The Late David Woodley

[ethurst2]

Fellow Fin Fans,

As you know, the Woodley era was a bridge between Two Dolphin Hall Of Fame Quarterbacks, Bob Griese and Dan Marino.

When you look at Woodleys winning percentage, it's not bad. I don't think that Woodley had a losing season in a Dolphins uniform.

1980 - 8-8 Missed the Playoffs *Griese got hurt against the Colts. Woodley started after the Colts game in the OB
1981 - 11-4-1   Lost to San Diego in that epic game at the OB
1982 - 7-2?  Strike Season, lost to the Redskins in the Super Bowl
1983 - 12-4-0 Replace by Marino somewhere around the 4th game

Would David Woodley been more effective in a West Coast Offense that relied on short passing,
rollouts and bootlegs than the more conventional offense that Shula was running at the time? Shula had always said that Woodley was an athlete playing quarterback and anyone that could run over Mark Gastineau on a bootleg had to have something going for them!

And if Don Strock was of starting quarterback caliber, why did Woodley beat him out for three straight seasons. Was it that the Mad Bomber wanted to be in a secondary role?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks

E/T

[run_to_win]

Would David Woodley been more effective in a West Coast Offense that relied on short passing, rollouts and bootlegs than the more conventional offense that Shula was running at the time?

Shula was a master at adapting his offense to his players.  The offense Woodley played in was much more like Griese's than Marino's.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

I agree with ethurst's theory about Woodley being better off in the West Coast offense... unfortunately there was no such thing as the West Coast offense in the early '80's. 

[Dphins4me]

unfortunately there was no such thing as the West Coast offense in the early '80's. 

What offense was the Niners playing?

[ethurst2]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I think that the West Coast offense was around as early as the mid 1970's. It came from Paul Brown who was using it at Cincinnatti and I remember Bill Walsh being the offensive coordinator. It involved using the fullback, tight end, running back running short routes behind the linebackers with the receivers running their pattern at least 5 yards deeper. I guess this explains all of those 12 yard passes that Montana threw that Jerry Rice would turn into 60 yard touchdowns. The pass routes involved a lot of NBA style pick plays that shielded the defender.

One requirement is that you have a mobile quarterback. Montana was drafted in 1979 and it took him about three years to get the offense down.

I thought Woodley would have been perfect for this type of offense although, I do remember Shula running the option play for him and Woodley catching a touchdown pass vs the Rams in 1980. To me, Woodley wasn't a strategist like Griese was. Some people say that Woodley had the strongest arm out of all the Dolphin Quarterbacks including Marino but he had no touch on the ball at all. He threw it hard, almost like John Elway.

[The_Phinatic]

I thought Bill Walsh invented it.  But, I could be wrong.  If it doesn't have anything to do with the Dolphins I really don't give a ----