Arthur Smith: Likes 2018 system, team will use same language.

[tgo]

I find it mind boggling that people walked away from this press conference saying "oh they're going to just run the exact same offense."

 

What he said was that he likes the same base system (West Coast, presumably vs. Coryell, etc.) and will keep the same language. 

 

But the offense will obviously change. To say that "nothing will change" on offense is not accurate, based on everything Smith indicated. 

Edited February 5 by tgo

[Jonboy]

23 minutes ago, tgo said:

Please tell me that one of these reporters asked whether he plans to run a zone blocking scheme or a power blocking scheme. 

 

Haven't been able to listen yet. 

It's in one of the tweets. He didn't come right out and say they would. Sounded like they wanted to use multiple styles. Is that even a thing when it comes to blocking schemes though? Don't most teams traditionally stick to 1?

 

Edit: Never mind. I see your other post now.

[tgo]

Just now, Jonboy said:

It's in one of the tweets. He didn't come right out and say they would. Sounded like they wanted to use multiple styles. Is that even a thing when it comes to blocking schemes though? Don't most teams traditionally stick to 1?

Actually no, a lot of teams combine elements of both. 

 

Unlike the Titans over the last several years. Under Munchak there were elements of both. 

 

But under Whisenhunt and Mularkey it was pure gap scheme. And under LaFleur it was essentially pure zone. 

[TitanDuckFan]

16 minutes ago, tgo said:

I didn't find the answer to be that vague personally. 

 

He said "Zone is a great starting point for us, and there's a lot of schemes that fit Derrick and that fit Dion and that fit David Fluellen or whoever else that's going to be on the roster that we'll hand the ball to. Whether you're running zone, gaps, pin pulls, zone read, there's a certain mentality we want to play with coming off the football. We want to be physical and knock people back. But that's not necessarily saying we're only going to run gap schemes or we're only going to run zone schemes. We're going to try to give us an advantage."

 

It's pretty obvious to me that what some of us had speculated is going to happen--they're no longer going to just be running exclusively zone like under LaFleur. They're going to run zone and power both and will be much more multiple in the run game. 

 

Smith also made a point that there's several different variants of the core offense that he's going to run - LaFleur's variant of the West Coast, Loggains variant, Cignetti's variant that he coached in college. 

 

Basically he's saying that the fundamental system and language will be kept intact, but it will not necessarily be the Shanahan offense.

 

God the analysis by local writers out there of this press conference so far is so elementary lol. 

Sorry tgo, but elementary works around here.

That's why basic, yet blanket statements get made and drive people nutz.

It goes beyond "nuance."  It has to do with the complexity of fitting pieces together.

Something this team hasn't had in awhile.  I hope Arthur Smith can be as successful at it as his explanation was.

[tgo]

For some context here, people often equate verbiage similarity to overall offensive similarity, which is not necessary the case. 

 

For instance, Dirk Koetter runs the same verbiage as Mike Mularkey--yet their offenses are quite different in a lot of ways. They may both be gap based run schemes, but the offenses differ greatly outside of the verbiage regime. 

[tgo]

Smith also said - in response to a question about coaching under multiple different systems -  "It just depends on your attitude about things. You know, some people can get so focsed on 'this is the only way to do it' and I think it's given me a lot of perspective. There's a lot of ways to do it....and you also can say "well, I didn't really like what they were doing and so if I get a shot, I'm not going to do that." And so it just gives you a lot of perspective."

 

Smith also keeps put an emphasis on being physical, not only in the run game, but how you finish runs and catches, how you pass protect, etc. He sounds more like Mularkey in that particular regard. 

 

It was notable to me that he says he wants to run the ball, and also said he doesn't care about being "aesthetically pleasing" but just wants to win games. 

 

 

Edited February 5 by tgo

[cenj]

Smith sounds like a nice fit for Mularkey in that he preaches being versatile over anything else. Vrabel wants to be multiple in what they do, with a gameplan that depends on the matchup. 

 

People always talk about having an identity, but it sounds like our only consistent identity might be "nasty." The Pat's ran through the playoffs with an old school approach featuring a ton of traditional run game.

Edited February 5 by cenj

[tgo]

 

[8MM]

Smith was hyper nervous, the opposite of Lafleur talking. 

[Nash]

Sure sounds like it will be a variation of the Shannahan offense..Smith said he is a big fan of the 2018 offense..which is why it makes sense to look at the 49ers version, IMO

[freakingeek]

2 hours ago, Tnasty said:

Arthur Smith has definitely already got the knack of a JRob guy-- he's great at giving vague statements.

 

"we want to be a tough physical football team with tough players"

 

"Goal of the offense is to score more points than the other team"

 

"We want to put our guys in the best system possible to succeed"

 

"We're going to have a nice combination of run and pass"

 

"We're going to take what the defense"

 

Cue Titans fans drooling about how awesome this guy is... 

 

I hope he turns into something great, he has just as good as of a shot as any candidate proposed by this board for the OC job. 

 

 

**JUST AS A CLARIFICATION- these are not actual quotes but an exaggeration; I felt he was a bit vague.

Mularkey said those exact same things. They are just patterned responses. Offseason fluff.

[FRT]

The real question is did the 18 month clock have to be reset?

[OILERMAN]

13 minutes ago, FRT said:

The real question is did the 18 month clock have to be reset?

Sounds like they don't plan on throwing any passes anyway!

[AussieTitanFan08]

Smith mentioned "13" personnel on multiple occasions in that press conference, I know it's highly unlikely but how good would it be having Henry as the RB, Davis at WR and then Walker/Smith/Hockenson as the TE's, talk about playing some grown man bully ball.

[Mythos27]

I like everything I've heard from Smith so far. He'll bring stability to the offense in 2019 but the real test will be if we can take the next step under him. This is Mariota's real make or break year. If he sucks, injury or not, I'm done.