Quote:
Originally Posted by bobbything
This.
Saunders' version was about as complete as I've seen an offense. You don't see what he did at all in the NFL anymore. All the pre-snap motions and shifts really revealed what the defense was doing and they were able to exploit it.
They'd line Hall, Gonzalez, and Kennison up in the backfield, then have Priest in the slot. Then, they'd shift and you'd see exactly who was covering who, what kind of defense they were running, etc. I loved watching the pre-snap as much as the offense itself because it forced the defense to reveal their intentions (for the most part).
Biggest drawbacks I saw were that with all the motions and formation shifts, it used up nearly all of the playclock. And we used a lot of unnecessary timeouts because of it. Also, the play that was called was the play that was ran. There were multiple reads in this offense, but there was no audible allowed.
It really demonstrated how smart Trent Green was. Rarely did we run a play and wait for someone to get open. We'd throw a pass into a spot where the receiver was supposed to be. Early on, that resulted in lots o' interceptions. But in time, it worked great because it allowed the receivers to adjust their patterns on the fly and Green was in such harmony with everyone on the offense that it worked out very well.
I loved our run blocking scheme too. All the pulls we did to the left were great. Fortunately, we had arguably the best offensive line in the league which allowed that. Holmes was great, but the line did all the heavy lifting.
I'd take Saunders back in a heartbeat. Give him 2 years to implement the system, trade/FA/draft accordingly, and I bet he'd have this offense on a roll by year two.
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Those Al Saunders/Trent Green offenses were artistic masterpieces, as perfect and assured as a Monet or a ****ing Rembrandt.
Roaf, Shields. Weigman, Roaf, and Tait, kicking out on the screen as Trent baits the defenders just long enough for Preist to fake a block and slip behind the big guys, then Trent flips the ball over to him perfectly...
*sigh* They made every screen beautiful, every sweep, every toss. Power 90 O ISO was perfect...every single time.
Those pre-snap motions and adjustments would give Belichick and the Ryans FITS, because it would reveal the defense's true intentions - it took away what is really the defense's biggest advantage.
We lost 1 fumble in 2003, iirc...one. One fumble lost. Or maybe it was one fumble TOTAL and NONE lost..
Point is, it was explosive AND ball control...conservative AND aggressive. We could control the clock and run the ball, OR run a fast-break down the field to score quick. We used the ENTIRE field, always. Outside, the seam, the flats - nothing was off limits.
That was a GREAT offense...but we had the players to pull it off. We had the QB...