Origin of a play caller: the Chiefs’ Andy Reid and the shotgun

Within the earlier installment of this collection, we coated Kansas Metropolis Chiefs head coach Andy Reid’s rise by the school and NFL teaching ranks, working with a few of the pioneers of the West Coast offense. When Reid grew to become head coach of the Philidelphia Eagles, he was as religious a disciple of that scheme as anybody.

However that lasted solely till he bumped into the 2004 New England Patriots in Tremendous Bowl XXXIX. They satisfied him that he wanted to maneuver his quarterback out from below middle. This started Reid’s evolution to grow to be the offensive mastermind he’s right this moment.

Eagles vs. Chiefs, Week 4 of 2005

This matchup exhibits how Reid’s adoption of the shotgun formation was a gradual and gradual course of. On this sport, Philadelphia ran 13 performs from shotgun. Whereas that was greater than double the quantity known as in Tremendous Bowl XXIX, it was nonetheless fewer than these run from below middle.

One factor that stands out on this sport is Reid’s dedication to throwing the ball. He dialed up 33 passing performs for 369 yards and three touchdowns — in comparison with simply 17 rushes for 28 yards.

Up by two scores with lower than seven minutes left within the sport, six out of seven performs that Reid known as have been passing performs. Philadelphia gained the matchup 37-19.

Eagles vs. New Orleans Saints, 2006 Divisional Spherical

That is one other good bullet level alongside Reid’s timeline. With star quarterback Donovan McNabb sidelined with a torn ACL, Reid handed the reins of the offense over to three-time Professional Bowler Jeff Garcia.

Garcia was a pure match for the Eagles, having spent 4 years taking part in for the San Francisco 49ers below head coach Steve Mariucci, who (like Reid) had been a Inexperienced Bay Packers assistant coach below Mike Holmgren.

On this sport, the Eagles got here out quick, working nearly all of their first-half offense out of the shotgun. At halftime, they held a slender 14-13 lead. Then Reid inexplicably deserted what had been working within the first half, having Garcia virtually solely run performs below middle for the remainder of the sport.

The Saints rattled off 14 third-quarter factors on the best way to an in depth 27-24 win.

Eagles vs. Chiefs, Week 3 of 2009

This sport demonstrates Reid’s willingness to embrace a wild new future catering to the strengths (and pure talents) of his gamers. With McNabb as soon as once more sidelined with an harm, Reid put the ball within the fingers of the inexperienced quarterback Kevin Kolb, who was making simply his second profession begin. This sport additionally included quarterback Michael Vick’s first in-game motion with the Eagles.

Philadelphia ran 37 of its 51 performs out of shotgun. Early on this sport, Reid leaned closely on the Wildcat formation, giving snaps to each Vick and rookie working again LeSean McCoy. Throughout the broadcast, announcer Kevin Harlan referenced a dialog with Reid by which the pinnacle coach stated he had modified in philosophy, deciding to make the most of a few of his playmakers in numerous methods.

However whereas the personnel and formations have been completely different, the passing ideas have been the identical. The Eagles nonetheless targeted their passing assault on quick to intermediate routes throughout the center of the sphere.

Going again to Reid’s roots yields fruit

By the point Patrick Mahomes grew to become the Chiefs’ beginning quarterback in 2018, Reid had absolutely embraced the shotgun formation — after which threw the complete weight of his offensive thoughts into taking part in to the strengths of his younger gunslinger. That season, Kansas Metropolis ran 80% of its performs out of shotgun — and of these, simply 29% have been working performs.

They are saying every part outdated turns into new once more — and whereas Reid will get quite a lot of credit score for being an offensive innovator, quite a lot of what he’s doing now really predates his West Coast roots. It goes again to his days as a graduate assistant for legendary Bringham Younger College head coach LaVell Edwards, who was the creator of the Unfold/Air Raid offense — the identical scheme that Mike Leach discovered there. Later, Leach handed it on to quarterback Kliff Kingsbury, who would at some point be Mahomes’ head coach at Texas Tech.

Mixing these Air Raid ideas into the West Coast offense by which he initially believed, Reid was capable of ease his quarterback’s transition to the NFL, serving to him turn into the famous person he has grow to be.

In 2022, the Chiefs ran 79.3% of their performs from shotgun — and whereas doing so, led the league with a DVOA of 25.4%, surpassing the Buffalo Payments’ determine of 24.3%. However what’s attention-grabbing is that whereas below middle, Kansas Metropolis’s DVOA of 24.6% additionally led the league. The Baltimore Ravens have been second at 20.1%.

So whereas the Chiefs are a shotgun-first group, they’re nonetheless higher from below middle than some other NFL squad.

In some methods, Reid has traveled removed from his West Coast roots. Despite the fact that Kansas Metropolis had the league’s second-highest goal distribution to tight ends final season, Reid isn’t working the center of the sphere almost as a lot as he as soon as did. In 2022, simply 19% of Mahomes’ targets have been to the center.

However on the identical time, Mahomes’ common depth of goal (7.2 yards) was the bottom of his profession. Nonetheless, he linked on 67.1% of his move makes an attempt. That was a career-high.

So Reid’s Chiefs offense doesn’t match into any of our pre-defined schemes. It’s a brief to intermediate, pass-first offense that’s run out of the shotgun. It leverages gamers’ strengths, specializing in spreading out the protection and discovering open grass on the boundaries. It’s Reid’s West Coast Gun offense.

However even this doesn’t outline it, as a result of Reid and his group proceed to evolve. In any case, Kansas Metropolis simply gained Tremendous Bowl LVII by calling 17 working performs within the second half.