Archive for January, 2009

A Look At the Portland State Vikings Run and Shoot

January 5, 2009 at 4:13 PM · Filed under College Football ·Tagged , ,

The Portland State Vikings of I-AA football hired Jerry Glanville as their new head coach for the 2007 season and accompanying him was Mouse Davis, the team’s offensive coordinator and golden architech as head coach in the late 70’s and early 80’s with QBs like Neil Lomax and June Jones at his disposal.

With the arrival of the run and shoot as the new implemented offense, here’s how Portland State did offensively last year and this year. Because sack totals are added to the QBs rushing totals, I excluded them for a more balanced approach.

Portland State: 2007 Finished 3-8
Games 1-6 Passing: 178/280 (63.6%) for 2134 yards and 10 TD vs. 8 INT
Games 1-6 Rushing (No QB): 101 carries for 421 yards (4.17) and 7 TD
Games 7-11 Passing: 150/267 (56.2%) for 1836 yards and 18 TD vs. 12 INT
Games 7-11 Rushing (No QB): 74 carries for 366 yards (4.95) and 3 TD
Passing Totals: 328/547 (60.0%) for 3970 yards and 28 TD vs. 20 INT
Rushing Totals: 175 carries for 787 yards (4.50) and 10 TD

As one can see, the offense came out and did really well completion wise in the first half but simply exploded in the second half through the air and on the ground YPC wise.

Portland State: 2008 Finished 4-7
Games 1-6 Passing: 181/339 (53.4%) for 2418 yards and 13 TD vs. 8 INT
Games 1-6 Rushing (No QB): 54 carries for 275 yards (5.09) and 6 TD
Games 7-11 Passing: 126/220 (57.3%) for 1658 yards and 11 TD vs. 12 INT
Games 7-11 Rushing (No QB): 61 carries for 327 yards (5.36) and 1 TD
Passing Totals: 307/559 (54.9%) for 4076 yards and 24 TD vs. 20 INT
Rushing Totals: 115 carries for 602 yards (5.23) and 7 TD

While this year was a bit of a downgrade through the air in comparison to 2007, the year was even better on the ground with an extremely productive attack despite the drop off in overall attempts by the RBs and WRs. Once again, the TD production dropped off on the ground but the YPC improved even more.

The offense should be even better in 2009, with improved experience along the offensive line along with the maturation of QBs Drew Hubel (Will be a Junior) and Tygue Howland (Will be a Senior). Bobby McClintock will also be entering his Senior year and the WR crew will also be very experienced: Tracy Ford, Aaron Woods, and Mario D’Ambrosio will all be Seniors.

Leave a Comment

Did Mouse Davis Feast on Poor Defenses with Detroit?

January 5, 2009 at 1:48 PM · Filed under Pro Football ·Tagged , , , ,

Everybody knows that a great offense does pretty well against good defenses rather than feasting on poor defenses and struggling against the good/great defenses. So I decided to see if the Run and Shoot under Mouse Davis in Detroit, an offense that could post gaudy stats on anybody, really did just put them up against poor defenses or if they had success against better defenses as well.

1989 Detroit Lions
1-15 Pass Defenses: 132/252 for 1808 yards and 8 TD vs. 15 INT.
16-28 Pass Defenses: 97/198 for 1474 yards and 3 TD vs. 9 INT.
1-15 Rush Defenses: 211 carries for 982 yards and 14 TD.
16-28 Rush Defenses: 210 carries for 1071 yards and 9 TD.

Little Details (1-15 Pass Defense): 52.4% completion rate. 13.70 YPC and 7.17 YPA.
Little Details (16-28 Pass Defense): 49.0% completion rate. 15.20 YPC and 7.44 YPA.
Little Details (1-15 Rush Defense): 4.65 YPC
Little Details (16-28 Rush Defense): 5.10 YPC

It’s interesting to see how much the R&S struggled passing TD wise against poor defenses but did really well TD wise on the ground against good run defenses.

1990 Detroit Lions
1-15 Pass Defense: 108/205 for 1463 yards and 10 TD vs. 12 INT.
16-28 Pass Defense: 134/255 for 1865 yards and 14 TD vs. 8 INT.
1-15 Rush Defense: 196 carries for 983 yards and 11 TD.
16-28 Rush Defense: 170 carries for 944 yards and 8 TD.

Little Details (1-15 Pass Defense): 52.7% completion rate. 13.55 YPC and 7.14 YPA.
Little Details (16-28 Pass Defense): 52.5% completion rate. 13.92 YPC and 7.31 YPA.
Little Details (1-15 Rush Defense): 5.02 YPC
Little Details (16-28 Rush Defense): 5.55 YPC

It’s clear that the Lions beat up on poor pass defenses (14 TD vs. 8 INT) but they also more than held their own against good defenses. Yet again, the run game was deadly vs. good and bad defenses.

1991 Detroit Lions Made it to the NFC Championship Game
1-15 Pass Defense: 151/281 for 1763 yards and 7 TD vs. 14 INT
16-28 Pass Defense: 101/178 for 1211 yards and 9 TD vs. 3 INT.
1-15 Rush Defense: 215 carries for 700 yards and 3 TD.
16-28 Rush Defense: 239 carries for 1230 yards and 16 TD.

Little Details (1-15 Pass Defense): 53.7% completion rate. 11.68 YPC and 6.27 YPA.
Little Details (16-28 Pass Defense): 56.7% completion rate. 11.99 YPC and 6.80 YPA.
Little Details (1-15 Rush Defense): 3.26 YPC
Little Details (16-28 Rush Defense): 5.15 YPC

This season was truly a feast on poor defenses as the Lions scored 25 total TDs compared to only 10 against good defenses. What’s interesting is the huge disparity in YPC in comparison to the prior 2 seasons.

It would’ve been really interesting to see how the Run & Shoot would’ve continued in Detroit had Mouse stayed on.

1990-1991 Passing vs. Good Defenses: 17 TD vs. 26 INT.
1990-1991 Passing vs. Poor Defenses: 23 TD vs. 11 INT.
1990-1991 Rushing vs. Good Defenses: 14 TD
1990-1991 Rushing vs. Poor Defenses: 24 TD

You can see that the R&S passing game was really coming around against poor defenses to the point where they could shred them with ease and while not great by any means against good defenses, the R&S could hold its own for the most part through the air. What strikes me is that 1991, the season they made it to the NFC Championship game, was arguably their best on defense but their worst passing through the air and running on the ground.

Leave a Comment

Just How Good Was The Run and Shoot?

January 4, 2009 at 8:43 PM · Filed under Pro Football ·Tagged , ,

Team Years Wins Playoffs SB Pass Comp Passing Yard Per Comp PTD PINT Carries Rushing YPCarry RTD Total Y Total TD
Detroit Lions 1989 – 1991 8 1 0 241 2949 12.24 17 20 414 1970 4.76 20 4919 37
Detroit Lions 1992 – 1994 8 2 0 248 2811 11.33 18 18 413 1889 4.57 10 4700 28
Houston Oilers 1989 – 1993 10 5 0 367 4164 11.35 27 20 383 1626 4.25 13 5790 40
Houston Oilers 1994 – 1998 7 0 0 277 2987 10.78 18 15 475 1936 4.08 13 4923 31
Atlanta Falcons 1990 – 1996 6 2 0 331 3717 11.23 27 21 363 1460 4.02 7 5177 34
Atlanta Falcons 1997 – 2003 7 2 0 264 3067 11.62 20 16 440 1768 4.02 13 4835 33

The only team to eclipse the Run & Shoot in terms of offensive numbers is when Dan Reeves was head coach with the Atlanta Falcons, although he averaged only 1 win more in the same number of seasons despite a losing SB appearance (to the Denver Broncos).

What is really eye opening is the extreme decrease in offensive numbers in Detroit when Mouse Davis left, and the utter poor coaching job out of Jeff Fischer with Houston/Tennessee trying to implement a more conventional smash mouth run game with strong defense. The fact that Houston had made the playoffs 5 straight times makes the aftermath with Fischer all the more painful, in part because Pardee just as easily could have been 6-4 in 1994 if a few games broke his way.

Fact is that this offense was able to win a similar number of games in the same length of seasons as the more conventional offenses that came afterward. It was just the fear/pressure from the front office of “Super Bowl or Bust”, media scrutiny especially in Houston, and the general staunch old school attitude that led to the disappearance of such an offense.

Ironically, the “Spread” is the 2000’s equivalent of (and really an extension) of the Run and Shoot and has also come under attack at times from the media for being a fad/gimmicky offense that either won’t last long in the NFL (despite what New England has shown) or can’t win a Super Bowl because it can’t stand up in the playoffs/in cold weather when throwing the ball so often.

Leave a Comment