offensive systems: Erhardt-Perkins

off the net from jrry32

The Erhardt-Perkins system/offense is one of the three main base offenses we see in the NFL today (along with the WCO and the Air Coryell). The E-P system uses verbiage for concepts to simplify the system in comparison to the WCO which is much more verbose (making it a more complex system to learn and call in that respect).

The reason it takes smarter WRs to run the New England version of it is because it relies heavily on option routes and route adjustments. The WRs are expected to adjust on the fly after the snap based on the play being called by the defense and the positioning of the defender. The offenses uses option routes (where the WR has a variety of options to attack different coverages), sight adjustments (WR adjusts the route to account for a blitzing defender), conversion routes (changing the route based on the coverage being shown), and choice routes (changing the route based on the defender’s positioning). It asks a lot of WRs mentally.

If they aren’t reading the defense correctly or don’t know their assignments, they won’t be on the same page as the QB. [zn note: see the confusion in 2011 when McDabiels installed that offense without an off-season and then did not adjust to the players’s struggles with it.] That’s a major problem in the offense. Here’s a good article that breaks it down:

http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/01/22/tom-brady-patriots-charlie-weis-option-routes

Of course, that’s just New England’s version. Peyton Manning also ran the E-P system throughout his career. It wasn’t nearly as complex as the Patriots’ version of the offense. Instead, Manning’s E-P system was based on execution rather than deception.