Why Jets' Mike LaFleur Is Destined to Be a Great NFL Head Coach
Mike LaFleur is the direction the NFL is headed.
The Jets’ Offensive Coordinator is the younger brother of Packers’ Head Coach Matt LaFleur. He is innovative, unpredictable and he understands the art of leverage.
That is what makes the Jets’ LaFleur dangerous.
Whether we are talking about Hall-of-Famer Bill Walsh and his West Coast Offense or Joe Gibbs’ famous Counter-Gap running play, offensive greatness has always been rooted in innovation, unpredictability and the art of leverage.
LaFleur is a mix of these two great coaches.
His offense is a combination of Walsh’s high percentage plays (runs and short to intermediate high percentage throws).
LaFleur then adds in a good amount of play misdirection like Gibbs.
He features pre-snap motion, play-action fakes, and play-flow misdirection. For example, faking a pitch to a running back in one direction and then throwing the ball on a screen to the other side of the field.
LaFleur sprinkles in the possibility of two different offensive skill position players, going in two different directions at the same time too (one having the ball and one not).
All it takes is one split-second to cause a defender to overthink something for LaFleur’s play designs to gain a leverage advantage.
This was the art of Gibbs’ Counter-Gap running play back in the 1980’s and early 90’s. The running back took a counter-step to his left and then ran to his right after taking the handoff with the back-side guard and tackle pulling out in front as lead blockers. It was a devastating play-design that landed Gibbs’ in the Hall of Fame.
It was all built around having one single step of leverage advantage. All it took was the linebackers taking one wrong misdirection step to get the backside guard and tackle out in front with downfield blocking leverage.
LaFleur shows an understanding of this and he has taken it even further. LaFleur showed he is even building in multiple touches on the same play.
This is where it gets really exciting and gets into the realm of Rugby.
The Miami game on December 19 was LaFleur’s “finest half-hour.”
LaFleur had the Dolphins’ defense back on their heels in the first-half.
There was an end-around to receiver Braxton Berrios. On another play it appeared to be a possible pass by Berrios, but he ran it in for a score instead.
There was a fake hand-off to the back, a pitch to receiver Keenan Cole and Cole attempted to throw it downfield to quarterback (QB) Zach Wilson, but it was incomplete.
LaFleur wasn’t done yet.
In the second quarter, Wilson handed off to Berrios, who threw it back to Wilson and then Wilson scrambled around before completing a pass downfield to tight end Ryan Griffin.
Then there was the play that stole the show.
Wilson threw to receiver Jamison Crowder over the middle and Crowder threw a backward lateral over to the sidelines to Berrios.
The television announcer said, “I don’t think I’ve seen this.”
That statement perfectly capsulated LaFleur.
Nobody has seen anything like his play-calling. He is taking this thing a step further than 49ers’ Head Coach Kyle Shanahan has.
Last season, LaFleur took a Jets’ offense that had ranked dead-last the two prior years before his arrival, and raised the ranking to No. 26.
That may not sound like a lot, but he showed he can move the meter.
LaFleur’s biggest impact could be felt in the passing game where the Jets ranked No. 29 in 2019 and No. 31 in 2020 and raised it up to No. 20 in 2021.
The running game is the only area that fell off a little going from No. 31 in 2019 to No. 22 in 2020 to No. 25 last season.
Had LaFleur had the same offensive efficiency all season long that he had when back-up Mike White was at the helm for three and a half games, I believe his respective offensive rankings would have been even higher.
The thing that made Buffalo’s offense so potent the past couple of seasons was their offensive unpredictability under Brian Daboll as their offensive coordinator. It’s what landed Daboll with the Giants as their new Head Coach.
I believe LaFleur is next. If I were an NFL general manager, he’d be at the top of my list.
LaFleur has the element of unpredictability that keeps defenses off-balance with his play-calling.
He’s the cutting edge trendsetter and that’s what it’s all about in the NFL as the game continues evolving.
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