From: daveshao@leland.stanford.edu (David Shao)
Subject: Is the run-and-shoot finished?
Originator: daveshao@leland.Stanford.EDU
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Distribution: world 
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 05:58:21 GMT

In article <1i8epcINN6ek@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> krishna@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Krishna R Akkina) writes:
>I'll give the Bills some credit for pulling the miracle of the century.  
>Congrats.  But if you think about it, I don't think it was all the Oilers
>fault.  It was the will of the gods to make them lose.  Think about it.  
>How is it possible that a team like the Oilers (with one of the best defenses 
>in the AFC) screw a game like this.  A 35-3 lead!!!  I still can't believe
>how it happened.  

Though this game was a rather extreme case, the key to the Bills victory
was what detractors of the run-and-shoot have been saying all along--
without a tight end, a team cannot have a running game to grind out
the clock while protecting a lead.  It is a fundamental, and probably
fatal, flaw of the run-and-shoot.

Contrast the Bills-Houston game with the Vikings-Redskins game.  When
the Redskins needed to, they simply ran the ball right at the Vikings
in the fourth quarter taking ten minutes off the clock.  

I remember that two years ago in Sports Illustrated, David Klingler
claimed that his Houston Cougar run-and-shoot could not be stopped if
the offense was executing it properly.  It has now been demonstrated
that human beings are not capable of perfectly executing a run-and-shoot
for a full 60 minutes against a talented defense.  The forward pass is
by nature a more risky play, and by the laws an incompletion does not
run as much time off the clock as a running play up the middle.

There is a continuum of offenses ranging from those built around the
pass like the run-and-shoot and those built around the run like the
wishbone.  In the NFL it has been demonstrated that championship
teams have to be able to both come up with the key completion AND
run out the clock.  Take away the ability to make the key completion
and one has either the Chiefs or the Saints.  Take away the ability to
run out the clock and one has the Oilers or the 1990 49ers.  

In particular, it seems unwise to build a team's offense around a
philosophy that lies at either extreme.  The run-and-shoot is such
an extreme, and worse, it seems to me that it was too hastily adopted.
The University of Houston Cougars had some small, and I mean SMALL
success with it in the college ranks, but don't people recall how
Texas A&M always succeeded in shutting it down?  It's OK for a 
struggling college football team to adopt an untested offense, but
surely the Houston Oilers, a team whose talent was among the best
in the league, would have done better pursuing a more traditional
strategy.  

The Oilers had a coach, Jerry Glanville, who seemed out of control
and whose teams reflected his personality.  It was clear that he
would never be able to take them over the top to a championship.
But why risk all by adopting the run-and-shoot?  Why did management
have to cave in to a fad and use an offense just because some other
Houston football teams had used it?  

The Oilers have gambled, and it appears that they have lost that 
gamble.  The run-and-shoot was a quick fix.  The quick fix
has failed.  The Oilers seem incapable now of winning a big game
in the cold wet weather of an outdoor stadium, a problem which
tends to especially plague teams which play in a domed stadium.
They also do not have the consistency to win enough games at home
to earn home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Oilers
losing to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Green Bay at home this year.

The Oilers losses are merely the result of their breaking fundamental
laws on how to build a championship team.  Hopefully, the Oilers loss
to the Bills today will spell the end of the run-and-shoot in the NFL.
 







From: garyr@hpspdla.spd.HP.COM (Gary Rosen)
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 21:27:35 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: Greatest Moment (was: BILLS BILLS BILLS BILLS!!! YEEEEEEEAAAAAA!!!!!)
Organization: HP Stanford Park - Palo Alto, CA