Patriots no-huddle relies on power of one word
The Patriots only use six total offensive packages, each of which can be described by a single word! Also gives insight into how the University of Oregon's Chip Kelly is the innovator of the single-word no-huddle offense.
University of Oregon's Chip Kelly is a genius:
That’s because Kelly is obsessed with speed.
Forget time of possession. It’s all about total numbers of plays to Kelly. What he’s really looking for is yards and points per minute.
Fast might be an understatement when describing Oregon’s offense. When they’re really going, they get plays off in five seconds. Oregon fans will boo the chain gang moving the sticks on the sideline because they are holding up the offense. Oregon players tell tales of defenders saying that if the Ducks go any faster they’re going to vomit or pass out.
Kelly’s practices are the stuff of legend. There is no need for wind sprints because no one stands around. At all. Not the players, not the coaches. Music is blaring. The defense sometimes plays with 25 players so the offense can get more precise.
It’s dizzying by design. The games are actually tranquil.
Learning is repetition: “It comes with repetition. A lot of guys learn different. Myself, I just needed to be out there repping those plays. The more comfortable you get, the faster you’ll go. He wants to make it easier to where you’re not thinking about anything, you’re just going fast. Make it as simple as guys can learn it so you can go really fast. That’s the key, making it simple for your players so they can play at top speed.”
"-“I think one of the biggest differences [between old-school no-huddle and what the Patriots are running today] is just the versatility of the players,” Brady said. “How teams try to defend no-huddle is that you have big safeties that are like linebackers. And linebackers are like small safeties that can cover.
“Then you have big tight ends that can run routes but also run block. And then you have fullbacks that can make a bunch of plays down the field, so it’s not like back then, it was like these two guys only do this. This guy, your fullback, only isolates on the middle linebackers and runs diagonals to the flat.
“So a lot of what you ask the different players to do within the scheme is to be versatile so that you can go in and out of certain concepts rather than feel really reliant that this is the only thing that you do as a player.”"
This is important. Think Lebron James, but football. Big, athletic, fast players who can play multiple positions. AKA the "H-Back" on offense or the nickelback or outsider backer/DE on defense.
The thing is, Jim Harbaugh should be used to the single-word no-huddle offense since that was Andrew Luck's style of play at Stanford.
Belichick has learned that if it’s going on in college, then it’s coming to the NFL. That’s the talent pool, and you should accentuate the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of that talent...
Belichick regularly meets with Nick Saban for a week or two at a time. They are the two best coaches in football right now, without peer.
But they can still be beaten. That's what's great about football.
Absolutely. I think USC will play for the national championship against Bama, and the Patriots will play the 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Patriots are the best team in football, year after year. I predict one or two more Super Bowl appearances, at least victory, and a Tom Brady retirement.
They lost Tedi Bruschi. They haven't won without Adam Viniateri either; who was a decisive factor in all their Super Bowl years. I'm not a Pats fan per se, but I like Tom Brady and Belichick. I think the Patriots lack the depth and endurance they once had; the days when 11 different players would have a reception, and they had many, many pro bowlers on defense (see: 2007).
Fundamentally; however, they changed from a defense-driven team in the early 2000s to an Offense-driven team especially marked by their 18-1 run.
As an aside. I love this article. :)
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