Doyle will try to hold back a lot of what he wants to accomplish from the preseason games \u2013 which begin Saturday against the Eagles \u2013 wanting to save as many surprises as possible for the games that count. And now he will have to operate without veteran third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson, a significant wrinkle that will impact evaluations of critical young players<\/a>. And it will undoubtedly result in an even more watered down and rote version of what was previously in store.<\/p>\n But now weeks into training camp, we\u2019ve heard Doyle himself talk about the importance of altering tempo and cadence, taking early-down, play-action deep shots and attacking defenses downfield in short yardage<\/a>. The overwhelming reality that this offense will be under center like never before in Jackson\u2019s tenure isn\u2019t a secret at this point. And Doyle has strongly alluded to the use of Jokers\u00a0 – hybrid players fulfilling multiple positions at once \u2013 without using the word Payton engrained into his football psyche<\/a>. <\/p>\n For all the talk of throwing the ball, Doyle\u2019s work under Payton (New Orleans and Denver<\/a>) and Ben Johnson (Chicago) means he is going to run the ball a ton and do it old school with I formations and blocking tight ends and hybrid fullbacks (Jokers) and Doyle isn\u2019t even shying away from another 300-carry season from 32-year-old back Derrick Henry<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSean McVay, [Kyle] Shanahan, Sean Payton, Ben [Johnson] \u2014 these are guys that I have watched for a long time,\u201d Doyle said after Wednesday\u2019s practice. \u201cYou watch the\u00a0sequencing, and this is my eighth year in the NFL. Really, since the beginning, you start to watch those guys and how they craft a game plan, how they attack a defense. <\/p>\n \u201cThose are things you’re trying to emulate when you’re building a plan as an assistant, and certainly something that we’re trying to do as an offensive staff as well.”<\/p>\n Wearing His Influences On His Sleeve<\/p>\n He isn\u2019t hiding who he is stealing from, and that\u2019s the case for everyone. McVay broke down for us what he took from Bill Walsh on the show, and Payton told us he isn\u2019t too big to steal from McVay. It\u2019s not about what he is picking and choosing at this point, it\u2019s about how quickly the players adapt to it, and whether they can avoid pre-snap foibles and procedural mishaps.<\/p>\n Doyle is going to have to learn to adapt in-game and determine when it\u2019s time to chuck a game plan and whether an opponent is too prepared for what he had cooked up. It came as no surprise Wednesday, and was a nod to the reality of his novice status, when Doyle said he will lean heavily into his pre-game script of playcalls.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that in general, we try to script as much as we can so that our guys have a really good feeling of what we’re going to do,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cI read a book by Bill Walsh a long time ago, and he basically talked about how the more decisions you make in the air conditioning, [the better,] because guys have a good feel for what you’re going to call. <\/p>\n \u201cYou’ve made the decision based on data and facts, rather than being out there and it kind of feels a certain way and you may lead yourself astray from where you should go.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s most important in the second half of camp is that the offensive line can fall into place, and Doyle builds a deep enough reservoir of potential playmakers he can thrust into as many different situations as possible. The fact that so few players and coaches have strong ties to the coaching family tree he is closest aligned with remains surprising, and the personnel on his side of the ball simply have far more warts and questions than on head coach Jesse Minter\u2019s side of the ball.<\/p>\n For all of the excitement and hype and talk of Doyle being a genius, anyone who thinks this offense is coming out of the gates looking like a juggernaut is probably fooling themselves. He can borrow quite a bit from his mentors, but there is no substitute for doing it yourself.<\/p>\n
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