Is This Really What the West Coast Offense Means?

OR, Which Defense Does Arizona's Resemble?

While doing the numbers on the previous post about bromancing Pat Kirwan and first down a thing shot out at me and I am now sitting here wondering if this is a factor of Jim Zorn's gameplan adjusting between games one and two, a change in strategy based on scouting the Giants defense versus the Saints defense, or simply a twist of the way the game and playcalling flowed in game two.

Game one at the Giants, 18 total first downs, 11 runs and seven passes, a 1.6 first down runs per pass average, this is a number we would expect from Joe Gibbs. This takes into consideration that the team abandoned the run on its leisurely final drive that netted only three first downs, all passing. Average yards on first down: 3.5; average yards per play overall: 4.0; total points: 7. (tallies and stats from play by play and box score)

Game two versus the Saints, 31 total first downs, 12 runs and 19 passes, a 0.6 first down runs per pass average or if we flip it, 1.6 first down passes per run, the exact opposite ratio. Like the first game's sort of desperate last drive that netted three passing first downs to pad those stats, this game had a corresponding bump in runs to kill the game at the end with two first down runs on the final drive. Average yards on first down: 6.4, average yards per play overall: 6.6; total points: 29. (tallies and stats from play by play and box score)

Comparable end of game stats, both that skew against the overall trend in the game, which is to say running on first down in game one, passing on first down in game two.

So where did this come from? Scouting? Gameplan? Jim Zorn deciding to be Jim Zorn? Either way the pass set up the run in game two, a hallmark of the west coast offense, see also a decade of Donovan McNabb in the NFC Beast.

So who does Arizona look like on defense? Hard to tell after two games, they beat San Francisco and Miami both handily, both teams have solid running attacks around which those teams are trying to build a measurable passing game. Frank Gore had a great game for the 49ers and Ricky Williams had a weak game for the Dolphins.

Will the Redskins come out running or passing in this game?

I will be at this game by the way, thanks to Mark Newgent at Redskins Examiner, we will be arranging a tailgate meet up for readers and fellow writers, details to come tomorrow, come have a whiskey with me and tell me a story.



Darnell Dockett and Bertran Berry sacking Chad Pennington in week two: Reuters Pictures from here.