Book about Air Raid - The Perfect Pass

[MoreCowbell]

I read the book "The Perfect Pass" by S.C. Gwynne. It was about Hal Mumme, the invention of the Air Raid, and the genius behind it. Obviously it mentioned Mike Leach prominently. After reading it, I'm convinced of the great genius of Mumme and Leach and the implementation of this offense. I'm also convinced that it won't work consistently in the SEC at a high level in today's game.

Rosters - Mumme and Leach took advantage of the defensive rosters in college football. Football was all about 3 yards and a cloud of dust. So rosters were stacked with run-stopping linebackers wearing neck-rolls. There weren't as many defensive backs on the roster. So when Mumme and Leach showed up with the Air Raid, defenses didn't have the roster to handle it. Now defenses have tons of safeties and corners on the roster. And those guys have defended the pass in high school and 7-on-7 camps. And middle linebackers can run and cover. There is a lot of difference in Brian Bosworth and Nakobe Dean when it comes to defending the pass, even though both were great linebackers.

Scheme - Mumme took a team at Valdosta state and played Mississippi College. MC ran a 5-3 defense. You read that correctly, a 5-3. Because MC was built to stop the run. So what happens when the Air Raid rolls in and your defense normally only plays 3 defensive backs? But defenses today are used to being multiple. They run tons of nickle and dime coverages in practice and games.

Repetition - Defensive units always practiced stopping the run. 90% of defensive team practice time was spent on it. Now defensive units see the pass every day. Even conservative Alabama throws it around a ton on offense, so their defense gets to see Jalen Waddle, Jameson Williams, Henry Ruggs, Jerry Jeudy, Devonta Smith, etc. in practice. Defenses now get tons of reps against the pass all year long.

Tape - when Mumme and Leach started the Air Raid, they were in a small conference. There was very little tape available for defensive coordinators. And that tape had to be mailed on a VCR tape. Now in the day of televised games, cut-ups, digital footage, email and dropbox, defensive coordinators can get plenty of good film on anything a team does.

Mumme and Leach succeeded because they invented the anomaly. The offense was so different compared to what other teams ran, that defenses were unprepared. The defenses didn't have the roster to defend the air raid, they didn't have a scheme to defend the air-raid, they didn't have repetitions to defend the air-raid, and they hadn't watched enough film to understand the air-raid. The air-raid isn't such an anomaly anymore. So that huge advantage is gone. It's more accepted, more understood, and more easily defended. That's why I don't think it will work consistently at this level. I think pass-protection could always be an issue against defensive ends who are pass-rush specialists. I think the run game has to be developed and tweaked. I see 8-4 as our ceiling.

My opinion, feel free to tell me I'm an idiot. Keep in mind that what I'm using as the advantages back during the implementation is straight from the mouth of Mumme and Leach. They invented the offense to take advantage of the defenses being at a huge-disadvantage against the pass in roster, scheme, repetition, and preparedness.

I played QB under Mumme. Literally the offense is dependent on the QB. Someone is always going to be open, it is up to the QB to make the right read and I think we are in good hands with Will.

Now saying that, even though someone is always open, you have to have athletes that can YAC and our weapons are not on par with what we play every week in SEC. That is why our dump offs do not go for much.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

I played QB under Mumme. Literally the offense is dependent on the QB. Someone is always going to be open, it is up to the QB to make the right read and I think we are in good hands with Will.

Now saying that, even though someone is always open, you have to have athletes that can YAC and our weapons are not on par with what we play every week in SEC. That is why our dump offs do not go for much.

Good info. Let me ask this. If we have 5 people in a route (11 minus 1 QB and 5 OL), and they are covering with 8 people (rushing 3), how are we sure "someone is always going to be open? Certainly it seems that all 5 could be covered by 8 defenders, especially if an offensive lineman gets beaten. My personal opinion is that there is no such offense in existence where "someone is always going to be open"

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Now saying that, even though someone is always open, you have to have athletes that can YAC and our weapons are not on par with what we play every week in SEC. That is why our dump offs do not go for much.

And this is one of my points. It seems like Mumme/Leach had the advantage when they could match up an offensive weapon against these thumping linebackers wearing a neck roll, these safeties trained for run support, and these corners who know how to come up to take the pitch-man on the option. That made YAC a lot easier. But now with the evolution of lots of passing offenses, you have linebackers who run sidelines to sidelines, safeties and corners that can really run and cover. It makes YAC harder because you don't have the athlete match-up advantage.

[EdwardDrayton]

I played QB under Mumme. Literally the offense is dependent on the QB. Someone is always going to be open, it is up to the QB to make the right read and I think we are in good hands with Will.

Now saying that, even though someone is always open, you have to have athletes that can YAC and our weapons are not on par with what we play every week in SEC. That is why our dump offs do not go for much.

Will and the receivers are the two keys to how successful we will be this fall. Not at all sure we have receiver playmakers. And Will has been slow to process and utilize the ENTIRE field and too many times drops his eyes when under pressure. I want to believe but there are serious doubts. He must make a significant step change improvement.

[coachnorm]

Will and the receivers are the two keys to how successful we will be this fall. Not at all sure we have receiver playmakers. And Will has been slow to process and utilize the ENTIRE field and too many times drops his eyes when under pressure. I want to believe but there are serious doubts. He must make a significant step change improvement.

Most quarterbacks do not have the demands Will Rogers has. Reading the whole field during play evolution is not the important issue. Many times the quarterback first counts the box, second interprets the safety alignment which is depth and width. The safety alignment tips the quarterback if a cornerback is in retreat or squat assignment. If a safety is excessively wide this tips the quarterback that the defense is in cover 2 and the safety has over top responsibility. If the safety has not widened out, the defense is in cover 4 which means the cornerback has over the top responsibility. The quarterback also observes the cornerback depth to help understand cover 2 compared to cover 4. Cover 3 is obvious.

Based on this pre snap information the quarterback determines which half field he is going to throw to. Half field determination is also determined by your quality match up receiver against the defense’s poorer DB. He is thrown to unless double teamed. If the alignment is balanced, the quarterback has to throw to his comfort level and not the coach’s comfort level. If a program has budgeted sufficient time with contested catch periods, receivers will prove ability to match up and quarterback will understand where the match up advantage is in cover 2, 3, and 4 secondary alignments. The receivers will also get the same understanding. Also, understand 50-50 wins are different than yards after catch

Clemson put 2 first round quarterbacks in the NFL with this simple concept. Alabama will send quarterbacks into the NFL after Bryce Young is drafted. Ohio State is the same story and list just grows. These NFL quarterbacks have not had to be as concise as Will Rogers while in college. In the AR, why does Will Rogers have to read the complete field? Reading a half field during play duration gets done faster than the whole field: fewer sacks? The coach has to improve with the quarterback also?

[Jarius]

Most quarterbacks do not have the demands Will Rogers has. Reading the whole field during play evolution is not the important issue. Many times the quarterback first counts the box, second interprets the safety alignment which is depth and width. The safety alignment tips the quarterback if a cornerback is in retreat or squat assignment. If a safety is excessively wide this tips the quarterback that the defense is in cover 2 and the safety has over top responsibility. If the safety has not widened out, the defense is in cover 4 which means the cornerback has over the top responsibility. The quarterback also observes the cornerback depth to help understand cover 2 compared to cover 4. Cover 3 is obvious.

Based on this pre snap information the quarterback determines which half field he is going to throw to. Half field determination is also determined by your quality match up receiver against the defense’s poorer DB. He is thrown to unless double teamed. If the alignment is balanced, the quarterback has to throw to his comfort level and not the coach’s comfort level. If a program has budgeted sufficient time with contested catch periods, receivers will prove ability to match up and quarterback will understand where the match up advantage is in cover 2, 3, and 4 secondary alignments. The receivers will also get the same understanding. Also, understand 50-50 wins are different than yards after catch

Clemson put 2 first round quarterbacks in the NFL with this simple concept. Alabama will send quarterbacks into the NFL after Bryce Young is drafted. Ohio State is the same story and list just grows. These NFL quarterbacks have not had to be as concise as Will Rogers while in college. In the AR, why does Will Rogers have to read the complete field? Reading a half field during play duration gets done faster than the whole field: fewer sacks? The coach has to improve with the quarterback also?

Well I can save Will some pre snap read time and let him know that the defense is going to drop 8 into coverage about 80 % of the time until we show we can beat it consistently.

[Maroonthirteen]

Now saying that, even though someone is always open, you have to have athletes that can YAC and our weapons are not on par with what we play every week in SEC. That is why our dump offs do not go for much.

Yep. You still need players. Fans (and Leach)act like the Dink and dunk is some magical/"smarter than you" offense. It isn't. The reason Leach won 11 games at Tech, Micheal Crabtree.

Minshew had the same tendacies to dump down that Rogers has. Except Borghi could make a defender miss more often than Marks. Marks got much better last year but we still need more speed, more speed and physical RBs and WRs.

[Jarius]

Yep. You still need players. Fans (and Leach)act like the Dink and dunk is some magical/"smarter than you" offense. It isn't. The reason Leach won 11 games at Tech, Micheal Crabtree.

Minshew had the same tendacies to dump down that Rogers has. Except Borghi could make a defender miss more often than Marks. Marks got much better last year but we still need more speed, more speed and physical RBs and WRs.

We had the offensive players to win 9 or 10 last year. Our field goal kicker, punt team, and defense lost the Arkansas, LSU, and Memphis game last year. I feel like we are a lot more worried than we should be about the wrong thing on our football team.

[Maroonthirteen]

We had the offensive players to win 9 or 10 last year. Our field goal kicker, punt team, and defense lost the Arkansas, LSU, and Memphis game last year. I feel like we are a lot more worried than we should be about the wrong thing on our football team.

We gave.... gave.... Memphis 14 points on carelessness. Coaching.

All this talk about.... if only a FG kicker..... how about if the "air raid" didn't stall in the redZone over and over. Btw, it was a game tying FG at Arkansas. We were behind the the entire game.

As for talent, an OT drafted, no skill players drafted and no offense players on the 2022 will be drafted. We need a huge infusion of talent across the board.