Bill Walsh and the West Coast Offense

[JMUGator19]

Now that everyone has put in their 2 cents on the WCO, I wondered how so many people could have such similar opinions, be correct, and not be NFL head coaches. So instead of putting in my opinion which would prove to be just like theirs, I found a few links that were extremely interesting.

The last bit, Marriuci talks about what the WCO really is. Frankly with the way things are changing in Ashburn, I think we now have a reason why.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_18_225/ai_74222320

Notice the bits where Fred Smoot and Andre Carter are mentioned. Makes you wonder... Now we know why Andre Carter came to the Redskins, Vinny trusted Walsh's thoughts in his stay with San Fran. Clearly the executors of the West Coast philosophy will be Jim Zorn and Vinny Cerrato.

I suppose this draft was not an anomoly, but the begining of a new way of thinking. Ofcourse, we do not have the great Bill Walsh picking our players, so we had better hope we get good at it.

It is comforting to know that we are not just picking up a new playbook but a way of going about the game of football.

My question is not wether or not Jim Zorn and Vinny Cerrato will win alot of games, but will they completely install this new philosophy, or will we just find another one in a few years. We do have a reputation of being swept away by "cool" ideas (Steve Spurier Spread, Joe Gibbs 2.0, Al Saunders Attack)... So what will it be?

The West Coast Philosophy is here to stay or it's just a new fad in washington?

:logo:

[War Hog]

Only time will tell for sure if the WCO will stay, but the future looks promising. I continue to hear the players like Jim Zorn. Hopefully this will translate into a team playing hard all the time with heart. Winning solves everything. The more wins the longer the WCO stays around.

[SnyderMustGo]

It's just a fad.

Redskins football is not WCO. We are trying to adopt something that doesn't fit how the Redskins play football.

And it's not like it is soooo awesome. If the WCO was that great, more teams would run it. It works for some teams. It's a gimmick offense. It can be beat.

So the real question is whether we currently have the personnel to make it work. I don't think so. Zorn is going to have produce immediately to keep his job. But its going to be a lot of growing pains in installing this offense. It is probably the worst fit offense for JC, and our rookie WRs will take time to get NFL ready. This will cause Zorn to struggle early. If Zorn doesn't have success soon, and we struggle all season trying to learn the offense, then I fully expect we will mothball the WCO.

We gave it 1 season after Gibbs I left.

We will give it 1 season after Gibbs II left.

It's not that great of an offense. And its not Redskins Football.

[JMUGator19]

It's just a fad.

Redskins football is not WCO. We are trying to adopt something that doesn't fit how the Redskins play football.

And it's not like it is soooo awesome. If the WCO was that great, more teams would run it. It works for some teams. It's a gimmick offense. It can be beat.

So the real question is whether we currently have the personnel to make it work. I don't think so. Zorn is going to have produce immediately to keep his job. But its going to be a lot of growing pains in installing this offense. It is probably the worst fit offense for JC, and our rookie WRs will take time to get NFL ready. This will cause Zorn to struggle early. If Zorn doesn't have success soon, and we struggle all season trying to learn the offense, then I fully expect we will mothball the WCO.

We gave it 1 season after Gibbs I left.

We will give it 1 season after Gibbs II left.

It's not that great of an offense. And its not Redskins Football.

To be fair, a good portion of the NFL DOES run the WCO... I can think of at least 5 teams off the top of my head that run it VERY successfully. (Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Philladelphia, and Denver) I'll bet theres alot more too.

But, you say 1 year? we will hold you to that...

:logo:

[SnyderMustGo]

To be fair, a good portion of the NFL DOES run the WCO... I can think of at least 5 teams off the top of my head that run it VERY successfully. (Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Seattle, Philladelphia, and Denver) I'll bet theres alot more too.

Let's see...

AFC playoff teams: Patriots, Colts, Jags, Steelers, Chargers, Titans. No WCO teams.

NFC playoff teams: SB champ Giants, Cowboys, Redskins. No WCO teams. TB and Seattle are WCO teams, but they aren't on the level of the Pats, Colts, Steelers, Cowboys, etc.

The Vikings will probably be a playoff team this year; not WCO. So will the Panthers. No WCO. Saints will probably makes it. No WCO.

The WCO is not a special offense. Very few teams are successful with it. The really dominant teams do not run the WCO.

I get the feeling a lot of you think that the WCO will automatically be an improvement. That is not correct. It might be. It might be a failure, too. We'll have to wait and see.

[dcnativenerd]

Depends on how well we run it this year. If it's a success, we'll keep running it. If it's not, we'll find something else.

[AAARedskin]

Wanna know what I am sooooo sick and tired of hearing about? It's about poor QB Jason Campbell having to learn a whole new offense in the WCO, etc. When you're playing QB, how about just throwing the ball to the open receiver? This BS that he's having to learn an offense that's more complicated than advanced heart and brain surgery is so old! I hope he has a pro-bowl season, but the guy is being paid BIG-BUCKS to hand the ball off, and throw a football to the open receiver, regardless of the style of offense......maybe some of you ought to meet up at a somebody's house and have a big pity party for Jason!

[Spartacus87]

Let's see...

AFC playoff teams: Patriots, Colts, Jags, Steelers, Chargers, Titans. No WCO teams.

NFC playoff teams: SB champ Giants, Cowboys, Redskins. No WCO teams. TB and Seattle are WCO teams, but they aren't on the level of the Pats, Colts, Steelers, Cowboys, etc.

The Vikings will probably be a playoff team this year; not WCO. So will the Panthers. No WCO. Saints will probably makes it. No WCO.

The WCO is not a special offense. Very few teams are successful with it. The really dominant teams do not run the WCO.

I get the feeling a lot of you think that the WCO will automatically be an improvement. That is not correct. It might be. It might be a failure, too. We'll have to wait and see.

Uhhh you're wrong.

Vikings don't use the WCO? Except their HC, Brad Childress, is a WCO disciple from all his time spent under Andy Reid as the Eagles OC. In fact, when the Vikings briefly had Todd Pinkston on their roster, he commented that the Vikings and the Eagles had nearly idential playbooks. Vikings just run the ball more, which is how our WCO is planned out as. Much more run based like Minnesota as opposed to Philly.

The Titans also use the WCO- Norm Chow is a WCO disciple, and although he was fired this past January, the guy they replaced him with is another WCO disciple by way of Mike Shanahan.

If you're seriously going to try and say that it's a gimmick offense, you should probably try telling that to Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Steve Young...and I mean look how it hurts the production of recent players involved in the WCO, like Matt Hasselbeck, Brian Westbrook, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre...

The Pats and the Colts are as good as they are because they have Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, two of the greatest QBs ever, and the Chargers have LT, a back that with his receiving ability and open-field agility could possibly be even better in a well-run WCO.

Our WCO by all evidence thus far is going to be like the Bucs or the Vikings, with more of a running attack than what you would find in Philly or even Seattle.

[SnyderMustGo]

Uhhh you're wrong.

I either am or I am not. It's almost impossible to tell anymore with how watered-down and broadly people attempt to use the WCO term. There may be elements of the WCO in Tennessee, but I do not think you can call them a base WCO--despite the fact Chow is a WCO coach. The Vikings also have elements of a WCO, but it is a strain of the term to call them that. You add on the caveat "but the Vikings run more." That's pretty much dispositive on the issue. I'm sure there is going to be a definition disagreement here, but to be useful, I think the term WCO must refer to the Walsh type offense and a team that uses pass to set up the run, passess more than runs, and uses short passess to stretch the field. If any other definition of WCO is used, it becomes indistinguishable from other forms of offense. Now you may have a different definition, but I'm talking about the Walsh philosophy. And my original point is that it is not a cure-all. It does not mean that an offense will automatically rule, like many here seem to think. And I stand by my point that I still think the best teams in the league do not use a WCO.

Whether it works here or not, I do not know. But I do not see why it is necessarily true that a restricted-Zorn-WCO will automatically be better than a restricted-Saunders-Air Coryell offense. League history does not suggest that conclusion.

[Wrenkels]

I don't know maybe it's me. But I think that Snyder has been tring to get this WCO in Washington since he bought the team. I think it is hear to stay for the simple reason that Philly has made a living out of it. Seattle uses it and alot more teams have adopted it.

[ronhobie]

I think that JMUGATOR19 is on the right track. The real question is if the Redskins have the right personnel to run the WCO. It seems to me there is a big difference in the Gibbs grind it out conservative offense and the Zorn pass oriented WCO offense. Most current Redskin players were selected because of their ability to play in the Gibbs offensive style and may not be able to make the transition to the newer offensive system.It appears that for the Redskins to be sucessful in the upcoming year either the current players must have the ability to adapt to the newer system or Zorn will have to modify his WCO somewhat to fit the ability of his current players. The real question is how much time is the FO going to give Zorn to convert the offense and how patient will the fans be during this transition.

[PlayAction]

It's just a fad.

Redskins football is not WCO. We are trying to adopt something that doesn't fit how the Redskins play football.

Why so resistant to change? The old offense (Norv Turner, Gibbs 2.0, Gibbs/Saunders) didn't work. IMO Gibbs/Saunders was an organizational blunder but that's water under the bridge. The Skins haven't had the right personnel to run either the old offense or the WCO (prior to the most recent draft). IMO - Portis was never a Gibbs style RB - I think he fits the WCO style better. Betts is good under either system. Gibbs had the smurfs but not enough of them because they were constantly injured. The other WRs they brought in were not properly utilized or had different skills than needed under Gibbs/Saunders, e.g., Patton. But, Zorn went out and got a bunch of new WRs - he also has an experienced WCO WR in Thrash. So, we have the personnel to implement the WCO with the only question mark being QB.

That's a big question mark. Campbell was personally selected to fit the down field passing game. There are those throws in the WCO but the mainstay are the shorter passes where Campbell has struggled. Time will tell whether he only needed bigger WRs; whether he never was the right QB for the old offenses; or whether he's always been just a journeyman QB.

[DarrellsMyHero28]

Wanna know what I am sooooo sick and tired of hearing about? It's about poor QB Jason Campbell having to learn a whole new offense in the WCO, etc. When you're playing QB, how about just throwing the ball to the open receiver? This BS that he's having to learn an offense that's more complicated than advanced heart and brain surgery is so old! I hope he has a pro-bowl season, but the guy is being paid BIG-BUCKS to hand the ball off, and throw a football to the open receiver, regardless of the style of offense......maybe some of you ought to meet up at a somebody's house and have a big pity party for Jason!

You do not understand football.

[phatSkins27]

I think the addition of teh WCO has to do with the new headcoach so naturally how long we keep it around is directly p[roportional to how long we keep him. If he is successful its here to stay for some time. If he falls on his face we could see in two years something else.

NOw When you talk WCO and West coast philosophy from what i have read they are slightly different. The "west coast philosophy" of pass early to score and get on the board and then run later and ground out the other team (pass to score, run to win) I think is soemthing that all good NFL teams use and we will use from now on because that is the strategy of modern NFL coaches.

As gfar as WCO weith bigger Wideouts and shorter routes with run after catch in a quick read passing game will depend on how successful we are in teh next couple of years.