The Carolina Chaos’s excellent year on defense is being overshadowed by consistent woes on offense. 

At the beginning of the season, the Chaos changed from two-man games to two-handed dodging on offense. 

The change looked promising after the offense scored double-digit goals in three consecutive games (16 vs. Denver, 12 vs. California and 12 vs. New York). However, in each those games, the team went on long runs without goals and lacked consistency. It was destined to crash and burn at some point, and it did. 

The team’s next two games were forgettable on offense: seven goals against Utah and six on Philadelphia.

After a two-week hiatus from playing due to a bye week and All-Star Weekend, eyes were on the Chaos offense and what would be different. 

The change was stylistic. The Chaos reverted from two-handed dodging to pairs offense in their matchup with the Maryland Whipsnakes in Fairfield. 

Why?

“We were kind of looking at the strengths of our team and how it was built and the fact that we were struggling to create high-quality shots,” head coach and general manager Andy Towers said after the game, which Carolina won 10-9 in overtime. “We needed a change schematically, but we didn’t need something that was more complicated.”

Pairs offense has often been a mainstay in the Chaos schemes. Josh Byrne works well in pairs because he’s excellent at working his two-man games. Byrne has been the best attackman on the Chaos all season with 17 points (7G, 10A).

Byrne loves to use screens from teammates to create easy looks for himself because he doesn’t need much space to operate. Playing a style that fits Byrne’s style of play can help open up his goal-scoring ability as he’s taken a bigger facilitator role.

From there, rookies Shane Knobloch, Eric Dobson and Ross Scott can start to showcase their games more. 

Dobson has the perfect body frame to be an excellent picker for his teammates and has the IQ to make the right reads as a dodger or mirror man in the offense. Dobson can dominate short-stick defensive midfielders if they slide to him or are matched up on him. Working two-mans to get Dobson in a mismatch can help generate more on offense. 

Knobloch is better when working in a pairs scheme because he thrives from working off picks to create his offense. It showed against the Whipsnakes when Knobloch scored two goals, including the overtime winner. 

If the Chaos have their first- and second-round picks clicking in the same game, the offense will score more than 10 goals again. 

Pairs offense allows for that to happen. 

The Chaos have a plethora of guys who can dodge and create offense for each other. Operating in pairs allows the coaching staff to pick the best duos to put in different spots over the field to create offense. 

Pairs offense has nuances that force players to read and react from what they create in two-man games. Because of the read-and-react quality of pairs, it will grant more freedom to each ball-handler, which is what many of Carolina’s offensive personnel are used to. 

For the pairs offense to fully work, Scott needs to make his presence at X more profound. If he can start working two-man games from down low to create offense up top for midfielders behind the two-point line, the Chaos can start to fire more deep shots. The Chaos have attempted a league-low 22 two-pointers this season.  

Taking more two-pointers will help open up the middle of opposing defenses because it will force the defense to stretch and respect the deep ball. Brayden Mayea and Tye Kurtz are good inside scorers and can ramp up their production as the offense opens up their area of impact more. 

The switch to pairs offense for the Chaos opened up some success against Maryland, but it will take more time and discipline to get the offense fully on track. The Chaos need a fully functioning offense as they push to make the playoffs. 

Luckily for the Chaos offense, its next test is the California Redwoods, who allow the third-most scores per game. Figuring out the identity of the offense will be a priority against California. 

If the Chaos don’t produce more offense soon, it may be back to the drawing board again.