Reid And Mornhinweg Have Been Working On This Game Plan For Months

The Eagles offensive brain trust of Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg have already put together the game plan and given it to the quarterbacks, Michael Vick, Nick Foles, and Trent Edwards.  Preparation is the strength of a Reid-coached team.

Vick has been working on this game plan against the Eagles scout team since June and July during the OTA’s.  He has an idea of what the first 15 plays are going to be and which receivers are going to be open on each play.

Reid and Mornhinweg are able to draw on all the plays run by offensive geniuses Bill Walsh and Mike Holmgren down through the years, plus they’ve expanded those plays with different personnel groupings, such as three wide receivers, four wide receivers, two tight ends and etc..

The Eagles head coach was taking notes throughout his time as an assistant coach under Holmgren.  He was writing down every trick of the trade.  Mornhinweg was doing the same during his time with the Niners, so they have a lot to draw from to put together a game plan.

Current ESPN NFL broadcaster Jon Gruden and Reid were roommates for awhile during their time coaching together under Holmgren with the Packers.  You could hear Gruden calling out those old west coast offense plays when he was broadcasting the Eagles when they were on ESPN earlier this preseason.

The Eagles system isn’t as purely west coast any more because they’ve put in a lot of downfield throws to take advantage of speedy receivers like DeSean Jackson.  They’ve borrowed things from the Sid Gilman, Don Coryell and Ernie Zampese offensive systems.  Gilman, Coryell and Zampese majored in deep throws.

Like professors in economics, philosophy, business or history, Walsh and Gilman developed certain schools of thought regarding the passing offense.  Walsh developed the short to intermediate passing game which emphasized both the use of  horizontal and vertical spacing.  Gilman developed the deep passing game which emphasized vertical spacing.

Joe Montana, Steve Young and Brett Favre operated the Walsh system.  Dan Fouts, Troy Aikman and Kurt Warner operated the Gilman system.  Nowadays all the offensive coordinators borrow from each other.

The Eagles system is a good one because they do both and can tailor their offense to fit their talent.  The Eagles coaching duo can put in plays for a strong-armed quarterback or a signal caller with a more accurate than strong arm.  They have both pocket passes and roll out passes.

They have game plans which can feature any of the wide receivers, tight ends or running backs depending on where they feel they get their best matchups against a particular defense.

Reid and Mornhinweg do a good of giving the quarterback a very good idea of which one of his receivers are going to be open.  Most of the time they’re right, which puts the quarterback in a great position to succeed.  Most of the time, their game plans are right on the money.

This game plan for the Browns should be rather thorough, since they’ve been working on it for quite awhile. Throughout the OTA’s and training camp, the Birds were working on their game plan for the Browns.

Reid and Mornhinweg, who have notes on Walsh and Holmgren plays from previous decades can and do put in 100’s of plays for a game.  Again, preparation is the strength of Reid’s coaching system.  During those off season workouts, the Eagles work on game plans for their first opponent of the season and the three NFC East opponents.

It makes sense.  The Birds will be playing the Giants twice, the Cowboys twice and the Redskins twice, so it’s most important that they’re prepared for those games.  If you dominate your division, you have a great chance of going to the playoffs.

The Birds have superior offensive talent to the Cleveland defense they will be facing, so they should be able to get things going relatively quickly.  Only Browns cornerback Joe Haden matches up well with their wide receivers.  The other corners will get toasted and they know it.

I gave you all those superlatives about how good Reid and Mornhinweg are when they’re game planning for an upcoming defense, but they’re not nearly as good when an opposing defensive coordinator does something which they weren’t expecting.  Making the adjustments on the run are their biggest problems.

I think of how the Eagles were being beaten by the New York Giants at Metlife Stadium a couple of years ago when Vick took upon himself to change things.   New York was running the same all-out blitz and the Birds didn’t seem to have any adjustment to it.  Vick started scrambling on his own because he wasn’t getting a lot of help from the sidelines.

This is the game plan on the Eagles, they’re great when it comes to game planning, but not nearly as good when they’re force to making adjustments during the game.