re: Alabama Hires Patriots' TE Brian Daboll as Offensive Coordinator

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In 2010, Jake Delhomme was nearing the end of his career. By then, he had pretty much seen it all. He was 35 years old, beginning his first and only season with the Cleveland Browns.

His offensive coordinator was Brian Daboll, who was a few months younger than the veteran quarterback. Delhomme doesn't have many fond memories from that time because an ankle injury limited him to four starts during his short tenure with the AFC North doormat. But he did come away with a favorable impression of the man shouting plays into his helmet headset.

In their brief time together, Daboll earned Delhomme's respect and taught him a few things, too.

"I loved being around him," Delhomme said. "He's a fantastic X-and-O football coach.... I was lucky enough to have a pretty good background after playing for a while.  But there were still many things I learned from him, the nuances of a defense and things that I thought were fantastic."

It's why Dehomme is convinced Daboll will have success at Alabama, where he was hired as offensive coordinator earlier this week. Delhomme, the former Carolina Panthers star, described Daboll as a "great teacher."

"I always felt like I was getting better by being around him because I was acquiring more knowledge," said former quarterback Chad Pennington.

Daboll was Pennington's position coach for one season with the New York Jets in 2007 during which the former Marshall star posted a 1-7 record and was eventually benched. Even as his tenure as the Jets' starter was nearing an end, Pennington grew close to Daboll, who instructed the quarterback on what to look for when reading coverages. Having coached and played defense, Daboll understood how to attack one. 

"Whether three-by-one, or two-by-two, the motion, a shift, what those things do to a defense, Brian knows that," Delhomme said. "That's what helps him as an offensive coach."

So does his willingness to adapt, according to Pennington. Game plans evolve week to week based on the opponent. It's part of the fabric of the New England Patriots system in which Daboll was indoctrinated and whose hallmark is its multiplicity. 

"Just because one thing or one scheme or one thought process worked one week doesn't mean he will implement and employ the same thought process the next," Pennington said. "He's going to be versatile and not be stubborn, saying, 'OK, we're going to do this and we're not going to care what the defense does.' They really pay attention to who they are playing against and how to attack them."

It's no wonder then that Daboll became the leading candidate to replace Steve Sarkisian -- or more accurately -- Lane Kiffin. Kiffin proved his worth to Alabama coach Nick Saban by showing he could be flexible. He incorporated a hurry-up mode and built his offense around exploiting individual mismatches, which required strategy adjustments every game. 

"He's done a phenomenal job in the three years that he has been with us relative to taking the players that we had and actually molding a system, especially for the quarterback to be successful in and I think those are signs of tremendous maturity as a coach who is just not committed to a system but is committed to doing the things he has to do to help players be successful," Saban said last December.

The one knock on Kiffin was his ability to develop the technical aspects of Jalen Hurts, the rising sophomore who has yet to grow into a refined passer. Pennington is uncertain whether Daboll is capable of making Hurts better in that regard, expressing surprise that Alabama didn't assign another staff member to coach quarterbacks.

"They may be doing that in the future," Pennington said. "I don't think [Daboll's] expertise is in fundamental quarterback work or being a quarterback technician. I do think he can improve the quarterback from a scheme and read perspective."

Then again, that may be good enough for Hurts, who has considerable arm strength but has struggled to process the action in front of him. In October, Saban acknowledged that the coaching staff had limited the scope of Hurts' reads to one half of the field and streamlined the playbook because they didn't want to give him too much to digest. With Daboll in charge, Hurts could conceivably benefit even if the same restrictions are in place.

"New England's stuff is very concept driven and quarterbacks will understand concepts for each side of the field," Pennington explained. "There will be certain concepts and those concepts have certain rules. [The Patriots] have always been very good about the spacing of their routes and that everything has a rhyme and reason... I think it's a quarterback-friendly system and it gives the quarterback a chance to really show his skill-set and be the field general of the offense."

And as Delhomme said, "The best coaches put their players in a position to succeed."

"I think Brian is going to find out Jalen Hurts' strengths and will focus on his strengths," he continued. "Brian will make him a very cerebral quarterback. That's one thing Brian will do. This kid will feel very confident walking onto the field. [Daboll] won't sleep to make sure his players are extremely well-prepared and he does a great job of teaching to make guys want to learn."

Delhomme is living proof. Back in 2010, with Daboll whispering in his ear, the old dog picked up a few more tricks before they eventually parted ways.

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