Five Principles of the West Coast Offense

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I think a lot of fans think of a jam and think of Mel Blount in the 70s basically talkling a receiver at the LOS. All you need to do is throw a receiver off their route by half a second to cause problems with a WCO. Of course, if a receiver is good at working off that you can open up a lot of space.

[Misterwookas]

It's called the west coast offense for a reason. Back in the day when the east coast teams were all about pounding the ball the old school way, west coast teams spread out the offense and used the short passing game like a running game. the multiple recievers and the quick slants, that was Coach Gibbs philosophy from his early days. remember he was the offensive coordinator of one of the orginial west coast offense teams, San Diego. West coast offense is all about using the short slants like runs and opening the outside for one on one coverage to go long. I will put five hundred dollars on the line that Moss gets a long TD pass this year on a short slant over the middle ala the Hall of Famer Art Monk. Watching the offensive formations last nite brought back memories of the early 90's Skins. Lets hope Campbell can have a season like Rypien had back in 1991.

[Oldfan]

It's called the west coast offense for a reason. Back in the day when the east coast teams were all about pounding the ball the old school way, west coast teams spread out the offense and used the short passing game like a running game. the multiple recievers and the quick slants, that was Coach Gibbs philosophy from his early days. remember he was the offensive coordinator of one of the orginial west coast offense teams, San Diego. West coast offense is all about using the short slants like runs and opening the outside for one on one coverage to go long. I will put five hundred dollars on the line that Moss gets a long TD pass this year on a short slant over the middle ala the Hall of Famer Art Monk. Watching the offensive formations last nite brought back memories of the early 90's Skins. Lets hope Campbell can have a season like Rypien had back in 1991.

Although he objected to it, Bill Walsh's (49ers) scheme is what people now call the "West Coast Offense." Gibbs popularized Don Coryell's scheme which had its origins in San Diego. While both are rooted in the theories of Sid Gilman, they are different in approach.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

It's called the west coast offense for a reason. Back in the day when the east coast teams were all about pounding the ball the old school way, west coast teams spread out the offense and used the short passing game like a running game. the multiple recievers and the quick slants, that was Coach Gibbs philosophy from his early days. remember he was the offensive coordinator of one of the orginial west coast offense teams, San Diego. West coast offense is all about using the short slants like runs and opening the outside for one on one coverage to go long. I will put five hundred dollars on the line that Moss gets a long TD pass this year on a short slant over the middle ala the Hall of Famer Art Monk. Watching the offensive formations last nite brought back memories of the early 90's Skins. Lets hope Campbell can have a season like Rypien had back in 1991.

Not really.

The Coryell offense was the original "West Coast Offense," but there is very little similarity between it and the "West Coast Offense" that Walsh popularized. The Coryell offense at its heart is a vertical passing game. The WCO is more of a horizontal passing game (for lack of a better term). Both rely on spacing and both use the "pass to set up the run." But the approach is very different.

And was Monk really known for turning a short slant into a TD? I mean, I'm sure that happened on occasion, but I don't have a ton of memories of that.

[RiggosMohawk]

Since Utah has posted basic stuff about defense. I'd like to get back to the question someone posted earlier. How will our opponents defense the WCO?

It's my understanding that the Cover Two has been the conventional scheme used against it in the NFL. At the same time, it makes sense to jam the receivers and disrupt their timing with the QB. So, that presents a dilemma, doesn't it? Jamming receivers is a whole lot easier to do when playing man coverage.

So, how would you coaches deal with it?

Nice topic, and hadn't seen a reply with the zone blitz wrinkle. Someone correct me, but I think that's the def that really put Steve Young on Concussion Highway.

I'm not in the mood to embarass myself with an inaccurate/incomplete dissection of its wrinkles, so I'll leave that up to the coaches among us.

[PleaseBlitz]

Wow, this is really groundbreaking stuff. Protect the quarterback? Have good fundamentals? This is the reason Bill Walsh is in Canton. Its funny because I was watching the game tonight and i could tell right away that the Jets run a west coast offense because they were protecting the quarterback. And you could totally tell that they practice. Probably every day.

:laugh:

[Tastes Like Chicken]

Wow, this is really groundbreaking stuff. Protect the quarterback? Have good fundamentals? This is the reason Bill Walsh is in Canton. Its funny because I was watching the game tonight and i could tell right away that the Jets run a west coast offense because they were protecting the quarterback. And you could totally tell that they practice. Probably every day.

:laugh:

Don't forget about the timing, PB.

[KDawg]

There's always a few guys on this board that love to ruin things. Obviously chalk talk threads are no exception. Wonderfully done.

Oh and try reading more than the first post.

[Warpath11]

No. He jams in order to not allow a receiver an outside release, therefore funneling him into coverage.

It's not a full jam, he's not engaging in a slap boxing war, he needs to get the jam on and keep his eyes peeled for any potential threats headed his way. If none show and the receiver releases and evacuates from his zone, he's fine and he can start backpedaling slowly in order to take away intermediate crossing routes/post corners/flags/whatever.

He has to keep his eyes on the flats looking out for delay routes out there, though. He needs to stay responsible for his zone, so he can't creep too far back.

It's actually fairly easy to do.

Great analysis and a fantastic thread. KDawg, I like how you elaborated on an offensive attack on a cover-2 underneath zone. How does an offense attack a cover-2 where the corners (and maybe the LBs) are playing man-to-man defense underneath? If this does not happen in a cover-2 you can ignore the post, but I recall hearing you can play either man to man or zone cover-2.

edit: On a side note as I was reading this thread a great idea came up on having a coaches corner/Xs and Os thread I think that is awesome and I cant wait to read up on those if they are established. It reminds me of the guys at postgameheros.com they did a great job after every game analyzing the Xs and Os stuff and I think it would be awesome if we had that here.

[TK]

Wow, this is really groundbreaking stuff. Protect the quarterback? Have good fundamentals? This is the reason Bill Walsh is in Canton. Its funny because I was watching the game tonight and i could tell right away that the Jets run a west coast offense because they were protecting the quarterback. And you could totally tell that they practice. Probably every day.

:laugh:

If that is what you have to offer here, never let me see you ****ing about the quality of the Stadium threads over in the Tailgate again.

[KDawg]

Great analysis and a fantastic thread. KDawg, I like how you elaborated on an offensive attack on a cover-2 underneath zone. How does an offense attack a cover-2 where the corners (and maybe the LBs) are playing man-to-man defense underneath? If this does not happen in a cover-2 you can ignore the post, but I recall hearing you can play either man to man or zone cover-2.

edit: On a side note as I was reading this thread a great idea came up on having a coaches corner/Xs and Os thread I think that is awesome and I cant wait to read up on those if they are established. It reminds me of the guys at postgameheros.com they did a great job after every game analyzing the Xs and Os stuff and I think it would be awesome if we had that here.

Man Under schemes are often used in order for the defense to blitz, but they are used as the base scheme suggests as well.

Against a WCO, I'd prefer the other team to play a man under defense. Blitzing opens up hot routes from the backs.

Example: In base 4-3 Man Under, the OLB are responsible for the #2 receiver to their side.

You start counting receivers from the outside in until you get to the center.

So in a formation with a split end to the left, 2 backs in the I, a tight end to the right side and a flanker on the right side you'd number them as follows:

SE is #1

#2 is tricky. It would be whatever back flares out to that side of the field. It could be either the FB or the HB.

Now there's no more receivers on the left side, so you jump to the right side, counting from outside in.

FL is #1

TE is #2

FB/HB is #3.

In a Man Under scheme, defensive responsibilities are as follows:

Left Corner has #1 to their side

Weakside Backer has #2 to their side

Middle Backer has #3

Strongside Backer has #2 to their side

Right Corner has #1 to their side.

So your matchups, with this exact offensive and defensive formation would be as follows.

LCB manned up on SE

Weakside Backer is covering whatever back swings their way

Middle Backer is responsible for #3, so either HB/FB

Strongside Backer has the TE

RCB has the FL

Let's say the Weakside Backer is going to blitz the outside. He blitzes, meaning now the MLB has to make a choice if both backs swing. Stick with the #3 receiver to strongside, or pick up the WLB'ers man. Either way, someone is wide open and the QB throws to the open receiver.

Without a blitz, you've got a couple mismatches. A back should be able to beat a backer. Alot of TEs (Especially in the NFL, and even in college) can beat backers as well. Your corners are one on one as well.

Hope that's good info. If you give me a few minutes, I can post up a diagram so you can see it visually

EDIT: Okay, to the diagram.

The play drawn isn't necessarily a WCO play, but I just drew routes to give you an idea of the coverage.

The SE (Or X) is running a hitch. The LCB is responsible for him.

Since the W is responsible for the back that shows his way, he has to cover the fullback. Had the HB gone that way and the fullback the other, he'd have the HB.

The M has #3. There's only 2 receivers on the left side, so he has the HB.

The S has #2, which is the tight end (Or Y) running a shallow crossing pattern (drag).

The RCB has the FL (Or Z), who is running a slant.

The safeties are deep.

[BigRedskinDaddy]

Great analysis and a fantastic thread. KDawg, I like how you elaborated on an offensive attack on a cover-2 underneath zone. How does an offense attack a cover-2 where the corners (and maybe the LBs) are playing man-to-man defense underneath? If this does not happen in a cover-2 you can ignore the post, but I recall hearing you can play either man to man or zone cover-2.

edit: On a side note as I was reading this thread a great idea came up on having a coaches corner/Xs and Os thread I think that is awesome and I cant wait to read up on those if they are established. It reminds me of the guys at postgameheros.com they did a great job after every game analyzing the Xs and Os stuff and I think it would be awesome if we had that here.

I see that KDawg has already answered this in his usual thorough fashion, but I came across this article while perusing some football strategy sites and thought it might have some value. Link to follow:

The Divide Route in the Multiple Smash Concept

The "smash concept" is extremely popular for a reason: It's a great route. And it is simple to teach. The concept is designed to defeat Cover Two in its many forms. As Cover Two has evolved (Tampa 2, "Tough Two" with the corners retreating to ten yards and jumping routes, and Cover Two-Man), the Smash has become more and more popular.

A word here about verbiage. I refer here to the "Smash concept" or the "Smash route." Both refer to a two-man combination with the outside receiver on a 6 yard hitch and the inside receiver on a 12 yard corner route. Some coaches and teams go further and actually refer to either the corner route or the hitch route as a "smash" route. Again, "smash" to me is the combination - i.e. the concept - rather than any individual route.

In any event, the quarterback has a progression read: (1) corner, (2) hitch underneath. In his progression read he will "key" the cornerback: If the cornerback sinks back to stop the corner route, throw the hitch; if he comes up for the hitch, throw the corner. The best way to describe this to a QB is that you have a progression read and you "read" your receivers. You simply "progress" from one to two. In doing this though you have to understand what guys you are "keying," as their reactions should determine your progression. A Quarterback must understand defenses and defender reactions, but at the same time there is no telling where those 11 guys on defense will go, and as long as he knows where his receivers are and if the QB and the receivers are all on the same page we can run a successful play. We tell him his general rule is to throw the corner route until they take it away (though by gameplan or defense you can tell him to always throw the hitch until they come up for it).

Broadly, the inside receiver will run a 12 yard corner route. He has no "reading" on the play, but he must know his techniques. First, he should identify whether it is man or zone. Against man he will need to close his defender's cushion, push or lean him slightly inside, and plant and break hard away from the defender. Against zone he wants to see who he is running the route off of. If there is a deep defender over him he must set this man up inside and jab at the post at 10-12 yards and break for the corner. If there is no one head up on him he will roll cut his route so he loses no speed. It's worth mentioning though that even if he jabs or plants and breaks we want this closer to a "speed cut," as we don't want him to lose too much speed. A receiver can do this best by "jabbing" while having his toes actually pointed where he wants to go and having his "plant" foot not outside the framework of his body. Young receivers too often step way outside their body frames with their toes pointed in the wrong direction.

The corner route will be caught between 22-25 yards downfield. The QB's job is to "throw him open": throw the ball into the open grass. The receiver must react to the ball and go and get it. Against man to man defense to the short side of the field the depth of the route will be 18-22 yards.

If the corner is off and he turns and there is a flat defender inside, he just wants to get space from that guy. If that defender hangs the hitch receiver will drift away from him at his 5-6 yard depth as an outlet for the QB.

If the flat defender flies out to cover him he will break inside this player. We'd like him to actually climb over this flat defender because he will better be able to find the zone hole created but if the flat defender hangs back too far he will come inside slightly and settle underneath.

Guys, I hope these cut and pastes aren't too tedious. I find this stuff fascinating and try to post them only when I feel they are relevant to the immediate discussion. For those reading this who want to know more here is the link I pulled this from:

http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/

[Oldfan]

Some broad strokes:

Bill Walsh created what is now called the "West Coast Offense" in Cincinnati for a team that didn't have a lot of talent. It's a "ball control" scheme that is good at milking the clock with leads, and keeping the opponent's high-powered offense off the field.

The Coryell is a more dynamic offense, but it requires a dominant O line to be effective. That's hard to get and keep together in the salary cap era. Grimm, Jacoby and May were rookies in 1981. Gibbs rode them for a decade.

The WCO is not designed for coming from behind when down by two scores late. However, in a come-from-behind situation, a coach can use four downs. This offense has more options and should be more effective than recent Skins offenses when coach decides to go for it on fourth and two.

Early in the Buffalo game, Jimmy Z decided to go for it on fourth and goal at the one. I don't think he would have done it any differently if it had been a playoff game. It was the right call. And, in the end, we won by four.

I hope and expect to see more aggressive play calling in short yardage situations this year. The percentages favor it. There are statistical studies to support it.

[carter23]

very informative thread, kdawg.... thanks

as a guy who doesn't know as much as he'd like baout the nuances of the schemes, etc. (I JUST LIKE PEOPLE SMASHING INTO EACH OTHER BOOM HA HA) it was a great read

[SoulRebel]

Thanks to all for catching me up on the WCO

[mo808]

...See, the West Coast Offense IS a ball control offense. Keeping Gibbs' running game is added bonus to that front, but that's one of its purposes. Low risk offense that uses short, intermediate, long and playaction passes to move the chains and give a quarterback (and receivers, linemen and backs) confidence. Yes, there is big play potential in the WCO, but it really IS a ball control offense

The WCO is tweaked by every OC and team who employs it, but it ultimately it is all about who scores the MOST points before the last tick of the clock that WINS the game.

This is a very good thread for novices such as myself. Thank you everyone who shared their knowledge on what the WCO is, it was very enlightening to me personally! Mahalo!!~

[SkinsFTW]

The WCO is tweaked by every OC and team who employs it, but it ultimately it is all about who scores the MOST points before the last tick of the clock that WINS the game.

So your saying that the WCO is about scoring more points than the other team before time expires?

Fascinating. :drool:

[Capt Rich Fla]

Kdawg, in your opinion, what did we do wrong the other night? If it's so easy I would like to know where we are having problems with it.

[HawaiianTime]

I likw that. I nominate Kdawg, Oldskool, TK and the rest of the brain trust to be COACHES CORNER after every game. Any seconds?

[KDawg]

Kdawg, in your opinion, what did we do wrong the other night? If it's so easy I would like to know where we are having problems with it.

I'm not sure I ever said that this offense was "easy". It's not. But what we did wrong were alot of little things.

Receivers not breaking off routes/continuing them could have been a factor.

Campbell holding the ball too long was dooming and the offensive line's lack of protection on a consistent basis probably rattled our QB. It's not unique to the system, but when a QB feels nervous it effects his performance. We watched this same thing happen with Patrick Ramsey in that other guy's offense.

We didn't use enough max protect or other blocking schemes where we employ backs/tight ends to block a bit more, either. But I'm not sure if that's Zorn's offense talking, or under utilization. Cooley is not a good blocker, and I realize you have to have guys play their position... However, as a coach you have to realize that Cooley was not going to be able to handle Tuck one on one. Utilize QB roll outs to a side and have a pulling lineman pick up Tuck one on one. Utilize Yoder more and activate Fred Davis to use him as well.

[Oldfan]

Receivers not breaking off routes/continuing them could have been a factor.

Santana, Thrash and ARE combined for four mental lapses by my count. Zorn will surely find more when he looks at film.

Campbell holding the ball too long was dooming...

Jim Zorn says the big guy is physically quick enough to run the WCO, but he's not happy with his progress in making quick decisions. Zorn was calling basic plays, keeping it simple, and Jason's execution of them was still poor. That's not a good sign.

We didn't use enough max protect or other blocking schemes where we employ backs/tight ends to block a bit more, either.

Shouldn't have to in this offense when run properly, though. Am I right?

In our offense, keeping Cooley in is a high price to pay for more protection. Zorn didn't really want to use the shotgun either, but he had to.

[KDawg]

Shouldn't have to in this offense when run properly, though. Am I right?

In our offense, keeping Cooley in is a high price to pay for more protection. Zorn didn't really want to use the shotgun either, but he had to.

Misconception. Keeping people in to block is always important, no matter what offense you're in. It changes up the look which will keep the defense guessing. And, you have to take in to consideration that mistakes DO happen in a football game, in order to prevent them you hae to use precautionary measures. That said, you don't want to be too careful or too wild... I think you need a balance.

As I said previously, I would use Davis/Yoder as a blocking TE and let Cooley line up in the slot.

[Oldfan]

As I said previously, I would use Davis/Yoder as a blocking TE and let Cooley line up in the slot.

The FB and TE as blockers?

Using two eligible receivers primarily as blockers in an offense that wants to spread the field horizontally and use quick, short passes? That sounds counter-productive to me.

Seems to me, if you have to do that, you need a different scheme.

[Slateman]

For those of you who don't know, I'm entering my fourth year as a high school football coach after an achilles injury ended my hopes of walking on at a D3 college to play outside linebacker/safety.

I'm currently an offensive coordinator at the modified level, but I've called the plays for varsity and jv in passing tournaments and I'm an offensive assistant on varsity.

I have been studying the West Coast Offense extensively. I want to use it in my playbook, I've always been a fan of it. By pure coincedence, the Redskins are too using a West Coast system now.

I've seen so many people that are very misinformed on the west coast offense.

There are Five MAJOR principles to the West Coast Offense.

Protecting the Quarterback:

The offensive line must know their assignments and be aware of the blitz. Oftentimes, the WCO utilizes a 5 receiver attack, meaning you'll only see five guys blocking plenty. If the defense sends more guys than you have available to block, the quarterback and receiver must both be able to hot route successfully.

Timing the Pass:

Route depth must time out with the drop of the quarterback. The WCO is a timing offense. If the receiver comes into his break too early, the defense is still probably in position to make a play. If the QB holds on to the ball too long or drops too slowly, he screws the timing up.

Using Multiple Receivers:

The WCO utilizes a primary and secondary receiver to flood an area and in the case of a zone, make the defender pick a receiver to cover, or in the case of man defense one receiver clears the other.

The backs are often used to distract the undercoverage (the backers or up safeties). If the backs catch enough passes, the backers will creep up on them and try to jump a route, freeing up your other options.

Reading the Coverage:

Quarterbacks reads are generally fairly simple. The West Coast Offense purposely keeps reads simpler in order to give the QB an advantage and stop them from being tentative when throwing the football. They have a variety of reads that I won't get in to for the sake of keeping things fairly simple

Practicing the Fundamentals:

It's all well and good if you know all the principles, but if you aren't practicing all of them and working on timing with your receivers, it means nothing. Practice, practice, practice.

I admit, although I have been studying, I don't know everything about the west coast offense, but I do know enough to know that alot of the stuff people here assume it to be is false. But that's okay, not everyone is a complete loser like myself

Hope this helps out a little with some of you. If you have something to add or want to discuss anything, feel free.

So, basically, Jason Campbell has none of these things.

[KDawg]

The FB and TE as blockers?

Using two eligible receivers primarily as blockers in an offense that wants to spread the field horizontally and use quick, short passes? That sounds counter-productive to me.

Seems to me, if you have to do that, you need a different scheme.

I don't care what offense you use, you have to give different looks. It keeps opposing defenses off balance. We may not use those packages alot, but we need to use them more.

Keeping Cooley off blocking duty in passing situations, however, is a must against the stronger DEs in the league. He has no business blocking guys like Tuck as many times as he was matched up with him one on one.