I love the hurry up offense. I'm definitely in the camp excited about having Lazor running the show.
Almost every serious commitment to running a hurry up offense in the NFL has been successful. Not all to the same degree, but consider this...
It started in Cincinnati during the Icky Shuffle and Boomer Esiason days. Their pedestrian offense ran the hurry up and became supercharged. This ticked off Bills Coach Marv Levy he wrote the NFL office multiple times saying it should be illegal. But the NFL allowed it, so the next year he implemented it and the Jim Kelly/Thurman Thomas K-Gun offense was born. It took them to multiple Super Bowls.
Today, like the WCO, there are different flavors of It but most top offenses run some variant of it.
Peyton Manning hurries up to the line but then takes his time calling the play and audiblizing. Brady hurries both the lineup and the snap but only uses it on certain series.
Th benefits are tremendous. Since every NFL team has a lot of talent, small advantages can make a huge difference.
For instance, the main advantage is crippling defensive situational substitutions. The Patriots released and the Bills picked up Mike LB Brandon Spikes. He is an absolute stud vs the run ... but piss poor vs the pass. He is an ideal 2 down LB. But, on obvious passing downs he needs to be taken out. So, teams would use the hurry up to keep him on the field and keep passing. Or, as the Patriots did very successfully last year, get a team into nickel or dime coverage and use the hurry up to run the ball down the defenses throat.
To succeed against the hurry up, teams need 3 down players at every position, which few defenses have. Often Mike LB's cannot cover or blitz well. Often OLB's and DE's are pass rushers but cannot hold up against the run consistently. Often nickel backs cannot defend the run well.
Having an offense with versatile TE's and RB's allows an offense to take advantage of defenses that use situational substitutions. This is the easiest way to create and repeatedly exploit mismatches. In today's NFL, that's what offense is all about.
I wish we had gone a different route with our OL rebuild that gave us players who were solid in both pass pro and run blocking, to take advantage of any defense. But, at least we look to have the personnel to pass on any one if they sub in run defenders like Spikes.
We are becoming a tem that creates and punishes mismatches. There will be a lot of growing pains ... but this offense will score much more points and be very good by seasons end.
Another major point of the hurry up is Lazor's use of varied formations, personnel groupings and motion to disguise his plays and confuse the defense. The tempo forces defenders to read these changes quicker and communicate assignments quicker. Thus invariably leads to defensive breakdowns and blown assignments ... and great opportunities for our offense to get chunk yardage and scores.
Yes, it can put pressure on our defense ... but we are built to pass rush and pass cover, so getting the lead is the best thing we could possibly do for our defense ... even if it means they have to play more snaps each game.
Sent from my phone, so please forgive any typos.