Don Coryell (1 Viewer)

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Developed the offense the Saints have run since 2006.

Hasn't made it to the Hall of Fame despite leading the NFL in passing 6 straight years.

Reason Why

He could never build a defense to match his prolific offense to get to the super bowl

His team was lead by a HOF QB Dan Fouts, HOF TE, HOF WR

He had a 5'6" scat back ( original sproles role) with 1000 yards receiving in a season
stout OL

Never featured the running game.

He would move his RBs and TEs all over at the line of scrimmage to see what coverage defense was using.

HOF pocket passer prime until retirement.

Really interesting stuff to read about.




Reading air coryell, Dan fouts, chargers seasons 78-85 ,Don coryell

Shows the difficulty of building a defense around this offense
 
Developed the offense the Saints have run since 2006.

Hasn't made it to the Hall of Fame despite leading the NFL in passing 6 straight years.

Reason Why

He could never build a defense to match his prolific offense to get to the super bowl

His team was lead by a HOF QB Dan Fouts, HOF TE, HOF WR

He had a scat back ( original sproles role) stout OL

Never featured the running game.

He would move his RBs and TEs all over at the line of scrimmage to see what coverage defense was using.

HOF pocket passer prime until retirement.

Really interesting stuff to read about.
Reading air coryell, Dan fouts, chargers seasons 78-85 ,Don coryell
Its like reading about the saints from 06-16

You get to see where SP learned everything he does with the Saints offense and how he tries to build his roster to match the chargers offense.

Air Coryell. Great insight. Thx. Another franchise with a weak FO
 
It's actually a really good analogy, as Drew Brees is essentially Dan Fouts with the ring.

Two points though, that I feel separate Payton from Don Coryell.

First of all, Sean Payton has a much better postseason record. Coryell was an innovator, and put up incredible numbers, but he didn't win enough when the chips were down.

Secondly, New Orleans doesn't have a problem with complacency. If anything, they've been over aggressive at trying to fix the issues that the team has had. In hindsight, they should have left well enough alone with Jenkins and Harper in the secondary, but they decided to go in a different direction to hopefully give them that boost they felt was necessary to get over the hump. Byrd obviously hasn't worked out like we all had hoped, but that doesn't change the fact that an aggressive move was made to try and improve what they determined to be a weak spot on the team.

Having said that, I think it's a travesty that Don Coryell is not in the Hall of Fame. Look at his coaching tree, and see all of the people who were assisted by his coaching style, and who took his offense and utilized it to win Super Bowls. Yes, he did take some of Sid Gillman's concepts and expound upon them, and in some people's eyes that takes away his title as an innovator. But what he did with those concepts changed the face of football, and it's greatly contributed to the game that we have today that is so popular.
 
There is also the problem of limited slots. There is a flat maximum of 5 HoF Inductees (not counting seniors) slots. Coaches (unlike contributors) have to basically bump a player out to get in. The Coaches also competed with owners for slots up until recently.

I think it could be awhile for Don.
 
Today, many offenses still utilizes the “Air”Coryell concept. Most offenses run three or four wide receiver sets utilizing a single back. Most use their tight end as wide receivers like Coryell did with Kellen Winslow.

His scheme made defenses change the way the defended.

I think some day Don will get his spot in the Hall of Fame.
 
Developed the offense the Saints have run since 2006.

Hasn't made it to the Hall of Fame despite leading the NFL in passing 6 straight years.

Reason Why

He could never build a defense to match his prolific offense to get to the super bowl

His team was lead by a HOF QB Dan Fouts, HOF TE, HOF WR

He had a 5'6" scat back ( original sproles role) with 1000 yards receiving in a season
stout OL

Never featured the running game.

He would move his RBs and TEs all over at the line of scrimmage to see what coverage defense was using.

HOF pocket passer prime until retirement.

Really interesting stuff to read about.




Reading air coryell, Dan fouts, chargers seasons 78-85 ,Don coryell

Shows the difficulty of building a defense around this offense
It's a good parallel...remember it well. Offense was unstoppable, defense couldn't stop anyone although looks like Payton defenses have been even worse.

I don't remember enough to know more than Coryell was an offensive specialist and just didn't have the same level of skill with defense like someone else.

But does this offense really preclude having a competent defense? There are times maybe when the offense would put more pressure on the defense but I would tend to feel that even with Coryell the more important issues on defense were talent, judgement, emphasis, coaching and a little luck. We have persistent problems getting turnovers, rushing the passer and controlling the LOS. Fundamental things apart from what the offense is or isn't doing. But with an offense that's not more complementary I suppose it makes a poor defense look even worse.

Seems offense first coaches bias their effort that way and if they don't have some great players and turn over the keys to the right defensive assistants then this is what you get.
 
Simply the best and he did it without all the loose, liberal rules expanding offensive play.

Weren't the rule changes in 1978 the actual starting point of the offensive shift to a passing first league?
 
Shows the difficulty of building a defense around this offense

Absolutely is.


Without takeaways and a lot of running plays to burn clock and keep the ball out of the hands of the opponent, this offense scores too quickly. When the opponent possesses the ball too long, they can eventually get their offense clicking.

Haven't checked, but our TOP is probably very low under Payton.

If an offense makes a lot of 80 yard drives in 2 minutes, their defense has to be not only good, but exceptional. AND produce turnovers.
 
It's actually a really good analogy, as Drew Brees is essentially Dan Fouts with the ring.

Two points though, that I feel separate Payton from Don Coryell.

First of all, Sean Payton has a much better postseason record. Coryell was an innovator, and put up incredible numbers, but he didn't win enough when the chips were down.


Agree. I will just add that offenses and defenses have to both make contributions to those wins when the chips are down.
 
It's actually a really good analogy, as Drew Brees is essentially Dan Fouts with the ring.

Two points though, that I feel separate Payton from Don Coryell.

First of all, Sean Payton has a much better postseason record. Coryell was an innovator, and put up incredible numbers, but he didn't win enough when the chips were down.

Secondly, New Orleans doesn't have a problem with complacency. If anything, they've been over aggressive at trying to fix the issues that the team has had. In hindsight, they should have left well enough alone with Jenkins and Harper in the secondary, but they decided to go in a different direction to hopefully give them that boost they felt was necessary to get over the hump. Byrd obviously hasn't worked out like we all had hoped, but that doesn't change the fact that an aggressive move was made to try and improve what they determined to be a weak spot on the team.

Having said that, I think it's a travesty that Don Coryell is not in the Hall of Fame. Look at his coaching tree, and see all of the people who were assisted by his coaching style, and who took his offense and utilized it to win Super Bowls. Yes, he did take some of Sid Gillman's concepts and expound upon them, and in some people's eyes that takes away his title as an innovator. But what he did with those concepts changed the face of football, and it's greatly contributed to the game that we have today that is so popular.

People forget with Jenkins and Harper we had the worst defense in the NFL 2 of the previous 3 seasons. That isnt well enough.
 
Weren't the rule changes in 1978 the actual starting point of the offensive shift to a passing first league?

Thanks for reminding me how old I am..haha. Don was innovative in the early 60's at San Diego state and later with the Cardinals before the Chargers. There are many theories as to what happened as some say he opened up the Nfl after the rules changes while others say he killed defenses and opened up the eyes of the Nfl in terms of attendance, popularity, etc. with the wide open style. Hence the rule changes. To me, the dollars won out and football evolved through the years. I guess arguments can be made either way but the effect on the game is evident. I think my $11.00 per seat club tickets in 1976 to the expensive ones today had a little more to do with popularity than inflation. Please just bear with my old school mentality. Sorry to digress but I enjoyed the discourse just the same.
 

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