Official Bill Walsh Thread

Originally posted by Niners816:
This is from the 1982 playbook but fits well with the above.



All told it looks like the Walsh playbook was comprised of over 90 formation variations of the above base formations.

At any one point perhaps, but he had hundreds of formations and thousands of plays in his achive...including plays from friend-coaches--HS to NFL.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:

At any one point perhaps, but he had hundreds of formations and thousands of plays in his achive...including plays from friend-coaches--HS to NFL.

I had heard a report from I believe it was a Washington coach that they said that scouted like 2 years worth of games and counted over 150 different formations.

Originally posted by Niners816:
I had heard a report from I believe it was a Washington coach that they said that scouted like 2 years worth of games and counted over 150 different formations.

Yes, I recall hearing Holgren talking about Walsh's interest in flag football because they had to spread out the field...power wasn't as effective and they tended to pass more. He had a very agile mind and didn't discount ideas due to their source.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by SoCold:

RED LT NASTY

Football has some funny terms. 'Nasty' is the term to describe a reduced WR split. It means the WR is lined up close-ish to the OLine. Walsh wrote it down as a 6 yard split from the OLine. Red is the formation of the backfield.

Here is the list of formation variations and shift names.

I was rewatching the Walsh football life and thought this was kinda cool. Here is walsh explain sprint opt in a film


And here it is from the '82 playbook that is avail on line


Just thought it was really cool being able to see the actual plays that were used to install/explain to the team.

Pretty cool video cutting up some of Walsh's 1994 Stanford offense.

I'm currently reading Finding the Winning Edge by the late/great Bill Walsh and already I've read some sound advice that the current ownership has not abided by. In chapter 4 he talks about establishing roles in the organization along with keeping things within the organization confidential to avoid things leaking to the media or other teams.

I think Jed needs to read up and understand this concept since it is what lead to the undermining of the relationship with Harbaugh.

Great read so far. Walsh truly was a Genius.

the best part of Bill's great mind is that he would always get his pair of RB involve on routes that would leave the middle of the field open for his QB to see and for those TEs to sit on and for the crossing patterns to be on a clearer field.

I remember how the Rams could not figure out how to stop Tyler & Craig at Anaheim back in 1984 when all the two would run were either swing and flat... it used to drive the LBs crazy because when they followed them, the field would be open to Francis.. and if they played their zone, Wendell or Craig would catch a simple pass that would gain about 5 yards each time and making it easier for the team to run on 2nd down.

finally, the LBs got so frustrated that it only covered the middle of the field and left the RB alone in the flat which then resulted on a 53 yard TD run by Craig on a simple swing...

hayyyyyy, where are those simple credible plays right now??

Originally posted by 9moon:
the best part of Bill's great mind is that he would always get his pair of RB involve on routes that would leave the middle of the field open for his QB to see and for those TEs to sit on and for the crossing patterns to be on a clearer field.

I remember how the Rams could not figure out how to stop Tyler & Craig at Anaheim back in 1984 when all the two would run were either swing and flat... it used to drive the LBs crazy because when they followed them, the field would be open to Francis.. and if they played their zone, Wendell or Craig would catch a simple pass that would gain about 5 yards each time and making it easier for the team to run on 2nd down.

finally, the LBs got so frustrated that it only covered the middle of the field and left the RB alone in the flat which then resulted on a 53 yard TD run by Craig on a simple swing...

hayyyyyy, where are those simple credible plays right now??

Niners had 5 legit talents to do that. Rice, Taylor, Rathman, Jones and Craig. Sometimes throw in a 3rd string receiver, if they ever have to go there. If some how all those guys are covered, Montana and Young had the mobility to take a few runs also. It's almost not fair.

The second stringers on those 80's teams could have been starters on other teams. It's amazing how stacked they were and that all of that talent wanted to play for a class organization. It all starts at the top Jed!

Originally posted by dfs144:
The second stringers on those 80's teams could have been starters on other teams. It's amazing how stacked they were and that all of that talent wanted to play for a class organization. It all starts at the top Jed!

no Salary cap helps in team stacking

Originally posted by qnnhan7:

Niners had 5 legit talents to do that. Rice, Taylor, Rathman, Jones and Craig. Sometimes throw in a 3rd string receiver, if they ever have to go there. If some how all those guys are covered, Montana and Young had the mobility to take a few runs also. It's almost not fair.

LBers weren't as fast. You could consistently attack the LBer with HB and FBs. Nowadays, the same concepts work they are just run out of personnel packages that involve more WRs.

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
Niners had 5 legit talents to do that. Rice, Taylor, Rathman, Jones and Craig. Sometimes throw in a 3rd string receiver, if they ever have to go there. If some how all those guys are covered, Montana and Young had the mobility to take a few runs also. It's almost not fair.

LBers weren't as fast. You could consistently attack the LBer with HB and FBs. Nowadays, the same concepts work they are just run out of personnel packages that involve more WRs.

Yep, even Rice and Taylor took advantage of them with just a quick short throws in front or behind them, then took it to the house with RAC. Cowboys in the 90's changed all that.

It just occurred to me with the changing talent on defenses these days, we missed someone like Delainie Walker. Dude was a swiss knife on the field --FB/HB/TE/WR.
Baalke should have paid Walker to keep him on the team. Our offense lost a bit of that unpredictability without him. He has the versatility to attack all level of the field.

Walker was a beast for my fantasy team this year! Maybe VD should have taken notes.