itsalloverfatman
12-03-2010, 12:04 PM
Hey BF Friends - Thanks again for all of your kind words for Doc's series. I've passed them along to him and he's humbled. He's a voracious reader and prolific writer, so certainly there's more material like it in store. Have a great weekend!
- Doug
The Elways and the Spread, Part 3
Doc Bear Dec 3, 2010 12:00 PM
Note: This is the conclusion of a three-part series on the history of the spread offense. Part 1 appeared Wednesday, and Part 2 came yesterday. Special thanks to TJ for providing the play diagrams that appear throughout this series.
Jack Neumeier had always been a smashmouth kind of coach. When there was a fight at practice, he made the combatants remove their jerseys and pads and duke it out without protection (that suddenly cut down on the fighting). He believed in the ‘3 yards and a cloud of dust’ kind of offense, one that just dominated the individual matchups and made your opponent fear you. He was the head coach of Granada Hills HS in the San Fernando Valley, and he had a bone-deep belief that ‘tough’ was the only way to win at football. It was a belief that he drummed into every player who came through his program.
Just as happened with Tiger Ellison, though, who came from the same generation, Neumeier’s irresistible philosophy ran into the immovable wall of football’s development. His team lost two key regular season games and missed the LA city playoffs in 1969. Neumeier was tough, determined and vehement, but he was also a realist whose only goal was winning. Losing two key games wasn’t in his DNA - winning was ultimately more important than sticking to his guns.
He recognized that he needed to find a new way to accomplish that, and read a book on offensive strategy by ‘some coach in Ohio’ - almost certainly Glenn Ellison’s text. In 1970, he took aside his returning quarterback and told him that they’d be throwing 35 passes a game. The young QB was dubious at first, but soon grew to love the wide open system that started every game in a two-minute drill. Other teams had no idea what was happening, and even less ideas on how to stop it. The quarterback was a young man named Dana Potter, who noted, “...after a while, we didn’t even look at film of the other team.” It didn’t matter - no matter what they thought they were going to do to stop Neumeier and his players, they were wrong. Granada Hills won the city championship easily that year.
It was six years later that a tall, skinny coach’s son showed up on Neumeier’s roster, looking to play running back. Neumeier took young John Elway aside and told him that he was going to switch positions. He also started explaining exactly why. Elway much later told the Denver Post, “He was the guy who made me fall in love with football.” When Jack Elway came by to find out what his son was so excited about, he saw players running all over the field and touchdowns coming nearly constantly. He loved it, and began to plan to implement it himself. Dennis Erickson, who would later coach both the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers, as well as two national championships at Miami, also came by with Jack Elway and was similarly impressed.
Neumeier’s system was different from Mouse’s Run and Shoot. For one thing, he used a tight end, whereas Davis did not. There were several others. However - both believed in spreading out the field, developing good matchups (fastest WR on a LB, for example) and using this to open large running lanes.
Erickson was an assistant under Jack Elway at San Jose State at the time, and they had great success with the system. Erickson added his own twists to the approach, as every good coach tends to do. His became known as the ‘one back spread:
Continued at IAOFM (http://www.itsalloverfatman.com/broncos/entry/the-elways-and-the-spread-part-3)
- Doug
The Elways and the Spread, Part 3
Doc Bear Dec 3, 2010 12:00 PM
Note: This is the conclusion of a three-part series on the history of the spread offense. Part 1 appeared Wednesday, and Part 2 came yesterday. Special thanks to TJ for providing the play diagrams that appear throughout this series.
Jack Neumeier had always been a smashmouth kind of coach. When there was a fight at practice, he made the combatants remove their jerseys and pads and duke it out without protection (that suddenly cut down on the fighting). He believed in the ‘3 yards and a cloud of dust’ kind of offense, one that just dominated the individual matchups and made your opponent fear you. He was the head coach of Granada Hills HS in the San Fernando Valley, and he had a bone-deep belief that ‘tough’ was the only way to win at football. It was a belief that he drummed into every player who came through his program.
Just as happened with Tiger Ellison, though, who came from the same generation, Neumeier’s irresistible philosophy ran into the immovable wall of football’s development. His team lost two key regular season games and missed the LA city playoffs in 1969. Neumeier was tough, determined and vehement, but he was also a realist whose only goal was winning. Losing two key games wasn’t in his DNA - winning was ultimately more important than sticking to his guns.
He recognized that he needed to find a new way to accomplish that, and read a book on offensive strategy by ‘some coach in Ohio’ - almost certainly Glenn Ellison’s text. In 1970, he took aside his returning quarterback and told him that they’d be throwing 35 passes a game. The young QB was dubious at first, but soon grew to love the wide open system that started every game in a two-minute drill. Other teams had no idea what was happening, and even less ideas on how to stop it. The quarterback was a young man named Dana Potter, who noted, “...after a while, we didn’t even look at film of the other team.” It didn’t matter - no matter what they thought they were going to do to stop Neumeier and his players, they were wrong. Granada Hills won the city championship easily that year.
It was six years later that a tall, skinny coach’s son showed up on Neumeier’s roster, looking to play running back. Neumeier took young John Elway aside and told him that he was going to switch positions. He also started explaining exactly why. Elway much later told the Denver Post, “He was the guy who made me fall in love with football.” When Jack Elway came by to find out what his son was so excited about, he saw players running all over the field and touchdowns coming nearly constantly. He loved it, and began to plan to implement it himself. Dennis Erickson, who would later coach both the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers, as well as two national championships at Miami, also came by with Jack Elway and was similarly impressed.
Neumeier’s system was different from Mouse’s Run and Shoot. For one thing, he used a tight end, whereas Davis did not. There were several others. However - both believed in spreading out the field, developing good matchups (fastest WR on a LB, for example) and using this to open large running lanes.
Erickson was an assistant under Jack Elway at San Jose State at the time, and they had great success with the system. Erickson added his own twists to the approach, as every good coach tends to do. His became known as the ‘one back spread:
Continued at IAOFM (http://www.itsalloverfatman.com/broncos/entry/the-elways-and-the-spread-part-3)