Why is Shula simplifying the offense?

[CRA]

Think about it. Chud didn't have extra long terminology for the plays, just lots and lots of variations on the plays. How do you cut down the terminology without cutting down the number of play variations available.

Peyton and Brady can get there complex offenses rolling pretty quick...and they aren't barking lots of things.

Could also imply...coaches calling in plays to Cam in simpler means...yet all the plays remaining in the book. Cam all too often seemed to be waiting on info to come in.

[TheRed]

Where has there been reference by coaches/players involving cutting down of the actual playbook?

[mbarbour21]

Zod, that is a much better version of your question. Lol!

I guess you could have a few universal terms for different things. Like "ocean" could mean a receiver should be in motion no matter what play or package is called.

But yeh, good question tho. Maybe there is a way to simplify the variations without omitting them.

[Zod]

Peyton and Brady can get there complex offenses rolling pretty quick...and they aren't barking lots of things.

Could also imply...coaches calling in plays to Cam in simpler means...yet all the plays remaining in the book. Cam all too often seemed to be waiting on info to come in.

Peyton barks a ton of crap at the line.

[TheRumGone]

Peyton barks a ton of crap at the line.

 

A lot of it is deceptive to confuse the defense.

 

The Patriots run a 1-3 word offense.  The emperor apparently got it from Chip Kelly, but that is just what i heard.

[MadHatter]

Do you have a link to anything where he said that? I could see us running more like we did in 28 of our 32 games but not shifting to more of a RB focused team

Where we not a balanced attack under Chud overall over two seasons.....in the offense Shula was promoted to keep?

Situationally, we can call better plays to help our QB out....but why on Earth would anyone want to reduce the percentage of the time the ball is on our best players hand (Cam)

Gotta hunt it up. It was a quote from Tolbert in the Observer and on Rotoworld.

On my phone, so can't post the link. Search on Joe Person's blog. He had an interview with Tolbert and he was talking about how excited the RB's are because Shula told them the we were going to run the ball.

Who knows exactly what the offense will look like...I am excited for the first few games for this to unfold.

[MadHatter]

Peyton and Brady can get there complex offenses rolling pretty quick...and they aren't barking lots of things.

Could also imply...coaches calling in plays to Cam in simpler means...yet all the plays remaining in the book. Cam all too often seemed to be waiting on info to come in.

Payton is constantly barking at the line. Not sure what games of his you have watched.

[FootballMaestro]

Gotta hunt it up. It was a quote from Tolbert in the Observer and on Rotoworld.

 

One quote doesn't make a season or a purpose (even if he said it, they way you said he did). 

 

As I said above, I'm sure a lot of things will be said, inferred and interpreted during the off season. 

 

We'll see?

 

No biggie, big deal. Just off season, collective Huddle love (my and all our responses on this thread). 

[rayzor]

Think about it. Chud didn't have extra long terminology for the plays, just lots and lots of variations on the plays. How do you cut down the terminology without cutting down the number of play variations available.

with the same mindset chip kelly and other stripped down verbiage coaches/teams have done...like the pats started doing this last year with the help of chip kelly.

 

here's a

really good read about the transition to one word, simplified verbiage approach that the pats have been incorporating.

When the Patriots’ offense is at its best and running roughshod over opponents — like getting out to a 31-7 lead in Sunday’s 31-21 victory over the Broncos — it’s when they are going with the fast version of their no-huddle offense.

And against the Broncos, the Patriots ran it faster than ever. It was breathless with 89 offensive plays (second in team history for a non-overtime game since they had 94 in a 28-10 loss to the Steelers in 1989) and a franchise-record 35 first downs, the eighth-highest total in league history.

 

The NFL never has seen anything like it, and it may never be the same.

 

How did the Patriots run the offense that fast? What was the key?

One word.

 

Not one word to describe it.

The Patriots operate their no-huddle attack most often using one word as the play call.

More accurately, they use six one-word play calls a game.

That word tells all 11 players on offense everything they need to know.

Formation.

Blocking scheme.

Direction on run plays.

Routes for receiver on passing plays.

Shifts in formations.

Snap count.

Possible alerts and play alterations.

One word.

 

“I think the point of it is to try to get everyone going fast,” quarterback Tom Brady said recently. “So as fast as you can get the communication to your teammates, everyone can be on the line of scrimmage, then the better it is.”

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The Patriots, like other NFL teams, have decreased play calls for emergency situations down to one word. “Clock” is used by everyone for a spike to stop the clock, and each player knows where they are supposed to line up. The Patriots expanded that for other plays needed in a pinch.

 

“A lot of times it was situational,” Belichick said. “Like we were in the hurry-up and you have to get the ball out of bounds, whatever it is. But sometimes we’ve had that where one play means this is where we line up, this is the play we run, this is the snap count it’s on, and we’re going to either try to catch the defense off balance or we don’t have time to have a big conversation about this. It’s line up, snap the ball, and we’re running a sideline route to get the ball out of bounds or something like that.”

 

But that was the extent of the Patriots’ quick verbiage with shortened play calls.

 

Why didn’t anyone think of taking the next step to extend those calls to an entire offense?

 

Well, Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh did. In his seminal out-of-print book Finding the Winning Edge published in 1998 — Belichick has called it the coaching bible — Walsh had a section on page 308 titled, “Determining the Future Dynamics of Offense in the NFL.”

 

First bullet point: “Teams will huddle only when the clock is stopped.”

 

Second: “Teams will use single-word offensive audibles.”

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If you want to see what’s next on the pro level, look to the colleges. That’s what Belichick does, with his alliances with coaches such as Nick Saban (LSU and Alabama), Urban Meyer (Florida and Ohio State) and, now, Kelly.

That’s why when Kelly walked into Gillette Stadium two years ago — and he’s been there three times total — ears perked up among the Patriots’ coaches, including Belichick.

 

Kelly had become friendly with former Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien while both were rising in the college ranks. The UNH coaching staff would visit Brown, where O’Brien was coaching, for pickup basketball games and to talk X’s and O’s.

 

Kelly told the Patriots he was moving to a no-huddle that only used one word to signify everything involved in a play.

Sideline calls take too long. Wristbands too.

 

One word is all that is needed.

 

“The things they’re doing now, they’re even faster,” Dickson said. “They have things where they can call one thing and it’s going to tell them formation, plays, everything, and all you have to see is coverage.”

 

The collective Patriots’ response to Kelly’s assertion was, basically, “You run an entire offense like that? How do you get the players to comprehend that?”

 

Kelly declined to be interviewed, but those with knowledge of the discussion said Kelly laid out his rationale.

Players memorize thousands of words in songs, hundreds of movie lines, and many other things involving pop culture.

 

Why can’t players have instant recall of a handful of concepts? Heck, everybody knows No. 2 on a McDonald’s menu gets you a Quarter Pounder, medium fries, and a drink.

 

“It’s kind of easy,” Dickson said. “It comes with repetition. A lot of guys learn different. Myself, I just needed to be out there repping those plays. The more comfortable you get, the faster you’ll go. He wants to make it easier to where you’re not thinking about anything, you’re just going fast. Make it as simple as guys can learn it so you can go really fast. That’s the key, making it simple for your players so they can play at top speed.”

 

Kelly’s overall message to the Patriots: Don’t put a limit on your players’ minds; they will learn whatever you teach them.

 

“I was interested to hear how he did it,” Belichick said. “I would say he expanded it to a different level and it was very interesting to understand what he was doing. Certainly I’ve learned a lot from talking to Chip about his experiences with it and how he does it and his procedure and all that.”

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Simplified play calls are all the rage on the college level, where O’Brien has transferred the Patriots’ package — dubbed “NASCAR” at Penn State — to the Nittany Lions, who ran 39 plays in just more than a quarter to erase a 28-17 deficit to defeat Northwestern, 39-28, Saturday.

 

That previously mentioned lengthy West Coast play call? It’s the same one ESPN analyst Jon Gruden threw at former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton on his QB Camp television special.

 

Newton was at a loss to equate an Auburn play to an NFL play. Newton was ridiculed nationally because critics thought it showed that Newton couldn’t handle a pro offense.

 

But what people didn’t realize at the time was Newton’s subsequent answer, when Gruden talked about Auburn using the no-huddle a lot, was actually more telling.

 

“Our method is ‘simplistic equals fast,” Newton said. “It’s so simple as far as, you look to the sideline [and] you see ‘36’ on the board. And that’s a play. And we’re off.”

 

What people didn’t get, because the NFL is slow to evolve, is that Newton was actually showing them a glimpse of the future.

 

The NFL is a copycat league, so only when someone with job security — like Belichick — tries something new and it works does it spread across the professional ranks.

 

Belichick has learned that if it’s going on in college, then it’s coming to the NFL. That’s the talent pool, and you should accentuate the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of that talent.

 

more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/10/08/patriots-huddle-relies-power-one/nHTapuVnBOwfFlffwTrN6J/story.html

[CRA]

Where has there been reference by coaches/players involving cutting down of the actual playbook?

Probably in the same article where we are going back to being a ground and pound offense

[CRA]

Peyton barks a ton of crap at the line.

Sometimes. So does Brady.

Both also can ramp up the O and not have to bark all day....they aren't suddenly reverting to football for dummies.

[Zod]

with the same mindset chip kelly and other stripped down verbiage coaches/teams have done...like the pats started doing this last year with the help of chip kelly.

here's a

really good read about the transition to one word, simplified verbiage approach that the pats have been incorporating.

Wouldn't using one word also drastically reduce the number of plays available?

[TheRumGone]

Payton is constantly barking at the line. Not sure what games of his you have watched.

 

A lot of it is deceptive. Kind of like a 3rd base coach signaling after touching a certain thing, like his hat. He has key words that he hits and the play is after that. I heard an interview where he said it.

 

So they hear a bunch of words they heard before, and they might think it is a certain play when it actually isn't.

 

But the bottom line is both Brady and Peyton set up the next play in an efficient manner with rhythm.  They use quick one word, two word plays and boom they're off.

[TheRumGone]

Wouldn't using one word also drastically reduce the number of plays available?

 

I guess if you can't come up with enough words.