Year 2 Erhardt-Perkins, Ben Johnson, and Keenan Allen thoughts

Tl;dr:

  • we were one of 3 teams that used the Erhardt-Perkins (E-P) system last season
  • we will be one of 4 teams that use E-P this season
  • Keenan Allen is a veteran presence we should work on bringing back even though father time is approaching

-----

It was no secret, our offense under Shane Waldron was a nightmare. But one thing he brought to the Bears was the Erhardt-Perkins (E-P) system. It's a system that was very famously used by the Patriots dynasty, and it's presumably where Waldron got it from (he was an assistant for Weis at Notre Dame and then the Patriots in the late 2000s). 

E-P isn't about the playbook, it's about how plays are run and called. It emphasizes having a smart QB making the right pre-snap reads and adjustments as well as receivers knowing the full route concept b/c they could be running any one of the routes for the play called depending on where they are lined up. This redditor did a great job describing how complex or different the E-P system can be:

The way the Pats use EP is that in the huddle the OC will typically call in 2 pass plays and a run. The QB will then get everyone lined up ID man vs zone coverage but then the receivers, RB WR TE doesn't matter, all have to see the exact same thing and run the correct route based on the coverage they receive. So you might have an out route vs man and crosser into the soft spot vs zone. It gets even worse when you take into account they run over 100 different plays from a single formation.

It's why the west coast offense is taking over. It doesn't matter if you have zone or man coverage your asking your wide receivers to run a single route. It's easy and simple.

I actually think E-P was one of the reasons DJ Moore and Rome Odunze really struggled this season. My theory about Keenan Allen's usage and targets is the opposite. He was in an E-P system with Phillip Rivers as his QB, so he was the one who was already familiar and most likely to connect with Caleb in it. The same redditor also made this comment, which I think sounds all too familiar (minus the INTs):

The route breaks is where I think the trouble really shines. If you aren't on the same page you are gonna be throwing INTs left and right. Lazar has pointed out so often this year that the wide receiver/tight end is running the wrong route or the receiver thinks it is a zone read and the QB thinks man and it's an interception.

Last season, there were at least 3 teams that were known to run the E-P system. One was us, another was Josh Allen with the Bills, and the third was Jared Goff with the Lions. Drake Maye and the Patriots will also probably be going back to it as well. I actually didn’t realize it until I stumbled upon a post in the Patriots subreddit discussing returning to E-P with either JMD or Ben Johnson. Now, I want to emphasize again, we shouldn’t confuse E-P with the playbook, our playbook with Ben is going to be different than the playbook Waldron brought over.

Back to Keenan Allen. I think we need to try to re-sign him. His veteran presence in the system cannot be understated. We obviously shouldn't prioritize him over the trenches, but we need a guy like him to continue mentoring Caleb and Rome. I've been super critical of his acquisition b/c it costed us a 4th and a ton of cap space that we couldn't spend on the offensive line, but I'm really coming around to the idea of getting him back at the right price.

More on E-P can be found at this really good Grantland article: https://grantland.com/features/how-terminology-erhardt-perkins-system-helped-maintain-dominance-tom-brady-patriots/