Count Steelers coach Mike Tomlin among those who thinks that the read-option offense is less a revolution than a blip on the screen.
Tomlin was asked about the proliferation of offenses that run plays out of read-option schemes in Phoenix on Tuesday and said he was a skeptic because of the amount of hits quarterbacks wind up taking when they run the ball more frequently. Tomlin admitted that his opinion could be proven wrong, however.
“I think the read-option is the flavor of the month. We’ll see whether it’s the flavor of the year. A few years ago, people were talking wildly about the Wildcat. It’s less of a discussion now,” Tomlin said, via Jarrett Bell of USA Today. “I think there are coaches in rooms preparing themselves to defend it, there are coaches in rooms also preparing to run it. I think it’s going to sort out on the grass.”
That last bit is the most important, regardless of whether or not you think read-option schemes will prove to have more staying factor than the Wildcat. The Wildcat stopped working well because defenses prepared for it and stopped it. If they didn’t, it wouldn’t have been a flavor of the month and the same is true of the read-option. It will be in fashion for exactly as long as it keeps helping teams win games.