Chip Kelly, Belichick, Brady & 1-word playcalls

[Brady-Carter]

Really good read on the Pats No huddle. basically the Pats are running Oregon's no huddle. And one word play calling some what explains how Oregon is able to fly.

It's a long read, so I will just post some excerpts. But try to read it all, it's pretty cool. Bedard some how got Beli and Brady on the record for this piece. That in of it self is pretty crazy.

The NFL never has seen anything like it, and it may never be the same.

How did the Patriots run the offense that fast? What was the key?

One word.

Not one word to describe it.

The Patriots operate their no-huddle attack most often using one word as the play call.

More accurately, they use six one-word play calls a game.

That word tells all 11 players on offense everything they need to know.

Formation.

Blocking scheme.

Direction on run plays.

Routes for receiver on passing plays.

Shifts in formations.

Snap count.

Possible alerts and play alterations.

One word.

“I think the point of it is to try to get everyone going fast,” quarterback Tom Brady said recently. “So as fast as you can get the communication to your teammates, everyone can be on the line of scrimmage, then the better it is.”

The future of NFL offenses has arrived in New England. And it’s thanks to the college game.

Well, Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh did. In his seminal out-of-print book Finding the Winning Edge published in 1998 — Belichick has called it the coaching bible — Walsh had a section on page 308 titled, “Determining the Future Dynamics of Offense in the NFL.”

First bullet point: “Teams will huddle only when the clock is stopped.”

Second: “Teams will use single-word offensive audibles.”

Two years ago, a New England native with an affinity for visors and fast-moving offenses walked into Gillette Stadium to talk football with the Patriots’ staff.

Genius of the NFL, meet the genius of college football.

Up to speed

Chip Kelly has the University of Oregon ranked No. 2 in the country. His spread offense is dazzling and seemingly unstoppable. This season, his Ducks have averaged 52.3 points per game (fourth in Division 1) and 541.6 total yards (seventh).

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.

If you want to see what’s next on the pro level, look to the colleges. That’s what Belichick does, with his alliances with coaches such as Nick Saban (LSU and Alabama), Urban Meyer (Florida and Ohio State) and, now, Kelly.

That’s why when Kelly walked into Gillette Stadium two years ago — and he’s been there three times total — ears perked up among the Patriots’ coaches, including Belichick.

Kelly had become friendly with former Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien while both were rising in the college ranks. The UNH coaching staff would visit Brown, where O’Brien was coaching, for pickup basketball games and to talk X’s and O’s.

Kelly told the Patriots he was moving to a no-huddle that only used one word to signify everything involved in a play.

Sideline calls take too long. Wristbands too.

One word is all that is needed.

The collective Patriots’ response to Kelly’s assertion was, basically, “You run an entire offense like that? How do you get the players to comprehend that?”

Kelly declined to be interviewed, but those with knowledge of the discussion said Kelly laid out his rationale.

Players memorize thousands of words in songs, hundreds of movie lines, and many other things involving pop culture.

Why can’t players have instant recall of a handful of concepts? Heck, everybody knows No. 2 on a McDonald’s menu gets you a Quarter Pounder, medium fries, and a drink.

Kelly’s overall message to the Patriots: Don’t put a limit on your players’ minds; they will learn whatever you teach them.

“I was interested to hear how he did it,” Belichick said. “I would say he expanded it to a different level and it was very interesting to understand what he was doing. Certainly I’ve learned a lot from talking to Chip about his experiences with it and how he does it and his procedure and all that.”

Welcome to Gillette Stadium, can I take your play call?

“I think there are universal terms in football that defenses may use from team to team or we have certain words like ‘tinn’ and you have to know the depths. That’s a very universal term that a defense may even use that we use as an offense. So when you go to no-huddle, you don’t want to say tinn because everyone else has a pretty good idea of what you’re talking about.”

And the Patriots have to change their words because it doesn’t take long for other teams, especially those within the division, to catch on.

“We’ve changed them three times,” Brady said. “[The coaches said], ‘Well, we’re not going to use that, we’re going to use this particular word.’ And I’m like, ‘Man, can’t we go back to one we’ve already used before, back to the original one?’ ”

The beauty of the Patriots’ no-huddle is it can take many forms and speeds because of Brady.

It’s not technically one word, because a play call such as “Bama” would include an alignment call. Brady would bark out the call like, “Bama left.”

Although the Patriots did not show it in the training camp practices open to the public, players remarked how the pace of practice quickened once sessions were closed to reporters. It’s not quite an Oregon practice, but for the NFL, the Patriots are practicing at break-neck speed to prepare for games.

For now, the Patriots are ahead of the game.

Simplified play calls are all the rage on the college level, where O’Brien has transferred the Patriots’ package — dubbed “NASCAR” at Penn State — to the Nittany Lions, who ran 39 plays in just more than a quarter to erase a 28-17 deficit to defeat Northwestern, 39-28, Saturday.

That previously mentioned lengthy West Coast play call? It’s the same one ESPN analyst Jon Gruden threw at former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton on his QB Camp television special.

Newton was at a loss to equate an Auburn play to an NFL play. Newton was ridiculed nationally because critics thought it showed that Newton couldn’t handle a pro offense.

But what people didn’t realize at the time was Newton’s subsequent answer, when Gruden talked about Auburn using the no-huddle a lot, was actually more telling.

“Our method is ‘simplistic equals fast,” Newton said. “It’s so simple as far as, you look to the sideline [and] you see ‘36’ on the board. And that’s a play. And we’re off.”

What people didn’t get, because the NFL is slow to evolve, is that Newton was actually showing them a glimpse of the future.

The NFL is a copycat league, so only when someone with job security — like Belichick — tries something new and it works does it spread across the professional ranks.

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.

Check out the whole article..

Patriots no-huddle relies on power of one - Sports - The Boston Globe

 

[Huellz Santana]

props on the cliffs notes. good read​

 

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

That system

 

[BillBelichicks Conscience]

Dammit

 

[Brady-Carter]

That system

It will get even better when Hernandez is back...

 

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

It will get even better when Hernandez is back...

When is this?

 

[Silkk]

I been running that since 04 on NCAA FB. Catch Up nikkas

 

[Brady-Carter]

When is this?

He was back at practice last week. Tho limited, and more likely to see how the ankle responded. So againts the SeaHawks this week at the earliest. or after the bye. It was a 4-6 week injury. So with AHern practicing last week, it should be the former.

But who knows when it comes to the Pats and there injury reports..

 

[Silkk]

Ive never understood since i started watching FB in 04 why more teams didnt run the 2 min offense more often

 

[APD0290]

Beli the god always innovating

 

[Jesus]

Ive never understood since i started watching FB in 04 why more teams didnt run the 2 min offense more often

Seems like the natural thing...you always see how teams offense ignites when the QB and everyone is rushing and pushing the D on it's heels.

Not really innovative on Beli...more like a common sense type of thing an observer of the game would see.

 

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

Seems like the natural thing...you always see how teams offense ignites when the QB and everyone is rushing and pushing the D on it's heels.

Not really innovative on Beli...more like a common sense type of thing an observer of the game would see.

True... just like that whole assembly line/ interchangeable parts thing: common sense to use the same parts to build a product, clearly more efficient.

 

[Ghostface Trillah]

Ive never understood since i started watching FB in 04 why more teams didnt run the 2 min offense more often

Doesn't give your defense a rest and eventually wears them out late.

 

[TheGreatShowtime]

Doesn't Oregon hold up random signs on the sidelines for their play calling or am I thinking of another school?

 

[Champ_KW]

Awaiting someone to finally acknowledge that Brady benefits from a top notch organization that constantly search for the best SYSTEM to put their players in....