In football, what is the essence of the west coast offense and why is it difficult to run?

Answer 1

In place of the running game, the West Coast offense relies on short passes to the running backs and wide receivers. They are expected to break tackles and pick up yards after the catch. It puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback because everything revolves around him. He has to read the defense, make the adjustment and find the hot receiver at the line of scrimmage. He also has to be extremely accurate with a quick release to throw these short patterns.

Answer 2

The previous answers do basically answer what the west coast offense is (and for an ad nauseam read on the west coast offense, see the below link). The reason that it's often mentioned as difficult to run is that for quarterbacks and teams that are unfamiliar with it, it's quite literally like learning a different language. The players needed to successfully run the West Coast offense also are of a completely different skill set than what you need for a "standard" offense. Quarterbacks must be VERY accurate in the short passing game, RBs must be very good at catching the ball out of the backfield, and WRs must be able to run very precise routes to get early seperation, and must also be successful at getting YAC (yards after catch). When a team who has not been used to running it adopts this offense with a new coach, very often there are significant growing pains as the team has to learn it. The offense is probably not more complex than any other offense, but it's such a difference from what normal offenses run that teams often require a year or two to get players with the right kind of skill set to properly run it.

Answer 3

The term "West Coast Offense" basically means that an offense typically uses more passing plays. It is difficult to run because defenses will adjust their defensive schemes to defend more against the pass and they will also blitz the QB more often. West Coast Offenses are usually alot more fast paced than a typical run/pass offensive scheme.West Coast Offenses ae usually teams that score a high number of points and have lower running yard stats. Good examples.....Colts use a West Coast Offense....Tampa Bay has started to also use the west coast scheme. Any team with more passing plays than running plays are most likely considered a West Coast Offense.

Answer 4

Designed by Bill Walsh of the San Francisco 49ers, it uses a short horizontal passing attack to open up the running game instead of vice versa.