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Tuesday, December 12, 2006
If Knapp goes, what’s next for offense?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Should Falcons offensive coordinator Greg Knapp land the Stanford job, the team’s much-criticized offense will be at a crossroads.
Knapp has been unflappable in the face of some downright scathing criticisms. Stanford would be getting one of the nicest folks to ever coach in the NFL.
Knapp, who was an offensive coordinator in San Francisco from 2001 to 2003, had a difficult assignment in forging an avant garde offense to fit the distinctive talents of Michael Vick. Because the Falcons’ attack is not a cookie-cutter NFL offense and is a bit out of the norm, with its high school-styled bootlegs and college-styled misdirection runs, Knapp was going to be blasted no matter how they performed.
Folks don’t like change.
(You oldheads remember when Marv Levy installed the Wing-T - really, it was a double-wing - in Kansas City in 1978 to keep his porous defense off the field. An uproar ensued.) Knapp could just line up an I-formation and run some regular old attack. But he had to try some new and different philosophies to suit Vick’s talent.
Some of it has worked, some of it has not.
At this point, they know what works (running plays; passes to Crumpler) and what doesn’t (passes on third-and-1 when you’re the top running team; not running the ball inside the 5).
If Knapp should go to Palo Alto to do battle against Pete Carroll and USC and Karl Dorrell and UCLA, which direction should the Falcons go with their offensive scheme?
Here are a couple of options:
1: Stay the course and keep Knapp’s hybrid West Coast system.
2: Just add some more vertical routes and better pass protection.
3: Bring in an outsider like Tennessee’s Norm Chow or former Giants coach Jim Fassel.
4: Find Barry Switzer and have him put in the old Oklahoma wishbone attack.
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