Rivers and the West Coast Offense

[Xenos]

So this is hypothetical since we don't know if we are even getting a west coast offense here, but someone brought it up that it wouldn't fit Rivers at all (due to the rumor of Andy Reid). My question is why?

Is it because he's not that mobile? Neither is Brady, but he has utilized the WCO.

The exact origin from this article by Dr.Z is:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ins...side_football/

"In came Virgil Carter in 1970 -- smaller, agile, quick-thinking. Carter was able to go through his progressions quickly and throw on the go; not blessed with a big arm, but accurate. So Walsh crafted an offense to suit him, a horizontal offense with a lot of motion and underneath routes and breakoff patterns, an attack that now goes by the misnomer 'West Coast Offense.' "

Also according to Wiki:
"The West Coast offense requires a quarterback who throws extremely accurately, and often blindly, very close to opposing players. In addition, it requires the quarterback to be able to quickly pick the best one of five receivers to throw to, certainly much more quickly than in previously used systems. Often, the quarterback has no time to think about the play and must act robotically, executing the play exactly as instructed by the offensive coordinator, who calls the plays for him."

I figured the shorter step passes would also help Rivers out more due to taking advantage of his quick release as well as potential shaky line issues in the future (hopefully not).

[interpolfan11]

Some of Rivers' more recent shorter throws to his running backs and Gates have been absolutely horrific, so this scares me a little bit to be honest.

Nonetheless, if given a decent offensive line, he'll probably do well.

[Rivers4MVP]

I don't know why more teams don't try it, it is simple but so effective. Throw little screen passes for 6-7 yards, run it for a few, move down the field slowly and effectively. The Patriots system is brilliant. Granted we don't have the WR's for it...or the o-line..

[allan]

Originally Posted by Xenos

So this is hypothetical since we don't know if we are even getting a west coast offense here, but someone brought it up that it wouldn't fit Rivers at all (due to the rumor of Andy Reid). My question is why?

Is it because he's not that mobile? Neither is Brady, but he has utilized the WCO.

The exact origin from this article by Dr.Z is:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ins...side_football/

"In came Virgil Carter in 1970 -- smaller, agile, quick-thinking. Carter was able to go through his progressions quickly and throw on the go; not blessed with a big arm, but accurate. So Walsh crafted an offense to suit him, a horizontal offense with a lot of motion and underneath routes and breakoff patterns, an attack that now goes by the misnomer 'West Coast Offense.' "

Also according to Wiki:
"The West Coast offense requires a quarterback who throws extremely accurately, and often blindly, very close to opposing players. In addition, it requires the quarterback to be able to quickly pick the best one of five receivers to throw to, certainly much more quickly than in previously used systems. Often, the quarterback has no time to think about the play and must act robotically, executing the play exactly as instructed by the offensive coordinator, who calls the plays for him."

I figured the shorter step passes would also help Rivers out more due to taking advantage of his quick release as well as potential shaky line issues in the future (hopefully not).

I thought PR ran the WCO with Norm Chow at NC State.

*edit* From Wikipedia:

"Chow spent one season as the offensive coordinator at NC State, where he coached an offense quarterbacked by Philip Rivers, before accepting the position of offensive coordinator at USC. Chow helped lead the Trojans to the 2003 Associated Press National Championship, (their first national title since 1978), and the 2004 BCS National Championship. He left USC in spring 2005, after unsuccessfully interviewing for the Stanford head coaching vacancy, for a job offer to be the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans--his first job on the professional level. Their head coach, Jeff Fisher, graduated from USC."

[Va Bolt]

WCO,requires a QB w/ very good and quick foot work.Not PR's strong points

[Prestigious5150]

Originally Posted by Xenos

So this is hypothetical since we don't know if we are even getting a west coast offense here, but someone brought it up that it wouldn't fit Rivers at all (due to the rumor of Andy Reid). My question is why?

Is it because he's not that mobile? Neither is Brady, but he has utilized the WCO.

The exact origin from this article by Dr.Z is:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/ins...side_football/

"In came Virgil Carter in 1970 -- smaller, agile, quick-thinking. Carter was able to go through his progressions quickly and throw on the go; not blessed with a big arm, but accurate. So Walsh crafted an offense to suit him, a horizontal offense with a lot of motion and underneath routes and breakoff patterns, an attack that now goes by the misnomer 'West Coast Offense.' "

Also according to Wiki:
"The West Coast offense requires a quarterback who throws extremely accurately, and often blindly, very close to opposing players. In addition, it requires the quarterback to be able to quickly pick the best one of five receivers to throw to, certainly much more quickly than in previously used systems. Often, the quarterback has no time to think about the play and must act robotically, executing the play exactly as instructed by the offensive coordinator, who calls the plays for him."

I figured the shorter step passes would also help Rivers out more due to taking advantage of his quick release as well as potential shaky line issues in the future (hopefully not).

Brady may not be mobile but he has superb footwork which Rivers does not. Also Rivers hasn't been that great this year when it comes to short passes and as we know he loves to force the ball into coverage. It's not a good fit.

[Xenos]

Originally Posted by Prestigious5150

Brady may not be mobile but he has superb footwork which Rivers does not. Also Rivers hasn't been that great this year when it comes to short passes and as we know he loves to force the ball into coverage. It's not a good fit.

Obviously, Brady has better footwork than Rivers. But the huge gap between them is something I see more as a difference between the oline of both QBs.

[biggestfan]

I think if we get a far better oline we could do well with more of a short game offense. I think Rivers footwork isn't great but I have seen this guy turn it on when he wants to. Better tutelage might help him.

[latency]

Your confused about a couple of things. The article that you mention does not talk about what is commonly refereed to as The West Coast offense. It talks about the Don Coryell offense. The term West Coast offense is a misnomer as the person that coined the term was talking about the Coryell offense which was run by the Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams, but the journalist that he was talking to thought he was talking about the offense that was developed by Bill Walsh. That is how the Walsh system got the name West Coast offense. Philip Rivers is a perfect QB for the Coryell system. He is not an ideal QB for the Walsh system because he is not mobile nor is he as accurate as you would like for the Walsh system at short passes. This is not to say that he could not be effective in this system just that he is not the prototype for this system.

Secondly, the Patriots do not and have not ever employed the Walsh system while Tom Brady has been their QB. I am not sure where you heard that, but that information is definitely inaccurate. The Patriots run what is called the Erhardt-Perkins offense while Bill Belichick has been their coach. The system was installed by Charile Weis and was learned by Josh McDaniels under him.

[allan]

Originally Posted by latency

Your confused about a couple of things. The article that you mention does not talk about what is commonly refereed to as The West Coast offense. It talks about the Don Coryell offense. The term West Coast offense is a misnomer as the person that coined the term was talking about the Coryell offense which was run by the Chargers and the Los Angeles Rams, but the journalist that he was talking to thought he was talking about the offense that was developed by Bill Walsh. That is how the Walsh system got the name West Coast offense. Philip Rivers is a perfect QB for the Coryell system. He is not an ideal QB for the Walsh system because he is not mobile nor is he as accurate as you would like for the Walsh system at short passes. This is not to say that he could not be effective in this system just that he is not the prototype for this system.

Secondly, the Patriots do not and have not ever employed the Walsh system while Tom Brady has been their QB. I am not sure where you heard that, but that information is definitely inaccurate. The Patriots run what is called the Erhardt-Perkins offense while Bill Belichick has been their coach. The system was installed by Charile Weis and was learned by Josh McDaniels under him.

But Philip Rivers is familiar with the WCO. He ran it under Norm Chow in NC State. Chow is a student of the Walsh system.