To see Part 1:  Picking a Coach

Your choice of head coach will likely dictate your offensive and defensive strategies, so this decision may actually need to be made before your choice of coach.

Offensive Strategy:

Over the years, several offenses have become so successful and popular, they deserved their own names.  The most famous is the West Coast offense popularized by Bill Walsh and run to perfection by Joe Montana.  Basically, this was the first offense to primarily set up the run with the pass.  At the time of it’s development in the early 80’s, this was a radical thought.  Most coaches set up the pass with the run.  Walsh used short accurate passes to move the ball methodically down the field with the occasional run or bomb to keep the defense off balance.  The advantage is that, when run properly, it’s almost impossible for the defender to stop a short pass, especially in today’s NFL where a receiver can’t be touched outside of five yards.  The disadvantage is that it requires the quarterback to be very consistently accurate with very sure handed receivers.  The best example of this today is Tom Brady.  Though the Patriots do not run a pure west coast offense, Brady began his career throwing almost exclusively short, high percentage passes.  He has developed into a great long and midrange passer as well, but his short accurate passes are what make the Patriot’s offense so dangerous.

K-gun:  Also known as the no huddle, this was invented by Sam Wyche in Cincinnati, but made famous by Marv Levy and Jim Kelly in Buffalo.  Ironically, Marv Levy actually publicly complained about the use of the no huddle against his team before he saw the light and decided to make this his primary offense.  He then rode it to the Hall of Fame.    Today, almost every team runs a version of the no huddle which differs from the “hurry up” offense in that the no huddle generally allows for more offensive options.  The advantage of the hurry up is that it dictates the tempo of the game and does not allow for defensive substitutions.  In addition, it fatigues the defensive lineman who must remain in a three point stance until the ball is snapped.  If the opposing defense attempts a substitution, there is the possibility of getting caught with 12 men on the field.  From what I’ve read, the biggest disadvantage is that it tires out your own defense.  Apparently, this offense scores so quickly, your defense does not have time to rest.  I don’t buy this argument, and think that every offense should be a no huddle.  The only disadvantage I can see is the inability to kill the clock, though if your team is in a position to kill the clock, you probably have a big lead.   This offense does require a quarterback who can run the whole offense independently and call audibles at the line.  Peyton Manning is the quintessential no huddle quarterback. 

The Run and Shoot popularized by Jack Pardee and June Jones sent Warren Moon to the Hall of fame.  Basically, this involves a lot of 4 wide receiver sets with ample presnap motion.  The advantage is that it spreads the defense and with 4 wideouts, one will usually get open.  The disadvantage is that there is no tight end, so makes scoring in the red zone more difficult.  It places huge pressure on the quarterback because there are fewer blockers kept in for protection; Buddy Ryan called this the “Chuck and duck” offense.  With so much passing, it’s hard to develop a running game.  In addition, like the K-gun, it places pressure on the defense because they tend to be on the field more.  Currently, no team in the NFL employs the run and shoot, though most teams have some kind of “spread” set employing 4 or 5 receivers.

Zone Blocking is a method of blocking for the run game utilizing smaller, quicker offensive linemen.  This is the type of offensive line play preached by Alex Gibbs, formerly an offensive line coach at Denver and Atlanta.  During his tenures at each location, that team’s running game was consistently ranked among the top 5.  Basically, this involves mobile offensive lineman.  Two will initially attack a single defensive lineman at the snap, then once that defensive lineman is neutralized, one of the offensive lineman moves on to block a linebacker.  The running back should then have a gap to hit.  It sounds simple, but is very hard to perform properly because it requires great synchronicity and communication among the offensive linemen.  In addition, this scheme is often synonymous with cutback blocks, which are legal, but are considered by most defensive linemen to be dirty.  Since the offensive linemen are smaller, it’s more difficult to hold up against the rush in pass blocking. 

In my opinion, a west coast type attack using no huddle would be the ideal offense.

Defensive Strategy:

Like the offenses, there are multiple varieties of successful defenses. Most are unnamed, but some, either due to their success or a catchy name have been popularized by the press.

The first decision to make in deciding on a defensive scheme is whether to employ a base 4-3 or 3-4.  I say “base” because these are not mutually exclusive, but simply represent the primary defensive alignment.  The 4-3 uses 4 defensive lineman, 2 tackles and 2 ends, and 3 linebackers. The 3-4 uses 3 down linemen, a nose tackle and 2 tackle/ends, and 4 linebackers.  Both alignments use 4 defensive backs.  The advantage of the 3-4 is this it replaces a lineman with a linebacker who is presumably a better athlete.  The tradeoff is in mass; the lineman is usually bigger and stronger.  The 3-4 alignment allows much more versatility both in coverage and in pressuring the quarterback.  The pressure usually comes from blitzing one or both of the outside linebackers.  In the 4-3, since the defensive line is overall bigger, it should hold up better against the run.  Philosophically, the 3-4 is designed to create mismatches, while the 4-3 requires more “mano a mano” battles.

Most defenses in the NFL today employ the 4-3 alignment with only Pittsburgh, New England, Baltimore, Cleveland, San Diego, and Dallas employing a base 3-4.  This in itself gives the 3-4 an advantage in that most teams do not know how to play against a 3-4 defense.  Peyton Manning, for example, usually has trouble reading the disguised blitzes and coverages found in a 3-4.  In addition, because so few teams play the 3-4, there is less competition for certain players, specifically the huge athletic nose tackle, or the big fast outside linebacker that would normally be considered too small to play defensive end in a 4-3 scheme.  There are also salary cap advantages to playing a 3-4.  Aside from the top quarterbacks or shut down corners, the highest paid players are top defensive ends.  The 3-4 essentially replaces this end with a relatively inexpensive outside linebacker.  Since the 3-4 is a gambling type scheme designed to pressure the quarterback, it requires big fast cornerbacks who can play both the run and the pass.  These tend to be more expensive, but since they are useful in both the 3-4 and 4-3 schemes, there is no real cap advantage at corner.  The 3-4 also requires bigger linebackers, but these are not necessarily more expensive than the smaller linebackers used in the 4-3.  John Clayton of ESPN argues that the 4-3 is not as complex as the 3-4 so a younger and cheaper player can come in and contribute sooner than a young player in the 3-4.  This may be true, but I’d argue that good coaching probably makes more of a difference here than the scheme.  The winners of the previous 3 Super Bowls played the 3-4, and every one of the 3-4 defenses this year, except for Cleveland, was ranked in the top 10.

Zone Blitz:  Devised by Dick Lebeau and made famous by the Blitzburgh defense in the early 90’s, this devious scheme takes advantage of the athleticism of the players in the 3-4 scheme.  A zone blitz is a blitz, like any other blitz, where any player, can be sent in to rush the quarterback.  Normally this would leave a deficiency in the coverage usually provided by the blitzing player, but in a zone blitz scheme, players who are not normally involved in coverage, drop back into coverage, so there can be the same number of players involved in coverage.  The huge advantage this provides is a mismatch in numbers.  For example, so many blitzers can be sent from the outside that the running backs and tight ends normally kept in to pick up these blitzers cannot block them all.  The territory normally protected by these blitzers is then covered by another player, even possibly the nose tackle, leaving offensive lineman with no one to block.  The disadvantage is in ability.  The blitzers are not necessarily the best pass rushers on the team and the players back in coverage are not necessarily the best at that, so if the blitzers do not sack or pressure the quarterback, the offense has the advantage.  This type of defense is more of a chess game between the offensive and defensive coordinators rather than individual matchups between players.  From a fan’s perspective, it’s more fun to watch because it’s so unpredictable.  This has been the Steelers’s signature defense for the past decade and they have been consistently ranked amongst the top 5 defenses through that period.  Probably every team has their own version of the zone blitz, but Pittsburgh lives and dies by it.

Cover 2:  This is a base 4-3 defense in which the safeties play back and tries to keep everything in front of them.  This makes it very difficult to make a big play.  A team must sustain long drives in order to score against this type of defense.  The biggest vulnerability in the cover 2  was the deep middle, so the Tampa 2 was devised by Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin in the late 90’s.  This assigns a speedy linebacker, known as the “Mike” linebacker to cover this area. The Tampa 2 is a safer type of defense which requires the defensive linemen to generate pressure on the quarterback, thus the need for star defensive ends, such as Simeon Rice in Tampa and Dwight Freeney in Indianapolis.  This defense has become very popular and has spread throughout the NFL by coaches influenced by Tony Dungy.  This year, both participants in the Super Bowl played a Tampa 2 defense. 

46:  I used to think that Buddy Ryan’s 46 defense which the Bears used to terrorize the NFL in the 80’s, was named for a certain alignment, like the 4-3, but it was actually named the 46 for the number worn by the safety, Doug Plank, who acted as an additional linebacker.   This is a gambling type defense from a 4-3 alignment designed to pressure the quarterback with multiple blitzes.  When executed properly, the opponents’ quarterback should require several diaper changes a game, just ask Ben Roethlisberger.  The defensive backs are exposed, so they need to be able to play great bump and run coverage.  Last year, the Ravens, whose defensive coordinator is Rob Ryan, Buddy’s son, employed the 46 and were the top ranked defense in the NFL.

In my opinion, a 3-4 scheme using the zone blitz is the ideal defense and makes the most sense in today’s salary cap conscious NFL.

Next:  Acquiring personnel