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Three things Marc Trestman learned in the CFL

andrew bucholtz

Peter King kicked off a week of CFL coverage at his TheMMQB.com site by giving Chicago Bears' (and former Montreal Alouettes') coach Marc Trestman a guest column about his time north of the border, and Trestman didn't disappoint. While part of his column is devoted to explaining the CFL's differences to Americans (a worthwhile pursuit, but information already known by most existing CFL fans), there are plenty of fascinating tidbits in there about Trestman's approach to Canadian football and how it compared to his experiences in both the NCAA and the NFL. (We've seen this before, as Les Carpenter's great piece on Trestman last year also had substantial takeaways, but the ones in this piece are substantially different. Here are three of the most notable highlights from Trestman's MMQB piece. First, on offensive strategies:

CFL football is a fast and exciting game. I never really changed my football philosophy very much to fit the CFL—because I was convinced you could play the same way we do in the NFL. But without Anthony Calvillo, the all-time leading passer in Canadian football history, the support of GM Jim Popp and the entire organization with so many good football players, I am sure it would have not been possible. ...

The biggest X-and-O lesson I learned in the CFL was “customizing” the West Coast Offense for the shotgun offense that’s used in Canada. In 1995, as the offensive coordinator in San Francisco, I got to know Bill Walsh, and I learned the West Coast Offense as Bill, Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan had taught it. But it was all done with the quarterback under center. In Canada, with all the motion and how fast everything is at the start of every play, it was better to start from the shotgun; we were 100 percent shotgun in Montreal.

When I went to Canada, we decided that even though we had a wider field, we were going to design our passing game as if it was an NFL field. I never thought I was smart enough to figure out the CFL passing philosophy and use of the field, so honestly, I never tried. With Anthony Calvillo, an extremely smart and accurate passer—the Drew Brees of Canada—we were able to get this done during a very short two-week training camp.

It's interesting to hear that Trestman's offence in Canada was essentially the same as what he did in the NFL and NCAA except for putting the quarterback in shotgun instead of under centre. Of course, that sort of high-percentage short-pass-focused "West Coast" scheme found great success for CFL teams both before and after Trestman, so he wasn't the first to bring it here. The amount of emphasis he placed on completion percentage was interesting, though, and it was the perfect scheme for Anthony Calvillo at that stage of his career; Calvillo found a great deal of success before Trestman, but he posted some of his best numbers during the five seasons Trestman spent in Montreal despite being 34 and older at that time. In some ways, the West Coast offence is even a better fit for the CFL than it is for American football; with just three downs to work with, incomplete passes kill you more in Canada than they do south of the border. That leads into the next point here, Trestman on going for it on third down:

Because you have three downs to make a first down instead of four like U.S. football, most people would say, “You’ve got to make a first down in two downs, or punt on third down.” But because the defense is a yard off the ball, if you are third-and-one or less, most teams go for it. So if you make nine yards on two downs your chances of moving the chains are very good.

It's fascinating to hear the all-three-downs strategy explained that way, as this corner has been advocating for more aggressive play on third downs for a long time. It's also interesting to hear how Trestman figures it's easier to pick up a short-yardage gain in the CFL thanks to the one-yard neutral zone; that should incentivize coaches to gamble perhaps even more than they currently do. Trestman walked the walk while in Canada, too; his team was the second-best in the league from an optimal third-down-decision standpoint in 2011, and their 2010 Grey Cup win may have been affected by their successful third-down choices (and Saskatchewan's less-successful ones). We'll see if others follow in his footsteps, but those decisions can particularly matter in a league where no lead is safe, Trestman's third key point:

Finally, you are never out of a game in the CFL. In the final three minutes of each half the clock stops after every play. With three-down football, you can have five or six exchanges of possession in the final three minutes. There is no protecting the lead in the CFL, believe me. I can give you a great example of that.

In the 2009 Grey Cup, against Saskatchewan, the game was played in Calgary. We got off to an awful start, and we were down 17-3 at the half, then down 27-11 with 10 minutes to go. Then everything came together for us on offense, defense, and special teams. Our players made big plays at exactly the right time. We got to within 27-25 with five seconds left, and our kicker, Damon Duval, lined up for the last play of the game, a field goal. He kicked … and missed. Right away, flags began to fly, and Saskatchewan picked up the missed field goal and started running downfield. But the call was against Saskatchewan—13 men on the field. That’s a 10-yard penalty. So with no time left on the clock, we got to try a 33-yard field goal, and Damon made it. We won, 28-27. The stars were aligned. It was really an act of God, and a great illustration of what happens when the ball changes hands so often in three-down football.

Saskatchewan fans may not be happy to have those memories reawakened, but that really was one of the most incredible games ever, especially for those of us who were lucky enough to be there. It's really just the perfect example of a larger point, though; you can never give up in the CFL. Part of that's thanks to the differing rules, especially around kicking (a topic Trestman discusses elsewhere in his column, and one that saw his team involved in another memorable finish) and the clock, but another part of it is the higher-scoring, pass-focused nature of the game. The uncertainty right down to the wire is a big part of the CFL's appeal, and it can make for some fascinating finishes. It can also put a lot of game-management pressure on coaches, as can unconventional situations off the field (such as holding walkthroughs in airports during flight delays, a situation he also describes). Trestman clearly survived the CFL's gauntlet, and the impressive job he and his Canadian-influenced staff in Chicago have done so far is great for the league's profile. It's terrific to see him speak so favourably of the league and what it meant for him, and the insights he has to offer about the CFL could prove very useful for both Canadian and American coaches.