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Forget investing in an expensive Left Tackle. Let's just return to 1978's Wing-T Offense:
In 1978, Marv Levy, who at that time was the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, decided to employ an offense called the Wing-T offense. Many historians claim that Glenn “Pop” Warner first introduced the offense back in 1912, but there are several other former coaches who laid claim to its invention. Marv Levy did not invent it, but he utilized it in 1978, to offset the fact that he needed to use up the game clock.
Huh? Use up the game clock? Yes. Kansas City’s defense had surrendered over 300 points each year from 1975 to 1978. Levy wanted to keep possession of the ball and keep his defense on the sidelines, and the Wing-T Offense permitted his offense to do that. The formation utilized three running backs in odd locations in the Chiefs’ offensive backfield. It usually included a myriad of fakes and misdirection runs, and it almost always included a man-in-motion prior to the snap of the ball. Levy described the Wing-T as “grueling” and “consistent.” The key to its success was its deceptive nature.
Retired Chiefs historian Bob Moore explained that “Ball handling was crucial with the Wing-T, especially with the dimension of a third back. What caused confusion for the (opposing) defenses was the number of flows and split flows that the offense ran.”
In 1978, Levy’s Wing-T offense racked up 2,986 rushing yards, which was the second most in the league. The key to stopping the Wing-T was a defense with outstanding speed, in particular on the outside. A quality 3-4 defense such as that of the Denver Broncos...one with quick and active linebackers...was one defense which showed the rest of the NFL how to stop (or at least slow down) the Wing-T. Most teams did not have enough quality running backs to effectively run the Wing-T, and by the end of the decade, the Wing-T disappeared from the NFL.
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