We tend to associate different philosophies of offense and defense with particular teams and coaches. Bill Walsh created the sideline-to-sideline West Coast offense with short crossing routes that stretched out defenses. The Air Raid offense, often attributed to Mike Leach, floods the field with wide receivers thrown to by a quarterback in shotgun formation. Arthur Smith is an anomaly in today’s NFL with a run-first offensive philosophy. On defense, Vic Fangio uses two-high safety zone coverages and 3-4 fronts with defenders disguising their intentions but rarely blitzing. His polar opposite is Wink Martindale, who runs man coverage and blitzes more than anyone while disguising who is rushing and who is dropping into coverage.
The making of a Super Bowl champion: The 1990 New York Giants
