Tedford and Cortez's Joint Offensive Philosophy at Cal

[CardiacKid]

Tedford's first year as HC at Cal included Cortez as his OC. That was 2002. Cortez remained his OC until 2005, after which there were a number of different OCs until the end of Tedford's reign as Golden Bear HC.

What I am curious about is how would the offensive philosophy or style of the Golden Bears during their coaching partnership be summed up or described. I don't follow US College ball so I am completely ignorant of what offensive philosophies have come and gone, in particular what was implemented at Cal.

I am hoping someone on the board is/was a fan of the Golden Bears during Tedford's and Cortez's time together and perhaps describe the system in place.

I guess I am hoping to get a sense how they may have worked together then, if the Offensive system or style of play they ran then, matched what was promised us before this season began?

Was it their honeymoon period but now they sleep in metaphorically separate beds?

[TheLionKing]

Good question

http://www.footballxos.com/download/off ... edford.pdf

[Toppy Vann]

Lest we forget the history of JT as a winner as well as how George has done at Cal.

Iain MacIntyre of The Sun:

His first offensive coordinator was Cortez. Together, they turned a Golden Bears team that was 1-10 in 2001 into a perennial winner that cracked the top-10 college rankings.

“It was a great time,” Cortez recalled. “We had a lot of fun. When we first went there, the team had only won one game. We won seven games the next year and we went to Michigan State and won and beat Stanford for the first time in six or seven years. It was an exciting time.”

And yet, after an 8-4 season in 2005, Tedford replaced Cortez with offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar.

“It was nothing he was doing wrong, by any means,” Tedford explained Thursday. “George was doing a great job. But I was leaning towards going to more of a spread offence and I had a chance to get someone who was really on the cutting edge of the spread offence and wanted to come. I wanted a different approach.

“When you look back, it was a lot of work to change the culture, change the mindset (at Cal). And George was a big part of the foundation we created there. You won’t find a guy who works harder or is more committed to his team. I love George. George is a great friend and a great coach. I can really trust and rely on George.”

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Iain ... z3lnc3CrQ6

Like Tedford, Cortez is regarded as a football innovator offensively. Their great Cal quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, said last week that the school defeated teams on Saturday but really won Sunday through Friday because Tedford and Cortez were so detail-driven that players knew they were better prepared than opponents.

I notice that George Cortez has a lot of Rider interviews on you tube. I think the Lions should let this guy speak to the media. This is about Sunseri and how he approaches working with QBs including going over the plays the QB wants. Interesting.

[MexicoLionFan]

I watched a number of Cal games during the Tedford era, and I never saw them play a traditional spread offence, even after Dunbar arrived...that was a cleverly worded explanation by Tedford to explain why he fired George Cortez without giving a single shred of truth. I don't admire coaches who do that, they should always state the truth (with respect) because lying becomes a habit.

At Cal, JT ran his offence out of a pro -style formation 90+% of the time. They kept a lot of guys "in" and near the LOS to attack specific areas of the defence. His greatest success came from running misdirection and play action out of these "loaded" backfields. It was very hard to see where the ball was, even just watching on the TV. What Cal did that was so effective was that you never really knew what they were going to run on any given down. They would load the backfield on 2nd and 3, fake an inside handoff and have the QB bootleg to the short side of the field with 2 easy targets downfield. Easy throws/reads for their QBs and they kept defences of balance.

I HAVE NOT witnessed ANY OF THIS since Tedford took over here! Those first few game plans for Travis Lulay (who hadn't played in a long time) were the closest thing to misdirection and mixing things up...and Lulay had great success, I believe he was leading the league in QB stats. Then Cortez simply went into his Spread Offence routine and the Lions offence has done nothing since...and that's simply FACT.

So yet again I ask, what gives???

[InUrFace]

I watched a number of Cal games during the Tedford era, and I never saw them play a traditional spread offence, even after Dunbar arrived...that was a cleverly worded explanation by Tedford to explain why he fired George Cortez without giving a single shred of truth. I don't admire coaches who do that, they should always state the truth (with respect) because lying becomes a habit.

At Cal, JT ran his offence out of a pro -style formation 90+% of the time. They kept a lot of guys "in" and near the LOS to attack specific areas of the defence. His greatest success came from running misdirection and play action out of these "loaded" backfields. It was very hard to see where the ball was, even just watching on the TV. What Cal did that was so effective was that you never really knew what they were going to run on any given down. They would load the backfield on 2nd and 3, fake an inside handoff and have the QB bootleg to the short side of the field with 2 easy targets downfield. Easy throws/reads for their QBs and they kept defences of balance.

I HAVE NOT witnessed ANY OF THIS since Tedford took over here! Those first few game plans for Travis Lulay (who hadn't played in a long time) were the closest thing to misdirection and mixing things up...and Lulay had great success, I believe he was leading the league in QB stats. Then Cortez simply went into his Spread Offence routine and the Lions offence has done nothing since...and that's simply FACT.

So yet again I ask, what gives???

At the beginning of the season Jeff was asked by media would he contribute to OC schemes and play book ..He said and quote ... I will let Cortez run the offense the way he would like. I have confidence he can do that. JT did how ever bring in the idea Hback TE but Cortez didnt use it. Why ..simple JT be getting the credit for it. Cortez wants control just like Wally and to me its not surprising since they use to coach together.

[MexicoLionFan]

I watched a number of Cal games during the Tedford era, and I never saw them play a traditional spread offence, even after Dunbar arrived...that was a cleverly worded explanation by Tedford to explain why he fired George Cortez without giving a single shred of truth. I don't admire coaches who do that, they should always state the truth (with respect) because lying becomes a habit.

At Cal, JT ran his offence out of a pro -style formation 90+% of the time. They kept a lot of guys "in" and near the LOS to attack specific areas of the defence. His greatest success came from running misdirection and play action out of these "loaded" backfields. It was very hard to see where the ball was, even just watching on the TV. What Cal did that was so effective was that you never really knew what they were going to run on any given down. They would load the backfield on 2nd and 3, fake an inside handoff and have the QB bootleg to the short side of the field with 2 easy targets downfield. Easy throws/reads for their QBs and they kept defences of balance.

I HAVE NOT witnessed ANY OF THIS since Tedford took over here! Those first few game plans for Travis Lulay (who hadn't played in a long time) were the closest thing to misdirection and mixing things up...and Lulay had great success, I believe he was leading the league in QB stats. Then Cortez simply went into his Spread Offence routine and the Lions offence has done nothing since...and that's simply FACT.

So yet again I ask, what gives???

At the beginning of the season Jeff was asked by media would he contribute to OC schemes and play book ..He said and quote ... I will let Cortez run the offense the way he would like. I have confidence he can do that. JT did how ever bring in the idea Hback TE but Cortez didnt use it. Why ..simple JT be getting the credit for it. Cortez wants control just like Wally and to me its not surprising since they use to coach together.

I don't know about that dynamic, but what I can assure everyone of is this, what Tedford said in the article above simply wasn't true. Cal did NOT become a spread offence team under Dunbar, thus Cortez was fired for other reasons. Plus, the epitome of the Cal Bear's offence under JT was a loaded backfield, misdirection, and keeping defences uncertain of what was coming. Have any of you witnessed any of this under JT here???

[WestCoastJoe]

I watched a number of Cal games during the Tedford era, and I never saw them play a traditional spread offence, even after Dunbar arrived...that was a cleverly worded explanation by Tedford to explain why he fired George Cortez without giving a single shred of truth. I don't admire coaches who do that, they should always state the truth (with respect) because lying becomes a habit.

At Cal, JT ran his offence out of a pro -style formation 90+% of the time. They kept a lot of guys "in" and near the LOS to attack specific areas of the defence. His greatest success came from running misdirection and play action out of these "loaded" backfields. It was very hard to see where the ball was, even just watching on the TV. What Cal did that was so effective was that you never really knew what they were going to run on any given down. They would load the backfield on 2nd and 3, fake an inside handoff and have the QB bootleg to the short side of the field with 2 easy targets downfield. Easy throws/reads for their QBs and they kept defences of balance.

I HAVE NOT witnessed ANY OF THIS since Tedford took over here! Those first few game plans for Travis Lulay (who hadn't played in a long time) were the closest thing to misdirection and mixing things up...and Lulay had great success, I believe he was leading the league in QB stats. Then Cortez simply went into his Spread Offence routine and the Lions offence has done nothing since...and that's simply FACT.

So yet again I ask, what gives???

I don't know about that dynamic, but what I can assure everyone of is this, what Tedford said in the article above simply wasn't true. Cal did NOT become a spread offence team under Dunbar, thus Cortez was fired for other reasons. Plus, the epitome of the Cal Bear's offence under JT was a loaded backfield, misdirection, and keeping defences uncertain of what was coming. Have any of you witnessed any of this under JT here???

Great stuff, MLF.

I feel so much sympathy for Andrew Harris. He reminds me of Walter Payton. An unbreakable Tonka Toy. But even these great ones have limits. Andrew gets ferociously gang tackled every touch of the ball. Totally keyed on. No deception. Here comes Andrew up the middle.

And as I have noted a number of times, because of our ratio lack of depth, we cannot carry a mixture of International running backs to aid our running game. There is just Andrew. I love Rolly Lumbala, but he is no threat to carry the ball. Even as a receiver, he is more like a trick pass to the O Lineman. So Rolly gives the defence a free defender to move around. We present no problems for a defence to figure out with our running game. One back, large as life. Get him. At least Tedford talked about using Rainey more. Rainey is a scatback. 5'8'' 190. Scatbacks make a nice component of a mix of running backs. But one doubts if he can batter a defence. Andrew, plus another his size, plus Rainey in various running plays, in different combinations, with deception, that would make a defence read and react instead of just teeing off with overloads.

At times, Wally has shown a strong preference for a vigorous running game. Not lately.

Interesting about Tedford. Hard to figure why he is keeping himself under wraps. Taking kind of baby steps due to his health? Going along with what Wally prefers? He sure as heck is not doing what his record indicates he has preferred in the past, and what he spoke of here.

Don't blame Wally, though. He is just the GM. He does not overuse his influence. Nope. The HC, the OC and DC do things independently. Wally is just the grandfatherly fellow they see around the office once in a while.

Guaranteed to fail.

Someone in that organization needs to say: Open it up. Open up the offence. Open up the defence. Play attacking football. We heard it from Tedford. We heard it from Washington. Where the heck is it?

Wally speaks for the team. I would like to hear his views on attacking football. How he sees it. It might be kind of like how he showed the media how our standalone front four gets good pressure on the quarterback. 4 guys rushing against 5 or 6 (or more) blockers. I guess he might present a case of how we do play attacking football. Not in the view of this fan. We play it ultra conservatively on both offence and defence. Execution. No need for cheap trickery. That is the mantra. Line 'em up. Here we come. We are going to be right here on defence and we are going to stop you. We are going to be right here on offence and we will mow you down. Very old style.

Do we even know what kind of defence Mark W really prefers? It sure as heck looks like he runs what Wally wants. Do we know why George Cortez runs the bare bones, simplified spread offence?

As Vince Lombardi said: "What the He** is going on out (around) here?"

Dysfunction is like smoke. Where there is smoke there is fire. And our team shows great dysfunction throughout the organization. Any of that stick to Wally?

Vendetta against Wally? No. Love what he brought to our team. Was very pumped when Bobby Ackles pried him out of Calgary (Fateri was doing a little give and take, change of mind, over whether to let Wally go for free). That time seems to be in the past. In the rear view mirror.

[WestCoastJoe]

Lombardi ...

[TheLionKing]

And as I have noted a number of times, because of our ratio lack of depth, we cannot carry a mixture of International running backs to aid our running game. There is just Andrew. I love Rolly Lumbala, but he is no threat to carry the ball. Even as a receiver, he is more like a trick pass to the O Lineman. So Rolly gives the defence a free defender to move around. We present no problems for a defence to figure out with our running game. One back, large as life. Get him. At least Tedford talked about using Rainey more. Rainey is a scatback. 5'8'' 190. Scatbacks make a nice component of a mix of running backs. But one doubts if he can batter a defence. Andrew, plus another his size, plus Rainey in various running plays, in different combinations, with deception, that would make a defence read and react instead of just teeing off with overloads.

How I long for the days of John Henry White and Larry Key/ Sean Millington and Robert Drummond

[johnnycanuck]

Not sure I buy that this is a ratio issue. Murray-Lawrence is a scatback option who hasn't been used at all to spell Harris. His tape from UNLV is pretty impressive. The only times they use him is as a situational sub and everyone knows he's getting the ball on a bubble screen or a jet sweep. Easy to defend. They should try him as a change of pace to Harris as a TB and let's see what he's got.

[MexicoLionFan]

And as I have noted a number of times, because of our ratio lack of depth, we cannot carry a mixture of International running backs to aid our running game. There is just Andrew. I love Rolly Lumbala, but he is no threat to carry the ball. Even as a receiver, he is more like a trick pass to the O Lineman. So Rolly gives the defence a free defender to move around. We present no problems for a defence to figure out with our running game. One back, large as life. Get him. At least Tedford talked about using Rainey more. Rainey is a scatback. 5'8'' 190. Scatbacks make a nice component of a mix of running backs. But one doubts if he can batter a defence. Andrew, plus another his size, plus Rainey in various running plays, in different combinations, with deception, that would make a defence read and react instead of just teeing off with overloads.

How I long for the days of John Henry White and Larry Key/ Sean Millington and Robert Drummond

Amen.

[MexicoLionFan]

I watched a number of Cal games during the Tedford era, and I never saw them play a traditional spread offence, even after Dunbar arrived...that was a cleverly worded explanation by Tedford to explain why he fired George Cortez without giving a single shred of truth. I don't admire coaches who do that, they should always state the truth (with respect) because lying becomes a habit.

At Cal, JT ran his offence out of a pro -style formation 90+% of the time. They kept a lot of guys "in" and near the LOS to attack specific areas of the defence. His greatest success came from running misdirection and play action out of these "loaded" backfields. It was very hard to see where the ball was, even just watching on the TV. What Cal did that was so effective was that you never really knew what they were going to run on any given down. They would load the backfield on 2nd and 3, fake an inside handoff and have the QB bootleg to the short side of the field with 2 easy targets downfield. Easy throws/reads for their QBs and they kept defences of balance.

I HAVE NOT witnessed ANY OF THIS since Tedford took over here! Those first few game plans for Travis Lulay (who hadn't played in a long time) were the closest thing to misdirection and mixing things up...and Lulay had great success, I believe he was leading the league in QB stats. Then Cortez simply went into his Spread Offence routine and the Lions offence has done nothing since...and that's simply FACT.

So yet again I ask, what gives???

I don't know about that dynamic, but what I can assure everyone of is this, what Tedford said in the article above simply wasn't true. Cal did NOT become a spread offence team under Dunbar, thus Cortez was fired for other reasons. Plus, the epitome of the Cal Bear's offence under JT was a loaded backfield, misdirection, and keeping defences uncertain of what was coming. Have any of you witnessed any of this under JT here???

Great stuff, MLF.

I feel so much sympathy for Andrew Harris. He reminds me of Walter Payton. An unbreakable Tonka Toy. But even these great ones have limits. Andrew gets ferociously gang tackled every touch of the ball. Totally keyed on. No deception. Here comes Andrew up the middle.

And as I have noted a number of times, because of our ratio lack of depth, we cannot carry a mixture of International running backs to aid our running game. There is just Andrew. I love Rolly Lumbala, but he is no threat to carry the ball. Even as a receiver, he is more like a trick pass to the O Lineman. So Rolly gives the defence a free defender to move around. We present no problems for a defence to figure out with our running game. One back, large as life. Get him. At least Tedford talked about using Rainey more. Rainey is a scatback. 5'8'' 190. Scatbacks make a nice component of a mix of running backs. But one doubts if he can batter a defence. Andrew, plus another his size, plus Rainey in various running plays, in different combinations, with deception, that would make a defence read and react instead of just teeing off with overloads.

At times, Wally has shown a strong preference for a vigorous running game. Not lately.

Interesting about Tedford. Hard to figure why he is keeping himself under wraps. Taking kind of baby steps due to his health? Going along with what Wally prefers? He sure as heck is not doing what his record indicates he has preferred in the past, and what he spoke of here.

Don't blame Wally, though. He is just the GM. He does not overuse his influence. Nope. The HC, the OC and DC do things independently. Wally is just the grandfatherly fellow they see around the office once in a while.

Guaranteed to fail.

Someone in that organization needs to say: Open it up. Open up the offence. Open up the defence. Play attacking football. We heard it from Tedford. We heard it from Washington. Where the heck is it?

Wally speaks for the team. I would like to hear his views on attacking football. How he sees it. It might be kind of like how he showed the media how our standalone front four gets good pressure on the quarterback. 4 guys rushing against 5 or 6 (or more) blockers. I guess he might present a case of how we do play attacking football. Not in the view of this fan. We play it ultra conservatively on both offence and defence. Execution. No need for cheap trickery. That is the mantra. Line 'em up. Here we come. We are going to be right here on defence and we are going to stop you. We are going to be right here on offence and we will mow you down. Very old style.

Do we even know what kind of defence Mark W really prefers? It sure as heck looks like he runs what Wally wants. Do we know why George Cortez runs the bare bones, simplified spread offence?

As Vince Lombardi said: "What the He** is going on out (around) here?"

Dysfunction is like smoke. Where there is smoke there is fire. And our team shows great dysfunction throughout the organization. Any of that stick to Wally?

Vendetta against Wally? No. Love what he brought to our team. Was very pumped when Bobby Ackles pried him out of Calgary (Fateri was doing a little give and take, change of mind, over whether to let Wally go for free). That time seems to be in the past. In the rear view mirror.

Excellent info Joe. Wally has been one of the CFL's legends, and helped turned the Lions into the textbook CFL franchise. But Wally has always succeeded (both in CGY and BC) with superior talent, not superior coaching. His record in big games, even at home, isn't great. When Obie left, so did our distinct talent advantage, and ever since 2008 we have been on a slow decline which has led us to this mess. Without a healthy Travis Lulay, this group isn't a .500 team, and we might be a lot worse than just mediocre. We are heading into a stretch of games that are going to be hard to win, and if this team loses say 3 or 4 in a row, I can see them quitting on a coaching staff that can't possibly hold their attention or loyalty. As I said a month ago, this thing could get A LOT WORSE, and the home crowd against OTT is cause for concern.

[InUrFace]

I was listening to 1040 and they asked what would make you come back to BC Place. I had to call in and I stated the product on the field is predictable and that starts with Wally ...skulsky cant bring a young fan base in cuz he doesnt know how. The entertainment value isnt there ... Guess what the commented back on all other callers but mine. like what the hell.
The truth hurts thats why!!!

[DanoT]

I was listening to 1040 and they asked what would make you come back to BC Place. I had to call in and I stated the product on the field is predictable and that starts with Wally ...skulsky cant bring a young fan base in cuz he doesnt know how. The entertainment value isnt there ... Guess what the commented back on all other callers but mine. like what the hell.
The truth hurts thats why!!!

You were likely too much InTheirFace.

[Toppy Vann]

I actually feel empathy and some sympathy towards these coaches and players and the GM and entire BC organization. Way past the frustration and into the phase that if their players and coaches don't give a rat's arse about the EFFORT, QUITTING ON PLAYS and TEAM PRIDE, then why should I.

There's some great football to like in the CFL and I'll focus on those games for the adrenalin rush you get from talented teams and coaching.

The Lions decided to stick with Travis and he's hurt - with no clear sighting of a saviour at QB coming. They were right on his shoulder but the Hebert take down was both illegal in his grab - it was a vicious pay back tackle from a team that was trashed in the media and on twitter repeatedly.

Tor. decided to keep Ricky Ray and he too got hurt and it hurts a team badly.

They lost Sol E. Who'd have guessed that - unlike maybe speculating that Travis could hurt his shoulder.

They decided they could go with a lot of new guys and dumped vets that were good leaders and replacements who might work out such as Rainey haven't excelled as quick as you need to win in this league.

They knew what kind of OC they were getting and he's stuck it seems. Same with STs and the DEF.

They aren't good enough - lack talent - lack cohesion - and coaches are failing almost as bad as they are. MW has done some things but he's no CJones, RStubler, NThorpe or OStein____r. If the insiders ranked DCs in a secret vote, he'd be at the btm I suspect.

But I liked Wally's message to 1040 as to what you have to do. Refocus and gets players and coaches ready for McMahon and get them all to improve and have confidence.