The Inbred World of NFL Coaches and Our New Old Offense

It has been a somewhat long and grueling six years watching Brian Schottenheimer run the Jets offense. Sure there were a lot of bright spots but more often there was just this confusion that kept creeping into the offense that no one could really put their finger on. We all saw it – was it bad play-calling, bad design, bad quarterbacks, a genetic predisposition to run the "Marty Ball" offense? Anyhow, I was happy when the Jets ended the Schotty era. And I was hopeful that the Bill Callahan era would begin. Then I was ultimately shocked that the team hired Tony Sparano as the next offensive coordinator. But now I am beginning to see the wisdom of the move. I lay out my case for this opinion after the jump.

There are basically three major offensive systems run in the NFL. They are Bill Walsh’s west coast offense, the Ron Erhardt-Ray Perkins offense and the Don Coryell-styled offenses. Schottenheimer was brought here by Eric Mangini to install a Coryell-styled offense like Cam Cameron ran in San Diego. Unfortunately, it’s a tough system to run and there are fewer and fewer people in the league who understand its nuances anymore (among those left are Norv Turner, his brother Ron Turner, Al Saunders, and Tom Moore). To perk up the rushing offense, Mangini then brought in Callahan to install a west coast zone-blocking run scheme. Ultimately, they created a mutant offense for players to learn and for Schotty to coach. When Rex Ryan arrived, he preached the ground and pound mentality and asked Schotty to run it through his mutant offensive system. When it worked it looked great, but as I said before, there always seemed to be a bit of confusion creeping into the offense. And in retrospect, the confusion was likely caused by a cobbled together mutant offensive system. Ryan it appears tried to save the mutant offense by bringing in Moore as a consultant. Moore after all was a pretty successful practitioner of a Coryell-styled offense all those years in Indianapolis. All in all, it seems Moore had a positive effect but even he couldn't save the mutant that Mangini tried to cobble together.

In moving on from Schotty, Rex cast out the Coryell-styled offense. In letting Callahan walk, Rex passed up the chance to install a true west coast system too. I’ll give Rex some credit here; he saw a west coast offense operated in Baltimore all those years with Brian Billick and Matt Cavanaugh and it might have been easy for him to gravitate to what he had been around before, especially with Cavanaugh and Callahan already on staff. The west coast offense in all its different forms is by far the most popular offensive system around the NFL these days. Finding coaches to work with would have been easy. But perhaps Rex just had a bad taste in his mouth from his days in Baltimore.

Enter Tony Sparano with the Erhardt-Perkins playbook that he received from Bill Parcells while in Dallas. For many reasons, it is clear why Rex and Mike Tannenbaum went in this direction. For Rex, a well run Erhardt-Perkins offense is all about ground and pound, ball control and clock management just like he wanted all along. For Tanny, it’s a chance to dip into the vast Parcells-Belichick-Coughlin pool of coaches and players. Also, for Tanny, it is a chance to get back in the group of people he got his come-uppings with. After six long years of dealing with a mutant hybrid offensive system nobody fully understood, the team is moving forward with a system that is well known, easily understood by players and well coached throughout the league. Many players and coaches already have the basics of the system from their previous experiences around the NFL.

We now have the same playbook Parcells brought with him where ever he went, be it the Giants, New England, the Jets or Dallas. It’s the playbook that Parcells and his OC Erhardt used with the Giants in 1986 and 1990 Superbowls and with his OC Perkins and the Patriots in the Superbowl loss in 1996. It’s the playbook that Erhardt took with him to Bill Cowher’s Steelers in the 90s; they made but lost the Superbowl in 1995. It is the playbook that Bill Belichick and Charlie Weis ran up to New England and won those Superbowls with in 2001, ‘03 and ‘04. It’s the foundation of the playbook that Belichick will bring with him to the Superbowl this year. It’s a good bet that Tom Coughlin took it down to Jacksonville when he coached there. Of course, Coughlin hired Kevin Gilbride as his OC in Jacksonville and Gilbride has made many changes with the most recent version of their playbook going with Coughlin, Gilbride and the Giants to the Superbowl this year. Two variations of the playbook also met up in the Giants-New England Superbowl a few years back. It is the same playbook that Parcells and Weis worked with when they were with the Jets in the 90s (to date my favorite Jets offense). After Mangini wised-up, it’s the playbook that Mangini and Brian Daboll tried to install when he went over to Cleveland from the Jets; at least they beat the Patriots once (after the loss, Belichick called the Cleveland offense a sort-of-west-coast-thing. That was likely a jab-joke for his former assistants as they were apparently running Belicheck's own offense against him, instead of the west coast thing they had with the Jets). It also happens to be a relative of the playbook Rich Kotite and Erhardt ran when the Jets went 1-15 in 1996, but let’s move past that quickly. It is purportedly the foundation for whatever Sean Payton and Drew Brees are doing in New Orleans. It's what they are working with in Kansas City too; just look at the coaching staff there and all you see is Parcells disciples and Jets players from the 90s.

As easy as it is to see the hiring of Tony Sparano as the hiring of a Miami cast off, you have to look past Miami to see the full scope of the hire. Sparano was offensive coordinator at Boston University when Chris Palmer was the head coach. Palmer also gave Sparano his first NFL gig in Cleveland. Palmer’s resume is littered with stops where ever Parcells or Coughlin went. Just the same, Sparano worked for Coughlin in Jacksonville and Parcells in Dallas. When Parcells was hired to run Miami, he brought Sparano over to be the headcoach. Just the same, Sparano went on to bring in Parcells, Belichick and Coughlin guys because they know the Erhardt-Perkins system. Sparano hired Dan Henning as his first OC. Henning after all was the Jets QB coach in 1998-99 and the OC in 2000 when Parcells was in charge. In 2011, Sparano hired Daboll as his OC. Daboll was an offensive assistant coach in New England and then ran the system as Mangini’s OC in Cleveland. Dave DeGuglielmo was the offensive line coach for Coughlin when Coughlin was head coach at Boston College. DeGuglielmo also spent time with Coughlin and the Giants.

Even Matt Cavanugh is connected. Even though Cavanaugh ultimately picked up the west coast system as his system, he was a backup QB under Erhardt in New England from 1978-82 and again with Parcells, Erhardt and the Giants in 1990. Perhaps his fate is yet undetermined because he knows the old system. Or perhaps it is because Cavanaugh also played for Buddy Ryan in Philly, then he and Rex were assistant coaches together under Buddy in Arizona, and then coordinators together in Baltimore and now coaches on the Jets. After all, it is just an inbred world of NFL coaches.

Perhaps Tony Sparano will be a great offensive coordinator. Perhaps he will not. But the most important aspect of this hire is that Rex has chosen an offensive system to be his own. He undoubtedly likes the history and the bloodlines of the Erhardt-Perkins system. He claims to like the “verbiage.” He has said he wants to get in the offensive classrooms and learn the offense. So even if Sparano doesn’t work out long term, we now have an offensive system that exists outside of just poor ole Schotty’s head. Once installed properly, we can swap in-and-out Erhardt-Perkins offensive coaches just as has been done so many times before by Parcells, Belichick, Coughlin and even Sparano himself.