In the college game it seems like 90% of teams run some form of the option offense. Obviously it works rather well, otherwise they wouldn’t be running it. Why don’t you ever see this play in the NFL? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it ran once in the 15 years or so I’ve been watching the NFL. Why not? It would seem to me that someone like Donovan McNabb or Kordell Stewart or any of the other super athletic QB’s could run this play with good sucess. So why don’t they?
What college football have you been watching? 90%? In 1980 it might have been 95% but today and from my point of view the percentage of teams that run a variant of the option is much closer to 10% than to 90%.
Just the way I see it, I don’t want to speculate if I am qualified to judge whether a team is running a form of the option.
Since we are on the subject, War Eagle!
Alantus
In 1988, the Indianapolis Colts did give the wishbone offense a shot. Didn’t stick, though.
Some thoughts:
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Due to the hashmark spacing, there’s more room on the wide side for an option play to work in college. The player with the ball has more room to find an opening and head downfield.
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The average NFL linebacker or defensive back is much faster than the average college LB or DB, so an NFL runner is much less likely to get away from his pursuers. They give less room for a pitchout to work, too. Ever see a pitchout get intercepted? It happens sometimes in college games, and it’s an automatic TD.
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The NFL picks its quarterbacks mainly for passing ability, not running ability. College option attacks work when the QB can run as well as any RB, but few NFL QB’s can.
Not to mention the fact that NFL coaches don’t want to see their high-priced quarterback injured on a running play.
Lou Holtz tried to install an option offense during his one year of coaching the Jets. I think he used Richard Todd as his QB.
He went back to college coaching before the season ended.
Didn’t Bum Phillips run a wishbone when New Orleans had both Earl Campbell and George Rogers?
When Ray Berry was coach of New England, I believe the Patriots would occassionally run option plays. I myself thnk an occassional option play is pretty cool and effective, but Bottle of Smoke is right: running an option frequently will result in the death of your quarterback.
I could picture Bum Phillips calling a play like this since he liked gadget plays. It would have been in the era when people like Kenny Stabler and Dave Wilson were QBing the Saints. I don’t picture Stabler running the option, although it sounds interesting.
Tonight during the Vikings/Packers game, Minnesota ran the option play on at least 2 seperate occasions(sp?). After watching them attempt it, I fully understand why most teams wouldn’t run it if you paid them. The first time they got maybe 3 yards when Culpepper kept the ball, and the second was a loss of yardage after the pitch.
Now that you got that cleared up, watch on Saturday and see if you still think 90% of college teams are running the option.
Alantus
I was shocked to see that as well. Culpepper got smacked on both plays. On a side note, even though I hate the Packers, I thought the end of that game was incredible.