Thread: Vikings' new offense is a hit

[size=14pt]Vikings' new offense is a hit[/size]
[size=14pt]Packers official has seen this scheme before and says Brad Johnson's experience will make it work.[/size]

Star Tribune

The Green Bay Packers ran a version of the West Coast offense under former coach Mike Sherman that is similar to what Brad Childress is installing with the Vikings this season.

John Schneider, the Packers personnel analyst to the general manager, was at the Vikings' preseason opener Monday against Oakland and was impressed by what he saw. Schneider credits quarterback Brad Johnson with making the transition look so smooth.

"They look very good, and it's primarily because Brad is such a good game manager and such an efficient player," said Schneider, who also attended the Vikings' practice against Kansas City in Mankato. "That's going to put the progress of the offense that much ahead of schedule."

Johnson played all three series of the first quarter for the Vikings before being replaced by backup Mike McMahon. Johnson completed five of six passes for 32 yards and had an 88.9 quarterback rating. He led the Vikings on their only touchdown drive of the first half.

Johnson's longest completion was a 12-yarder to Koren Robinson. That was no surprise considering the West Coast offense is based on a short-passing game.

Schneider said that Johnson is the key to the Vikings' success on offense because it might take a quarterback not familiar with this system two years to get a complete grasp of it.

"That's what a quarterback would say," Schneider said. "But based on Brad's experience, especially having played under Jon Gruden [in Tampa Bay], he's that much further ahead. I don't think they are going to miss a beat. ... Basically the transition will be that much smoother for all of the players if the quarterback is able to help everybody line up and just be able to give the team confidence in what they're doing."

Schneider also was impressed by the play of rookie quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, who entered in the second quarter. Jackson completed four of seven passes for 39 yards in the second and also ran twice for 19 yards. Jackson, a second-round pick, looked poised in leading the Vikings down the field for a 41-yard field goal by Ryan Longwell as time expired in the first half.

Jackson left the game in the third quarter after taking an elbow to the helmet from linebacker Darnell Bing at the conclusion of a 17-yard run that included a nifty move. Jackson was able to return to finish the quarter.

"I think he looked very poised," Schneider said. "Darrell Bevell [the Packers former quarterbacks coach and the Vikings offense coordinator] is very good with quarterbacks, and so in terms of [Jackson's] progress, he's around Darrell and he's around an experienced guy like Brad Johnson.

"J.T. O'Sullivan [another former Packer] has worked under excellent quarterback coaches, too. Mike McMahon has been around good quarterback coaches.

"[Jackson's] got an advantage a lot of rookies would not have. I think it showed. He's such a good athlete and has so much talent.

"I think the sky is the limit for that guy."

I wouldn't call it a hit just yet. The offense is definetly efficient in the passing game, but the running game definetly needs to be better. If we are going to get the most out of the WCO we need good runs on first down to set up second and 3 or 4. We can't depend pn the pass like the Eagles.

Wow, all that coming from a member of the cheese.. I'm highly impressed..

That's what a WCO is. Dependant on the pass.

"Del" wrote:

That's what a WCO is. Dependant on the pass.

Mr. Rio is correct. The West Coast offense replaces a lot of the runs with the short passes.

Need proof? Check out Roger Craig's career stats. He is the only back I know of to run for 1000 yards and have 1000 yards receiving in the same year - in the West Coast offense with Bill Walsh and Joe Montana.

"RandyMoss8404" wrote:

Mr. Rio is correct. The West Coast offense replaces a lot of the runs with the short passes.

Need proof? Check out Roger Craig's career stats. He is the only back I know of to run for 1000 yards and have 1000 yards receiving in the same year - in the West Coast offense with Bill Walsh and Joe Montana.

He's back!

Hey, what was your title?
I need to insert it (your title that is).
:P

Chester did pretty good running the ball. He had a good spin move to pick up some positive yardage. We looked good.....it was the Raiders tho

The offense looked good out there, they just have to work on the timing patterns. But it should be fun this year.

"ultravikingfan" wrote:

He's back!

Hey, what was your title?
I need to insert it (your title that is).
:P

I think it was "PP.O Mr. *ahem* right"

the running game i think just needs time to jel together. I wanted to see what MeMo could do with the starting line though. Hopefully sometime during this preseason he gets his chance