TEMPE, Ariz. -- Mike LaFleur is a football coach, not a magician, but his offense in his first year as the Arizona Cardinals' head coach will be based on a primary tenant of magic.
Illusion.
"The reason this does so well is it thrives off complimentary looks and simplicity with the illusion of complexity through motions, similar formations," quarterback Gardner Minshew II said. "We really don't do a ton off each look, but just enough to put a seed of doubt, and the idea is that we're going to get really good at what we do."
The phrase "illusion of complexity" was a buzz phrase for the Cardinals throughout OTAs and minicamp. The goal in LaFleur's version of the West Coast offense is to make defenses think they're doing one thing but they'll do something else, players explained. It seems elementary at its core, something that every team strives to do.
However, pulling it off is harder than it seems. Everything, to a point, that Arizona will do will look the same, tight end Trey McBride said.
"Maybe we're going to run a play-action off of it, and the next one we're going to run the actual run," he said. "So, it's really cool to see how he's able to utilize that, how he's able to move people around."
The Cardinals may run a play in back-to-back games with just one slight adjustment with a motion or formation, LaFleur said.
Motions will be a core principle of LaFleur's "illusion of complexity," but he said there won't be wasted movements.
"I always say you don't want to just motion to motion," LaFleur said. "There should always be a reason to why you're motioning. Whether you're changing leverages, changing matchups."
He compared motions to the current state of basketball, where offenses are using a number of screens to get the matchups they want. It's the the same thing in football, LaFleur said.
"It used to be when you're going against defenses, you motion and maybe that guy would run with them," he added. "The best corner would run with the best receiver. It's not necessarily like that anymore because people don't want to tell you what they're doing. They want to keep their guys anchored. They want to keep their nickel anchored. Not everybody, but I mean, that's where the league has been trending a little bit."
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