[Crazyhorse1]

[quote=Daseal;357687]Someone earlier posted that the NFL is about running and stopping the run and it hasn't changed in twenty years. That statement couldn't be much farther from the truth. As Pat Kirwan spent about 30 minutes talking about on NFL radio the other day, the league has turned into a pass first league. The rules are slanted towards the passing game. PI may be the best way to move the ball in football, illegal contact is a nice chunk of yards. etc.

For instance, lets look at the top 5 teams in the league in passing offense: Lions, Bengals, Patriots, Colts, Cowboys. These teams have a combined record of: 12-3 this far into the season. That's a pretty accurate example that being able to pass the ball, and doing it often is very important in this league. The tide is changing, the NFL wants it to be a passing lane, it's exciting and grabs the casual fans attention. Quote/


Crazyhorse1

I agree. Anytime I hear anyone say we're going to win with the running game, I cringe, and have been cringing for years. As a former linebacker, forty years ago, I learned that the running game was a lot easier to stop than the passing game.

For one, it's easier to slip a run block than it is to run around or through a pass blocker. For another, it's easier to tackle a running back than it is to back pedal and stay with a receiver while trying not to draw a penalty.

To stay with a receiver who is as fast or faster than you are requires you to guess which way a receiver is going to cut, and whether he's going to pull up or fly. I think that good receivers should be open about half to three forths of the time, unless double teamed. If three or more receivers going out someone is open on virtually every play. In other words, good execution in the passing game is close to unstoppabled if talent levels are equal.

This is not true in the running game. Run blocking in very difficult. The offensive player gets the jump but the defensive player can use his hands. If talent levels are equal, only about half the blocks thrown at the line will hold and in the secondary many less. Since it takes multiple relatively difficult blocks to hold to gain short yardage on the ground, long drives on the ground are highly unlikley if talent levels are equal.

Deduction: Because of the nature of the game, the defense has the upper hand in the ground game if talent levels are equal. The opposite is true in the air.

The top colleges in the country do well in the running game because talent levels are notoriously uneven in the college game. College teams that don't attract superior talent try to find accurate throwers and superior receivers to make themselves competitive. When the top colleges meet each other, their vaulted ground games are usually ineffective and they score or don't score in relation to their QB's and receivers, usually the wide receivers.

In the NFL. teams are too well matched to allow the ground game to sustain drives and score many points. Considering the emerging fact that we don't have a defense that can really shut down teams, I think that the Skins should throw at least half the time, and throw first, to set up the run. We lost to the Giants because we didn't do this and the Giants knew we wouldn't do it.

Gibbs won superbowls largely the ground because of great offensive players who were in fact superior to the opposition man for man. He definately does not have that now. Only two of our offensive lineman are supeior players and, at present, only three of offensive players at skill posiions are superior-- Cooley, Portis, and Moss, not one of whom can run block at better than an adequate level. Sellers is probably a superior blocker in the run game, but that's not enough. We've got to pass.