The Los Angeles Chargers hire Kellen Moore to take over playcalling duties from Joe Lombardi. This can be seen as a massive upgrade at offensive coordinator. The Chargers will still need to hire a quarterbacks coach, but they got themselves quite the leader on the offensive side of the ball.
Kellen Moore High School and College Career
Associated Press
Kellen Moore comes from a great football family. His father was a high school head coach from 1986 to 2008, winning four state championships over his coaching career. Of course, Kellen Moore played for his father, and he became the Washington Gatorade Player of the Year. He set numerous records for the state including touchdowns (173) and completions (317). Moore finished his high school career with 11,367 total yards and actually called his own plays beginning his junior year. His prolific high school career landed him a scholarship at Boise State.
After redshirting his freshman year, Moore became a starter for the Broncos, leading Boise State to an undefeated regular season. They lost to TCU in the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl, but Moore was named the Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, and 2nd-Team All-WAC. As a Sophomore, Moore broke school records with a 39 touchdown season to just three interceptions, and led Boise State to another undefeated season, this time beating TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. Moore finished 7th in Heisman voting ,and was the NCAA D-1A leader in passer efficiency rating with a 167.3.
In 2010, Kellen Moore continued to rise in quarterback rankings, this time as a finalist for the Heisman, Davey O’Brian Award, Maxwell Award, and the Manning Award. While Cam Newton ran away with all the major end of year awards, Moore proved again to be one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the NCAA, passing for 3,506 yards, 33 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. He returned to Boise for his senior season.
Moore was ranked by Sporting News as the No.1 player returning to college football and was a favorite for the Heisman Trophy. He broke Colt McCoy’s record for most wins by a quarterback in NCAA history with a 50-3 record. Moore ended his collegiate career near the top of many NCAA career records, with 14,667 passing yards (6th-most), 142 touchdowns (2nd-most), and just 28 interceptions over a four year career.
Kellen Moore Enters the NFL
Kellen Moore had an illustrious collegiate career, but that didn’t translate as well to the NFL. As a sub 6’0” quarterback in an era where measurables at the quarterback position mattered more then then do today, Moore went un-drafted and signed to the Detroit Lions practice squad. He was considered accurate, but lacked the big arm, played in a small conference, and was buried in a deep quarterbacks class that included Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin, Ryan Tannehill, Kirk Cousins, and Russell Wilson. There were 11 quarterbacks drafted and Kellen Moore didn’t make the cut.
Moore remained on the Lions roster for three seasons before he landed as the backup to Tony Romo and Brandon Weeden in 2015. Moore would go on to start two games at the end of the season, including a game he threw for over 400 yards and three touchdowns, but he never got another chance to play in a game. He stuck around the Cowboys practice squad until he retired in 2018.
Shortly after Kellen Moore retired as a player, Jason Garrett hired Moore to be the quarterbacks coach to Dak Prescott. The next season, Moore was promoted to offensive coordinator. When Mike McCarthy became the Cowboy’s head coach, Moore was retained as offensive coordinator and has remained in his role as a play-caller since 2019. After the 2022 season, Mike McCarthey and Kellen Moore mutually decided to go their separate ways.
Kellen Moore - The Good
(Associated Press)
Kellen Moore remained as the Cowboy’s offensive coordinator for four seasons, and in that time, the Cowboys were known for their high powered offenses. In terms of points per game, the Cowboy’s ranked 7th in 2019, 17th in 2020, 1st in 2021, and 3rd in 2022. The 2020 season also included an injury to Dak Prescott, who was lost for the year with a broken ankle early in the year. This season, Prescott missed time also, and Cooper Rush was still able to help the Cowboys win four if five games.
Over his tenure, the Cowboys were also known for their balanced attack. They could throw for 350 yards per game, or rush for 150 depending on the game plan they wish to employ . Each season, they found a way to utilize all their offensive weapons and never really struggled to move the ball. Moore likes to run the ball out of more two tight end and fullback sets, which creates advantages in the run game. They run less out of true shotgun sets, opting to throw when the quarterback is not directly behind center.
Kellen Moore - The Bad
Kellen Moore runs a somewhat similar scheme in the passing game. The sticks and curls route combinations makes up the foundation of Moores play-calling. He uses it to set up bigger plays by forcing the defense to play tighter to the line of scrimmage, which opens up passing lanes to the deep to intermediate part of the field. This is the exact reason that Charger fans were so tired of Joe Lombardi.
PFF did a very interesting article called “Which NFL offenses use the most unique schemes?” Joe Lombardi’s offense in 2021 was graded as the least unique, with Moores offense graded as 30th least unique in the NFL. The most unique schemes were Kyle Shanahan (49ers), Kliff Kindsbury (Cardinals), Sean McVay (Rams) and Andy Reid (Chiefs). This proves that Moore is not the most innovative coach, which is what fans want to see. After all, defenses are known to win championships while offense sell seats, and fans buying tickets want to see offenses that are fun to watch.
Bottom Line
Kellen Moore has a proven track record and the stick and curls route combinations does not have to be a handcuff in an offense if employed correctly. If the Chargers can become an offense that runs a less complicated scheme, but become very efficient at employing that scheme, there is nothing wrong with that. There is no right or wrong scheme in the NFL. The best teams simply find a way to execute the game plan, regardless of what that game plan is.
PFF called the former Cowboy’s offense coordinator the second best offensive coordinator in the NFL after the 2021 season. Moore has also been linked to NFL Head Coach positions after he interviewed for multiple teams last off-season. The Chargers reached out to Kellen Moore for an interview as soon as he was made available.
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