When NFL commentators talk about a team “running a West Coast offence”, what does that mean?
The popular term “West Coast Offense” as a general concept is more of a philosophy and an approach to the game than it is a set of plays or formations. Traditional offensive thinking argues that a team must establish their running game first, which will draw the defense in and open up vertical passing lanes downfield (passing lanes that run perpendicular to the line of scrimmage). Walsh’s “West Coast Offense”, on the contrary, stipulates that a defense must first be stretched with a short, horizontal passing attack that features sharp, precisely-run pass patterns by the receivers and quick, 3-step and 5-step drops by the quarterback. This stretching will then open up running lanes for the backs to exploit. In theory, this makes the offensive play calling unpredictable and keeps a defense’s play “honest” because most down and distance situations can be attacked with the pass or run in Walsh’s “West Coast Offense”. Beyond this basic principle of passing to set up the run, there are few r
When NFL commentators talk about a team “running a West Coast offence”, what does that mean?