At about 2:11, he just starts talking about Marino and the defense. Its a pre-Super Bowl interview. I know there are some older fans here who may have seen this game or just like the past (success) of the Dolphins. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVbYVfeA5FM&feature=related"]YouTube - Bill Walsh: Pre-Super Bowl Interview (1985)[/ame]
Thanks for the link! I do remember this as it was my first season following the Dolphins. It was the 84' Dolphins he is taking about though since the Super Bowl was in Jan 1985.
Ah, good call! Thanks for the correction. I edited the thread title to show the correct year. Thanks again.
"Joe Montana is the product of a system. Dan Marino is a system." -----Bill Walsh Walsh was arguably the best NFL coach ever. His genius will never be surpassed and has rarely been equalled.
As far as x's and O's, there's no doubt he's one of the very best all times, howeverzn its tough to overlook the fact that his teamms were STACKED with talent, in an un-capped era, and IIRC, there were some "less than scrupulus" going ons, going on with Debartolo et el. Actually, didn't that really hurt them after being caught?
the cover 2 pretty much killed the west coast offense. its interesting how the west coast offense was born. if it wasnt for the tragic career ending injury to greg cook (the greatest unkown qb) i dont think walsh would have ever invented the west coast since while they had cook they were a vertical passing team. but once cook went down they had to turn to virgil carter a weak armed QB who could never run a vertical passing game. and so was born the horizontal passing game to make up for carter's lack of an arm. i may be wrong but i imagine sid gillman had alot of influence and collaboration with walsh on devising it. i think they were doing it by the seat of their pants.
No, not for me anyway, I like Lombardi and Shula a bit more than Walsh. Walsh was a very scientific type of coach, Lombardi and Shula ground things out year after year after year. To my view, consistency over a long period of time is a larger accomplishment.
I don't think it "killed" it. It slowed it down, sure. It's still run in the league today and a lot of the passing concepts are used. The Saints, who won the SB as you know, use a lot of WCO passing concepts. Yes, Gillman did influence Walsh. As did Al Davis, who he gave credit too. Gillman influenced everyone though.
everything thats introduced eventually has its counterpart that slows it down. you could say the west coast offense killed the 46 defense used by ryan. you can see this year how defensive coordinators are answering the spread by rushing two, three linemen and flooding the zones, daring the passing teams to run. almost every passing team that was used to running the spread has been bogged down and the teams that are thriving are the power running games reminiscent of the Joe Gibbs Redskins. To every action there is a reaction. for the next couple years expect defense and running to dominate while the offensive coordinators devise some new twist and readjust their rosters to counter the defenses. man i love football. its the perpetual chess match but with real people
I don't disagree with you. I'm merely stating that "killing" an offense is a strong word, in my opinion. Slowing it down, sure. We see so many pass concepts every Sunday. I kept hearing how the Run N Shoot was a complete failure in the NFL, yet every Sunday I see concepts of it.
the run and shoot is intellectually the most brilliant scheme there is. i dont think there is a defensive answer for it. however its designed for robots not humans. its too complex and the QBs and WRs always have to be on the same page. It just never works due to human error gotchya on the terminology. you're right. most teams run several variations of several different philosophies. its a smorgasboard out there
I still can't believe to this day that the legendary Paul Brown told Bill Walsh he would never be a head coach in this league. He passed him over as his replacement and tried to sabotage his career.
Bill Walsh had a great eye for talent and built that team. They were 2-14 when he took over. The Niners had three coaches in a year previously. They won a SB after just three years. The man was a genius really.