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No-huddle a surprise in Rams offense
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_f77510f1-eb4a-5135-932e-275f61fe64cb.html
In their 2013 season opener against visiting Arizona, the Rams trailed 24-13 near the end of the third quarter. With time of the essence, the Rams went to a no-huddle, hurry-up offense and rallied behind quarterback Sam Bradford for a 27-24 victory.
The following week in Atlanta, the hole was even deeper. Trailing 24-3 in the third quarter, the Rams went no-huddle once again and made a game of it before falling 31-24 to the Falcons.
The next day, coach Jeff Fisher was asked about the no-huddle. Bradford seemed comfortable running it, the offense was productive. Was it something the Rams might consider running with regularity?
Fisher needed only one word for his answer.
“No,” he replied.
End of discussion. To a large degree, the no-huddle was put in mothballs — until Sunday, that is, against the Cleveland Browns.
With the offense in the doldrums, the Rams surprisingly went no-huddle, up-tempo on their first possession of the third quarter. They used it the majority of the time on three drives in the second half, and that helped the Rams expand a 10-6 lead into a 24-6 victory at the Edward Jones Dome.
“We just needed to change some things up,” Fisher said. “Try to get some more snaps. It worked.”
So a version of the 2013 question was dusted off and asked again. Given that success, is the no-huddle something we’ll see again from the Rams this season?
“Probably never, ever, see it again,” Fisher said sarcastically.
OK, that wasn’t really a “no.” Obviously, coaches never want to tip their hand. But coaches also never say never.
And in Nick Foles, the Rams certainly have a quarterback well-versed in the hurry-up, particularly from his days running the Chip Kelly mile-a-minute offense in Philadelphia.
“I love it,” Foles said. “I have a big history in it. It’s what I did in college, high school, even in Philly. So I love the offense we’re playing. I think it’s great to be able to do that. I think it really helps open things up and creates a rhythm. So it was fun to go out there and do that.”
Rhythm, not to mention yardage and first downs, is something that has been sorely lacking in the Rams’ 31st-ranked offense.
“Yeah, it’s just a way to try to show ’em something a little different,” Foles said. “Just try to go fast and put pressure on a defense and get some rhythm going.”
The first series going no-huddle against the Browns resulted in the missed 35-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein. The second series produced the 1-yard touchdown run by Todd Gurley and included big chunks of yardage in the form of a 26-yard pass interference call against the Browns and a 41-yard reception by Kenny Britt. The third series ended in a three-and-out and included only one no-huddle play.
During his Wednesday media session offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti indicated that the switch to the no-huddle Sunday was a spur-of-the-moment decision.
“That’s something that just came up,” Cignetti said. “ ‘Hey, what do you think about maybe going no-huddle and giving us a spark?’ “Obviously, at that time, it was the right thing to do.”
By all accounts, it was Foles’ idea.
“Nick is trying to change the culture a little bit, and I’m happy that we are playing it,” left tackle Greg Robinson said. “He was even pushing us and encouraging us to just finish, you know what I’m saying? While you’re doing it, you’re like, ‘Man, I don’t really want to do this,’ but it’ll pay off at the end.”
The 332-pounder added with a chuckle, “Hopefully, the cardio will help me work on my physique a little bit.”
There you go — a side benefit to the no-huddle.
Letting Foles run the up-tempo style is a show of confidence by the coaching staff. Decisions have to be made quicker, and there’s generally more responsibility on the quarterback. Then again, the Rams’ philosophy under Cignetti is to give the quarterback some leeway running the offense.
“Well, we talk about the quarterback runs the offense,” Cignetti said. “Whether we huddle or whether we’re in no-huddle, he runs the offense. He has the ability to keep us out of a bad play-call.”
Foles did nothing running the no-huddle to lessen that confidence.
“The adjustments were good,” Fisher said. “(Foles) got together with the offense and said, ‘These are the things we’re going to do. Let’s go do it.’ He did it. So yeah, it’s good. I mean, we work on it. It’s a two-minute offense. We work on it in practice.”
As long as the offense doesn’t change personnel, it is next to impossible for a defense to bring in fresh legs while defending a no-huddle. It can wear out a defense, especially if it’s stuck with more of its big bodies on the field, such as its run-defense personnel.
With his overall conservative offensive approach, it’s hard to imagine a Fisher-coached team making extensive use of the no-huddle. But with the Rams groping for answers to get more production and more consistency on offense, the no-huddle could become part of Cignetti’s bag of tricks. An occasional cattle prod, if you will, to get things going.
“We evaluate it every week based on the opponent we play,” Cignetti said.
“It’s a week-to-week thing,” Foles said. “Last week, we just sort of switched it up. We needed to get something going. This week we’re going to run our offense and see where it goes.”
If nothing else, it gives San Francisco this week, and every other opponent the Rams face the remainder of the season, something else to prepare for and something else to think about.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_f77510f1-eb4a-5135-932e-275f61fe64cb.html
In their 2013 season opener against visiting Arizona, the Rams trailed 24-13 near the end of the third quarter. With time of the essence, the Rams went to a no-huddle, hurry-up offense and rallied behind quarterback Sam Bradford for a 27-24 victory.
The following week in Atlanta, the hole was even deeper. Trailing 24-3 in the third quarter, the Rams went no-huddle once again and made a game of it before falling 31-24 to the Falcons.
The next day, coach Jeff Fisher was asked about the no-huddle. Bradford seemed comfortable running it, the offense was productive. Was it something the Rams might consider running with regularity?
Fisher needed only one word for his answer.
“No,” he replied.
End of discussion. To a large degree, the no-huddle was put in mothballs — until Sunday, that is, against the Cleveland Browns.
With the offense in the doldrums, the Rams surprisingly went no-huddle, up-tempo on their first possession of the third quarter. They used it the majority of the time on three drives in the second half, and that helped the Rams expand a 10-6 lead into a 24-6 victory at the Edward Jones Dome.
“We just needed to change some things up,” Fisher said. “Try to get some more snaps. It worked.”
So a version of the 2013 question was dusted off and asked again. Given that success, is the no-huddle something we’ll see again from the Rams this season?
“Probably never, ever, see it again,” Fisher said sarcastically.
OK, that wasn’t really a “no.” Obviously, coaches never want to tip their hand. But coaches also never say never.
And in Nick Foles, the Rams certainly have a quarterback well-versed in the hurry-up, particularly from his days running the Chip Kelly mile-a-minute offense in Philadelphia.
“I love it,” Foles said. “I have a big history in it. It’s what I did in college, high school, even in Philly. So I love the offense we’re playing. I think it’s great to be able to do that. I think it really helps open things up and creates a rhythm. So it was fun to go out there and do that.”
Rhythm, not to mention yardage and first downs, is something that has been sorely lacking in the Rams’ 31st-ranked offense.
“Yeah, it’s just a way to try to show ’em something a little different,” Foles said. “Just try to go fast and put pressure on a defense and get some rhythm going.”
The first series going no-huddle against the Browns resulted in the missed 35-yard field goal by Greg Zuerlein. The second series produced the 1-yard touchdown run by Todd Gurley and included big chunks of yardage in the form of a 26-yard pass interference call against the Browns and a 41-yard reception by Kenny Britt. The third series ended in a three-and-out and included only one no-huddle play.
During his Wednesday media session offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti indicated that the switch to the no-huddle Sunday was a spur-of-the-moment decision.
“That’s something that just came up,” Cignetti said. “ ‘Hey, what do you think about maybe going no-huddle and giving us a spark?’ “Obviously, at that time, it was the right thing to do.”
By all accounts, it was Foles’ idea.
“Nick is trying to change the culture a little bit, and I’m happy that we are playing it,” left tackle Greg Robinson said. “He was even pushing us and encouraging us to just finish, you know what I’m saying? While you’re doing it, you’re like, ‘Man, I don’t really want to do this,’ but it’ll pay off at the end.”
The 332-pounder added with a chuckle, “Hopefully, the cardio will help me work on my physique a little bit.”
There you go — a side benefit to the no-huddle.
Letting Foles run the up-tempo style is a show of confidence by the coaching staff. Decisions have to be made quicker, and there’s generally more responsibility on the quarterback. Then again, the Rams’ philosophy under Cignetti is to give the quarterback some leeway running the offense.
“Well, we talk about the quarterback runs the offense,” Cignetti said. “Whether we huddle or whether we’re in no-huddle, he runs the offense. He has the ability to keep us out of a bad play-call.”
Foles did nothing running the no-huddle to lessen that confidence.
“The adjustments were good,” Fisher said. “(Foles) got together with the offense and said, ‘These are the things we’re going to do. Let’s go do it.’ He did it. So yeah, it’s good. I mean, we work on it. It’s a two-minute offense. We work on it in practice.”
As long as the offense doesn’t change personnel, it is next to impossible for a defense to bring in fresh legs while defending a no-huddle. It can wear out a defense, especially if it’s stuck with more of its big bodies on the field, such as its run-defense personnel.
With his overall conservative offensive approach, it’s hard to imagine a Fisher-coached team making extensive use of the no-huddle. But with the Rams groping for answers to get more production and more consistency on offense, the no-huddle could become part of Cignetti’s bag of tricks. An occasional cattle prod, if you will, to get things going.
“We evaluate it every week based on the opponent we play,” Cignetti said.
“It’s a week-to-week thing,” Foles said. “Last week, we just sort of switched it up. We needed to get something going. This week we’re going to run our offense and see where it goes.”
If nothing else, it gives San Francisco this week, and every other opponent the Rams face the remainder of the season, something else to prepare for and something else to think about.
