Lets Bust Some Myths about the Spread Offense

Ok I always loved hearing that "Pro Style" QB's cannot play the spread offense. Who was the star QB's at Texas and Oklahoma the past few years before this season? Oh yes I remember, their names were Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy. What are they doing these days? Well damn Bradford is with the Rams and McCoy is with the Browns. But I thought spread QB's doesn't translate well to the NFL. Lets go a step further, what style of offense does the Saints, Patriots, and Colts run? It looks eerily similar to Spread Passing attacks of the college game from the Big XII Conference. Look people "Pro Style QB's" can thrive in the Spread Offense. Not every spread style QB is Cam Newton, Terrell Pryor and Pat White.

Pro Style RB's can come from a Spread Offense as well. Mark Ingram is a fine example of this as well as Rashard Mendenhall. You can also play power football from the Spread. Has anyone heard of the "Pistol" formation. Its where the QB is 5-7 feet behind the center with the HB right behind the QB. Newer innovations have a FB on either side of the QB. You could basically run the Steelers and the Pitt Panthers bread and butter "Power O" play out of the Pistol. An even newer innovation is the "Diamond Pistol" where you have 2 RB's on each side of the QB and an HB behind the QB. You can run a Wing-T misdirection or a Jet Style misdirection out of the Diamond Pistol. And the thing is NFL prospects can thrive in an offensive philosophy like this.

Lets look at the SEC for example; their top schools consistently at the top of the recruiting rankings and they all run Spread style offenses. Auburn runs a Jet Style Misdirection type running game. Alabama runs a Pistol, which is a power set out of the shot gun. Florida runs a Jet Style Power running set. And even LSU runs a spread style offense. Oklahoma and Texas of the Big XII run a spread passing attack and both of them are consistently at the top of the recruiting rankings. And guess what, all of those schools are sending kids to the NFL every year. Big OL like Marquis Pouncey from Florida translated well going to the NFL. Where is Pouncey going? Oh yes, the Pro Bowl. How many rookie Centers made it to the Pro Bowl?

Too many people assume based on nothing. Ok WVU liked to have a smaller OL. That does not mean that Pitt with Graham is going to do the same. Just because WVU thrived with a QB like Pat White does not mean that Pitt with Graham is going to do the same. People that base everything on what WVU did the past few season, does not watch college football. Or they would know more about the National Scene.

There is so much you can do out of the Spread and its the same with a Pro Style attack. You can be pass happy with a Pro Style attack the same way you could run power sets with the 2 different styles.

Pitt fans need to relax a little and enjoy this ride. Its going to be a fun ride.