Article: Offenses and scoring out of control

[Crax]

Thought this article was interesting:
http://espn.go.com/espn/playbook/story/ ... some-rules

Lots of info/stats in there about how offense crazy that the NFL and NCAA has gotten over the past little while. Scoring can be exciting, but I wouldn't hate to see a few minor rule changes implemented that helped the defense.

[Mothman]

Thought this article was interesting:
http://espn.go.com/espn/playbook/story/ ... some-rules

Lots of info/stats in there about how offense crazy that the NFL and NCAA has gotten over the past little while. Scoring can be exciting, but I wouldn't hate to see a few minor rule changes implemented that helped the defense.

I wouldn't either... in fact, I'd love it.

I like all 3 of Easterbrook's suggestions:

The occasional high-scoring game is fun, but do we really want football to become basketball on grass, with almost every possession resulting in a score and whoever has the ball last winning? Here are possible rules changes to swing the pendulum back:

• Relax the chuck rule (and also call it the Charles rule, which is more dignified) to allow contact with a receiver up to 10 yards downfield.

• Make offensive holding an officiating "point of emphasis." Right now an offensive lineman has to wrap both arms around a defender to be called. Any grabbing of jersey or arm should be a flag.

• Enforce the illegal shift rule strictly. Modern no-huddle offenses involve the quarterback moving around to talk to teammates after he appeared to be set, the tailback leaving his stance to hear what the quarterback is saying, and other movements that sure look illegal. Just as the NBA allows traveling so long as you dunk, the NFL allows illegal motion so long as the result is more offense.

[Crax]

I think 1 and 3 are pretty good as long as 1 doesn't result in a ton of holding by the defense. I realize there is a separate call for that, but my questionable memory of the past pre 2004 seems to recall lots of holding by the DB's.

For #2. I'm not real sure how you'd stop premiere guys from putting up crazy numbers if you can't even touch the jersey. I think QB's would get hit a ton, which would be opposite of the current trend to give qb's more protection.

[Mothman]

I think 1 and 3 are pretty good as long as 1 doesn't result in a ton of holding by the defense. I realize there is a separate call for that, but my questionable memory of the past pre 2004 seems to recall lots of holding by the DB's.

For #2. I'm not real sure how you'd stop premiere guys from putting up crazy numbers if you can't even touch the jersey. I think QB's would get hit a ton, which would be opposite of the current trend to give qb's more protection.

I understand your concern about defensive holding but as long as the officials enforced the rule properly, increasing the "chuck" rule to 10 yards should work. I do think they need to be given the chance to play a more physical game against receivers.

Regarding holding... they aren't supposed to be grabbing the jersey now anyway. That should be called more often. If the rule changed and QBs started getting hit more, teams would have to adjust, which is one way enforcing holding more strictly could benefit defenses. Teams might not be able to send as many eligible receivers out because they might have to keep an extra player back to protect the QB.

[Crax]

Tight ends would have to actually be able to block then. Wouldn't mind seeing good TE blockers make a comeback. Seems like most are primarily pass catchers with some mediocre blocking as a secondary skill.

Maybe #2 is fine. I was just trying to think how you'd slow down guys like Ware, JPP etc with that rule change

[Mothman]

Tight ends would have to actually be able to block then.

LOL! Some of them would probably hate that.

Wouldn't mind seeing good TE blockers make a comeback. Seems like most are primarily pass catchers with some mediocre blocking as a secondary skill.

I agree and that's probably another trend that can be traced directly back to some of those rules changes that favor the offense.

Maybe #2 is fine. I was just trying to think how you'd slow down guys like Ware, JPP etc with that rule change

It would be tough. I think it would force teams to change their strategies a bit (and perhaps run at those guys more).

[Crax]

I'm sure there is a few still out there, but most of the big name tight ends these days I can think of are more like big bodied receivers.

Neither of the Vikings TE's seem much in the way of blocking
Baltimore's are both mostly pass catchers
NE has 1 of two(Gronk) that I'd consider a good blocker
Gonzales, Graham and Gates have always seemed to be more of the WR skillset.
I *think* Vernon Davis is pretty good all around.

There's some other ones, but they don't play a lot of snaps or get much recognition. Mercedes Lewis seems to do a good job in both pass and run blocking.

[glg]

I'm not sure what he's talking about here. The rule says that you can't have more than one player in motion without resetting. So long as everyone resets before the snap, no foul. Yes, this is quite common in modern no-huddle offenses (Northwestern runs it). They line up, get set, everyone but the line looks to the sideline. If there's a change, there might be some moving around, etc, but then (and this is key), everyone resets before the snap.

[PurpleMustReign]

I'm not sure what he's talking about here. The rule says that you can't have more than one player in motion without resetting. So long as everyone resets before the snap, no foul. Yes, this is quite common in modern no-huddle offenses (Northwestern runs it). They line up, get set, everyone but the line looks to the sideline. If there's a change, there might be some moving around, etc, but then (and this is key), everyone resets before the snap.

All colleges do it and I hate it... but you are right they do it within the rules. And Idk why he would bring that rule up without mentioning the resetting part.

[Hunter Morrow]

The Facts About the Current NFL Situation, edited from the article...

New England and Buffalo combined for 1,018 yards of offense. Four players at least 100 yards of offense for New England. A quarter of NFL teams (8) are averaging at least 400 yards of offense per game. NCAA and NFL scoring are at record highs.
This weekend, the New Orleans Saints gained 474 yards and scored 27 and lost because in the era of Xbox Offense, they didn't score enough.

Way back in the mists of history -- a few years ago -- defense won championships. After the 2011 season, the top playoff slots went to New England and Green Bay, the league's 31st- and 32nd-ranked defenses.

For a generation, the football establishment has been tweaking rules to favor offense. The pendulum has swung too far and it's time to tweak rules to favor defense.The NFL scoring average is now 23.7 points per team per game, up from 21.7 a decade ago, from 18.7 two decades ago, and the highest average ever.

I'm glad somebody else is sick of this and would rather watch a game like Giants/Eagles than "basketball-on-grass." Contact to 10 yards, start calling offensive holding, not every tackle below the knees on the quarterback should be illegal and stop calling roughing 3 times a game. Roughing is one of those things that could legit be called for the most egregious cases, maybe 20 or 30 times a season all across the league. Refs hand those roughing the passers out like parking tickets. It seems as if every game so far this year has had multiple bogus roughing penalties and considering the stakes of it (15 yards and auto first down) they need to tone that down.