Can’t Mold “Perfect” Offense
February 4th, 2015
Bucs OC Dirk Koetter doesn’t believe there is a perfect offense
Joe isn’t sure how many of his readers watched the Bill Walsh documentary that aired recently on the man’s channel, NFL Network, but it was riveting if not eye-opening.
It also helped one decipher exactly why the Bucs offense blew up like someone rolled a hand grenade into a china shop when former offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford grew ill.
Walsh, much like Vince Lombardi in another age, drove his players to achieve perfection. Walsh referred to it as “precision.”
As former (Bucs and) 49ers quarterback Steve Young described, Walsh would be all over him if he got as much as one stride wrong in his drop back. He told Young “there is a reason” why he was to use so many strides in a certain way, that the entire offense was based on timing and something as tiny as one lazy stride could throw off a receiver’s passing route and the entire play.
In the eyes of current Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, there is no such thing as the perfect offense, types Woody Cummings of the Tampa Tribune.
Koetter offers few details about his offensive philosophy, stressing his job simply is to do whatever it takes to move the ball, score points and — most of all — help the Bucs win games.
“We all have things that we believe in as coaches, but at the end of the day, I’m a big believer that the system that you have has to be flexible enough to take into account the various strengths and weaknesses of your players,” Koetter said.
“I think it’s foolish to take a system and ram it down a player’s throat, if that doesn’t play to his strengths,” the former college head coach at Boise State and Arizona State said. “With that said, you can’t always make it fit exactly perfect for every single guy you’ve got on the team. But for the guys that are touching the ball a lot, you need to play to their strengths.”
This is music to Joe’s ears. There is no reason a coach should force-feed his philosophy on players that are not cut out to do what the coach wants. This is, to use southern Illinois phrase, “knot-headedness.”
A good coach finds what his players can do well and then tries to put said players in those positions. This, to Joe, is just common sense, but way too many football coaches are of the opposite mind.
You can train a mule every day for two years and the animal isn’t going to win the Kentucky Derby.
February 4th, 2015 at 11:06 am
I’ve heard this before. Maybe this time will be different.
February 4th, 2015 at 11:14 am
The offense needs to recite this everyday. It’s all about a mentality of greatness.
I want to wrestle with alligators,
I want to tussle with a whale.
I want to handcuff lightning and throw thunder in jail.
I want to murder a rock,
Injure a stone,
Hospitalize a brick.
I want to be so mean that I’d make medicine sick.
February 4th, 2015 at 11:22 am
I wish it was about toughness but truth be told you only lose close game and get blown out like we did because mental toughness not physical. all the holding penalties in big moments, big plays, scoring droughts from bad play calling, no one will accuse arroyo of being able to access the situation and adapt to how defenses were playing him or knowing how to play to his strengths, he just said I have this play in my playbook let’s run it. when your unsure what to do simply run the ball and put it on the horrible defense to give us better field position and give us more time to gameplan during the game because we have no idea what to do during the week
February 4th, 2015 at 11:23 am
This should get interesting when fans are lobbing insults at Koetter next season for either calling too many (depending on starting QB) screen plays, too many deep balls, or too many intermediate routes. It’s a honeymoon now, but Bucs fans (hell all team’s fans) get upset with coaches quickly these days.
February 4th, 2015 at 11:28 am
This is, to use southern Illinois phrase, “knot-headedness.”
———————-
You could just say Lovie.
February 4th, 2015 at 11:38 am
@WS99:
And don’t forget, touchdowns count six points.
simple as that…….
February 4th, 2015 at 11:42 am
I always felt like this was Gruden’s biggest flaw. But based on Koetter’s success with different kinds of personnel, maybe the proof is in the pudding? Man I hope so.
February 4th, 2015 at 11:43 am
Koeeter probably has not even had much of a chance to dig in and see what he’s actually working with. Once he does – the conversation with Lovie will go something like:
“Get me 3 good players this off season and we can have a decent offense quickly. I need a RG, a Tackle – and most importantly – I need Jameis Winston…”
February 4th, 2015 at 11:44 am
Obviously you have to have players to fit your scheme or fit your scheme your roster. Since everybody is so fixated on the QB’s, it would not benefit Mariota to put him in a scheme where he just has to stay in the pocket, drop back and throw all day, and it would not benefit Winston to have him in a fast moving offense where he would have to be mobile and read a lot.
Same as o-linemen. You can’t run a good zone blocking scheme with big, lumbering slow guys, just like you can’t run a power running scheme with small finesse guys
That’s a big reason why teams with stability in coaching have continued success because they have time to get the guys they need every year to fit what they do. However, when you are starting from scratch like Koetter is you have to go with what you have
February 4th, 2015 at 11:49 am
Joe says
“You can train a mule every day for two years and the animal isn’t going to win the Kentucky Derby.”
Come on Joe, no need to kick Adrian Clayborn when he is already down! I expect better from you!!!
February 4th, 2015 at 11:59 am
I watched.. Protection is extremely important to give plays time to develop and allow the Qb the time to finish his drop plus the hitch if needed. Without the protection its crap just like any other offense. Which is why the Giants eliminated the 49ers form the playoffs with Joe Montana and not scoring more than 3 pts if I remember correctly. It all starts with the fellas up front.
February 4th, 2015 at 12:29 pm
@@WS99
Yes, I’m the player of all players
And the mack of all macks
Give a headache to Excedrin’
And knock the sh#t out of Ex-Lax
DB55, before you can take my reign
You gotta cook me a chicken and a half a day
Walk from New York to Los Angeles and throw the bones away
You gotta be born blind and cannot see
Yo’ Chic’s have the pocks in the a$$ so bad they can’t even pee
Ride a bald eagle a million feet in the air
And get out and do the runnin’ man while you up there
Have the mumps and the Asiatic flu
And the crabs around yo’ a$$ start singing the Yankee Doodle Doo
Lol
February 4th, 2015 at 12:34 pm
“This is, to use southern Illinois phrase, “knot-headedness.” ”
Was plenty of it there in South Missouri and in South West Florida where I grew up.
February 4th, 2015 at 12:51 pm
Gee WS99, a had a sales manager say something like that to a room full of seasoned professional and we almost all said at the same time under our breath, “what a simple minded jerk.”
See Nirth Dallas Forty where the coach recites an inspirational passage and asks the players what it means and a player in the back says, “it means you”ve lost your fing mind,” and the whole room erupts in laughter.
See you around the campus at high school next year, Harry.
February 4th, 2015 at 12:55 pm
@WS99
Rudy Ray vs Kane?
Gone but never forgotten. Rudy Ray Moore was of the best stand up comedians ever.
February 4th, 2015 at 1:02 pm
Ddneast you’re just an ass. I give 2 chit about your opinion.
LUV – that is from the GOAT Mohammed Ali. It ran during the SB and I have not been able to get it out of my head.
February 4th, 2015 at 1:03 pm
Yes, I’m the player of all players
And the mack of all macks
Give a headache to Excedrin’
And knock the sh#t out of Ex-Lax
February 4th, 2015 at 1:13 pm
@WS99
Damn, sho’ you right.
February 4th, 2015 at 1:16 pm
This should be interesting, the offense being adapted to the players and on the defense, the players have to adapt to the defense. Gee, I wonder if we have a great offense and a defense like last year?
February 4th, 2015 at 1:20 pm
So you are telling us that Koetter is the exact of our last 3-4 OC’s here. When is the last time we had an OC that didn’t try to ram a specific system down players throats?
I guess the last innovative play caller that the Bucs had was Gruden; however, if people say that Lovie is a poor talent evaluator I would hate to say what they would say about Gruden’s talent evaluation skills. Gruden’s drafts were horrible and he couldn’t develop a QB, oh and he constantly cut or traded away good players.
February 4th, 2015 at 1:23 pm
This will be a completely new concept to Lovie. If he has a good player who is the best cornerback in the league Lovie cuts him.
February 4th, 2015 at 1:48 pm
My Mama says that alligators are ornery because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush.
February 4th, 2015 at 1:55 pm
OAR
Lol Now that’s what I call high quality h2o
February 4th, 2015 at 2:12 pm
What’s made this era sicker than a Family Dog was the sudden illness of Jeff “I’ll Trade My Flip Flops for Snow/Cowboy Boots” Tedford, and Dirk Koetter realizes it can’t all be West Coast or Parcells 24-7. The issue is finding Wins like this was a Sun Belt Team from the 2000’s.
February 4th, 2015 at 2:28 pm
Koetter is probably wondering – “If Lovie does draft Winston, how can I design an offense around QB that will throw 4 interceptions every game but keep people entertained with his weekly NFL version of his Rose Bowl Josh McCown Spinning Butt Fumble? Hmmm”
February 4th, 2015 at 2:29 pm
“I think it’s foolish to take a system and ram it down a player’s throat, if that doesn’t play to his strengths,”
************
Preach on. A wise man this one is.
February 4th, 2015 at 4:13 pm
Why can’t we tailor it to the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing defense????
February 4th, 2015 at 10:25 pm
Lovies gonna trade the number one pick and stack up on new blood