The Opening Drive 1/16: One Quote That Summarizes NFL Success on Offense
You need conviction from everyone involved and your process needs these staples.
In the midst of the Browns coaching failure this past season, and the failure on offense over several seasons, I have been searching for the best way to describe the issues. I have noticed the lack of conviction from the Browns players running the system and how the approach felt like it was “lacking a soul.” I have often felt like this quote didn’t do a great job of summarizing the issues but it just felt like the Browns offense was throwing things against the wall. Popular concepts at times, sure, but it lacked a cohesive plan.
Well, I finally found the perfect way to describe it. In a post titled “Lost Tapes” the QB Collective Twitter account posted some discussions former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel and Chris Foerster, two of the best offensive minds in football, walking through how the weekly game plan actually comes together, the reasoning behind every concept, every protection, every adjustment.
They talk about how the offensive process has a plan behind the scheme and how the fundamentals match those plans. But they also dig into how a scheme is just a scheme until you know how the defense wants to defend it, and then work your plans off of the way the defense wants to attack.
The way offense is discussed here should be the baseline for any coaching hire on that side of the ball. The way the group (Shanahan, McVay, McDaniels, etc) was able to formulate a plan for the early RGIII years and then discuss how gameplans are tailored specifically for how the defense depends based on formation, motion, and more. This is just the high-level discussion you need to see in order to make an offense work more often than not.
It’s easy to see why McDaniel is a premier candidate despite the way things ended in Miami. The lessons he learned in the trenches of Washington, Cleveland, and San Francisco have molded him into an elite processor of how to attack defenses. More to come on this below.
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The part that stood out to me most is below. It’s a 44 second bit of the tape where McDaniel talks about those who simply do and do not “get it” when it comes to the comprehensive view of offensive football and what it takes to succeed.
“It’s about the foundational premise of offensive football and how it systematically needs to relate to each other. The standard was set very high in terms of having reasons for everything that you’re doing. The majority of the NFL, guys that are trying to find success, don’t have that foundation, so they’re copying plays and don’t know why. That over time, whether it’s immediate success or failure, over time, it’s really player buy-in. Players, this is their livelihood. They do best when they understand not only what they’re doing, but more specifically and more importantly, why. All those coaches have a why for everything.”
This is everything I have been trying to encapsulate about why the Browns have failed more on offense over the last three years than found the necessary success. There is a clear lack of belief coming from the players about what they are doing, why they are doing it, and whether or not it is about to work. Somewhere along the line Kevin Stefanski lost that ability as the NFL’s defenses adjusted to his approach. It turned into running concepts independent of each other and hoping they would work instead of knowing they will work with sound reasoning.
The biggest hurdle for the Browns have to clear in order to return to respectability on offense will be finding a coach to run their offense who understands what McDaniel is discussing above. It could even be McDaniel himself. We will see soon enough.
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This was that absolutely best Morning Drive article to date. It is not only a concept in Football, it is real life. You have to have your employees(players) understanding their importance and believing that it is part of the greater good of all. With one clear direction, the momentum builds into greater success for all.
Wow. I feel like it's pretty widely acknowledged that McDaniel is a great offensive mind but it's very fascinating to hear the why behind his success.