Forsaking His Line of Defense : Football: ‘Old-line NFLer’ Jack Pardee has a run-and-shoot offense? That’s evolution.

For Jack Pardee to be coaching the run-and-shoot offense seems totally out of character.

When Pardee was hired by the Chargers in 1981 as assistant head coach in charge of defense, newspapers ran such headlines as “Mr. Defense,” “Secretary of Defense,” “Pardee to the Rescue” and “Pardee Puts Touch of Picasso Into Chargers’ Defense.”

Pardee, who played linebacker in the NFL, was so heavily into defense that it almost seemed as though taking possession of the ball was offensive to him. In six seasons as an NFL head coach--three each with the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins--he was noted for his conservative approach to offense.

But here is Pardee today, espousing the aggressive, high-risk run-and-shoot as the new coach of the Houston Oilers, who will meet the Chargers Sunday at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. Instead of run, run, run, he teaches pass, pass, pass. It doesn’t figure.

Said Sid Gillman, who coached Pardee with the Rams and worked for him in Chicago: “I’m really amazed.”

Jim Laslavic, sports director of KNSD (Channel 39), was a linebacker in the season Pardee spent with the Chargers. He is equally surprised.

“Jack is one of the last guys I would expect to turn to something so revolutionary,” Laslavic said. “At least, it’s evolutionary. He’s an old-line NFLer. He played for George Allen, and he coached so conservatively in Chicago and Washington. It’s hard to believe.”

If you press Pardee, 54, for an explanation, he makes his change of direction appear logical. He even traces his switch to a passing offense--although not necessarily the run-and-shoot--to his season in San Diego on Don Coryell’s staff.

“I came to a conclusion when I was in San Diego with Coryell,” Pardee said. “I decided that if you’re ever going to do more than beat bad teams, you can’t be one-dimensional.

“Being on the defensive side of the ball, you realize a lot of the things that give you problems, and the biggest thing is the pass. You have to run, too, but it’s hard to do that all the time and win anymore in the NFL.”

The last statement brought back memories for Don Pierson, a Chicago Tribune writer who covered the Bears when Pardee was their coach.

“Jack was the most defense-minded coach I’ve ever seen,” Pierson said. “He just tolerated offense. One time I asked him to list Walter Payton’s attributes, and the first thing he mentioned was pursuit. He was thinking primarily of what Payton did after an interception.

“Sid Gillman was with Pardee in ’77 when Payton gained a record 275 yards and the Bears won just 10-7 (against Minnesota). Gillman was really upset after that game. He said to Pardee, ‘How can you have anyone run for 275 yards and score only one touchdown?’ Sid thought it was embarrassing.”

Gillman was a master of the passing game--perhaps the master--and couldn’t help but be frustrated by Pardee’s emphasis on the run. When Pardee resigned after the 1977 season to take the Washington job, Gillman didn’t go with him. Instead, he became athletic director at U.S. International.

“There was a clash of personalities between Gillman and Pardee,” Pierson said. “After bringing Sid in and having him spread out the receivers, Jack totally ignored him.”

Both coaches denied having had trouble co-existing in Chicago.

Said Gillman: “Jack was a real great fella, a credit to the coaching profession. It was a fine year, and I enjoyed working with him very much. I had a little problem with one of the assistants on the defensive side, but it was very minor.”

And Pardee: “Sid was my first pro coach. I love Sid and Esther (Mrs. Gillman). Sid is smart, and he’s a strategist without a peer. He taught me a lot.”

Asked if he had considered asking Gillman to join him in Washington, Pardee said, “I did, yes, but he was kind of anxious to get back out to California.”

As complimentary as they are of each other, Gillman doesn’t hesitate to say he disapproves of Pardee’s venture into the run-and-shoot, which dispenses with the tight end and calls for four wide receivers and one running back.

“I’m not a run-and-shoot guy,” Gillman said. “I just feel that you can’t play without a tight end. At times, when the situation presents itself, I would use four wide receivers and take out the tight end, but certainly not on a regular basis.

“The fact that the quarterback works so close to the line of scrimmage, if he isn’t sacked, he’s hit. In the Tampa Bay-Detroit game the other night, Rodney Peete almost got killed.

“I don’t know how long a quarterback will last in that system. He had better be able to run.”

Told of Gillman’s comments, Pardee said, “Sid is from the old school of thought, but one of the hardest things to do is to get a tight end to do all the things you want a tight end to do. I have more success finding running backs and wide receivers than finding tight ends.

“As for getting my quarterback (Warren Moon) hurt, I don’t worry about that. If he doesn’t hold the ball too long and if they don’t hit him late, which is illegal, he’ll be OK.”

Moon is so happy to be working for gentlemanly Pardee instead of much-disliked Jerry Glanville, now coach of the Atlanta Falcons, that he doesn’t mind taking a few extra licks from pass-rushers.

“It’s a pleasant change,” Moon said. “There’s a more businesslike atmosphere here. Jerry was strictly a hands-on coach. Jack is more laid back, more like an observer. He lets his assistants run things.

“I don’t know if the run-and-shoot makes my job more dangerous. People think because I move out of the pocket so much that I’ll take more of a beating, but that’s not true. It depends on how much I throw the football and how good the blocking is.”

Pardee might never have been converted to the run-and-shoot if it hadn’t been for an unusual combination of circumstances.

The Charger defense plunged from sixth to 27th in the NFL while Pardee was in charge, and even the AFC West title they won with a high-powered offense couldn’t save his job.

Pardee went from the Chargers into private business, but when the short-lived United States Football League was founded in 1983, he was named coach of the Houston Gamblers. His offensive coordinator was Mouse Davis, who had been using the run-and-shoot for years, so he decided to take a flyer on it. Davis now is the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions.

Remarkably, Pardee has been in Houston since, but in three different jobs. When the USFL folded, he went to the University of Houston, where his Cougars sent NCAA offensive records tumbling in every direction. Last season, they averaged 53.5 points, 511.3 passing yards and 624.9 total yards, all best in the nation.

Among Houston’s nine victories a year ago was a 95-21 humiliation of Forrest Gregg’s Southern Methodist team, reborn after a two-year death penalty. Gregg didn’t complain, but Glanville made a nasty deal of it after his Falcons defeated Pardee’s Oilers, 47-27, in the season opener this year.

Said Glanville: “I’m giving the game ball to Forrest Gregg, because that total jerk ran up the score last year. Texas can kiss my butt.”

Pardee rarely says a bad thing about anybody, but he made an exception in this case: “Glanville always knows what a jerk is.”

Pardee has tried to change the Oilers’ reputation, picked up under Glanville, for taking cheap shots.

“I gave my players a message the first day,” Pardee said. “You can’t intimidate people in the NFL. If you try, all you do is self-destruct with 15-yard penalties.”