Orlando Pace has been released by the Bears

And I do believe he will retire. His next stop is the Hall of Fame. I am glad he is so well thought of by everyone. Nobody objected when the question was laid out yesterday. During the prime of his career, everyone believed Pace would be a Hall of Famer, but often times what we think then doesn't persist now.

I am glad Pace's legend has continued and grown a bit. Contrary to popular myth, he did not invent the pankcake block, but he was a mauler. I remember the great days of Marshall Faulk running left to kill the clock after one massacre or another. (We used to humiliate our opponent.) Pace would knock his man 8-10 yards down field. Marshall could do a lot with a block like that. It is regrettable that Marshall was not on the NFL Network yesterday to comment on Pace's release.

Some folks are objecting to this release, declaring that the Bears have their heads up their yin-yangs. I regret to say it is not so. The Rams had the worst line in football in 2007 and 2008. We played 2007 without Pace. With played 2008 with him. With him or without him, we had the worst line. In 2009 we released Orlando. You don't think that a team with the worst line in football would release a future Hall of Famer--and one of their emblematic players--if he had anything left, do you? Regrettably, Pace did not have anything left.

My first glimpse of Orlando in a Chicago Bear uniform involved Elvis Dummervil running around him like crazy on route to smashing Jay Cutler. Cutler was not a happy man. I did not know much about Elvis at that time. I was horrified that this half-stack of pancakes was making Pace and Cutler miserable. Later I learned that Elvis was quite a pass rusher. Still, if he had faced Pace in his prime, Pace would have squashed him like a bug. In short, I understand Chicago's decision to do this.

This does not change the glum feeling I have right now. Another charter member of The Greatest Show on Turf is now out of the NFL. Issac Bruce retired also at the end of 2009. I don't know if Dre Bly will be back with the 49ers. Torry Holt was released by Jacksonville, and he is trying to catch on with Chicago right now. So far, the Bears have not made a move. I am not absolutely certain, but I am close to certain that this would make London Fletcher and Leondard Little the very last members of our championship team still active in the NFL. If Jeff Zgonina catches on somewhere, he will also be a survivor. All of our offensive players will be gone if Holt doesn't catch on somewhere.

There is something elliptical here. The last time we drafted #1 overall, we took Pace. As we prepare to draft #1 again this year, Pace leaves the league. It is almost like the Land of the Lost. The books must be balanced: One enters, one leaves. I guess I have a sense of optimism that a new epoch is dawning, but there is also a glum reminder that much time has passed since our glory year, and we have little to show for it.

If we draft Tebow, we'll be trading our sorrows and our shame for the joy of the Lord.

What the Chicago Bear fans should expect from Mike Martz

The other day, I heard Michael Lombardi predicting success for Jay Culter now that he will be function in Mike Martz's offensive system. Michael praised Mike's system, declaring that it was proven to raise the fortunes of just about any Quarterback. Very few are qualified to evaluate the QB, and even fewer are qualified to coach him. Mike Martz is one of those guys.

I agree with the latter statement, but the former is predicated on a bit of a misunderstanding.

There is no Mike Martz system, per se. The secret is that there is no secret. Mike is against the notion of an "offensive system", in the sense that a fellow like Bill Walsh would define the term. Martz custom tailors the offense to fit the personnel that he has. The game plan is always the same: Use motion and formation to put my biggest play makers against your biggest weaknesses. The game plan is just a collection of plays Mike thinks will work in this regard. Now, he does want to pass first, and pass aggressively to get the lead, but this is a very general idea.

Now, you may want to call that a system, but I wouldn't. It is more a philosophy about using whatever playmakers you have on hand. A documentary was recently published by a bunch of Astronomers titled "Journey to the Edge of the Universe". The funny thing is that they would be the first to tell you that there is no such thing as "the edge of the Universe". Ergo, the title is just a catchy title. That is all. Calling Mike Martz's approach a system is similar to talk about "the edge of the universe". It is a catchy title, but there is no such thing.

The reason why Mike is so consistently successful in raising the fortunes of offenses and teams is pretty straightforward: He is not one of these fucked up egomaniacs who want to replace all the players he's got so he can obtain guys who will run his highly dogmatic system. Such coaches always guarantee you several years of turmoil and rebuilding (which might be necessary anyhow). West Coast coaches are these kinds of coaches, in general. Lombardites are absolutely those kinds of coaches. They'll cut all kinds of good playmakers to clean house and implement their power-running attack. I hate those little fuckers with all my heart and soul.

Mike doesn't need to cut everybody and start over. He will look hard and long at the abilities of his men. He will figure out what they do best. He will figure out how to employ those abilities to the fullest. He will create formations, plays and motion that will let you shine. You can understand why Mike is a very popular guy with his men, and you can understand why head coaches feel threatened by him.

I am going to tell you flat out: Dogmatic systematic coaches are the worst thing possible for your organization. Flexible and adaptive coaches who use the talent you have on hand are the best thing possible for your organization. Scott Linehan was a dogmatic systematic coach, and he will forever be known as the guy who killed the Greatest Show on Turf, the Show Mike Martz created.

Saints vs Giants 2009

The Saints 48-27 massacre of the Giants is the biggest shock of a weekend that had several. Take it from a big Saints booster, a guy who has been on the bandwaggon since pre-season: This result was vastly better than anything I expected.

I believed that the Saints would could and should win this game, but I was expecting a much tighter affair. I thought 34-31 sounded about right. 5 or 7 lead changes were on my mind. Also, there was always the prospect that the Giants might win.

No such thing happened. The Saints jumped all over the Giants like a jailhouse rapist going to work on new meat in the shower. They had 34 points on the score board before halftime. They could have scored more than 48 if they had wanted to.

At the Half, Drew Brees had an official QB rating of 157.7. That is an outrageous Kurt Warner like figure. Did I mention that the Giants had the #1 ranked defense in the NFL? How do you wrack at 157.7 against the top defense in the NFL? There is no doubt that Drew Brees must be considered the other favorite to win MVP, right beside Payton Manning. Frankly. Payton has had so many, I would really like to see Drew get this one.

This was the kind of game that has to make everyone say "Oh my GAWD! It's the greatest show on turf Mach II!" Drew Brees threw into the #1 ranked defense with impunity. He took what he wanted when he wanted. They couldn't stop him. They couldn't pressure him. They couldn't lay a glove on him. The Saint offense busted up the #1 ranked defense in the NFL like a rhino running through wet toilet paper.

But this is only half the story. You see, the Giants have an All-Pro Quarterback and a powerful offense also. The Saint defense utterly shut them down. Eli had a very bad day, despite a pretty strong effort. The Saints were blitzing all around him, crashing him from the blind side, then knocking out his right tackle. It was damn ugly if you were a Giant fan.

No offense is intended to the Giant fans. I still have a hell of a lot of respect for the Giants. I still think they are the overwhelming favorite to win the East, and I still think they can be the #2 seed in the NFC. However, there is no doubt that they were sleep walking today. The team truly believed it arrived with the thrashing they put on the Raiders last week. That was a mistaken thought. As Chuck Noll used to say, "You never arrive."

I wouldn't be surprised to hear Drew Brees say "Playing against the Giants was like playing a scrimmage" after a game like that, but you know Drew is not that kind of a guy.

The amazing thing is that Head Coach Sean Payton immediately commented on the areas of the game where the Saints need a tune up. We all knew he was right. As overwhelming a performance as this was by the Saints, it was not perfect. This team has not yet peaked. It can absolutely get better, and there are some obvious ways in which this is true.

The rest of the NFL should be filled with dread, fear & trembling. The Saints are playing lights-out football, and they are going to get better.

So who can oppose them? You may think I am crazy, but I have a very short list of names on that list:

1. The Colts.
2. The Falcons
3. The Cardinals

We'll see if the Bears can continue to improve. I see signs of weakness in the Vikings, but we will talk about that in another blog.

Right now, I think we have to start looking forward to a show down between the Saints and the Colts in Miami. What a collision of offensive super-powers that would be?!?!?

The difference between West Coast and Air Coryell

So, one of the most persistent peeves I have as a football fan is the East Coast notion that Bill Walsh and Don Coryell were doing more or less the same thing. Not so. These are two different offensive philosophies. They have many things in common, but in the end, they are at loggerheads.

Let's start with commonalities

1. You throw to setup the run, you don't run to setup the pass.
2. You establish your passing game first. You don't establish your running game first.
3. You will substitute a short passing attack with your running backs for a standard conventional running attack.
4. You never attempt to run through a brick wall. You throw a short pass to go around the brick wall.
5. You pass early and often to get the lead. You defend that lead in the second half with a running attack that eats the clock in garbage time.
6. You use all 5 eligible receivers in the passing game. Every back on your team must have good to excellent hands.
7. There is a tendency to go with lighter, leaner, faster, more athletic offensive linemen
8. Receivers run complementary routes to clear defenders out of zones, and to create collisions between defensive players.
9. There is a strong focus on timing of routes. Both offenses expect receivers to be in a specific location within a specific interval of time. Both offenses require the QB to throw to a specific spot before the receiver is out of his break.

In the West Coast (Bill Walsh) offense, you will see the following things:

1. Short 3 step drops by the QB. Very few 7 step drops.
2. An East-West passing game rather than a North-South passing game.
3. The QB often throws the football before his receivers are finished with their breaks.
4. The offensive line must provide excellent protection for the QB, but not for long.
5. The Quarterback frequently has a specific (low) time limit in which he must throw the football. This is most often a three count. It can be longer.
6. There is always an outlet or dump-off receiver that the quarterback can throw to if he is under pressure. This is frequently a running back to his throwing-arm side.
7. The terminal point for most routes is within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage.
8. The favorite routes are quick slants, shallow crosses, dump-offs, half-back screens up the middle, flanker screens,
9. Receivers have a route tree which determines the routes they can run based on their position in the formation.
10. Receivers and Quarterbacks are expected to read and identify coverages. Receivers can adjust both depth of the pattern and the pattern itself based on the defensive coverage they are facing. The quarterback must read according to the same set of rules and correctly predict where the receiver will go.
11. The absolute idea is a ball-control passing attack, which advances slowly through the air. It chews up yards and minutes. You create many one-on-one collisions between running backs and defensive backs. You beat up the secondary with this form of short passing so you can throw deep later if necessary.
12. There are a few key phrases that have been used to describe Walsh's offense. Nick & Dime. Dink & Dunk. Continuation of the run by other means. Pass-first. Conservative pass-first. Low-risk passing attack. Ball-control passing attack. High efficiency passing attack.

The Gilman/Coryell/Martz style of offense is different in a number of ways.

1. The first element of Air Coryell is the bomb. You go deep, break off large chunks of yardage, and stab the defense in the heart.
2. You throw Noth and South, not East and West.
3. It not about ball control. Its about explosive plays gaining more than 25 yards per pop.
4. An ideal Air Coryell drive is no more than 3 plays long, and will cover 80 to 90 yards.
5. You force the safeties to drop deep and prevent the big pass.
6. You use motion and formation to construct mismatches.
7. The objective is to put your biggest play makers against the weakest links of the defense.
8. In the final analysis the objective is to put the ball in the hands of your biggest play makers, and let them run with the ball.
9. The system is extremely player-centric. What you do is going to be predicated on the players you have.
10. There are a lot of 5 and 7 step drops.
11. What you like to do is highly predicated on the sort of players you have, the sort of mismatches you think you can create.

In the final analysis, I would tell you that Walsh's system is much more an organized system of football that is very formulaic. A West Coast offense team will play week after week with basically the same offensive game plan. Because the passing plays themselves are loaded with adaptive option routes, the change per coverage and adjustment to defense should always happen automatically... unless the defense has something really special in mind for you.

Air Coryell is much less an organized system of football, and much more an offensive philosophy explaining how you should make aggressive use of absolutely fantastic play makers, and exploit weaknesses in the enemy defenses. In the West Coast system, you take absolutely fantastic playmakers like Jerry Rice, Sterling Sharp, Shannon Sharp, John Taylor, Rod Smith, Terrel Davis, Terrel Owens, Roger Craig, Ricky Waters, etc. and you do almost the same things with them. The system rules. The system dictates to the players. The better the players, the better the results the system produces, but they must execute according to the system. Air Coryell is different. The system is rubbery, and plasticy, and will change to maximally exploit the skills of different groups play makers. The more devastating the group of play makers, the aggressive the attack shots get.

Consider the Rams the Chargers. The Greatest Show on Turf and Air Coryell are the two greatest implementations of the system we have seen {unless you want to talk about the 1950s Rams under UCLA Bruin & Hall of Famer Bobby Waterfield}. While they were brothers under the skin, they were different in many ways. I think it is reasonable to say that Kellen Winslow was Dan Foutes' biggest play maker, and his favorite target. As such, the tight end was an absolutely massive factor in the Don Coryell's scheme. On the other hand, the tight end was not such an important factor in Mike Martz's scheme in St. Louis. Roland Williams was a nice tight end, but he was not Kellen Winslow. Rather, much of the focus was on Marshall Faulk, as he was the biggest play maker on a team loaded with lethal weapons. Muncie and Brooks combined output never matched the 2,429 yards that Marshall Faulk produced in 1999.

There are some other system-oriented things. Martz's playbook relies on a Numbers System for nomenclature. The West Coast relies on code names for formations and route numbers for receivers. So you have Base, Tiger, Zebra, Eagle describing the personnel on the field. You use colors like Brown, Blue and Green to describe variations of formation. You use numbers like 69 or 54 to describe the routes your primary and secondary receivers should run. Each route has a number. The larger the number, the deeper the route. Even numbers go out of bounds towards the sidelines. Odd numbers go in towards the center of the field. So, the key point is the language of the play is different.