Vertical offense/turnover philosophy

[Chris Cappella]

Was talking to OC Darrin Hicks yesterday and he said something that has kind of stuck with me. I asked him how he would respond to the criticism of the offense being too conservative and not moving the ball vertically down the field. "I'd say that's a fair criticism," he responded. This got me to thinking....

I think too much football fans, as a whole, value low interception numbers. If you look at all of the all-time great quarterbacks, look at their interception numbers. They're higher than you might think. In fact, I encourage you right now to go season-by-season with Peyton Manning's numbers. In the 15 full seasons he's played, in eight of them he's thrown 14+ interceptions.

Obviously you don't want to be giving the ball away but I think I have a valid point when it comes to RMU and quarterbacking in general. It's okay to turn the ball over. Not every drive can be a methodical 14 play, 80 yard drive. Sometimes you need to attack. I'm hoping in the near future we see the RMU offense take some chances down the field. The risk/reward is well worth it. With teams ready to key on Rameses Owens stretchin the defense out is a good idea.

I heard Phil Simms once say that Bill Parcells told him if he didn't throw two interceptions a game he would be mad. I say go ahead, Luke Brumbaugh, time to air it out.

 

[ColonialCrazy]

I personally think a lot of this is predicated on the style of offense. In NFL pro style offense, you have to attack down field and take certain risks to have success. If you dont, the offense cannot open up. You also have to have big time arm strength in that style of O. Perfect example, Brett Favre. So I agree with you 100 from that aspect.

In other offenses, specifically Chip Kelly's offense, you need to be efficient (See Nick Foles). It's predicated on rhythm, completing passes, and getting your best athletes in space 1v1 for YAC. These new age O's are about efficiency, spacing, and getting those athletes in space. See Auburn (similar O): Nick Marshall 14 TD, 6 picks. Foles (under Kelly 27-2), Mariota, 32-6, 31-4, Darron Thomas (Under Kelly) 33-7.

These QB's are obviously very good talents, and that has a lot to do with their numbers, but they all run the similar up-tempo "Chip Kelly" style offense.

To sum things up, I think its all predicated on what style off offense you run. In this offense, I think playing "conservatively" and keeping the completion % up with short immediate quick passes that get your best athletes in space and a powerful run game are more important then attacking down field.

The real question may be, does RMU have the athletes, the spacing, the tools to run this offense. You wouldn't expect them to in year one (after ground and pound style O under Walton), and that is something they will have to find as they recruit moving forward.

 

[ColonialCrazy]

Oh and one more thing....

This specific RMU team SHOULD attack down field. They simply dont have the athletes and experience in this offense, to run it effectively 100 percent of the time IMO.

Maybe down the line, when they have more weapons, have more overall knowledge of this up-tempo spread attack (and actual game experience running it with a young QB), they wont need to take those risky chances. But this year, they need to.