Given our roster, and "lack of talent' establish an offensive philosophy for this team. Talk about how you will use the talent you have, and how you can adapt the WCO accordingly to those strengths. You have the most talented receiver at the slot, and your strenght is the left side of your line. Interested in your responses.
Basically the Houston Texans of last year. Run the **** out of the ball with a lot of outside/inside zone stuff and make a high percentage of your passes play action bootlegs. Hopefully Tannehill does not need to be babied to the extent that TJ Yates does, but it's a pretty tried and true formula.
Stay balanced on offense, no matter what the scoreboard says, and slow down the rush of opposing defensive lines by running a good percentage of max protect, draws, and middle screens on passing downs. In other words, keep the responsibility for winning games off of Tannehill's shoulders as much as possible, and keep defensive linemen away from him as best you can.
My idea of offense is pretty unconventional. If I were OC: I'd take Advantage of one of the biggest strengths of my rookie QB which would be his mobility. As well as utilizing my deepest position of halfback. I'd run sets with Armstrong split left and Lamar Miller in the slot next to him. Then have Reggie Bush split right with Daniel Thomas at halfback. From this set I'd run a lot of bootlegs to each side, using Bush and Miller on crossing patterns and drags of various complimenting depths. As well as running a lot of play action middle screens. From my more conventional sets I'd have it Bess and Armstrong split left with Hartline split right, sometimes from the I Form 3 WR and others with a TE and no FB. From this set I'd run a lot of PA bootlegs with Armstrong running the deep post from the slot with Bess running a drag route underneath. With the tight end in, I'd have him run an out route to the space cleared by the wide outs. I'd also try using split back formations with Bush and Miller running wheel routes down the field pressuring the safeties and easing the pressure on my wideouts, hopefully making them only need to beat their corner. I might also try splitting Bush out in the shotgun and throwing some little bubble screens, and unorthodox things such as splitting Bush wide and running him back around on a reverse. I actually wanted Gruden pretty badly because these are the types of things he seemed to want to do as well.
keep the pocket moving east and west, play to the #1 strength of the Qb..accomplish two things at once, take advantage of the talent, and keep pressure guessing. Keep'em guessing on first down, must get ahead in the count.
"No talent" means you have to be better conditioned then them to win I believe they are doing the right thing with a up tempo offense. They rarely ran it in preseason. Yes they went no huddle however they did not snap the ball until 6 seconds or less on the clock most of the time. If they are going to take that long they might as well have a huddle and snap it. I believe they rarely showed this in preseason and will surprise many people. If you can do this with the right defense on the field you can expliot it. That is what Brady did last year, whenever a nickel package came in they would not subsitute and line up quickly. If the offense does not sub the defense can not. You make thier pass coverage have to worry about the run and have to stay in there until you are ready to sub. We have been practicing this they have not. I understand these are professionals but asking players to do this in the Florida heat is insane. A WCO needs the o line to hold for only 3-5 seconds. You have to always remember to balance a few long balls with the short ones ( This is the main reason you see the Box so crowded. Not enough DEEP BALLS! ). I prefer a deep ball atleast every 15th play but i love them early in a series. Everyone remembers the big throws they help to open up the second level for your runs and your short/medium throws. IMO we need a a big guy with a big vert with decent speed. Gates somewhat fit the category but he was more speed then he was a vertical threat. A big target to me is far more important than a 4.3 speed guy. Draw/screen plays to exploit the outside blitzes. To me Armstong and Hartline are going to be mirroring each other with Bess and the RBS/TEs running the crossing routes. I would use Bush/Fasano as a blocker/screen man until he caught a few. Then i would use him as the bait for run plays have him line up on the right side when we go left. Always keep them guessing. The defense only worries me because of talent in some positions this is not something we can fix with coaching only with training or practice we just have take what we get and hope for some good trades/aquisitions. The only thing that does worry me is if the offense is going 3 and out them boys are going to have to be on the field a awful lot
A WCO needs the o line to hold for only 3-5 seconds. Well, Jerry does have a strong hand chuck. I watched him the other night and he can stand his man up initially, as can Long. Actually all these guys potentially can do this, but Martin has a little ways to go there.
We ran hurry up a lot in the preseason.Pushing a rookie QB to establish an identity with the offense in a short window. That is more important right now. Pushing the football deep and burning downs is not what we need. That will get us in 3rd and long quickly. Nemesis for a WCO.
May sound silly but I was thinking like New England's offense with a WCO twist. Already have Welker in Bess, Branch in Hartline/Armstrong, but don't have a Gronk or Hernandez. While Fasano and Clay aren't as talented as Gronk/Hernandez, both can cause mismatches like the former duo. Use Hartline as X, Bess as Y, Armstrong as Z(I'm hoping that Naanee gets cut) while you pick your poison with Clay or Fasano and Bush coming out as a receiver from time to time. Don't think the running game should be a problem with Daniel Thomas looking improved and Reggie being Reggie. As long as the O-Line holds up, looking at you Jerry and Martin. Tannehill's ability to adhere to the offense and execution will be key though.
