Andy Reid, Norv Turner and Mike Shanahan Bring 3 Plays to New Heights

In the NFL, there are certain coaches that can take an ordinary play and run it better than any other team. Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid, San Diego Chargers head coach Norv Turner and Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan come to mind. Reid's screen passes, Turner's halfback lead draw, and Shanahan's halfback stretch have been devastating opposing defenses for over a decade.

It's simple really. The beauty in all three of these plays is in their simplicity. The plays are in every team's playbook, but for some reason these three offensive masterminds have perfected them.

From Brian Westbrook to Duce Staley to LeSean McCoy, Eagles running backs and wide receivers have been taking advantage of the screen. Reid is successful because he will utilize his bread and butter from any formation. Singleback with two tight ends, I-formation, split backs, shotgun bunch or five-wide receiver sets, it doesn't matter. There is at least one screen play available when the Eagles break the huddle. Couple Reid's dominant screen call with the West Coast offense of slants and short, high percentage throws, it's not surprising when quarterback Michael Vick and wideout DeSean Jackson hook up on a 40-plus-yard pass play.

When the Dallas Cowboys drafted running back Emmitt Smith out of the University of Florida with their first-round pick in 1990, they didn't know he would become the league's leading rusher of all time. They did know that they had a versatile back. He could punish defenses with his power between the tackles or blow by linebackers and safeties with his speed. Turner, the Cowboys' Offensive Coordinator at the time, used his ball carrier most effectively when he called the halfback lead draw. The offensive line sets up to pass block and pushes the defensive linemen to the outside. The quarterback drops back as if to pass before making a delayed hand-off to the back who runs up the middle. The halfback, Smith in the '90's, and more recently LaDainian Tomlinson and Mike Tolbert, have used this play to pound the rock up the middle for big gains.

Another benefit of the draw is to slow down the pass rush of the opponent. Similar to the screen, the lead draw welcomes the blitz. With a screen, a quarterback lets the defenders close in on him before dumping it off to a back or wide receiver who has offensive lineman (usually guards) pulling and blocking for him. The draw does just that. It draws the defense in with the linemen and quarterback showing pass, then, bam! The halfback is running for daylight.

Terrell Davis is Shanahan's most famous running back. Davis, quarterback John Elway, tight end Shannon Sharpe and left guard Mark Schlereth led the 1997-'98 Denver Broncos teams to back-to-back Lombardi Trophies. Shanahan is an offensive coach, and the staple of his offense is the halfback stretch play. His scheme seems to take even ordinary backs, and guide them to 1,000 yards rushing. Shanahan's stable of players who have rushed for 1,000 yards or more is: Davis, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Clinton Portis, Reuben Droughns, and Tatum Bell. Let's just say outside of Davis and maybe Portis, it's not a Hall-of-Fame list. Redskins running back Tim Hightower is the most recent athlete to experience success with the stretch play. Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak was the Broncos' Offensive Coordinator under Shanahan in the late '90's and early 2000's. With the breakout year running back Arian Foster had last season, it could be in part due to Kubiak using what Shanahan taught him in Denver.  

When a stretch play is called, the offensive linemen will slide together to the run side, the quarterback will take the snap and roll to the run side and stretch his arms out to give the back the hand-off, and the halfback will have an inside and outside hole to hit. The main reason the stretch play works so well is the ability to run play-action off of it. For example, an offense that likes to run the stretch to the right can use play-action to the left. To the defense, a bootleg begins the same way as the stretch. The linebackers look for their keys, read run and sprint to the running back to make the tackle. This is exactly what the offense wants to happen. The linebackers bite hard on the play-fake allowing the quarterback to roll in the opposite direction and hit an open target for a huge gain. Defenses are so focused on stopping the run because a solid ground attack leads to play-action passes and headaches for the defense.

Shanahan and Turner have 2 Super Bowl rings, and Reid has been to one Super Bowl and five NFC Championship games. A great deal of their success can be credited to the execution of the halfback stretch, the halfback lead draw and the screen pass.