Free Agents Still Out There
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Well... kinda. The position is changing as it becomes more and more a passing league. Their Fulcher-eseque ability to step into the box as a tackler is less important than their ability to step up and cover tight ends and even slot receivers. We're seeing more and more college and even pro corners (Jammer the latest) becoming safeties because they can cover.
Two of the top 34 tacklers last year were safeties (Morgan Burnett, Roman Harper). Have to think that's unusually low. All the rest were linebackers.
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Shep....you confuse this passing league with the no one runs the ball anymore league. There is still balance to most teams so far as run/pass ratio....
To hear you tell it, running the ball is an after thought. That's just not true. Yes, the most successful teams pass the ball well, but defending the run is still emphasized for s reason. Passing is still riskier than running, so ask sobo if any single coach in this league would chose to pass rather than run if the success rate of each was equivalent.
You completely misunderstand what "passing league" means.....
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San Francisco actually ran that ball more than it passed.
Baltimore threw the ball 55% of the time.
It's still a balanced league. You play to your strengths but also you gave to factor in your opponents weaknesses.
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San Francisco actually ran that ball more than it passed.
Baltimore threw the ball 55% of the time.
It's still a balanced league. You play to your strengths but also you gave to factor in your opponents weaknesses.
San Francisco actually ran that ball more than it passed.
Baltimore threw the ball 55% of the time.
It's still a balanced league. You play to your strengths but also you gave to factor in your opponents weaknesses.
And I have no doubt that this offensive coaching staff will want to be a fully balanced attack. We all know Norv Turner's history of having a balanced attack: in Dallas you had Emmitt Smith and the likes of Irvin and Harper. In San Diego he had LaDanian Tomlinson and one of the league's best passing attacks with Rivers/Gates et al.
And remember, when Chudzinski was here as OC, especially in 2007, you had Jamal Lewis gaining 1300 yards. In fact, he gained more yards that year than any Browns running back not named Jim Brown. Plus the likes of Braylon and K2 and DA had their best years here under him.
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Generally, I don't misunderstand much of anything (!). But seriously, I do think you're misrepresenting my point a little.
- I certainly don't think the fact that it's a passing league means teams won't run the ball at all anymore. That's, well... I don't know why we'd even say that.
- Most winning teams pass the ball a ton in the first half to take a lead because that wins games, as the "analytics" have shown. Allows your defense to primarily defend the pass, blitz, etc. Somebody put up the stat that teams with winning records pass 67% of the time in the first half.
- Don't get too hung up on the pass/run ratio. The RO is going to throw that off for one thing. For another, teams that take a lead are going to run the ball a lot more in the second half. The run now exists in service to the passing game.
- VERY few teams (if any) are really running the ball to win football games. That's done with the pass and the pass rush. Teams will run the ball just to show it, if you know what I mean. To prevent defenses from pinning back their ears. The Packers just drafted two of the better college running backs because they know they have to improve in that area. They did NOT draft either in round one, which few of the top teams would do anymore.
- The marginalizing of RBs in the draft and in free agency absolutely is part of the NFL becoming a passing league. It's virtually impossible for a team to draft a really good running back and build an offense around him. The best of our generation (Adrian Peterson) has played in the same number of Super Bowls as Eric Dickerson (0) because they didn't play behind a Pro Bowl (or eventual HOF) passer. Peterson's prime years are running out so he really needs Ponder to take the next step.
Although Ponder lacks a cannon, I do like him a lot. He's nimble, has a quick, compact release, is accurate, and has a little more arm than given credit for. More than Dalton. He also blew the doors off the Wonderlic and is crazy smart.
- It's true that coverage is becoming more important at safety than run support. It's true that 3-4 ILBs are getting smaller and quicker because EVERY down is a passing down and even in a base formation you need guys on defense who can cover a pretty fast TE. Robertson fits perfectly.
Offenses are obviously evolving (more receivers, less interest in a "fullback," spread formations, 12s with two TEs in slot, the RO, less and less focus on running the ball, especially early)... and defenses are reacting with multiple pass rushers including inside (like Watt, ILBs who can blitz), smaller/quicker linebackers, and safeties who can cover.
But no: I'm not "misunderstanding" anything!
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By the way, SF and Baltimore in the Super Bowl (the latter about as predictable as blood rain) did seem to represent a return of "balance." But remember that in the previous 5 Super Bowls, the 10 teams averaged a ranking of 23rd in rushing the football. The best teams didn't run the ball very well, including the champions.
Also recall that SF's team passer rating was 104.0 (between Smith and Kaep). And Flacco was the #1 passer in the post-season, also over 100. And SF's run/pass ratio is thrown off a ton by their RO.
AND... Baltimore was a freak champ. They were in the top 10 in zero categories and lost 4 of their last 5.
As the playoffs showed, Baltimore is now going to be like everybody else: About as good as their QB.
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By the way, SF and Baltimore in the Super Bowl (the latter about as predictable as blood rain) did seem to represent a return of "balance." But remember that in the previous 5 Super Bowls, the 10 teams averaged a ranking of 23rd in rushing the football. The best teams didn't run the ball very well, including the champions.
Also recall that SF's team passer rating was 104.0 (between Smith and Kaep). And Flacco was the #1 passer in the post-season, also over 100. And SF's run/pass ratio is thrown off a ton by their RO.
AND... Baltimore was a freak champ. They were in the top 10 in zero categories and lost 4 of their last 5.
As the playoffs showed, Baltimore is now going to be like everybody else: About as good as their QB.
By the way, SF and Baltimore in the Super Bowl (the latter about as predictable as blood rain) did seem to represent a return of "balance." But remember that in the previous 5 Super Bowls, the 10 teams averaged a ranking of 23rd in rushing the football. The best teams didn't run the ball very well, including the champions.
Also recall that SF's team passer rating was 104.0 (between Smith and Kaep). And Flacco was the #1 passer in the post-season, also over 100. And SF's run/pass ratio is thrown off a ton by their RO.
AND... Baltimore was a freak champ. They were in the top 10 in zero categories and lost 4 of their last 5.
As the playoffs showed, Baltimore is now going to be like everybody else: About as good as their QB.
Like having a hot goalie in hockey. I think like the 8th seeded LA Kings won the Cup because their goalie got hot. The Scavengers won because they got hot....which includes their QB.
You play that NFL tournament 100 times, and Baltimore maybe wins 5 times. Denver, New England, Green Bay, Atlanta etc. all probably win more
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Gip, I couldn't agree more. In a me-too league, nobody's gonna model themselves after last year's Ravens! "Hey, let's not be terribly good at any one thing, let's look downright shitty down the stretch... and then have our QB get crazy hot in the playoffs and win this damn thing!"
The Packers ALMOST have it down to a science... but they found out you can't totally suck ass on defense (as they did in 2011)... or have a complete inability to run the football (as they've had for three years except for the championship run with somebody named James Starks). You don't have to run it great... few top teams do... but you have to be credible.
Consistency at the top, especially head coach... one of the league's top quarterbacks... and a pass rush. That's how you win. But if Clay Matthews gets dinged and has a down year and you can't run AT ALL? Not so much.
The NFC has more good teams (and players) right now... but the Denver Broncos seem so close to perfect. Peyton Manning, truly great left tackle, terrific receivers, can run the ball well enough, and they can really get after the passer. Bam.
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Gip, I couldn't agree more. In a me-too league, nobody's gonna model themselves after last year's Ravens! "Hey, let's not be terribly good at any one thing, let's look downright shitty down the stretch... and then have our QB get crazy hot in the playoffs and win this damn thing!"
The Packers ALMOST have it down to a science... but they found out you can't totally suck ass on defense (as they did in 2011)... or have a complete inability to run the football (as they've had for three years except for the championship run with somebody named James Starks). You don't have to run it great... few top teams do... but you have to be credible.
Consistency at the top, especially head coach... one of the league's top quarterbacks... and a pass rush. That's how you win. But if Clay Matthews gets dinged and has a down year and you can't run AT ALL? Not so much.
The NFC has more good teams (and players) right now... but the Denver Broncos seem so close to perfect. Peyton Manning, truly great left tackle, terrific receivers, can run the ball well enough, and they can really get after the passer. Bam.
Gip, I couldn't agree more. In a me-too league, nobody's gonna model themselves after last year's Ravens! "Hey, let's not be terribly good at any one thing, let's look downright shitty down the stretch... and then have our QB get crazy hot in the playoffs and win this damn thing!"
The Packers ALMOST have it down to a science... but they found out you can't totally suck ass on defense (as they did in 2011)... or have a complete inability to run the football (as they've had for three years except for the championship run with somebody named James Starks). You don't have to run it great... few top teams do... but you have to be credible.
Consistency at the top, especially head coach... one of the league's top quarterbacks... and a pass rush. That's how you win. But if Clay Matthews gets dinged and has a down year and you can't run AT ALL? Not so much.
The NFC has more good teams (and players) right now... but the Denver Broncos seem so close to perfect. Peyton Manning, truly great left tackle, terrific receivers, can run the ball well enough, and they can really get after the passer. Bam.
Though, losing Dumerville to the purple pukers could hurt Denver a little.
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By the way, SF and Baltimore in the Super Bowl (the latter about as predictable as blood rain) did seem to represent a return of "balance." But remember that in the previous 5 Super Bowls, the 10 teams averaged a ranking of 23rd in rushing the football. The best teams didn't run the ball very well, including the champions.
Also recall that SF's team passer rating was 104.0 (between Smith and Kaep). And Flacco was the #1 passer in the post-season, also over 100. And SF's run/pass ratio is thrown off a ton by their RO.
AND... Baltimore was a freak champ. They were in the top 10 in zero categories and lost 4 of their last 5.
As the playoffs showed, Baltimore is now going to be like everybody else: About as good as their QB.
By the way, SF and Baltimore in the Super Bowl (the latter about as predictable as blood rain) did seem to represent a return of "balance." But remember that in the previous 5 Super Bowls, the 10 teams averaged a ranking of 23rd in rushing the football. The best teams didn't run the ball very well, including the champions.
Also recall that SF's team passer rating was 104.0 (between Smith and Kaep). And Flacco was the #1 passer in the post-season, also over 100. And SF's run/pass ratio is thrown off a ton by their RO.
AND... Baltimore was a freak champ. They were in the top 10 in zero categories and lost 4 of their last 5.
As the playoffs showed, Baltimore is now going to be like everybody else: About as good as their QB.
You're right, I'm not disagreeing. It's a pass first league. But the way you've been making it sound is that we should stock up on undersized pass rushers and smaller coverage-minded safeties as opposed to run stopping LB's and blitzing hard hitters at safety.
I say we need both.
The moment the scales tip and every depth chart is filled with tweener sized LB's and undersized nickel corners playing safety, the teams with strong running attacks will come out on top.
If the previous Super Bowl proved anything, it's that predicting who will win the Super Bowl based off of an opening day roster is about as successful as trying to get PoG to stop talking creaming over Richardson.
The way I see it, building a balanced roster that has as few holes as possible is the best way to get to the playoffs.
With that said, getting to the playoffs is only half the battle. At the end of the day, it's about who gets hot and rides that streak to the Lombardi trophy.
Personally, I would have added Rhodes. But apparently the powers that be either thought:
-he was washed up
Or
-we currently have a future starter on our roster
I'm okay with both of those scenarios, if indeed one is true. But all of this won't mean jack unless we start winning soon.
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