Nathaniel Hackett had interview yesterday to be OC

[dieterbrock]

Id rather get Hackett than go in house

Me too
Although I actually like the Hackett idea more than just that.
Chud is still choice #1, but this guy would be #2

 

[lockdnram21]

I just read a comment off of pro football article and they said Hackett and he basically said he would be bad for Mason

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Thanks Merlin! That was a lot to read but very interesting..

It seems like his offense might be a little more complicated than Schotts.

That's what I'm wondering

Now I read here how Schotty has like 1000 plays and no packages - I think from what I understood that is what contributed to the idea that Schotty's offense was super complicated,

Now does Hackett incorporate packages or does he operate like Schotty with a billion unrelated plays?

 

[Fatbot]

he has done a decent job in Buffalo given the limitations at QB.

Buffalo is like the Rams' long lost AFC twin -- great defense, offense limited by bad QB and bad OL... Would be somewhat amusing to get their OC that had the same excuses -- er, factors that kept Schotty down... http://www.syracuse.com/buffalo-bil...nathaniel_hackett_is_taking_too_much_hea.html and http://bills.buffalonews.com/2014/12/30/bills-hackett-focuses-on-positives-not-future/ are interesting reads about his situation.

"Plenty of people have had plenty to say about the job he has done, and most of it is negative. They didn’t like the fact the Bills ranked 26th in the NFL in total offense, 25th in rushing, and 18th in passing on the way to a 15th consecutive non-playoff season. They blasted Hackett for being too predictable with his play-calling and for not doing enough to maximize the production of the Bills’ offensive weapons and for helping to waste the performance of the league’s fourth-ranked defense."

Sounds eerily familiar. The "predictable play calling" part has me a little down on him.

 

[Merlin]

I have warmed up to him quite a bit. Some of the early stuff I read on him reminded me a lot of Schotty given that he's a coach's son and all. Gotta admit for me that counts against a candidate, I'm old fashioned and don't like to see dudes living off a family name to include getting a job or start.

But he does sound like he is sharp and schematically I have no doubt he can help the Rams' offense take it to another level. Question is how well does he translate what he knows to players. And if he kills it and is hired away a year after installing his hybrid offense the requisite scheme change is a complication. I'm not too hung up on that, mind you, but it does factor in.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I just read a comment off of pro football article and they said Hackett and he basically said he would be bad for Mason

In what way do they mean?

 

[RamBill]

Nathaniel Hackett interviewing for Rams offensive coordinator on Thursday
Posted by Josh Alper on January 22, 2015, 11:37 AM EST

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...g-for-rams-offensive-coordinator-on-thursday/

The Rams got rebuffed in their attempt to interview Rob Chudzinski and Alex Van Pelt for their offensive coordinator vacancy, so they’ve moved on to a candidate not currently employed by another NFL club.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Nathaniel Hackett is interviewing for the job on Thursday. Hackett spent the last two years as the offensive coordinator with the Bills after going to Buffalo with Doug Marrone, who hired him in the same role at Syracuse University.

There weren’t many raves for the Bills Offense over the last two years, which certainly had something to do with the team’s lack of a strong starting quarterback and may have had something to do with Marrone’s own offensive preferences.

The Rams have Sam Bradford returning from a second torn ACL and have said they’d like to have him compete with someone else for the starting quarterback job this offseason, although Bradford will probably need to adjust his contract since he stands to make nearly $13 million after playing just seven games the last two years.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Seems like a pretty thin resume, as far as NFL experience goes.

Doesnt make him a bad choice... but, compared to someone like - say Chud?

Not particularly impressed.


Nathaniel Hackett
Personal information
Date of birth(1979-12-19) December 19, 1979 (age 35)
Place of birthFullerton, California
Career information
CollegeUniversity of California, Davis
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
2003

2003

2004

2005

2006-2007

2008-2009

2010

2011-2012

2013-2014
University of California, Davis
(Assistant Linebackers Coach)
Stanford University
(Offensive Assistant)
Stanford University
(Coordinator's Assistant)
Stanford University
(Recruiting Coordinator)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
(Offensive Quality Control)
Buffalo Bills
(Offensive Quality Control)
Syracuse University
(Quarterbacks/Tight Ends)
Syracuse University
(Offensive Coordinator)
Buffalo Bills
(Offensive Coordinator

 

[Fatbot]

In what way do they mean?

The Bills went from like #2 in the NFL rushing to #25... Both years were under Hackett but of course fans see what he has done for them lately I guess. The horrid OL didn't help (remember this was the team that actually went out of their way to pay for Chris Williams). Also I think there was some complaints about mismanaging the RB committee and not utilizing CJ Spiller. To make it more familiar just translate "what happened to Zac Stacy?" and "why doesn't Schotty use Tavon better" questions into Hackett & Fred Jackson/Spiller and their running game...

 

[Tron]

Still hoping for chud. But whoever we get he best be able to use Austin better.

 

[Merlin]

2012 Bills offense: (Chan Gailey OC) 21st in scoring with 344 points, Fitzpatrick 16 starts.
2013 Bills offense: 22nd in scoring with 339 points, Manuel 10 starts, Lewis 5 starts, Tuel 1 start.
2014 Bills offense: 18th in scoring with 343 points, Orton 12 starts, Manuel 4 starts.

So I'll say that I see Hackett as a riskier OC choice than Chud, Martz, or Shanahan Sr. He's similar to Schotty in that he's a coach's son, and did not work miracles in his two seasons in Buffalo.

I'd put him as a solid hire, not inspiring or a strong hire like Chud would be, but he might be a legit OC it is hard to say given what he had to work with. Keeping the Bills' offense from dipping from what Gailey did the year before with Manuel starting ten games, and Lewis/Tuel starting six? Not too shabby. Squeezing what he could from Orton and Manuel? Again, not too shabby.

His Schotty-esqueness worries me. But we only have two seasons of excuses to contend with. Rams do have some serious weapons, and they will be addressing the OL and QB, of that I have no doubt. I could get behind the hire if he ends up being the guy, just hope that they go with a higher percentage hire.

 

[Blue and Gold]

Get to know Hackett

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/ar...-schemes/4b9745d2-fce1-4d11-bedf-0a23838c67c0

Marrone and Hackett pooled schemes
Posted Jan 16, 2013

Chris BrownBills InsiderEmail @ChrisBrownBills Blog: Inside the Bills

Buffalo’s new offensive brain trust has two men well versed in designing offensive systems. Even better for the Bills, head coach Doug Marrone and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett have put an offense together as a tandem before.

Marrone as a new head coach at Syracuse in 2009 was fresh off a three-year stint as an offensive coordinator with New Orleans. He also had a prior stop with the Jets where he helped design blocking schemes for the Jets prolific rushing attack at the time. With plans to develop a more comprehensive offense entering his second season with the Orange he hired Hackett to be his offensive coordinator at Syracuse in 2010.

The pair decided they would work together to further develop the identity of the Syracuse offense. Marrone and Hackett essentially isolated themselves in a room and didn’t emerge until they formulated a system they felt would work for their team.

“Coach Marrone’s philosophies, the way that he handles everything from a protection standpoint to the run, it was unbelievable learning from him and creating a system that first year,” Nathaniel Hackett told Buffalobills.com.

“To learn that from him and to work with him very intimately on creating a system and all the things he wanted carried over from the NFL, it not only gave me the foundation in the pass protection and the run game, but just overall how to put everything together.”




Marrone and Hackett chose to take a lot of different things from a lot of different systems that had consistent success in an effort to have the best of everything. The result was Syracuse’s pro-style offense with elements of the West Coast system, a zone-stretch rushing attack, the ability to go no-huddle and just this past season the addition of the read option.

“He did an outstanding job for us at Syracuse,” said Marrone of Hackett. “I have tremendous confidence in him making the transition back to the NFL level. He has a great knowledge of offenses having grown up the son of a good coach and it’s served him well. He’s been surrounded by offensive thinking football all his life and he’s absorbed it.”

Both men know they’ll have to be flexible in adjusting the scheme they ran at Syracuse to the talents of the players they have now on their roster in Buffalo. Having worked together should only aid them in making the adjustments necessary to ensure the Bills offense has similar success.

“I think now we know, we feed off each other and we understand what we’re both looking at from the pass game to the protection to the run game it’s just going to make that transition so much easier,” said Hackett. “The two of us because we’ve been through so much these past three years you just can’t ask for anything better to work with a guy you’ve been with and understand what he needs and I know how to fulfill that. So it’s going to be an exciting transition for us.”

“You hear coaches speak of ‘everyone being on the same page,'” said Marrone. “Nathaniel is on the same page with me when it comes to the offense, and it’s multiple variations that we are looking to run here in Buffalo.”

Marrone and Hackett at this point are not going to work on the offense’s identity or the speed at which their offense will be run. That will come further down the line after player evaluations on tape are completed and basic installation has taken place.

“The first thing you create is that foundation. You have to get that foundation and get that language out to the players,” said Hackett. “You have to let them understand what we’re trying to accomplish. Once you get those plays in and they have the foundation and understand what we’re trying to accomplish then you can now say, ‘Hey let’s talk about tempo.’ You can speed it up or slow it down. It’s really about a big evaluation right now and building a foundation with those guys and then seeing where it fits from an up tempo style.”

For Marrone, their ability to adjust their offensive scheme to the talents of their players is part of what has him confident they will succeed when they have the football. The other part is the great faith he has in Hackett’s abilities.

“His abilities and creativity rose to the forefront at a very early stage,” said Marrone. “I believe he’s going to be highly successful in our organization and our players are going to enjoy executing our offensive schemes.”

 

[Blue and Gold]

nderstanding the Marrone/Hackett Offense

What kind of offense with Nathaniel Hackett bring to the Bills? (Photo: US Presswire)

BBD Editor Anthony Macari

You may ask what offensive system will Head Coach Doug Marrone and Offensive Coordinator Nate Hackett bring to Buffalo. Will it be the K-Gun, the West Coast, the Run and Shoot, Air Coryell, the Spread Option or the Pistol? The answer is yes. Hackett and Marrone’s offense, much like Sean Peyton’s in New Orleans is a Frankenstein monster of the NFL’s greatest hits. The key to the offense is having an intelligent QB and versatile weapons that can create mismatches.

The NFL is a copy cat league and almost every offensive system being run, is really a variation, combination or an adaptation of something that has been run before. Both Marrone and Hackett are students of the game who have no problem barrowing pieces of systems from the leagues successful systems and integrating them into their attack. This multiple look approach itself isn’t even original. Marrone adopted this approach from the time spent on Sean Peyton’s staff. Peyton is known to use up to 30 different formations and packages before a half. Peyton’s attack is steeped in both West Coast principles meant to spread a defense out horizontally and Coryell’s deep aerial attack meant to spread a defense out vertically. Likewise, at Syracuse, Marrone implemented West Coast timing routes and got his backs involved early and often in the passing game. At New Orleans, Reggie Bush was used in the backfield or in the slot, giving the offense multiple looks with the same personnel on the field. Combining the speed and versatility of a RB like Bush with a big TE target, a speedy receiver and a big tall receiver would create mismatches all over the field no matter what the system being implemented.

While Marrone was working in New Orleans, new Bills Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was working in Buffalo as a quality control coach. He was with the Bills when they decided to dust off the old K-Gun no huddle attack. Jim Kelly shared the Bills playbook from the ‘90s and Hackett went to work studying the intricacies of the attack. The K-Gun offense itself was a combination of multiple offenses barrowing primarily Cincinnatti’s No-Huddle attack designed by Sam Wyche and Kelly’s Run and Shoot offense he learned under Mouse Davis while with the USFL’s Houston Gamblers. The Run and Shoot was a system perfectly married with a no-huddle attack because it relied on the QB and receivers to read the defensive alignment and adjust their routes accordingly. If the corner or safety was off the line, the receiver ran a short route, inside he ran out, outside he ran it in. However, the Houston Gambler attack was almost entirely a passing system, with running plays meant as a change of pace only after a team committed additional resources to defend the pass.

The K-Gun kept a TE on the field, usually in the slot to either pass protect for deeper routes, run block off tackle for a power attack or as a big target weapon to create an additional mismatch. Like New Orleans attack and critical in the West Coast offense, the running back was used as a weapon in the passing game and took advantage of the horizontally spread out defense in the running attack. Having a versatile and talented back like Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas kept the attack humming. At the 3 receiver positions, having a combination of talents was key. Andre Reed was the primary target in the passing game. He was a dynamic versatile route runner who could equally work the middle of the field, sideline or slip deep behind the coverage. Having a true deep threat in James Lofton kept defenses honest and prevented them from flooding the short zones.

At Syracuse, two weeks before the season began, Marrone and Hackett installed a no-huddle up tempo attack that required a whole new terminology. The QB, Ryan Nassib was made responsible for reading the defense pre-snap to determine coverages and pressure. Like the K-Gun, the base offensive formation was 3 WRs, a single back and a TE. However, the routes run were taken more from the New Orleans playbook with mostly West Coast quick timing routes. The burden was put on the QB to read the offense to decide where to go with the ball, but the receivers ran their pre-determined route without adjustment unlike the run and shoot attack used by the Bills.

The Orange used a power back alone in the backfield when the wanted to impose their will in Jerome Smith. Zone blocking schemes often left the end lined up away from the run unblocked to add an extra blocker to the run direction. The majority of Smiths 1305 yards came between the tackles. Pistol formation kept the play action pass as an option and the TE in the seam or a deep route by Alec Lemon or Marcus Sales. When Smith was in the backfield, the Syracuse attack looked more like a Coryell offense that looked to get you to either cheat up to defend the inside run, then burn you over the top or get you to play back to defend the deep pass run by multiple receivers and then burn you with the run up the gut. As a change of pace, Prince Tyson-Gulley came in for Smith. Gulley, a smaller, quicker back, was much more of a dual threat. He would either line up in the backfield or get spread out in the slot. As the #2 back, Gulley still managed over 1,100 all purpose yards in the Orange attack (830 rushing / 282 receiving).

So, putting aside for the moment QB, the Bills would seem to have several key skill position pieces to run a Marrone / Hackett offense, particularly at RB. Their ability to take full advantage of two different style backs at Syracuse bodes well for them to take advantage of both CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson. The up tempo attack provides more snaps per game, which helps get both backs into a rhythm. Obviously using CJ in the passing game and running game will fully take advantage of his entire skill set and create mismatches all over the field. The no huddle attack also gets more effective as the game goes on and the defense gets tired.

Syracuse scored 229 of its 397 total points for the season in the 2nd half compared to 168 in the first. Stevie Johnson’s ability to beat one on one match-ups also makes him a perfect fit. If David Nelson comes back healthy, his height advantage makes him a nice fit to go with TJ Graham’s speed potential outside. Donald Jones also has deep speed, but shouldn’t be looked at as a #2. Bringing in another either speedy or taller receiver would be a priority addition this offseason. Scott Chandler has also developed into a reliable receiving threat who’s size and hands would be an asset in a Marrone / Hackett attack. So, outside of QB, look for the Bills to add one more receivers to the attack. That receiver could be any type, but look for it to be a receiver who presents a significant challenge and mismatch either with size or speed rather than a jack of all trades threat.

QB is a discussion in and of itself. An obvious choice to find a fit for Marrone and Hackett’s offense would be to draft the QB who ran it for them in college, Ryan Nassib. However, in a draft with 31 other teams, it is impossible to arrange to both get value and guaranty you get a specific targeted player. Taking Nassib at 8 would be a reach no matter how you try to justify it and waiting until the 2nd round may be too late. While varied skills are needed to run this offense, the most important skill needed is a high football IQ. Like Jim Kelly when he was running the K-Gun, plays are called on the line and the QB has a great deal of responsibility to make pre-snap reads in coverage and pressure. The ability to quickly process information is critical, both pre-snap and in play. A quick read and release will further exploit a mismatch or a burn a blitz. After football IQ, like in the west coast offense accuracy is critical on short timing routes. The third most critical skill is arm strength to stretch the defense vertically.

While athleticism is always a tremendous asset to a QB, the ability to make in pocket adjustments is more critical than being able to burn a defense with your feet. While some spread option was utilized as well as some pistol formations, for the most part the backs ran the ball and the QB either handed it off or threw it in all of the offenses integrated into the Marrone offense. I am sure they would be capable of adjusting the system to fit a particular strength or hide a weakness of a QB, but looking for a system fit to what they have run, athleticism would be on the last rung of the list of priorities.

No matter who’s under center next year for the Bills, look for the offense to be an exciting brand of up tempo football. Marrone will exploit the skills of the players on the roster to create mismatches and try to stay one step ahead of the defense to keep them off balance and to wear them down both physically and mentally by the 4th quarter. This offensive attack puts a large burden on the defense because they too will have little rest between series. Pairing a no huddle attack with an attacking, break or be broken defense makes sense because it will limit their time on the field. Look for more high scoring shootouts to come in Buffalo. Hopefully, like in the heyday of the K-Gun, the Bills will be on the right side of those shootouts more times than not.

 

[lockdnram21]

In what way do they mean?

quote word for word. "He will immediately get to work on destroying Tre Masons potential to be a explosive running back."

 

[WestCoastRam]

I will say this, for all those people saying, "... this is Jeff Fisher's offense..." unless, Fisher's willing to change everything this kids about, it will not be a Jeff Fisher offense. I, for one, find from what I've seen that Fisher is very willing to be flexible on offense as long as it works.

 

[Sum1]

If I was a betting man...I'd bet Hackett is the guy.

 

[dieterbrock]

The Bills went from like #2 in the NFL rushing to #25... Both years were under Hackett but of course fans see what he has done for them lately I guess. The horrid OL didn't help (remember this was the team that actually went out of their way to pay for Chris Williams). Also I think there was some complaints about mismanaging the RB committee and not utilizing CJ Spiller. To make it more familiar just translate "what happened to Zac Stacy?" and "why doesn't Schotty use Tavon better" questions into Hackett & Fred Jackson/Spiller and their running game...

Mismanaging? CJ Spiller broke his collarbone and missed half the season

 

[iced]

Apparently Hackett was held back big time by Doug Marrone, so I'm not really sure what to think about Hackett...Fred Jackson said he was an aggressive guy and some of his calls never made it to the game plan

 

[Angry Ram]

quote word for word. "He will immediately get to work on destroying Tre Masons potential to be a explosive running back."

And we're supposed to take some random dude's comment on PFT seriously?

 

[Fatbot]

Mismanaging? CJ Spiller broke his collarbone and missed half the season

http://billsmafia.com/2013/10/11/bills-need-rely-cj-spiller-and-fred-jackson/

Not saying it's true, just highlighting what to me is a lot of weird similarity between the circumstances of him and Schotty, even down to the fan complaints.