Is the passing game changing football ? - New England Patriots Forums

Kid~Brady · 09-29-2011, 12:35 PM

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Teams are committed to win through the air. It used to be said that in order to be competitive in the NFL, you had to be able to run the ball and stop the run. That's not the correct formula anymore. Take the 2011 NFL draft as an example. The best running back available, 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram, wasn't selected until the 28th overall pick. This also was a draft that saw the Falcons make a blockbuster trade to move up and select impact receiver, Julio Jones, at No. 6. And Jones wasn't even the first wide receiver taken -- A.J. Green was selected by the Bengals two picks earlier. This shows just how important it is to have an explosive offense and be able to keep up with teams in a shootout.

Having said all that, I fear we may be losing the essence of what makes this game special. Both the college game and the NFL have evolved to this at the price of losing some of the physicality that distinguishes it from other sports. I am not sure what the league can do to dial it back. You can't go back and take the protections off the quarterback. The reason for that change, safety, still applies. But perhaps we need to go back to giving defensive backs the ability to play more aggressively down the field. I am afraid the train has already left the station, but I think it at least needs to be discussed.

Will all of the mention of why we were passing the ball so much and whats going on with our OC, thought this might be cool to post.

Full article here: NFL.com news: Passing game is changing football, but may not be for better

***Patriots Nation NY*** · 09-29-2011, 12:53 PM

2003 Patriots were the ember that started this fire ..

cavtroop · 09-29-2011, 12:56 PM

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Originally Posted by Patriots Nation NY

2003 Patriots were the ember that started this fire ..

99-00 Rams say hello.

It's not just the Patriots. I think BB recognized this, and changed the team to be more competitive via the air game.

I agree with the gist of the article. The more the NFL becomes like Madden, the less likely I am to stay a hardcore fan.

PATRIOTSFANINPA · 09-29-2011, 01:01 PM

There aren't any GREAT defenses in the league this year

There are some good defenses like Houston and Baltimore,There are decent defenses and there are mediocre and poor defenses as well.

That may be a good reason why passing is such a popular thing these days

When Mark Sanchez throws for nearly 400 yards...times have changed

Patriot Missile · 09-29-2011, 01:12 PM

The running game will cycle it's way back in one day. There will be a team that designs a run offense that teams will not be able to stop that controls the clock effectively and teams will try to emulate this.

Passing games are premium now but the problem is there are not too many teams that have defenses that are equipped to stop it. This is the main problem right now and I'm not sure if it the new safety rules or just the total evolution of the offenses. Take a look around, As of week 4, I haven't seen one defense that is elite in the NFL.

In baseball people we're in love with the Home run. In football, people have always been enamored with the deep ball. We saw what happened in 98 when 50 homeruns was becoming the standard for the great players in the league. The sport became stale. Is football heading down that road if the deep ball becomes the norm every other play?

4000 yards is becoming more frequent among QB's and someday soon we may have 4 QB's that throw for 5000 in the same season. 300 yard passing days were considered a very good day for a QB, they too are now becoming standard. Ofcourse are boy TFB sets the bar higher with closer to 400 yard pg avg.

I don't know, got see how the defenses evolve before I claim this is a bad thing.

Dessalines · 09-29-2011, 01:20 PM

Uh, this is football and their is nothing new under the football sun. Right now it looks like the pass is the new and dominant thing but it isn't. Anybody ever heard of "Air Coryell and Dan Fouts? Yeah that looked good for a while till defenses caught up. Great numbers but they never won a championship.

Then there was Jerry Glanville and the ole run & shoot, lord save me.

The run will be important for cold weather teams and those teams will need, and will go to the run come winter. I note that the Raiders are running their way to victory. It's football, there is no one thing on offense, it only seems that way right now when the weather is calm.

cavtroop · 09-29-2011, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dessalines

Uh, this is football and their is nothing new under the football sun. Right now it looks like the pass is the new and dominant thing but it isn't. Anybody ever heard of "Air Coryell and Dan Fouts? Yeah that looked good for a while till defenses caught up. Great numbers but they never won a championship.

Then there was Jerry Glanville and the ole run & shoot, lord save me.

The run will be important for cold weather teams and those teams will need, and will go to the run come winter. I note that the Raiders are running their way to victory. It's football, there is no one thing on offense, it only seems that way right now when the weather is calm.

That was also back in the day when they didn't constantly tweak the rules every year, taking away more and more D every year. At this point, the rules emphasis' and changes are taking place too fast for the game to catch up, so the offenses are ruling the roost.

WhiZa · 09-29-2011, 01:52 PM

If the NFL didn't change it wouldn't be as popular as it is today.

robbomango · 09-29-2011, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dessalines

Uh, this is football and their is nothing new under the football sun. Right now it looks like the pass is the new and dominant thing but it isn't. Anybody ever heard of "Air Coryell and Dan Fouts? Yeah that looked good for a while till defenses caught up. Great numbers but they never won a championship.

Then there was Jerry Glanville and the ole run & shoot, lord save me.

The run will be important for cold weather teams and those teams will need, and will go to the run come winter. I note that the Raiders are running their way to victory. It's football, there is no one thing on offense, it only seems that way right now when the weather is calm.

The bills of the 90's kelleys Kgun offense and the west coast offense of the 80's were both products of that system i believe. correct me if Im wrong and yes agreed this has been around for years. there just wasn't as many teams doing it, now it's almost every team.

the rule changes are making it easier to exploit, I see flags flying every other passing play. The fines must have a psychological effect, making players more timid and 2nd guessing each hit. just a theory.

Gumby · 09-29-2011, 02:05 PM

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Originally Posted by cavtroop

That was also back in the day when they didn't constantly tweak the rules every year, taking away more and more D every year. At this point, the rules emphasis' and changes are taking place too fast for the game to catch up, so the offenses are ruling the roost.

Bingo. We have Bingo.

I disagree with the 99 rams or 03 patriots thoughts.

you can trace the changes back to Polian trying to game the system for his qb/team at the expense of the entire league.