Dabol's ability to alter his view on Offense !!!
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Will the Browns' Brian Daboll Successfully Implement the Hybrid Offense?
by J Gatskie
Correspondent Written on May 07, 2010
Ideally, Brian Daboll would have been an offensive coordinator at some point prior to taking the position with the Browns in 2009. Unfortunately, his inexperience showed last season as the Browns struggled to develop a consistent offensive identity.
The Browns are undergoing a drastic change in their offensive philosophy this offseason and if they are to be successful, Brian Daboll must step up his game.
Daboll was born in Ontario, grew up in Buffalo, and played safety at the University of Rochester in New York. As a senior, he had three interceptions in a game against Case Western Reserve, but suffered a career-ending neck injury during the season.
After hurting his neck, Daboll stayed close to the game by helping out the Rochester coaches in any capacity he could.
In 1997, while visiting friends at William & Mary College, one of the football team's quality control assistants promptly quit his job. Daboll walked in, talked to the coach, applied for the restricted earnings position, and landed the job.
Restricted earnings means exactly that, almost nothing, and Daboll relied on his grandparents to help him out while he pursued his passion.
From William & Mary, Daboll moved on to a coveted graduate assistant position with Nick Saban's Michigan state coaching staff in 1998. Saban had previously served as an assistant to Bill Belichick in Cleveland.
While at Michigan State, Daboll apparently impressed Saban, because he recommended Daboll to Belichick when the NFL coach was looking for a defensive assistant in 2000. Eric Mangini was the defensive backs coach when Daboll came to New England.
Daboll was promoted to wide receivers coach under Charlie Weis in 2002 and spent the next five seasons in that capacity. He has received credit for developing Deion Branch and David Givens.
Daboll left New England and went to the New York Jets, where he served as the quarterbacks' coach from 2007-2008 under Mangini.
Eric Mangini gave Daboll his first offensive coordinator job of any kind when he joined the Cleveland Browns in 2009. Since he had spent years under his mentor, Charlie Weis, with New England, everybody assumed he would bring the Weis' pro-style offense with him. If he has, we either haven't seen it, or recognized it.
Weis-Erhardt-Perkins Offense and The West Coast Offense
Weis ran what is known as the Erhardt-Perkins Offense in New England. This offense often uses the pass to set up the run via play action passing.
Despite its reputation, this system is not always a run-first offense.
Weis often tweaked the Erhardt and ran the offense, spread wide open, with five potential receivers and an empty backfield. He took advantage of personnel groupings and defensive sets to bring the running back back into formation, where he'd call for a quick hitting blast inside tackle.
A common personnel grouping in the Ernhardt is two tight ends, two receivers and a running back.
The groupings line up with the running back in formation, or split out depending on the situation and the defense.
The slot receiver, tight ends, and running back are sent on short routes and that is where the quarterback quickly focuses. One receiver goes deep.
The running game would take advantage of the nickel and dime packages and pick up four-to-six yard bursts inside the tackles. When the safeties crept into the box, Brady would go over the top.
It was a very nice, elegant offense to watch. Brady would work Welker and Branch,in different years, on different teams, underneath.
By tweaking the offense and using concepts from Air Coryell and other offenses common to the period, Weis created his version that he implemented at Notre Dame.
We saw no resemblance to this in Cleveland last year. Daboll called plays reminiscent of a neighborhood pee-wee game.
Run after run up the middle or inside the tackles, followed by a short slant or intermediate post.
Even when the team went on a four game winning streak it more of a traditional I formation set with a lead fullback, Lawrence Vickers, opening holes for Jerome Harrison to run through.
The most imaginative part of our offense was the WildDawg, and by midseason everybody knew Cribbs was going to keep it, and keyed on him. Daboll looked hopelessly overmatched and the Browns scored 132 less points then their opponents in 2009.
At the end of the year, the Browns ripped off four straight wins on the strength of Rob Ryan's creative defensive pressure and Jerome Harrison's determined running.
Now, Browns Executive Mike Holmgren has brought in Senior Advisor to the President Gil Haskell to teach Daboll, who couldn't successfully implement his own offense, how to combine the West Coast with the Erhardt-Perkins.
The West Coast offense is more a philosophy than a set of scripted plays. It stipulates that an offense should pass the ball and spread the defense horizontally to set up the run, not the other way around. It is a passing, ball-control offense.
The West Coast system uses short, high-percentage passing routes. Since the routes are short, ideally the quarterback throws quickly. Their is less of a need for blockers and more receivers can be used.
They could use the West Coast's precision short routes to move the chains and stretch the field horizontally, opening up spots for the running game and the intermediate passing game.
This also would open up short routes that get talented receivers like Josh Cribbs in space with defenders. That would be to our benefit.
Keep in mind it often uses five receivers and the two offenses could be a really good match.
A practical example of a Weis pass play:
Spread Offense.One receiver runs a slant, tight end runs up the seam, running back runs to the flat, tight end runs a crossing pattern and other rceiver runs a fly pattern. The quarterback focuses on the slant, then the cross, the seam, the fly and the flat.
A practical example of a West Coast pass play
Two Back Set:One back runs a wheel route, the other back runs to the flat, both receivers run short posts and the tight end runs to the sideline. The quarterback focuses on the posts, sideline, wheel and the flat.
These plays that I pulled from the net have definite similarities and show how easily the prospects of synthesizing the two offensive sets may be.
Both offenses use short passes to set up the run. Both systems set up the long ball by using the short pass. In both offenses, the receivers benefit by getting the ball in space in a number of instances.
This hybridization could work.
Jake Delhomme could actually flourish in a system like this, and it would play to the strengths of an accurate, mobile, young quarterback like Colt McCoy.
Ben Watson, Mohamed Massaquoi, Josh Cribbs, Brian Robiskie; all of these players have skill sets that would fit this type of offense.
Montario Hardesty has a reputation for running wonderful routes and having great hands and would be a potential weapon in the hybrid.
If Daboll understands the schemes and the young players on the Browns get comfortable with the hybrid offense, will Daboll have the guts to call the plays in actual games?
Or, will he revert to his security blanket, the running game, and send Harrison or Montario Hardesty out there 30-35 times a game?
I don't know. Can you win consistently in the NFL running the ball 40+ times a game? Holmgren didn't bring Haskell in to teach Daboll how to call Harrison's number.
If Daboll does just that, he could very well be one of the first coaching casualties of the upcoming season.
Having read through this article, it is exactly what my main feeling have been with regards this coming season, I have no worries with our defense in the hands of Ryan it will sort itself out and with picks collected via draft on paper is already looking better. But it is on offense that I still have concerns and the final 4 games of last season just put a glossy finish to a badly painted picture, so I am hoping the extra personnel brought in to assist Dabol will be enough to ignite enough of a difference to what he produce last year and maybe our offensive players that we have are not as bad as Dabols play calling was making them out to be.
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Thank you for the great post.
I think that Daboll couldn't get any worse, so that is good. Will he get better? He should. I am glad that the Browns got him so desperately needed help. As for whether or not it was more him or the players who were underperforming, I would say both. MoMass was dropping balls Robiske and Cribbs couldn't run a good route for anything. We were as you mentioned running 30+ times a game. But if the run is working like it was against those teams that were not good against the run then run it 35+. But then again if the receivers and QB are ready all those runs should open up the fly. But that happened only once that I can remember. I think it was MoMass against the Raiders on a sweet pass by Anderson. I remember it was a great pass to the corner of the end zone. He didn't have that many of those so you remember most of the great ones. Anyway both Daboll and the skill players on offense need to improve for this year.
And lets hope that Daboll isn't like Mike Brown and it takes him like four games to adjust to anything different.
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Excellent post!
I think many of us are concerned about dabolls obvious inability to run last years offense with any swagger..besides having an absolutely idiotic and easily manipulated playbook and being constantly outsmarted by opposing coordinators he was way to temperamental, impatient and untrusting of players at key positions and never really gave them much of a chance to do their jobs..i have little confidence in daboll and doubt anything will change in this regard, daboll at first glance looks like a horrific OC and i seriously have to wonder if anything can help him...you first have got to have the creative talent to work with what talent you have and draw up plays accordingly and then you have to the wits and a plan to change things up on the fly when being outwitted from the other sideline and daboll has shown none of these required prerequisites...
Daboll is the weak link and unless gil runs things for him we may have a problem until he is replaced...
Having a naturally talented OC is crucial to having offensive success and having to provide daboll with a tudor to teach him how is not only non impressive but downright scary...its pretty obvious the guy doesnt have the tools and shouldnt have the job..
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He had no QB, rookie WR's a old RB in lewis for much of the season and no real threat at TE. While Daboll had some bumps through the season, its the players job to make the plays. The best coordinator in the world would have looked bad with the personel we had to work with last year
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First of all that was a very good article from Gatskie
Our problems were so many , and so deep , that Dabol just can't be blamed for it all . With Holmgren coming in here I think the whole "process" will be changed up and if Mangini can accept the change in mentor-ship , everything could really work out . I have a lot of hope that , until these change occurred , was just not there .
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I agree.
New coordinator, new team, no qb to speak of....Martz isn't going to look all that creative.
It isn't the offense or coordinator that make the difference....it is the players expected to perform.
It's funny how the good coordinators are usually the ones with the good players.
If Mangini isn't the word of support you want to hear, then how about Bellicheck and Saben?? Both of them thought Dabol was a qualified coach who showed promise.
Dabol, his offense, and his play calling aren't the problem...the players have been the problem in this town.
That isn't to say a coordinator can't be a problem, but it is way too early to look at Dabol and say he isn't any good. Let's wait to say that after we have a decent QB at the helm, and receivers who can catch.
We have now established we can run block at least against average defensive teams, thus we are able to run the ball to wins, so now we start to find out some of the other stuff.
A top chef isn't going to do much better than you or I if you hand him a cube steak and a bottle of ketchup and nothing else and say do your magic. You are going to end up with a cube steak with some ketchup on it.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. -
Since our return in 99, we've had a continuation of rookie coordinators with the exception of Ariens and Fazio (those 2 cooridinators coached us to our only playoff appearance)... Ryan is another coordinator who had experience prior to joining the Browns....
The experience of Ryan payed dividends last year as our defense actually improved by the end of the year...
In my opinion, Dabol is a HUGE question mark.... He has to find a way to call plays that will allow our young players to succeed... In other words, don't be so damn predictible.....
Peace
T.Dawg
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The team is full of huge question marks. I won't argue that Dabol isn't included.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. -
I agree.
New coordinator, new team, no qb to speak of....Martz isn't going to look all that creative.
It isn't the offense or coordinator that make the difference....it is the players expected to perform.
It's funny how the good coordinators are usually the ones with the good players.
If Mangini isn't the word of support you want to hear, then how about Bellicheck and Saben?? Both of them thought Dabol was a qualified coach who showed promise.
Dabol, his offense, and his play calling aren't the problem...the players have been the problem in this town.
That isn't to say a coordinator can't be a problem, but it is way too early to look at Dabol and say he isn't any good. Let's wait to say that after we have a decent QB at the helm, and receivers who can catch.
We have now established we can run block at least against average defensive teams, thus we are able to run the ball to wins, so now we start to find out some of the other stuff.
A top chef isn't going to do much better than you or I if you hand him a cube steak and a bottle of ketchup and nothing else and say do your magic. You are going to end up with a cube steak with some ketchup on it.
It's funny how the good coordinators are usually the ones with the good players.
Indeed...Brian Billick never had an offense with Baltimore after he left Minnesota.
My main concern with the offense is the WR position. I think we all can agree it's below NFL average, especially in the speed dept. Daboll/Holmgren & Mangini are going to have to get creative here, unless we get surprised by MoMass & our new draft pick Carlton Mitchell.
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The team is full of huge question marks. I won't argue that Dabol isn't included.
Daboll is a huge question mark he has to learn to work with what he has.. thats just how it is.
Hopefully gil haskel can teach the guy something but i still think it was wrong for mangini to have brought a newb of dabolls low caliber in to coordinate a sucky team thats lacked good offensive coordination since its return, and its even worse that holmgren let dabbs stay, a good OC would have at least planned around the available players instead of creating a one dimensional no threat offense...that allows a defense to simply stack the box and win the game ,there was really no where for the WRs or TEs to go...it was what it appeared to be, an over conservative pee wee caliber playbook with very little elbow room that no team could win with...very poor coordinating regardless of the talent especially through the first half of the season..
It will be interesting to watch and see if dabbs gets manhandled consistently again this year by opposing DCs that change plays, players and schemes faster than dabbs can think of the last play he called...
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It doesnt matter how creative you get with plays if you dont have to players to execute them. In the end he did the only thing we were capable of doing, 2 tightend sets with a fullback to lead the way and run it down there throat. If we couldnt complete a pass after the way we ran the ball, theres no hope for anybody calling plays
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Daboll, at times, seems to outthink himself, and ended up calling plays
in a manner that hindered the success of the offense.
The predictable play calling seems to be "Well, we have to be creative because we have weaknesses,
but they know that, so I will call plays that are predictable and catch them off guard"..
or some freakin thing. He is the only coach I don't have much confidence in. 'Seriously,
I'd rather have Bernie Kosar or Coach Ryan call the plays if Daboll can't learn to outfox the defenses.
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The lowest rated player in the NFL was probably an all american somewhere before joining the pros.... They're all athletes....
A good coordinator creates matchups utilizing what he has and puts his players in a position to succeed....
Has Cribbs ever thrown a pass out of the WildDawg?? Have we ever run a reverse out of the WildDawg????
When the defense knows whats coming, they'll stop you 99% of the time....
A good coordinator keeps them guessing..........
Peace
T.Dawg
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The lowest rated player in the NFL was probably an all american somewhere before joining the pros.... They're all athletes....
A good coordinator creates matchups utilizing what he has and puts his players in a position to succeed....
Has Cribbs ever thrown a pass out of the WildDawg?? Have we ever run a reverse out of the WildDawg????
When the defense knows whats coming, they'll stop you 99% of the time....
A good coordinator keeps them guessing..........
Peace
T.Dawg
The lowest rated player in the NFL was probably an all american somewhere before joining the pros.... They're all athletes....
A good coordinator creates matchups utilizing what he has and puts his players in a position to succeed....
Has Cribbs ever thrown a pass out of the WildDawg?? Have we ever run a reverse out of the WildDawg????
When the defense knows whats coming, they'll stop you 99% of the time....
A good coordinator keeps them guessing..........
Peace
T.Dawg
http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/team/statistics.html
http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/team/roster...c2-c1127c777c4f
Cribbs threw the ball 4 times. Completed 1 to both teams. But they didn't exactly stop him either, he still average 6.9 yards
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The lowest rated player in the NFL was probably an all american somewhere before joining the pros.... They're all athletes....
A good coordinator creates matchups utilizing what he has and puts his players in a position to succeed....
Has Cribbs ever thrown a pass out of the WildDawg?? Have we ever run a reverse out of the WildDawg????
When the defense knows whats coming, they'll stop you 99% of the time....
A good coordinator keeps them guessing..........
Peace
T.Dawg
The lowest rated player in the NFL was probably an all american somewhere before joining the pros.... They're all athletes....
A good coordinator creates matchups utilizing what he has and puts his players in a position to succeed....
Has Cribbs ever thrown a pass out of the WildDawg?? Have we ever run a reverse out of the WildDawg????
When the defense knows whats coming, they'll stop you 99% of the time....
A good coordinator keeps them guessing..........
Peace
T.Dawg
A good team doesnt have to run gadget plays. You might call a gadget play once a game on a key 3rd down but you cant call them all game they wont work. With as much film study that NFL players do these days theres not much that a defense cant see coming. I remember watching a show with Peyton Manning and he said that defenses knew every play they ran before they ran it, its about player execution plain and simple.
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Daboll was saddled with below average talent at QB and young receivers. The Browns had to run the ball, everyone and his brother knew they were going to run the ball and they ran it down everyone's throat in the month of December..Credit where credit is due. People put way too much credence into play calling in the NFL, its every fans expertise. Have you ever noticed fans talk about play calling on offense and players on defense.Why..Because the average NFL fan really doesn't understand defenses and coverages in the NFL. If you have talented skill players and a slightly above average QB your ability to score increases dramatically in the NFL. If DelHomme plays half way decent you'll see. Play calling WAY over rated.
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I remember Franco Harris getting dumped to the turf by the Browns way back...
because the Browns knew he was coming.
Play calling is HUGE, keeping defenses guessing is a very big part of a versatile successful defense.
You can't be predictable without having invested a lot into a very, very solid offensive line.
I'd rather have the best of both worlds - an excellent offensive line, smart qb etc, and play calling
that plays on the expectations of the defense just when they think they have you figured out.
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based on the situation and the defense he expects to see the OC is going to call the play thats most likely to work in that situation against that defense. Then the QB has to get the defense to show there hand, by hard counts and putting guys into motion. Based on what the QB reads, he then audibles to the best play. If we audible to a run play when the boxed is stacked is that being predictable or is the QB doing a poor job of getting the offense into the best play to succed. Like wise when you hard count and you see guys leaning backwards, that tells you there dropping into coverage, so what do you do? You run it were there retreating. Now if you dont make your reads at the line of scrimmage and there dropping back or stacking the box and you dont make the adjustment because you didnt make the reads, thats were you become predictable.
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I'm not too worried about this. I'm sure that if Daboll doesn't take strides to show he's the guy he will be gone by the end of the year and with Holmgren here now I think the job would be an appealing one to good coaching talent.
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Two years ago, everyone in NY was whining about Brian Schottenheimer. Last year, he was everyone's darling. I thought the offensive playcalling in the last five games was very good and earlier in the season there was no "go to" guy on offense that he could trust. No one was playing that well.
I agree with peterbell that everyone bashes offensive playcalling and defensive players. It's an over-rated gripe.
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