Wanted: a few more gifted offensive minds - NFL

I hear it all the time: Where are all the great NFL quarterbacks?

A better question, in my mind: Where are all the great offensive coaches? The league has enough talented passers. What's hard to find is a coach who knows what to do with one.

Want to know how to spot a coach who doesn't understand offensive football? Ask him how be plans to win a championship. If he says, "We'll run the ball and play great defense," and says nothing about throwing the ball, steer clear. He'll be watching the Super Bowl from his living room.

An offensive coordinator's job is to score points, and to do that you have to produce big plays, particularly on third down. Convert on third down and you get three more downs to move into scoring position. That's when you need big plays, which typically come in the passing game because 15- and 20-yard runs are hard to come by.

Don't get me wrong; I believe in a strong running game, too. It wears down a defense and provides balance. But a team that can pass effectively can create big plays that lead to points, and if it falls behind, it can recover in a hurry. Witness the Colts against Tampa Bay in Week 5. That phenomenal comeback doesn't happen with a run based offense.

Tom Moore, the Colts' offensive coordinator, is on my short list of exceptional offensive minds in the NFL today. Others: Jon Gruden, Mike Shanahan, Andy Reid, Mike Holmgren, Norv Turner, Mike Martz. These coaches work at their craft. They develop creative schemes that blend a solid running game with a precision passing game, giving their quarterback the best chance to succeed. That's why lake Plummer, a quarterback Bill Walsh once compared to Joe Montana, has hope of achieving his potential in Denver. He finally has a great mentor in Shanahan.

Montana, by the way, achieved greatness in Walsh's West Coast system. So did Steve Young, whose career had been less than spectacular before moving to San Francisco. It's critical for any talented quarterback to book up with the right coach. He can take a Rich Gannon, journeyman, and turn him into Rich Gannon, MVP.

The Troy Aikman Show airs at 5 p.m. ET every Thursday through the Super Bowl on Sporting News Radio. Listen online at http://radio.sportingnews.com.

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