Jake Burns: Year 3 Offense Evolution

I think Jake Burns does the best job of diagnosing offenses and breaking down film study than anyone around. He sees the game much like I do. I love watching and reading his stuff. This is a really great article. I'll post the first part as a tease, but you really need to click on the link to see the videos and charts. It's very educational and a perfect read for those of you who like to learn about the game of football. Some of us have wondered what the offense will look like w/Watson at qb. This is a good look. No hot takes. No agendas. Just good solid football talk. Enjoy.

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Cleveland Browns Year 3 Offense Evolution: Pistol Formation

ByJAKE BURNS Jul 12, 12:44 PM

Consistency leads to many great things for an NFL franchise. From the front office to coaching staff down to the roster, the more familiarity those in a franchise have, the better the odds for success become. Now, as we all know, impatience often limits the consistency a franchise needs to find long-term success. The Cleveland Browns have been a beacon of inconsistency largely attributed to impatience over the years -- especially since returning in 1999.

It is rare to see a Browns head coach, play-caller, and coordinators all return for a third year, but that is what we will get in 2022 for the first time since the 1991-1993 teams coached by, you guessed it, Bill Belichick. As well as that little-known defensive coordinator named Nick Saban. If you rewind to those early 90's teams, the success was not nearly as quickly achieved as the regime here under Stefanski. Belichick won just 20 games total in his first three seasons -- Kevin Stefanski has nearly accomplished that in just two.

So, we seek consistency. The Browns seem to have it in place on both sides of the ball right now and while there is never a day promised in the NFL beyond the one you are currently occupying, it is tough to see this group not getting a few more considering the bevy of offseason moves. Chief among them is the move for Deshaun Watson and with the improved quarterback play is likely to come to an evolving scheme from what we know through two years.

Stefanski is a wide zone system coach from the Gary Kubiak tree. They pair that wide zone base with a west coast passing scheme that thrives on play-action pairing to their zone and gap run schemes and sprinkling in some delightful screen game to running backs and tight ends. The system is formulaic at times and relies on the spacing created laterally to unlock the field horizontally. However, with Watson as the new signal-caller in Cleveland, there is a series to be made here on tweaks and changes I think will come with a quarterback skill-set as unique as Waston brings to the franchise.

Let's dig in on the first part of what will look different: pistol formation.

https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland...-evolution-pistol-189941848/#189941848_1

I am a regular at OBR and Burns podcasts.

He is a play nerd and I can relate. Greg Cosell is another guy who I love to listen to.

The pistol has been around. It really IMO is about your personnel. As pointed out you need continuity with a staff.

Shanahan and Kubiak go way back. I love the offense. DW is the right guy to run that offense.

I am super curious to see the Browns offense this season because it now is in the position to evolve.

Excellent read. I can't remember...since our return, have we ever had the same offense 3 years in a row? Butch Davis era maybe, with Arians?

Yeah, I believe you are correct.

What I really like is that we won't have to change our offensive scheme, but we can add the Pistol and RPO into our arsenal. This should help us around the goal line and keep us ahead of the chains. Watson will put a ton of pressure on the defense and we will still be able to use our wide zone blocking scheme for the running game.

One thing to note that Jake said at the end. The Pistol/RPO thing does not fit Jacoby's skill set. We would just keep things the same as we had w/Baker, w/probably more emphasis on the short, quick passing game.

I am salivating over seeing Watson in Stefanski's offense. It is going to be lethal.

I think Stefanski is very relieved now he has QB who can execute
The full playbook. He knows even if the play has a breakdown , Watson
Can improvise with his legs and extend a play
With Baker , Stefanski had to dial up the perfect play everytIme cause of Mayfield
Limitations. If the play broke down , so did Mayfield
That is alot of pressure on a play caller

The Browns are a WR away from being a top 7 offense

Yeah that's a really good point about the RPO. IIRC, the bootleg was one playcall where Baker did reasonably well, compared to other plays in the scheme, likely due to the fact it opened his vision and simplified his reads, and also played into his tendency to gravitate toward the sidelines.

I think that Watson will actually be better on that front, both since he makes better reads and that he's also a legitimate threat to run it from that formation as well. That'll be a very difficult decision for whoever the LBs/DBs are on the bootleg side. I hope our WR's are good at doing what they're supposed to in those scenarios. By all accounts, that is probably a central reason we got Cooper. IIRC his route-running and his own reads are superb.

That’s my thought too. I bet he felt like Baker was an anchor, especially last season.

It will be interesting to see our offense with Watson

Originally Posted by Iluvmyxstripper

I think Stefanski is very relieved now he has QB who can execute
The full playbook. He knows even if the play has a breakdown , Watson
Can improvise with his legs and extend a play
With Baker , Stefanski had to dial up the perfect play everytIme cause of Mayfield
Limitations. If the play broke down , so did Mayfield
That is alot of pressure on a play caller

The Browns are a WR away from being a top 7 offense

Did you find all this info on 4chan? LMAO. I think you are in for a surprise. Ski will still be an inept play-caller, I'd bet on it. He made way too many weird calls last year, and his game/clock management skills are still suspect.

He had a badly injured QB last year that he continued to play. That hampers the plays you can call. But people insist on placing the blame elsewhere.

Originally Posted by PitDAWG

He had a badly injured QB last year that he continued to play. That hampers the plays you can call. But people insist on placing the blame elsewhere.

We'll see.

Originally Posted by PitDAWG

He had a badly injured QB last year that he continued to play. That hampers the plays you can call. But people insist on placing the blame elsewhere.

Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but it's easy to forget that he's a new HC. He's not a finished product as a HC (or even as an offense playcaller).

I'm certainly not trying to suggest that. I'm saying that if you play an injured QB or even a back up, they don't possess the same ability as a healthy starter. Thus your playbook gets more limited. Had Stefanski have started Keenum it would have been limited as well. My point was that people try to take the focus off of that and blame it on other things.

Did anyone bother to read the entire article and watch the videos?

It's educational and far removed from the agenda BS that usually spread.

Originally Posted by Versatile Dog

Did anyone bother to read the entire article and watch the videos?

It's educational and far removed from the agenda BS that usually spread.

I did. It was an excellent read and very educational. I am so stoked to watch this offense run with Watson!

Originally Posted by KashDawg

I am so stoked to watch this offense run with Watson!

You may have to wait 1 or 2 years for your "stoked" offense.

Originally Posted by Versatile Dog

It's educational and far removed from the agenda BS that usually spread.

Do you mean how the only way Stefanski could expand his playbook was by getting watson? That based on a season where Baker was injured that's some reasonable conclusion to arrive at? That kind of agenda BS?

Hey Kash, it's been awhile.

I wasn't wild about the Stefanski hire, but I really like his scheme. Of course, I have been a long-time admirer of the Shanahan/Kubiak offense. You probably remember that I was Shanny's biggest supporter when he was the OC in Cleveland. I have always been a fan of the zone blocking system, especially the wide zone concepts. I think Stefanski has been very creative in how he designs plays. His scheme is similar to Shanny's in that they have building blocks. By that, I mean they call certain plays where it looks the same time and time again, and then they add a wrinkle that exploits the defense when they think they know what's coming.

The possibilities w/Watson at qb are immense. Like Burns, I think we can keep what we already have in place. I suspect that we still run a lot of 12 personnel. I think our running game will remain the same. I think the running game will even benefit because teams are not going to be able to stack the box like they did before. I see three key areas that is going to ignite this offense.

1. Watson will be able to throw from the pocket. He's good in the pocket. He can see over the top of the LOS. He will make better reads and throws from the pocket. This will make play action even more deadly.

2. The Pistol formation [that Burns went into detail about] gives us a brand new look and something teams did not have to defend before. The RPO's out of this formation should work well.

3. When we run RPOs or boots, Watson's threat as a runner is going to be huge. If teams are in odd man coverages, such as 1, 3, and 5......we can run receivers deep and Watson will pick up 12 to 18 yards because the DBs will have their backs turned. He will also pick up crucial 3rd downs because of the dual threat. We will also not be behind the chains as much as we have in the past.

I really think this offense is going to be very good. We have a great OL, great RBs, an elite qb, and a very good play designer.

Of course I read the article on the Pistol. Very interesting, reminds me of Canadian Football League concepts, as the CFL has been doing that sort of thing for decades, especially with giving the back a head start from behind the LOS from similar formations if the QB reads the Defense properly.

I loved this part, because our guards are freight trains who can demolish at the second level:

“They can also move their guards in power and counter schemes the way they prefer with the two dynamic pieces they have in Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller.”