Some Other Coaches Who Relinquished Play Calling Duties

I did some research and found some articles about other offensive minded head coaches who have given up play calling abilities to their offensive coordinators – Andy Reid of the Eagles and Mark Richt of Georgia.

Note: In the stats to the right I excluded the Eagles week 17 game against the Falcons because they had already won the NFC East and rested all starters.

On Andy Reid giving play calling duties to OC Marty Mornhinweg:

In a postgame news conference that defied the basic etiquette of coaching, Andy Reid sat in front of a microphone Sunday afternoon and took significant credit for the Philadelphia Eagles’ dismantling of the Washington Redskins. His team had made some great plays, sure. But all of them, Reid said, were predicated on his initial action.

He got out of his team’s way.

Convinced that his play-calling had been “stinking the place up,” during a three-game losing streak, Reid asked offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg to direct the offense Sunday. The result — a fast-paced, no-huddle approach with a lot of running plays — helped Philadelphia to a 27-3 win that pushed the Eagles (5-4) back above .500 and kept the team competitive in the NFC East.

Coming off a bye week, the Eagles entered Sunday’s game intent on evolving during the second half of the season. The defense vowed to become more aggressive; the offense aimed for consistency. Both took their cues to change from Reid.

“We were in a rut offensively, and I call the plays,” Reid said. “It starts with me. You take a hard look at yourself in that situation, and we weren’t moving the football. If I’m in a rut, I feel very comfortable turning to Marty. So that’s what we did.”

As an Eagles fan, I can attest to the success the Eagles offense saw last year once Marty started calling the plays. The Birds ran the ball more and the offense got back on track. Fast forward a year though and the Eagles were back to a pass happy offense even though Mornhinweg was still calling the plays.

On Mark Richt:

In his first full season since handing off play-calling duties, Mark Richt is coping with some new issues, like more free time and free emotions on the Georgia sideline.

Richt turned over play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Bobo late last season. He says that’s freed him up to be a little more emotional on the sidelines. He said at first he wasn’t sure what to do with the new role and that he’s still figuring it out.

Emotions, both Richt’s and his players’, were the lead topics Tuesday as the coach discussed last week’s 42-30 win over Florida and Saturday’s game against Troy. Thanks to the win over Florida, Number-10 Georgia leads the SEC’s Eastern Division. The Bulldogs have a 6-2 record and are 4-2 in the SEC.