West Coast Offense - Good, Bad or Ugly?

Skinny Tee

It seems as if he will throw more picks though since it deals with rhythm passing and not throwing to the open man.

I envision the Zorn bringing in another QB (vet or rookie) to stabilize the QB spot. Brunell and Collins are sure to hit the road due to the new offensive staff.

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killromo

All very good points Ade. I too am on edge about JC and his overthrows/inaccuracy. This is my major concern.. O-line and receivers will be solid I believe. If Jc overthrows some of the WCO routes they will be pick 6's, daggers to the heart. At least he will be used to learning a new system at this point. This in my opinion will be the make or break year for JC. His work ethic and determintaion should help him out in preparartion. Hopefully he can make some end of game drives with no int's. I'm pulling for you big time JC.

SmootSmack

I'd be interested to see if his short to intermediate range accuracy increased as the season progressed last year. I think that part of the reason for his struggles was due to the receivers making the adjustment from left-handed, lo-mein with shrimp armed Brunell, to right-handed, Pachelbelled armed Campbell.

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over the mountain

good thread topic, i am also curious as to the nuances of the WCO and what NFL teams run it?

warpath experts please post your thoughts . .

texasskinsfan

I think that under the direction of Jim Zorn JC will learn to make rhythm passes and he'll become a very productive QB. His rating will go up a lot because Zorn will turn him into the QB he will have to be in order to run the WCO. I think while at Auburn they ran a type of WCO too. And it certainly is more simplified than Al's 700 playbook schemes.

Paintrain

Well nobody in the league runs the true version of the WCO anymore but there are a number of teams (Seattle, GB, Philly, KC, Buffalo, NYJ, Jax, Minn, NO, TB, SF) that run some variation of it. In it's truest sense, Campbell would probably struggle because most of the passes are slants and skinny posts hitting the WR in stride.. The version we'll run will likely be closer to the version Philly and Seattle run which has much more of a vertical element as well as an increased number of crossing patterns..

McNabb and Campbell, at this stage in Campbell's development, have very similar throwing motions/accuracy issues but McNabb has become very efficient and proficient (especially when he has WR to work with) in that offense. The way they've done that is to move him out of the pocket, have him get in the rythym short range with screens and swings and taking shots deep down the field.

The other great thing about the WCO is there isn't significant pressure on the OL to hold their blocks for long.. Most drops are a 5 step drop rather than 7, most of the time the ball is out very quickly or the QB is on the move, there's not really much bouncing from read to read and risking holding on to the ball forever.

As for our personnel with the WCO, Moss and ARE are well equipped to be complimentary receivers but we'd really benefit from having a tall, fast WR who can make the catches over the middle and rack up some YAC as well, that should be priority #1 for free agency/trade.. Cooley should have an outstanding year as well next year..

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schndr_tdd

Campbell's problem is when he holds on to the ball to long,he gets nervous..Getting rid of the ball fast in the slant game gives the offense the edge..It limits turnovers because the corner doesnt have as good of a chance to react and get square to the ball..

Redskins8588

I agree with pretty much everything that you said, but I do not agree with NO being a WCO team. I think that Peyton is more of a Air Coryell Offense type of coach. At least that is how he was under Parcelles and his 1st season in NO...

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Paintrain

Yeah, I'd agree he's on the outer fringe of the WCO.. He has much more of a vertical focus but has a lot of passes out of the backfield and crossing passes in his scheme..

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SFREDSKIN

It's ironic that the Redskins will now run the WCO and San Francisco will run a version of the Coryell offense (Martz)

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SmootSmack

LOL. Good call with that one

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Defensewins

Mr. Ade,
Very good post. You ask some very important questions.
The true WCO puts a lot more of the pressure and responsibility on the QB, more so than our last system. The West Coast Offense employs a variety of formations and pre-snap motion designed to confuse defenders. This can also confuse young QB's.
The WCO uses the short passing game in place of running the ball so much, so the amount of throwing is going to automatically increase compared to last year. The WCO passes the ball at least 60% of the time. In some cases like the Eagles, even more then 60%. The WCO tries to avoid tendencies that defenses can key on so they throw on any down to diffrent parts of the field. In order to run the true WCO successfully Campbell will need to be ready mentally.
One more thing, Gibbs protected Campbell by running the ball more and keeping a TE or a back in to provide extra blocking. That goes against the WCO philosophy which relys heavily on an ability to flood a defense with more receivers than they can handle.

Campbell17

Campbell was good at the beginning of the season but sorta lost it at the end. He was always throwing picks in big moments and wasnt very accurate. I think that he definatley has a lot of work to do because he can throw the long ball, but it isnt very accurate. He definately needs to improve his decision making because from what I have seen it has been very poor. I also think the receivers have a lot of work to adjust to this too because Coooooley cant do al the short throws. In 05 I remember at least 2 or three passes where Moss got a screen from Brunell and juked one guy and was off to the races. Randle El will have to be better to.

Bottom line: This is gonna be ugly.

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