Cimini article - on previous Hackett play calling

[faba]

Talk a good game

BY RICH CIMINI

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

It was like a maddening game of "Telephone." In years past, when a Jets player wanted to suggest a play-call to offensive coordinator Paul Hackett, it had to pass through a "four-way chain of command," according to center Kevin Mawae.

Mawae's personal adventures went like this: He'd pass along a suggestion to the offensive line coach. The line coach relayed it to the tight ends coach, who was seated in the coaches' booth. The tight ends coach scribbled it on a piece of paper and handed it to Hackett.

It would've made for a hilarious cell phone commercial. In truth, there was nothing funny about it. The Jets always seemed to be playing, "Beat the Play Clock."

Those days should be over. They eliminated the middle men.

"No more bureaucracy," Mawae said yesterday at Hofstra.

Hackett's replacement, Mike Heimerdinger, is positioned on the sideline, not in the booth, which should streamline communication. He can talk to the players face-to-face and, perhaps more importantly, he can talk directly to Chad Pennington via the helmet transmitter.

All of which should save precious seconds on the play clock. "It should help us," Mawae said. "In the past, we were taking it down to the last second."

The offense was flagged for only three delay-of-game penalties last season, but it always seemed to be scrambling. Hackett called the plays from the booth, relayed them to receivers coach Jim Hostler on the sideline. Hostler delivered them to Pennington on the transmitter.

Now it will be Heimerdinger's voice in Pennington's helmet. The around-the-horn method is history.

"I don't necessarily love the sideline, but it does save us time and I can talk to Chad right away," said Heimerdinger, who called plays from the sideline during his final three years with the Titans. "I can try to get them to keep attacking, getting them in and out of the huddle."

Heimerdinger, known as an aggressive coach, wants to create an attacking mentality. By breaking the huddle as quickly as possible, it does two things:

They can snap it quickly and put the defense on its heels. Or they can take extra time at the line of scrimmage, giving Pennington a chance to study the defense and, if he deems it necessary, call an audible.

"If I'm not flipping a coin in terms of which play I want to call," Heimerdinger said, "we should be able to snap it and keep the tempo going."

The ultimate goal, of course, is to run more plays. In four seasons under Hackett, the Jets often ranked near the bottom of the NFL in total plays. In 2004, they ranked fourth in time of possession (31:51), but only 15th in total plays (996). It didn't add up.

Saving seconds on the play clock, they believe, can translate into an additional five or six plays per game. In theory, more plays should mean more scoring.

Herm Edwards likes the idea of having his coordinator nearby. Now he can walk over and suggest a play to Heimerdinger by pointing to one on his personal script. The best part of the new set-up, Edwards said, is the direct communication between the quarterback and coordinator. "I think it's valuable," Edwards said. "We're all on the same page."

[aec4]

This looks VERY familiar to an article published 1 day earlier by Ken Berger. Sounds to me like Cimini mailed this one in.

Arm strength? Check. Chemistry with receivers? Check. Running the offense in an efficient, organized fashion without dawdling or experiencing communication breakdowns? That was perhaps the most overlooked aspect of Chad Pennington's successful return to the huddle Friday night.

He proved he can make the throws, and even surprised himself with an incompletion that traveled 50 yards in the air and sailed over Justin McCareins' head on a post route. Physically, Pennington aced his first on-field exam in the Jets' 28-21 victory over the Vikings.

Just as important, though, was the absence of organized chaos that often plagued the Jets' offense for four years under former coordinator Paul Hackett.

Mike Heimerdinger's name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but his offensive system already seems to translate to the field with more ease than Hackett's ever did.

"I was just trying to manage the huddle and manage the game," Pennington said. "The coaches were talking about us running more plays and not letting the play clock run below five [seconds]. That would give us more opportunities."

For the past four years, just communicating the play to the huddle and getting everyone lined up with enough time for the quarterback to read the defense was daunting. Hackett, who would rather look at his play script than into the eyes of his quarterback, preferred to call the games from the press box.

He might as well have been sitting in the air traffic control tower at Teterboro Airport.

Some Jets players and coaches believe the problem wasn't so much Hackett's play calling, but the precious seconds that were wasted on nearly every play. By the time Hackett's play was delivered from the press box to the sideline, and finally, to Pennington or Vinny Testaverde, the result inevitably was a rush job.

The offense suffered through well-documented clock management gaffes and ill-conceived plays that could have been rectified if the quarterback simply had more time at the line of scrimmage. The offense was often a strategic step behind the defense. Adjustments happened on Monday, 24 hours too late.

Enter Heimerdinger, who believes, among other things, that you can run as many as six or seven additional offensive plays in a game if you simply snap the ball before the play clock reaches five seconds every time. More plays result in better rhythm, longer drives, and better strategy.

"I was able to run the offense smoothly and get in and out of the huddle and get the ball snapped with plenty of time on the play clock," Pennington said. "I haven't had that in a long time."

Heimerdinger also believes in calling the game on the field, where he can communicate directly with his quarterback, and just as importantly, with the head coach.

"It really helps the quarterback," Edwards said. "Now the quarterback can kind of look at 'Dinger' and come over there and talk to him. We're all on the same page."

There is serious work left to be done. Pennington is only now approaching the amount of on-field preparation he would've amassed in June had he been healthy enough to practice during the offseason.

But at least Pennington won't be standing around waiting for the play to come in, or rolling his eyes when it does.

[joewilly]

I don't care who wrote it 1st, i'm glad it got posted here. Makes a lot of sense to me. its no secret i'm in the top 500 knowledgeable posters( or at least very close to 500) & it never dawned on me what a help this could be to chad to get a better look at the d formation by getting to the los sooner.

[faba]

Any offense will want to keep an up tempo and put pressure on the opposing defense- the anti- Paul Hackett.

[joewilly]

exactly faba, along with the fact it should help in get a better rythum going.

anyone know how many of the 32 teams keep their playcaller in the booth?