The Heimerdinger Offense
by Thunder Jones on Nov 13, 2008 7:52 AM CST
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Where does the Heimerdinger offense come from?
We've all seen the trees that link Bill Walsh to George Seifert to Mike Holmgren to Jon Gruden and what not, but I don't know where Heimerdinger's offense comes from? Is it a variation of Denver's or does it have roots in something like the Paul Brown regime? The two things we can say with certainty is that it has nothing to do with the West Coast offense and that it is working well.
If anyone can illuminate this for me, I'd appreciate it.
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he's shanahan's buddy
they were roommates in college, and heimerdinger broke into the league as a WR coach for the broncos. however, you can connect shanahan to both dan reeves and seifert. so i guess that makes heimerdinger loosely connected to the walsh tree.
i also know he did a ton of college positions like air force, florida, and duke, maybe more.
by hal41605 on Nov 13, 2008 12:49 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
I'd argue that Heimerdinger, through Fisher, is building on the *MIke Ditka/Buddy Ryan* Tree...
…which is way different philosophically from the Walsh/West Coast thing. But with Mike Singletary now coaching in San Francisco—and very obviously preaching a brand of smash-mouth football—that Ditka tree is starting to branch out. Plus, you’ve already seen Gregg Williams as a HC. Once Schwartz takes a head coaching job, that’ll be enough for a full-fledged school of thought, I think.
DannoE
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
Go Titans!
by DannoE on Nov 13, 2008 2:18 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
From an article in the Chicago Tribune:
“Off that roster, I would have figured Mike Singletary to be a head coach, which he is,” said Gary Fencik, a star on the 1985 championship Bears team. “Turns out, Leslie Frazier is a defensive coordinator with Minnesota. And thinking back, whenever you looked at the sidelines, there were two guys always next to Buddy Ryan, our defensive coordinator. Ron Rivera, who has that job now in San Diego, and Jeff.”
That, to me, is the beginnings of a coaching tree.
DannoE
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
Go Titans!
by DannoE on Nov 13, 2008 2:26 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Great job Danno
Way to research. You should write an article about the new Ditka/Ryan coaching tree. What defines it?
by theologic on Nov 13, 2008 2:39 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
I was just thinking about that.
The Defense—and the general primacy of Defense—are easy. The hard part is figuring out the Offense. In addition to looking at the Eagles’ Offense under Buddy Ryan, you’d want to look primarily at how the 49ers have changed since Singletary took over and what they’ll become next year, assuming he stays (a good bet, IMHO). That 49er’s piece is key because Mike Martz is a known offensive commodity, so any recent change is attributable solely to Singletary.
Anybody got any thoughts? Watched any 49ers games?
DannoE
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
Go Titans!
by DannoE on Nov 13, 2008 2:46 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Okay, so it turns out that Ditka was a disciple of Landry's.
From Bear’s History.Com. See if you can spot the similarities:
-Early Ditka and Hughes Era 1982-1985: Ditka was hired in 1982, and immediately brought in Ed Hughes as his coordinator. Hughes was a former NFL player, and worked with Ditka in Dallas in the early 1970’s. It was immediately obvious that Ditka and Hughes patterned their offense directly after Landry’s. Even Landry’s patented move, the offensive line standing in unison before they set pre-play, was brought to Chicago. But it looked comical early on in ‘82, when the line couldn’t even get their stances in synch. Chicago’s offense made a huge improvement in 1983, ranking 4th overall in the NFL (best in the modern era). By 1985, they finished second in the league in points scored while they won the Super Bowl. The early Ditka/Hughes offense was heavy on runs by both Walter Payton and Matt Suhey, often led by pulls and traps from a young, outstanding offensive line. This Bears offense led the NFL in rushing four years straight, from 1983-1986, but averaged 20th in passing. Ditka and Hughes’ offense implemented the (modern) shotgun formation for the very first time in Chicago.-
Most telling factoid:
-Booth or Sideline? Ed Hughes always prowled the sidelines with Ditka.-
DannoE
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
Go Titans!
by DannoE on Nov 13, 2008 3:03 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
Great question, but one that will require a bit of history to answer.
Heimerdinger’s Defense was not created like most schemes, it actually sprung fully formed from the head of Zeus 5617 years ago. On a Tuesday. Since there was no professional football at the time it sat around playing chess and drinking cheap whiskey for almost 56 centuries. One day 17 years ago ’Dinger was having drinks at a bar in New York City when he met his defensive philosophy. They were fast friends and have been inseperable ever since. Hope that helps.
by DZone on Nov 13, 2008 5:40 PM CST reply actions 0 recs
Dinger's Defense?
He’s the defensive offensive coordinator. I think somewhere we’ve all gotten confused.
If I hit a hole-in-one on this grand slam the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
by jasonkylebates on Nov 13, 2008 11:11 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs
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