Borges to look at Washington and 49ers film for the 2013 offense (per Heiko)

I could not understand how those pro-style teams adjusted so well to the spread and we struggled so badly in incorporating concepts. The interesting thing I noticed is how they run pro-style and would switch to the zone read which just crushed the keys of the LBs. I saw games with Seattle vs Bears and Washington vs Dallas where the defense was clueless. They also actually read a defensive player instead of blocking them all like Al prefers.

My thoughts exactly. Chris Ault seems to be pretty willing to consult about it with NFL coaches but maybe he'd be hesitant with another college coach. The likelyhood of Nevada and Michigan playing each other this year is almost zero though.

If I am not mistaken he retired this year as well so he might be more willing to consult with another program.

Ah, the offseason, when every aspect of the team is supposed to improve.

But seriously, I agree with what your wrote, with the caveat that I don't know how the pass offense will be next year with 3 new starters on the interior.  Run blocking should improve though, because that can't get any worse.

The issue will be the O-line performance and, hence, the running game.  If we can  knock the d-line back and unleash some combination of Fitz / Green / Smith with effectiveness, then Gardner will be hugely successful.  If not, he will have an up and down season.  The good news is that there is reason to be optimistic about the line.  

Hold horses sir.  Interior offensive line is going to be very young.  Even at Lewan's talent level a few yrs back there were a lot of mistakes at that age and these 3 are not going to be 3 Lewan's.  The tackles should be better (slightly) just by age and experience.

RBs should be better just because last year was horrid.  QB we shall see - I think better but I dont know.  Gardner showed relatively poor accuracy in last few games but hopefully a step up.

WRs a wash, hopefully some young buck adds an X factor.

So I think think having new RB blood will help but the interior line is going to test your patience, especially the first 6-8 games.  

On the plus side far easier schedule.

which was our base running play with Denard, so there is something to build on there. More importantly, what Chris Brown from Smart Football points out with respect to SF, is that

The read option is actually just something the 49ers have grafted onto their existing running plays. It’s a concept that can be incorporated into almost any existing blocking scheme. Harbaugh and Roman have chosen to blend old-school ideas with the new-school read option, and it’s come with tremendous success.

Brown points out in the same article that SF's fullback also makes a read -- if the DE crashes, he lets him go and blocks the scraping linebacker. If the DE stays home, then the fullback blocks him. If the DE goes for the QB, then the fullback blocks the nearest linebacker.

Your comment about man vs zone isn't really true.  The beauty of what Harbaugh and the 49ers are doing is that they're incorporating spread-option runnning plays into their already existing traditional man blocking concepts.

Did you happen to catch the TD run by Frank Gore in the SB?  Was that a variation on a trap play?  Was that a trap counter?

The main benificiaries of the pistol read option plays for SF and Wash were Frank Gore and Alfred Morris, both backs who look and run like I believe Green runs. Their running plays simply provide more blockers at the point of attack. 

The fear is legitimate and obviously you don't want to kill the guy, but you have to do what puts you in the position to win games. Players get hurt in football and I understand the desire to avoid that, but at what cost? If running Gardner a certain number of times a game to open the offense can win us games we otherwise wouldn't, it is worth the risk of injury. Utilize your assets, run the best gameplan you have and plan for the worst in case something happens. We have the players to do that.

don't necessarily run the QB all that often. Play choice where the QB can run (so long as he does it every now and again) can be enough to have the desired schematic effect. If the QB is a potential running threat, that threat has to be accounted for by the defense.

However, like the NFL offenses in question, i assume that Gardner's legs will be the check down. He's shown good ability to both throw on the run and make that choice correctly. If the defense is going to give you 10-15 yards, take them and fall down.

Is this good or bad news?

last year Borges was still trying to learn how to run a spread offense, and how to utilize Denard effectively.  It would be a bit much to incorporate even more new offensive strategies/formations/plays.  There is only so much that you can implement as a coordinator and teach to the players in a given time.  I imagine the focus of the offense will be shifting towards something Borges is more comfortable running and that allows him to add some different things to his playbook this year. 

It would have been a lot to ask of him to learn two new systems in a year.  It is not going to be suddenly finding the light but I think Borges will gradually incorporate new things. 

The thing you might notice about these newfangled NFL offenses (two of three are referenced here, but i'll include Seattle) is that the QBs running them can pass effectively. All the scheming in the world doesn't help if the offense is effectively one dimensional and you don't have an overpowering O-line.

Also, these kids have limited time to learn things and are still developing their skills. If Denard had a hard time incorporating new concepts into the offense and running them, then it's really not possible.

Borges used the Pistol formation from time to time in 2010 with Ryan Lindley. There's a bit of a misconception that you need a running QB to utilize the Pistol. Petrino used it at Arkansas with Mallett. Okalhoma St utilized it with Brandon Weeden. Both were and are pure pocket passers.

We already debuted the pistol against OSU and used it against South Carolina.  Granted, in true Borges style we only ran one play out of the look but the fake inverted veer sweep to Denard was from full house pistol. 

Gruden even pointed it out during the bowl game although he laughably attributed the formation to the Redskins rather than Utah...

and that is, "Just hit the QB whenever you get the chance". I am pretty sure teams are even going to be willing to take a few early penalties if they get the option to just clobber Wilson, Kaepernick, or RGIII.