McElroy did an informative Q&A session with the Star-Ledger’s Jenny Vrentas, who does an excellent job on the Jets beat.
The 24-year-old quarterback was asked what some of the differences are between Sparano’s system compared to Schottenheimer’s system, and McElroy, like many of his teammates, pointed to the simplicity of it.
“You can get in and out of the huddle faster,” he said. “I think a big part of what coach Sparano is wanting to do is increase tempo and run more plays, so maybe by having less words, then it really helps as far as getting out of the huddle. Last year, we might tag eight different routes, there’s six or seven different guys on things in the play call, where it would just get a little wordy at times. It’s just a lot easier getting in and out of the huddle and everybody knowing what to do.”
Although the actual verbiage of the play calls is simpler, that doesn’t mean that the plays themselves are lacking.
“We have just as many plays [as last year's playbook] if not more,” McElroy mentioned, “but as far as the amount of words that are said in the huddle, it is significantly less.”
