Interesting Air Raid Insights from TX high school coach

kerouac9

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Check out the podcast for yourself.

The Ringer’s NFL podcast had a very cool discussion this week with a coach who specializes in defense at the Texas high school level. Some really interesting stuff about why defenses seem to take longer to adjust and experiment, and about how to contain Air Raid offenses.

One thing that jumped out to me was that one reason the air raid works so well in college and high school is not that it’s complex—it’s that it is so SIMPLE. College and high school coaches are extremely limited in how long they can spend working with these kids. The Air Raid is so conceptual that many teams today don’t even have playbooks or route trees.

This means that instead of spending a lot of time in the classroom and film room, lower-level coaches can work on the field at execution.

This is a long way of saying that I think Murray’s understanding of the offense, such that it is, is less of a factor, as is a transition period for the professionals on the roster. Expect a lot of comments in camp about how the offense really just frees you up to play football and make plays, or whatever.

Expect offensive rookies to adapt much more quickly.
 

football karma

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1. i really like the Ringer

2. NFL coaches chief complaint is lack of practice time now -- this approach might be timely.

3. as best as i have been able to gather: the KK offense is simple, but each play is disguised by formation, personnel and/or motion. These disguises vary week to week.

the most KK has said is "simple with the illusion of complexity"

4. defense experiments have higher cost of failure than offense. If a pass play doesnt work, the QB can throw it into the ground. If a defensive coverage doesnt work, its a big gain/TD.
 

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I put this up when Kingsbury got hired about how the Air Raid works because the WR runs a single route, not a route tree and I got slammed
 

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I put this up when Kingsbury got hired about how the Air Raid works because the WR runs a single route, not a route tree and I got slammed
I'll critique you and @Krangthebrain at once, if you guys would like, haha.

No one is getting me excited about how simplicity helps a high school or college offense, where it's not professional play. To me, simple playbooks = simple for pro defenses. The league's best head coach just took some young kid's best coaching punch in the Super Bowl and basically said "boy, sit down."

Air Raid elements are totally the future of the NFL, given less time to coach and such, but simple doesn't spark my interest.
 

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I'll critique you and @Krangthebrain at once, if you guys would like, haha.

No one is getting me excited about how simplicity helps a high school or college offense, where it's not professional play. To me, simple playbooks = simple for pro defenses. The league's best head coach just took some young kid's best coaching punch in the Super Bowl and basically said "boy, sit down."

Air Raid elements are totally the future of the NFL, given less time to coach and such, but simple doesn't spark my interest.

I dunno if it is that simple, we also watched a young OC generate a 24 point lead in a super bowl over that same head coach using an offense that relied on massive amounts of shifting to open up opportunities to move the ball. The Falcons blew it after that, but it wasn't because of the offensive scheme.

But if Kingsbury only gets us to lose in the Super Bowl in his second year, I can totally see getting rid of him and pursuing a more traditional offensive mind that Belichick can't defeat :)
 
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kerouac9

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I dunno if it is that simple, we also watched a young OC generate a 24 point lead in a super bowl over that same head coach using an offense that relied on massive amounts of shifting to open up opportunities to move the ball. The Falcons blew it after that, but it wasn't because of the offensive scheme.

But if Kingsbury only gets us to lose in the Super Bowl in his second year, I can totally see getting rid of him and pursuing a more traditional offensive mind that Belichick can't defeat :)

Maybe, but both Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay have been in the NFL for basically their entire lives. It's easier to fold new concepts into a base that you you know is fundamentally sound at this level.

I'd also argue that that Falcons offense wasn't playing over their heads; they had one of the most talented groups of offensive skill position players in recent memory.
 
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kerouac9

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Kingsbury isn't alone in the room. He's got coaches Vance Joseph, James Saxon, Jeff Rodgers, Sean Kugler, and Tom Clements all with 13-21 years of NFL experience to help out.

Cool story. How's that different than the experience Steve Spurrier and Chip Kelly brought to their staffs? Again, this is about how you integrate your offense (and build your training camp curriculum, which is also important). Mike McCarthy's offense hasn't really been too cutting-edge in the NFL.

Starting with a college offense and folding in NFL concepts is profoundly different than what Belichick, Reid, Kubiak and McVay did, which was starting with an NFL-proven playbook sprinkling in college concepts.
 

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Cool story. How's that different than the experience Steve Spurrier and Chip Kelly brought to their staffs? Again, this is about how you integrate your offense (and build your training camp curriculum, which is also important). Mike McCarthy's offense hasn't really been too cutting-edge in the NFL.

Starting with a college offense and folding in NFL concepts is profoundly different than what Belichick, Reid, Kubiak and McVay did, which was starting with an NFL-proven playbook sprinkling in college concepts.
In all honesty he could be doing that too, we have no clue what they're doing yet, I seriously don't think the coaches actually know what this offense is going to look like yet either, they have an idea but right after OTAs Kingsbury said something interesting to the effect, that they were still seeing what worked and what didn't so he wasn't sure how to categories it
I don't know what's gonna happen to be honest lol
 

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Cool story. How's that different than the experience Steve Spurrier and Chip Kelly brought to their staffs? Again, this is about how you integrate your offense (and build your training camp curriculum, which is also important). Mike McCarthy's offense hasn't really been too cutting-edge in the NFL.

Starting with a college offense and folding in NFL concepts is profoundly different than what Belichick, Reid, Kubiak and McVay did, which was starting with an NFL-proven playbook sprinkling in college concepts.
Cool quip. From all appearances Kelly and Spurrier were egomaniacs and Kingsbury seems to have already publicly intimated that he’d be looking to NFL minds for input. But you know everything that’s happened in the past with different people has to happen again every time. :rolleyes:
 
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kerouac9

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Cool quip. From all appearances Kelly and Spurrier were egomaniacs and Kingsbury seems to have already publicly intimated that he’d be looking to NFL minds for input. But you know everything that’s happened in the past with different people has to happen again every time. :rolleyes:

I didn't say that, and I don't believe it. I'm just saying that the presence of veteran NFL coaches on the roster hasn't mitigated this question in the past. You know as well as I do that saying something and doing it are quite different, especially if you feel like you're doing it "their way" to begin and you don't have immediate success.

I actually think that Kingsbury is extremely humble and will be willing to listen, but I think the biggest danger is that this Air Raid stuff just doesn't work in the NFL and there's a reason that real NFL offenses are complex/written down.

My biggest fear is that even if Kingsbury is smart, it's not enough. You can't build a castle on a foundation of sand. I don't know enough to say that the differences are enough to matter, but one can imagine that there's a reason that every other NFL coach had a play book that was... you know... written down.
 

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I didn't say that, and I don't believe it. I'm just saying that the presence of veteran NFL coaches on the roster hasn't mitigated this question in the past. You know as well as I do that saying something and doing it are quite different, especially if you feel like you're doing it "their way" to begin and you don't have immediate success.

I actually think that Kingsbury is extremely humble and will be willing to listen, but I think the biggest danger is that this Air Raid stuff just doesn't work in the NFL and there's a reason that real NFL offenses are complex/written down.

My biggest fear is that even if Kingsbury is smart, it's not enough. You can't build a castle on a foundation of sand. I don't know enough to say that the differences are enough to matter, but one can imagine that there's a reason that every other NFL coach had a play book that was... you know... written down.
I agree with you. Do I think KK is dumb or lacks humility? No. Do I think we may be a few years too early on a full Air Raid? Yeah.

I think he meant that KK didn't come in the door with a defined playbook, and whatever has been created is so new that it's the first time it's ever been printed on paper.
 

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I agree with you. Do I think KK is dumb or lacks humility? No. Do I think we may be a few years too early on a full Air Raid? Yeah.


I think he meant that KK didn't come in the door with a defined playbook, and whatever has been created is so new that it's the first time it's ever been printed on paper.

Well, problem solved then I guess.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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I didn't say that, and I don't believe it. I'm just saying that the presence of veteran NFL coaches on the roster hasn't mitigated this question in the past. You know as well as I do that saying something and doing it are quite different, especially if you feel like you're doing it "their way" to begin and you don't have immediate success.

I actually think that Kingsbury is extremely humble and will be willing to listen, but I think the biggest danger is that this Air Raid stuff just doesn't work in the NFL and there's a reason that real NFL offenses are complex/written down.

My biggest fear is that even if Kingsbury is smart, it's not enough. You can't build a castle on a foundation of sand. I don't know enough to say that the differences are enough to matter, but one can imagine that there's a reason that every other NFL coach had a play book that was... you know... written down.
Wait, has it been reported somewhere that there’s literally no written playbook for the cardinals?!? Did I miss that?
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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I agree with you. Do I think KK is dumb or lacks humility? No. Do I think we may be a few years too early on a full Air Raid? Yeah.


I think he meant that KK didn't come in the door with a defined playbook, and whatever has been created is so new that it's the first time it's ever been printed on paper.
Rather be early than late.

The jury is definitely out on Kingsbury until we see anything - likely year two before we have any idea.
 
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kerouac9

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Wait, has it been reported somewhere that there’s literally no written playbook for the cardinals?!? Did I miss that?

When Kingsbury arrived, he didn't bring a written playbook with him. (This has been reported) His offense at Texas Tech used a "video playbook" that taught the concepts of how you run routes against different kinds of coverage.

When Kingsbury arrived here, he recorded those concepts into a written playbook.

The problem (for me) isn't that the playbook wasn't written down. The problem is that it's unheard of for an NFL offense to be so simple that it doesn't need to be written down. It's possible that's because all NFL offensive coordinators are guys who like complexity for its own sake and lets it reflect their innate genius.

I think that NFL offenses are likely a little more complex than they need to be, but because NFL coaches and players have more time (not only seasons of practice but years in their careers), complexity gets added to keep players interested (this happens especially at QB) and as defenses see the basics.
 

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kerouac9 do you really think that a paper can show more "looks" than a video playbook. From my perspective, as I had to do some "how to" video is 10 time easier to show every nuance than write it down. It is very difficult to achieve the full spectrum of nuances just by writing it down. A picture and more so a video is often easier and much more recognizable if you see it "live" and even if it is as easy to understand as the video, if people encounter it "live" they sometimes need some tries to recognize it and adapt it, and exactly that is "lost" time.

Really just my expierience on an other field than Football but, I could imagine it works for football as well. And by the comments of Fitz, recognizing the play and react properly is the key to Kingsburrys offense and if that is so, than it will if not really to easy, always challenge other defenses. And not every D has 2 Top Corner and so on.


And for me the Rams didn't loose because of Bellichek destroying McVay, but much more Bellicheck showing up and destroying Goff. Bellichek uses himself many concepts of the Air-Raid maybe that helped him to see the real problems that Goff has overall. But till the SB no one could stop the concepts of the Air-Raid used in the NFL language, so I'm not sold on it that the D solved that problem yet and since these isn't the old days were D are allowed to use physicality and NFL probably wanting more high octane offenses ... I think D will not stop it that easily without a real sound D and a real good one so maybe 1-3 teams can stop it and the rest of the league has to adapt on a high scoring game or fail miserably. But still this is my perception of the whole thing.
 
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kerouac9

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kerouac9 do you really think that a paper can show more "looks" than a video playbook. From my perspective, as I had to do some "how to" video is 10 time easier to show every nuance than write it down. It is very difficult to achieve the full spectrum of nuances just by writing it down. A picture and more so a video is often easier and much more recognizable if you see it "live" and even if it is as easy to understand as the video, if people encounter it "live" they sometimes need some tries to recognize it and adapt it, and exactly that is "lost" time.

Really just my expierience on an other field than Football but, I could imagine it works for football as well. And by the comments of Fitz, recognizing the play and react properly is the key to Kingsburrys offense and if that is so, than it will if not really to easy, always challenge other defenses. And not every D has 2 Top Corner and so on.


And for me the Rams didn't loose because of Bellichek destroying McVay, but much more Bellicheck showing up and destroying Goff. Bellichek uses himself many concepts of the Air-Raid maybe that helped him to see the real problems that Goff has overall. But till the SB no one could stop the concepts of the Air-Raid used in the NFL language, so I'm not sold on it that the D solved that problem yet and since these isn't the old days were D are allowed to use physicality and NFL probably wanting more high octane offenses ... I think D will not stop it that easily without a real sound D and a real good one so maybe 1-3 teams can stop it and the rest of the league has to adapt on a high scoring game or fail miserably. But still this is my perception of the whole thing.

I think that pro teams watch film and so they have BOTH. There are two drawbacks that video presents that you don't get from written materials:

1) Written materials can provide multiple dimensions at once. Here's the Browns' 2000 offensive playbook. Here's a page from the playbook (page 252 of 554(!!!)):
You must be registered for see images attach


That's 10 variations of the same play (Ride 136/137). If you're a different position (RT vs LG, for example), you're being shown what your responsibilities are. There's a greater density of information here than you would get from a video, which can only show one instance of a defense, for example. Each play is 7-12 seconds long. So in what it takes me to scan for my position on 10 plays, I'd have to watch over a minute of video.

2. Written materials are (generally) random access, while video materials are (generally) read-only. I opened this playbook and flipped to page 15 then 29 then 125 then 252 to find what I wanted. If this were a video, I'd be able to skip over to 2:23 or whatever, but I don't have a context for where I'm headed.

Yes, if I'm learning how to re-set the oil light on my Honda CR-V, I'm going to run to video. But, if I want a handbook to study and be information-dense as well as searchable, I need text.

As I said, listen to the podcast to hear from someone who has been seeing spread/air raid concepts for some time and has been watching defensive coordinators try to adjust and defend it. I happen to believe that Goff is an extension of McVay.
 

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I see the merrit of a written down playbook.

We know that old style offenses needed 300- 700 pages to get out 60-70 plays out on sunday ~ 1200 plays a season were at least 2-5 were done on every game day.

Basically the Browns had drawn up 5540 plays to use 10% to 20% of it in the whole season. That is very unefficent if you ask me.

So from my point of view the new system is more about modern Variaton management and not like the old style.

Let me try to condense that.

in the old way of thinking you had 1 play and 10-20 variations of it, that most of the time had many people do differnt things, so basically you had variations but a bulk load to learn on each one to know the difference etc. pp.

in the new area, from what I got out of what crumbled through the whole thing, we have 1 play that is managed like state of are variation managment system. So you have a basic play that doesn't change in the basics but in the development, so the play has always the same blocking scheme and doesn't change that but it develops into a certain pattern and on this pattern different decsions by 1-2 person change the outcome of the play. On some this are made by the QB on others, by the RB or TE or WR depends on what the D does and what they then should do.

Obviously this emphasis more about the playcall and the QB reading the Defense prior the snap, so in the NFL the QB has to understand what the D wants to do, needs to read them and anticipate them and change the plays on the fly if needed. And here for me Goff struggles, since in my point of view he doesn't understand or can't read the D on the field, maybe on the sideline or in the film room, but he can't digest or read it in game.


And if that is the case a video tells you exactly what your developing pattern is, and shows you who makes the decision and the 1-2 decision maker has 2-3 possible decisions so 1 play has still 6 variations but only 3 guys max have to learn the different types of outcomes, because the others do what they have to.
 
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kerouac9

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in the new area, from what I got out of what crumbled through the whole thing, we have 1 play that is managed like state of are variation managment system. So you have a basic play that doesn't change in the basics but in the development, so the play has always the same blocking scheme and doesn't change that but it develops into a certain pattern and on this pattern different decsions by 1-2 person change the outcome of the play. On some this are made by the QB on others, by the RB or TE or WR depends on what the D does and what they then should do.

That's a recipe for disaster in the NFL.
 
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