Earlier this week, I wrote about what Steve Spurrier could teach Wisconsin and Paul Chryst, relative to the Badgers’ offense. I noted that Spurrier was unafraid to have backup quarterbacks throw long downfield passes, and that he was also willing to have quarterbacks split their snap counts in games so that neither quarterback would be overburdened and could play better, smarter football on the smaller number of snaps he was given. This gives Chryst a framework for 2020, in which Graham Mertz could throw a number of downfield passes while Jack Coan still gets the bulk of snaps as the leader of the offense. It is a concept Chryst and Wisconsin ought to consider, given that the Badgers’ lack of a vertical passing game is — and has been — one of the program’s main deficiencies over a longer period of time.
Today, I will share what New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton can teach Chryst and Wisconsin. The lesson has some overlap with Spurrier’s lesson, but it’s a little different. Wisconsin sports fans probably expected to be studying Payton this week, since the Saints were favored to beat the Minnesota Vikings. Wisconsinites had reason to think that the Saints, not the Seattle Seahawks, would play the Green Bay Packers in this Sunday’s NFC Divisional Playoff Game at Lambeau Field.
The fact that Payton will not travel to Wisconsin to coach a playoff game should not mean that his coaching shouldn’t be considered by the Badgers in the coming offseason and — eventually — at summer camp and then next autumn. Here is the simple but powerful concept Payton illustrates for the Badgers and their 2020 offense: Roles for players (chiefly quarterbacks) can be multi-dimensional.
Spurrier taught the lesson that backups do not have to be sheltered or pampered. Give them the freedom to throw long passes and take risks. Payton’s lesson is not completely unrelated to Spurrier’s lesson, but it IS different: If you have a running quarterback, make sure he throws enough to put defenses off the scent. If you have a throwing quarterback, allow him to run JUUUUUST enough that defenses have to respect a dual-threat capability.
For the Coan-Mertz QB rotation (which Spurrier might use if given the chance), the Payton lesson is simple: Mertz would be asked to throw the ball downfield, but have him hand the ball off or pitch the ball a few times, enough to make sure defenses don’t see him as a pure “downfield throwing specialist.” Use plays and formations with Mertz which create a more complicated reality. Yes, throw the ball long, but don’t do it on first and 10 (all the time). Give Mertz a few plays or series in selected moments in the 2020 season, but don’t tip the style of play.
Payton was smart about this with his use of Taysom Hill as the change-of-pace quarterback behind Drew Brees. As you might have seen in the playoff game against the Vikings last weekend, Hill wasn’t just a designated runner in short-yardage situations. Payton let Hill throw the ball. The Vikings could not lock in on Hill as a running threat. They had to account for pass plays. This seems similar to the Spurrier lesson, and again, there is a degree of overlap here, but Payton makes the more precise point that when you bring in a change-of-pace QB — as Mertz would be for Coan if Chryst did want to integrate Mertz into the 2020 offense — you can’t confine him SOLELY to one type of play.
This is another layer of detail the Badgers could use to diversify — and embolden — their offense next season.