Simple Formations Take Advantage of Complex Defenses

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J.T. Curtis’ offense isn’t complicated. Rarely will the Patriots line up in anything but the basic pro set. And you know what is coming – the veer option. Yet, for 28 years, teams have had trouble stopping it. Since 1975 – the first year Curtis utilized the split-back veer – the Patriots have reached the championship game 22 times, winning 18 titles. Since 1977, they have lost only two district games. The Patriots made 10 consecutive appearances in the title game from 1979 to 1988.

“What I liked about (the veer) and what I still like about it today is, it is so much of a mental challenge, because it is about teaching. It’s really about teaching a quarterback to make decisions on the field, based on what he sees, rather than to predetermine, and I have control over it.”

The key to successfully running the veer offense, says Curtis, is to present the players in practice with an exact picture of what they are going to see in the game.

“We have to develop tremendous trust with each other,” he said. “A selfish player can’t run my offense, because selfish people want to run the ball.”

Having talent the likes of current Houston Texan running back Jonathon Wells and former New England Patriot running back Reggie Dupard hasn’t hurt either. But Curtis tries not to have star players, and he says that helps the offense. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a 2,000-yard rusher, because so many guys carry the ball. We don’t know who’s going to get the ball.”

A perfect example of this unselfish attitude came during Wells’ senior year. In the 1997 state championship game, Wells’ backfield mate, Aaron Pierce scored three touchdowns, while Wells was held in check.

“They were not going to let Jonathon carry the ball,” said Curtis. “And they didn’t, but Aaron scored three touchdowns.

“I’ll never forget going into that locker room after that game. You would of thought Jonathon Wells just won the lottery, but statistically, he probably had 60 yards. It wasn’t even an issue, wasn’t even a thought. He knows there were times that he got the ball because of the reads. He had the 250-yard games. But that’s a part of what we do. I really admire our coaching staff because they do a great job of treating everybody the same.”

Curtis says the idea of the veer is to force the defense into bad decisions and then reacting to their mistakes.

“If the defense doesn’t know what we are going to do, because we don’t know what we’re going to do, it becomes a tremendous advantage for us,” he said.

Curtis’ basic formations simplify intricate defenses.

“We don’t see a lot of different coverages,” he says. “We don’t see a lot of combination coverage. Because when you run the option, people have to zero in on responsibilities of run support.”

The idea, he says, is to make the defense commit players to stopping the dive back, the quarterback and the pitch back on every play. “That pretty much secures six of the 11 players,” he says. “So I have to deal with the other five with blocking schemes.’

Once he figures out where the players that are assigned to stop the option are going to line up, he can exploit the defense with the passing game because his quarterback’s reads become much easier. “Whether I coached at the high school level, college or even in the NFL, I would have some form of an option play that would scare the defenses to death to take a chance in getting into some of those exotic coverages that they get into.”

Another advantage of the veer, he says, is it allows him to take a team’s best player out of the play. “You got a big, stud outside linebacker – 6’2”, 230 pounds – I can tackle him with my smallest, slowest quarterback, because if he doesn’t tackle me, I’m going to run up inside of him, and I’m going to get enough yardage to get first downs and win the game. We don’t have to block their best players.”

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