TheLionKing wrote:Finally the Lions got a coach that is well versed in the "x" and "o"'s
We really haven't had a Head Coach who is well versed in x and o's for a long time and especially well versed in them on both sides of the football. Buono had some defensive x and o's experience but it was basic stuff...four man rush, drop the linebackers off, five player defensive backfield playing straight up zone, an occasional single linebacker blitz..that was Wally as a DC. Wally did run the short yardage offensive unit for years and years here in B.C. and it was terrible and when it was a disaster, Wally was very quiet and let Chap wear it.
Benevedes was a very basic defensive coordinator as well, with one exception. In 2011, he began the season trying to use a 3-4 defense, without the personell to do so. He moved Aarron Hunt to defensive end. The result was a disaster and played a role in our horrible start to the season in 2011, a pattern that had been with us before. Benevedes changed the defense back to a 4-3 and managed to convince Buono to let him have an extra defensive lineman to rotate in and towrds the end of the season convinced Buono to let him use a 6 man defensive line rotation. Benevedes was at least smart enough to realize taht if Buono wanted a vanilla four man rush and basic zone defensive scheme, he needed to have fresh defensive lineman to rush the passer as well as play the run.
But Benevedes, as a Head Coach, was not an x and o's guy in terms of offensive football and the best he could do was berate Khari Jones on the sidelines. I've always found it interesting that Stubler was made the scapegoat by Wally for the 2013 Semi-Final loss to the Riders, when minus Eliminian, Durrant took off for those 4th quarter runs and yet we had a Head Coach, who was a former Leos defensive coordinator and he got off scot free by Buono.
Tedford is known as an offensive innovator and quarterback developer. He is well versed in the x and o's of offensive football in both the spread offence, which he helped create with Hufnagel in Calgary and which he utilized as an OC in Oregon and also in California and he is also well versed in the x and o's of the pro offence, which he also used at California and was going to utilize in Tampa Bay.
I sense that the media see Tedford as more of a pass oriented coach but he has always viewed the running game as the key to his offences, no different than Chip Kelly is often seen as a pass oriented coach but in reality he also emphasizes the running game.
But Tedford also knows the x and o's of defense. Because he called the offensive plays during games for a number of season in California (and when Cortez was his OC in California Tedford called the plays during games) and because of his past as a quarterback and OC, there is a tendency to view Tedford from the perspective that he is only an 'offensive football mind' but Tedford was also involved in defensive x and o's in California and knowledgeable with both the 4-3 and 3-4 defence, which is a plus, since four man and 3 man fronts are both utilized in a CFL game.
I wonder if Tedford will call the plays next season. He eventually stopped doing that in California, with weaker results. I don't see Telford just hiring a DC and letting him create the defence nor the offence.
Tedford's offensive playbook was about 250 pages, 100 plays...its was a volume offence, sophistocated, and very clearly laid out. The volume and sophistication will be something Lulay will be able to deal with, because Chap's offence was about the same volume and sophistication. We learned this season that offensive simplicity isn't always better.