West coast offense - Oakland Raiders Forum | Message Board

**Rhode Raider** · #1 (**permalink**) 01-09-2003, 11:54 AM

A couple of Questions for our Jets guests...
1. How long have the Jets been running the WCO
2.Which team is the most proficient at running it
3.Which team has best defense reading QB
4.Why is it called the West coast offense.
Hint......2 of the answers are Oakland

TommyGreen · #2 (**permalink**) 01-09-2003, 02:18 PM

The Jets have only been running the West Coast Offense since Herm became the Head Coach, and Paul Hackett the OC... In the beginning of the season everyone was talking about how great Oakland was running THEIR version of the WCO, but Chad's a perfect fit for the WCO (Vinny was NOT) so we have our OWN version of it that's being just as proficient, if not more, as yours... As for the best QB reading defense? Sure, you can say that Oakland has ONE of the best, but so do our Jets D... But we can thank good old Bill Walsh for designing the WCO in the, er, West Coast.... by the way, Paul Hackett did work under Walsh, and has a better understanding of the WCO than anyone in the league right now. The Jets turnaround since starting Chad clearly proves that.

**crizpynutz** · #3 (**permalink**) 01-09-2003, 11:01 PM

[quote:98ac66e8e9="TommyGreen"]The Jets have only been running the West Coast Offense since Herm became the Head Coach, and Paul Hackett the OC... In the beginning of the season everyone was talking about how great Oakland was running THEIR version of the WCO, but Chad's a perfect fit for the WCO (Vinny was NOT) so we have our OWN version of it that's being just as proficient, if not more, as yours... As for the best QB reading defense? Sure, you can say that Oakland has ONE of the best, but so do our Jets D... But we can thank good old Bill Walsh for designing the WCO in the, er, West Coast.... by the way, Paul Hackett did work under Walsh, and has a better understanding of the WCO than anyone in the league right now. The Jets turnaround since starting Chad clearly proves that.[/quote:98ac66e8e9]

Hey Tommy -- good post. I'll just make a couple of comments.

#1 -- Herm is awesome. I think he and Bill Callahan are my favorite two coaches in football right now. The job they have done this year for their teams is fantastic and one of these guys should be coach of the year.

#2 WCO -- this is a tough comparison to make because there are so many different variations of the offense. The only common demoninator about the WCO is that it utilizes multiple formations, short passing spread around the field and ball control. Outside of that the Raiders, 49ers, Eagles, Jets, Seahawks, etc. that run the WCO are all running completely different versions of the offense. The Jets run a little bit more of an aggressive style using the running game as their catalyst and spreading a defense out with quick WR's. The 49ers don't have the depth to really run the WCO well so they have modified it by using their RB's and QB moving laterally a lot to create space. The Eagles run an extremely conservative version with the occaisional shot downfield to mix it up. The Seahawks probably run the closest version to the Walsh style of the WCO with a prototypical 2 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE set. The Raiders stress the pass and lots of misdirection, crossing routes hoping to confuse the defense. (Hope this wasn't ranting to much, but these are just my opinions on the WCO.) I could go on, but I think this is enough for now.

#3 QB -- Gannon is the best QB right now, especially at reading defenses, but he has an advantage, he's been in the same offense for 4 years. Pennington has picked up the offense quicker than Gannon, but he's still in his first season with it. In another year or two, look out, with good personel around him Penny could be where Gannon is now, NFL MVP.