The rapid explosion in “QB breakdown” videos this year from QBSchool, Kurt Warner, Brees, Daniels and a million copycats made me realize that they seem to have their own name for basically every route combination. “Oh yeah, I call this one Jimmy 2 Shift” proceeds to draw out the route combination.
I get that there are definitely some broad differences like Shanahan offenses leaning on zone run and bootlegs but it’s not like they’re running some extra special sauce right? Seems like everyone else knows the same plays and could just run more of them if they wanted to have a “Shanahan offense”.
What is it that actually separates the quality of these different coordinators and schemes?
I think in Lions OC Ben Johnson’s case, Detroit runs multiple fronts, and he does an incredible job of not having tendencies, or breaking his perceived tendencies at the perfect times. Giving the defense the same look a few times and then running something else out of it.
His playcalling throughout the entire game is all connected, and the Lions OL is asked to do quite a bit and excels at it all.
Being a good play caller isn’t just knowing the plays, or creative/trick plays, it’s knowing what the defense is thinking or lulling them into thinking a certain way.