992, he was promoted to offensive coordinator.

From 1993 to 1994, Fassel reunited with QB John Elway as assistant head coach/offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos. There, he gained recognition as a developer of quarterbacks as he tutored Elway, who won MVP and AFC Player of the Year awards in 1993, as well as leading the NFL in all six passing categories.

Fassel moved on to serve as the quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1995, and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 1996 before returning to the New York Giants as head coach in 1997.

Fassel's first year as an NFL head coach was historic. He took a team that had finished last in their division in 1996, to capturing the NFC East championship in 1997. He received NFL Coach of the Year honors and finished 7-0-1 in the division, leading the first team ever to go undefeated in NFC East Division play.

His seven years in New York were a mesh-mash of success and failure, becoming the third winningest coach in Giants history as well as seeing the Giants mired through one of the worst losing streaks in the franchise's existence. The Giants suffered through several injury-plagued seasons and struggled to stay above .500. But in 2000, after a 7-4 start with two consecutive home losses, Fassel made his famous guarantee that the Giants would make the playoffs. The team responded by winning their last five games and earned top seed in the playoffs, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings to advance to Super Bowl XXXV, where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens.

The next three years saw the Giants decimated by injuries and on a downhill slide, finishing 7-9 in 2001, 10-6 in 2002, and 4-12 in 2003 with an eight-game losing streak and ultimately the removal as Fassel as head coach.

Hope For a Struggling Offense

The Baltimore Ravens finished the 2004 NFL regular season as one of the worst producing offenses, scoring only 317 points and averaging only 273 total yards per game. This has been the bane of the Ravens' franchise. Since 2000, Baltimore's highest offensive rank was 14 in 2001, and in the last three seasons, have been ranked 20th in the league or worse. In 96 games, the Ravens' offense has failed to score a TD in 17 of them.

Fassel is a passing-minded coach. Under his wing, QB Kerry Collins had the best years of his career in New York, passing for over 3,000+ yards in every season save for 1999, his first year with the Giants. In three years between 1997-2003, Fassel's New York Giants had one of the most prolific passing attacks in the NFL, finishing in the top ten in yardage, attempts and completions in 1999, 2000, and 2003.

Even though Ravens QB Kyle Boller has only been in the league two seasons, his numbers greatly improved in 2004 with Jim Fassel serving as an offensive consultant for Baltimore. Boller's completion percentage went up, same as his TD totals and yardage per game. The Ravens haven't had a top 10 passing attack since their initial years as a franchise with Vinny Testaverde at the helm, finishing second overall in 1996 and 11th overall in 1997.

After Fassel's arrival in Denver in '93, Elway's numbers more than doubled in TDs and yardage, and was the only time in the Hall of Famer's career he threw for over 4000 yards. Elway also had the highest completion percentages of his career under Fassel's tutelage.

In his years with New York, Fassel's offense went from being ranked 28th overall in yardage in 1997, to 16th in 1999, 12th in 2000, ninth in 2001, and seventh in 2002 before collapsing back to 19th in 2003, a season in which the team was missing nine starters going into December. His years in Denver saw the same mindset, finishing fifth overall in offensive production in 1993 and 1994, and continued into Oakland in 1995 with an 11th-ranked offense and a 13th-ranked offense in 1996 with Arizona. With the Cardinals, Fassel scrounged together one of the most blistering passing attacks in the NFL, finishing sixth in completions and yardage, and 10th overall in passing TDs.

The Big "D"

The Ravens' defense is the cornerstone of the team. It has been since Brian Billick took over as head coach from Ted Marchibroda in 1999. Billick took a defense that ranked 23rd in the league in 1998, to second overall in 1999, to first overall in 2000. In the last six years, Baltimore has been ranked in the top five in defense four times, the other two finishes being sixth in 2004, and 22nd in 2002.

Fassel's success as a head coach has been helped immensely by defenses that have consistently ranked in the top half of the NFL. His tenure in New York was highlighted by a defense that ranked in the top 10 in points allowed four out of seven years. The Giants had top 15 honors in total defense four out of those seven years as well.

An offense that can keep the defense rested usually makes for better protection and production from that side of the ball. LB Jessie Armstead and DE Michael Strahan made the Pro Bowl practically every year Fassel was head coach in New York.

Players Expected to be Impacted the Most

QB Kyle Boller should continue to improve with Fassel calling the plays. Fassel has succeeded not only with marquee NFL QBs like John Elway and Boomer Esiason, but has also molded success from unlikely candidates like Collins, Danny Kanell and Kent Graham.

RB Jamal Lewis can't be the only weapon for Baltimore. By bringing a passing attack that requires attention, looser defenses in the box will allow Lewis some room to breathe. He's one of the league's top rushing threats and will never be ignored, but some assistance in the passing game can help his numbers. Under Fassel, RBs Rodney Hampton of the Giants in 1992, and Larry Centers of the Cardinals made Pro Bowl appearances.

TE Todd Heap was drafted a year before Fassel drafted TE Jeremy Shockey in New York. Ten years before that, Fassel was developing the relationship between TE Shannon Sharpe and John Elway. They both had Pro Bowl seasons both years they were with Fassel. He has worked with an offense that highlights the tight-end position.

Baltimore's WRs are in desperate need of some coaching as well as an upgrade in talent. Fassel has served time as a wide receivers coach but has had only one WR make it to the Pro Bowl in his career - Tim Brown of the Oakland Raiders in 1995. Look for Baltimore to try and chase down another top tier WR in the offseason, after failed attempts of snagging Miami Dolphins WR David Boston and Philadelphia Eagles WR Terrell Owens the past two seasons.

Summary

Fassel has had a lot of experience with QBs and is familiar with the Ravens' players. He has worked exclusively with Boller for the last year. The Ravens have invested a lot in Boller, giving up draft picks and bringing in Fassel explicitly to help the young QB last season. RB Lewis is already a monster with the ball and would benefit from better pass play.

The Ravens' offense has continually been the weak spot of the team, with the defense bailing them out for wins. Fassel and Billick are both offense-minded coaches, and Billick has been itching to have the ability to go deep and spread the field. Fassel's input and developmental skills could give him that ability.

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richhilljr

richhilljr

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He's a West Coast (Walsh variety) disciple. That would be a change for us, but maybe a good one. We've been Coryell for a while now. Maybe we should try something new.

And, JC is IMHO a much better QB than K. Collins or Boller. Fassel seems to have had some success developing QBs.

Does anyone know what system Greg Williams ran in Buffalo? Maybe he wants to go back to Walsh and away from Coryell. Or maybe he wants to take a walsh-based system and add more spread and option attacks, ala NE. From what I've seen WC is pass-first and then pound it out, slow down in second half. That takes some pressure off the D in the second half, assuming you can get a lead. Maybe that's where GW wants to go.

I'm no expert on this stuff, but it seems that the spread and option-based offenses are better adapted from a Walsh-based WC system than a Coryell system, but I'd love someone to tell me what I'm missing.

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CM916

CM916

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Detailed Biography of Jim Fassel

Fassel's group finished with a 7-0-1 Division record and became the first team ever to go undefeated in NFC Eastern Division play. The 1997 season marked Fassel's return to the Giants organization.

This guy was on the other end of what I call "The Worst Game Ever Played," a 7-7 tie against Norv Turner. You can blame Gus on our end for giving himself a concussion but Fassel, during that magical year of his, could not muster anything to beat us with despite our best efforts not to win the game.

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#1skinsfanever

#1skinsfanever

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Apparently ones that get him fired.
Yeah, Ive been doing the same. Im finding the same idea...conservative. Just waht we need...run, run, pass for 4 yards on 3rd and 7...punt. Gibbs will love this hire.
Q: "What kind of offense does Fassel run?"

A: "a ****ty one."

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :notworthy :applause:

you guys are funny, its true but funny :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

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