Air Coryell

In American football, Air Coryell is the name given to the offensive scheme and philosophy developed by former San Diego Chargers coach Don Coryell. Besides the term "Air Coryell", the offensive philosophy developed by Coryell has been called the "Coryell offense" or the "vertical offense".

With Dan Fouts as quarterback, the San Diego Chargers' offense was among the greatest passing offenses in National Football League history. The Chargers led the league in passing yards an NFL record five consecutive years from 1979 to 1983 and again in 1985. They also led the league in total yards in offense 1978–83 and 1985. Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner, and Kellen Winslow would all be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame from those Charger teams.

Pre-Coryell NFL

The pro set was the default NFL scheme prior to Don Coryell. While it is more of a formation, the underlying philosophy of the pro set was based on becoming more successful when a team was forced to pass by providing 1 or even 2 backs to help protect the QB. Prior to Coryell, the pro set was generally a running offense that used play action fakes to set up deep passing attempts when defenses stacked up vs the running game.