Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Matt Scott and the Pistol



 When looking at the undrafted free agent hauls each team has had after the draft, the team that stands out to me is the Jaguars. Bringing in undrafted free agent QB Matt Scott from Arizona, to me, is one of the best additions of the offseason. Matt Scott has starting QB potential, between his athletic ability and strong arm, he could be the next RGIII\Colin Kaepernick type of QB. Combined with the additions of versatile RB Denard Robinson from Michigan and franchise LT Luke Joeckel from Texas A&M, the Jags are in prime position to start competing in the next couple of seasons.

 Matt Scott could potentially beat out Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert in training camp, remember, Gus Bradley comes from Pete "competition at every position" Carroll, So I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Jags depth chart read something like this:

1. Matt Scott

2. Jordan Rodgers

3. Blaine Gabbert

Emergency backup: Denard Robinson.

Yes, I'm saying Chad Henne could be cut,  Chad Henne is expendable, and the only reason Gabbert isn't also expendable is because of his contract.

 The biggest advantage to Matt Scott winning this QB competition would be that he can run the Pistol Spread Option offense, something else that the Seahawks implemented last season. They should take more of the Redskins concepts of the read option however, and not as much of the Seahawks.

This would be the base formation of a Pistol based attack.
14                                   o o [x] o o                                         84
                                                              89
                                      16   4                                       
                                        
                                          32


For those of you who do not know how to read football formations here is a legend:


14: Justin Blackmon WR | 84: Cecil Shorts III WR | 16 Denard Robinson (Shoelace) RB |

89 Marcedes Lewis TE | 32 Maurice Jones Drew (M JD) RB | 4 Matt Scott QB

 They will have to replace Justin Blackmon for the first 4 games, but the basic idea is to line up and run the triple option, read option, RB sweeps/powers, dives, traps, and as well as Play Action passes, sprint out passes, and just straight drop back and pass. With Shoelace and MJD in the backfield, the Jags would have two great receivers out of the backfield, that they could exploit against LBs and safeties in the passing game, especially on Play Action passes. On the triple option plays they could either sweep Shoelace or MJD as the initial read and then have the other back be the pitch man on the second read. There are many other variations of the triple option, such as running a midline read up the middle with MJD or motioning the TE around the field.

The other thing that makes this offense very viable is Matt Scott and Denard Robinson both have experience running variants of this offense in the college game, they both have deep knowledge of the Zone Read, and as such this offense would really benefit them.

 If Gus Bradley is smart, he will run some of this offense, even if Blaine Gabbert does keep the starting job, Gabbert can run enough to make decent use of the option plays as well. As long as the QB is fairly mobile, you can run this as the idea is to hand the ball off, but not have to block a backside defender because he has to stay home to watch the QB. If the Jags do something similar to this, and continue to rebuild, they could be in the playoffs by next season, if not this season.