Rams Film Room: The Air Raid has arrived in Fort Collins

DENVER — Fast, exhilarating, fun to watch and explosive. Words and phrases that were hard to come by for the Rams in 2021. With the arrival of Jay Norvell and the Air Raid in Fort Collins, that’s all going to change. It’s time to take the Colorado State offense seriously again.

Throughout 2021, Rams fans suffered while watching an offense that was mediocre at best in many categories, and awful in others. CSU struggled to score points, and outside of Trey McBride, lacked the ability to create explosive plays consistently. In 2021, the Rams averaged 23.7 points per game, ranking 98th out of 130 FBS programs. Their yards per play average of 5.4 had them 78th out of 130.

The previous regime’s offensive philosophy had its heyday in the 20th-century where core values centered around running the football, controlling the clock and limiting negative plays all were prioritized over a downfield passing game.

From nearly all perspectives, the Rams immediately become more interesting with the hiring of Norvell. The addition of a modern, aggressive, downfield passing attack gives CSU instant credibility and should help them re-join the fight to contend in the Mountain West.

Today in the Rams’ Film Room, we take a look at how CSU’s offense will look moving forward and analyze how Jay Norvell sees, recruits and will look to make Fort Collins the premiere spot it could and should be with the electric Air Raid offense. 

2022 Sneak Peak

So what will this offense look like exactly?

Norvell had five years to build the Nevada Wolf Pack in his image and ultimately it produced a pretty damn good football team. While it will take time for CSU to look anything like the 2021 Wolf Pack, we can still take a look at Nevada’s play throughout the years to project what the Rams will look like moving forward.

The most famous play from the Air Raid is the mesh concept. The two shallow crosses over the middle of the field and gives quarterbacks an easy read. You’ll see wheel routes out of the backfield, posts over the top, deep outs to the sidelines and nearly any other deep to intermediate route attached to this concept.

Similar to mesh, the shallow cross is another staple of the Air Raid that can create an easy catch and run opportunity from any position.

The Air Raid usually cuts the field in half allowing quarterbacks to pick whichever side they prefer on the given down. Concepts can be mirrored on each side or completely different. Carson Strong chooses the field side slot-fade/smash concept against San Diego State’s Cover 3 here.

Flooding zones and putting defenders in tough positions with high/low concepts can be used to gain chunk yardage or simply check down to take a small profit.

Rams Nation got used to watching Trey McBride do it all last year, but expect tight ends moving forward to work the middle of the field for easy gains up the seam or underneath on choice routes and easy coverage beaters like slants, curls and dig routes.

The run game takes a back seat in the Air Raid but running backs remain important with receiving ability taking a massive priority. The screen game is an extension of the run game, especially so in the Air Raid. This is an area we could see someone like A’Jon Vivens potentially thrive next fall. If he sticks around, David Bailey has proven to be a receiving option in the Red Zone as well. 

Norvell’s screen game at Nevada was extremely diverse in how it used all the skill players. Get ready to see screens out of nearly every spread formation imaginable.

The wide receivers and tight ends catching and blocking on the perimeter play as important of a role in the screen game as the backs and linemen do. So everyone on the field is going to be able to hold their own when it comes to the dirty work. 

Gains of two and three will happen often but don’t be surprised if the Rams are able to rip off chunks of yardage or even score from downfield in the screen game. Guys like Dante Wright and Ty McCullouch come to mind here with their ability to create yards after the catch. 

While the Air Raid certainly prioritizes the vertical passing game, the run game still has a role and being able to pick up short gains through the ground in crucial situations will always be a crucial trait of good football teams.

But again, it’s all about the vertical passing game and watching the offense go deep multiple times per game is the best part of watching the Air Raid.

Deep downfield routes are attached to nearly every pass play in the Air Raid. If the matchup is there and the quarterback is confident in his ability to get the throw off and far enough downfield, it’s bombs away.

Designed shot plays like this four verts call will happen more often earlier in the game and on earlier downs with the Air Raid philosophy.

The Air Raid is an exciting offense to watch and creates more potential for shootouts and high-scoring football. A far cry from the Rams’ previous offensive philosophy that was built off a zone run game and the success of it.

Norvell’s Air Raid Vision

Norvell’s path to the Air Raid started in his playing days at Iowa from 1982 to 1985.  Norvell was coached by Hayden Fry who is known for being one of the first coaches to bring a wide-open passing game to the Big Ten.

After his playing career, Norvell quickly got into coaching and contributed to multiple Power 5 and NFL coaching staffs from 1989 to 2007 before he earned himself a job at Oklahoma.

At Oklahoma, Norvell answered to Bob Stoops and was a co-offensive coordinator with Josh Heupel where the Sooners adapted Air Raid philosophies to their playbook and earned a reputation as one of the most explosive passing attacks in the country. Norvell also mentioned how he was influenced by other prominent offensive coaches such as Al Davis, Mike Leech, Hal Mumme and Tom Moore in his first press conference as Colorado State’s head coach.

Norvell has been around some of the brightest and most progressive offensive football coaches of all-time and he has used that knowledge to build an offense that made the Nevada Wolf Pack one of the more exciting and dynamic offenses in the country in his time as head coach.

In his introductory press conference, Norvell laid the foundation for how he expects the Colorado State Rams to look and recruit moving forward.

An emphasis on big, strong players was hammered home repeatedly, specifically at the skill positions. Wide receiver Romeo Doubs (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) and tight end Cole Turner (6-foot-6, 240 pounds) led the Wolf Pack in receiving the last two years.

While Trey McBride is headed off to the NFL, the Rams’ next two leading receivers from 2021, Dante Wright and Ty McCullough, will be returning and should see an increase in production even if they don’t quite fit the profile Norvell has laid out. However, players like Gary Williams could see a dramatic increase in playing time and production.

When talking about quarterbacks Norvell said, “We love strong-armed quarterbacks… It’s just the worst thing in the world when you’re a fan and you go to the stadium and you know your quarterback can’t throw. We’ll work hard not to have that happen here.”

Carson Strong fit that profile perfectly for Norvell at Nevada.

Todd Centeio had his moments for the Rams in 2021 but given the profile that Norvell laid out and the possibility of a new recruit or transfer quarterback coming with Norvell to Fort Collins, it remains to be seen if Centeio will get his shot to lead a high-octane CSU offense in 2022.

Unsurprisingly, Norvell failed to mention the ideal running back or rushing attack for his offense as Nevada never had a player rush for 1,000 yards or carry the ball more than 196 times in a season in Norvell’s five years in Reno.

That being said, when it comes to running the ball, Norvell’s teams have had successful lead-backs that have averaged at least 4.1 yards per carry over Norvell’s five-year run for the Wolf Pack. Having a weapon out of the backfield that can run and catch will still remain a priority for the Rams.

The key difference is CSU will now use the run game as a change of pace rather than the cornerstone of their offense. The 2022 Rams will look completely different and boast an offensive philosophy that is worlds apart from the 2021 squad.

There will be some bumps along the way. Year 1 could be especially interesting, depending on what happens with roster turnover and how easily the new staff is able to implement a completely new system with a team that is currently built to rely on the ground game.

It would be pretty surprising to see the Rams contend next season but given Norvell’s track record and experience, Colorado State football will be a hell of a show to watch moving forward.