Gibbs4Life wrote:You think Gregg was wanting to pick the brain of someone on the staff of Seattle because they've killed us everytime we get it going. What is this offense gonna look like will it be pure west coast? Will we be able to run right? I wanna hear from someone who knows more about Zorn's pedigree...What is "The Zorn Identity"
First, I have some relatives in the Seattle and Tacoma area who are big Seahawks fans. Two of my cousins called me late last night to offer congratulations. They said Zorn is a hell of a coach and the fan base is sad to see him leave, but hope he returns one day. They wanted him to be the OC after Holgem leaves and perhaps the head coach.
ESPN has several of the sports writers from the Seatle Post on late last night and they had some interesting comments regarding Zorn. They said the west coast system was Holgrems, but recent success to their offense over the past few years was attributed to the the contributions Zorn was offering in meetings. Zorn effectively contributed some schemes and plays, not from a west coast system, to compliment Holgems stuff. They said the Hawks play several defenses where the west coast system is not that effective. Zorns contributions were highly regarded in the organization.
Zorn did not play in a west coast system, nor did he ever coach it. Zorn was an offensive assistant under Dennis Erickson for a few years and Erickson was not a west coast guy either. In Seattle, the plays were designed by Holgrem. Zorn worked with the QB's and did not call plays, but apparently, was instrumental and worked directly with Holgem on scheme and play design.
A few thoughts I had. Zorn was starting QB in this league for 11 years and was a pretty good one at that, he is honored on the Hawks ring of fame at the stadium. As a QB, Zorn called plays at the line of scrimmage and was extremely effective at reading defenses.
That said, having an offensive coordinator who has played the QB position in the league for 11 years is a bonus. Saunders played some ball in college, but never as a pro. Also, even though Holgrem is a west coast guy, his assistants have faired pretty well in this league and he isn't too shabby of a guy to have learned from and to have worked for.
In my opinion, our offense, and especially our passing game, would actually benefit from some of the techniques employed in the west coast system. A report this morning said Zorn would probably not be in favor of running a full blown west coast system, but rather a hybrid of both systems.
Remember, Shaun Alexander set an NFL rushing record a few years ago and our passing offense could use some help. Actually, the west coast offense is a product of Don "Air" Coryell.
West Coast Offense:
Theory
The popular term "West Coast Offense" is more of a philosophy and an approach to the game than it is a set of plays or formations. Traditional offensive thinking argues that a team must establish their running game first, which will draw the defense in and open up vertical passing lanes downfield (i.e., passing lanes that run perpendicular to the line of scrimmage).
Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense, however, differs from traditional offense by instead emphasizing a short, horizontal passing attack to help stretch the defense out, thus opening up running lanes. The West Coast Offense as implemented under Walsh features precisely-run pass patterns by the receivers that make up about 65% to 80% of the offensive scheme. With the defense stretched out, the offense is then free to focus the remaining plays on longer throws (more than 14 yards) and mid to long yard rushes
If you look at the successful teams over the past half decade, like the Colts and the Pat's, it's obvious that a strong passing attack is crucial. Skins fans, especially here, were becoming very irritated by the bunch formations and the "run, run, pass, punt" style of offense. How many times here did we see folks complaining about Gibbs and his predictable play calling, would see the formation at the line of scrimmage and new exactly what the call would be. Well, Zorn will stretch out a defense and capitalize on Campbell's arm. Not a bad plan in my opinion. Again, not a full blown west coast system, but a hybrid would be a nice change of pace. Our offense was actually more successful this year when we inserted the mid-range passing game.
However, once names like Fassel started getting thrown around GW started looking a lot better to me.
ey dropped the key pass at the 2 right before the missed FG. He catches that and we're looking at 21 second-half points in around 20 minutes on the road in one of the toughest stadiums (stadia?) in existence.
I guess I need to have a little more to drink and try and digest this later 
we need to execute better 
