2022 NFL Playoffs Divisional Round

jphoss

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Scheme question here- it is obvious that offensive schemes have become less complex my question is what rule changes besides greatly restricting dbacks contact has led to this? And why does having a more simple less complex offense allow for teams to score at a greater clip than in past? Is it only restricting contact or is it that defenses are also running more simple schemes? Could a more complex offense in this day and age lead to greater results? I love the RPO and am not sure if that is considered "complex" or not. Thanks to anyone who clears this deficit of knowledge I have for this subject
 

Leonardfan

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Scheme question here- it is obvious that offensive schemes have become less complex my question is what rule changes besides greatly restricting dbacks contact has led to this? And why does having a more simple less complex offense allow for teams to score at a greater clip than in past? Is it only restricting contact or is it that defenses are also running more simple schemes? Could a more complex offense in this day and age lead to greater results? I love the RPO and am not sure if that is considered "complex" or not. Thanks to anyone who clears this deficit of knowledge I have for this subject

With the DBs having to play off the ball more it allows more space for wide receivers on short routes - one reason there seems to be a jump in QB accuracy over the past 12-15 years. I remember watching the NFL as a kid and even into my college years it seemed like 60% completion percentage was the mark of a very good QB, with the high 50s being respectable. Now we see most QBs are completing at least 60% of their passes because the game has been manipulated and the rules allow for easier high percentage passes. I also recall that the way the league caught up the RPO and initial black quarterback push in 2012/2013 was that the QB was allowed to be hit during the RPO even if he handed off the ball. Someone can correct me if I am wrong but I haven't seen QBs running the RPO in the past several years get hit after handing the ball off, usually the defender has to wait and see who has the ball or guess.

Hate to link a reddit thread because it's a liberal cesspool - but this one explains the emphasis of enforcement on the illegal contact rule dating back to 2004. After 2004 we started to see a slow but study increase in offensive numbers.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2e4f2i

 

Don Wassall

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I concur with you, Don. A big downgrade for Prescott, Murray, and Russell Wilson. Malik Willis was a disaster in Tennessee. Tyler Huntley made the Pro Bowl off of 2 TD passes (Kenny Pickett deserved that spot). Jackson got hurt and didn't even travel with the team for the postseason. Watson had some really bad games. Dalton held off Winston. Lance got hurt. Haskins died. There's already speculation Chicago might move on from Fields. Cam Newton and Kaepernick didn't get any serious offers. I think that about covers it outside of the three you listed.
Welcome to the board, you laid it out well. Willis was so bad he could barely throw a forward pass. Instead of the left's usual two-steps forward one-step back persistence, this past season was more like four or five steps back. And Hurts lived up to his surname down the stretch as he was also injured and has been clearly less effective since, and will Smith ever be able to duplicate his success in 2022? His past history says no, and he'll also turn 33 this upcoming season, old for a Black QB.

Interesting also that the two best Black QBs since Warren Moon, Mahomes and Wilson, are disliked by the militants for not being "black enough." They both seem like normal guys who just want to play rather than being force-fed into pretending they're something they're not. Tiger Woods is the same way. Even though he played the race card a bit early on, he's not interested in pushing a racial agenda. Easy to understand when his background has four different racial components. Given the fast growing number of mixed-race Americans of various backgrounds (up to around 10% now and climbing in addition to how many "Blacks" in the U.S. have always been clearly mixed), the "one drop" rule when it comes to defining who's black looks more archaic and ridiculous all the time. It's as absurd as claiming "Hispanics" are a racial or even ethnic group when they're not. It fits the agenda of the communists and race militants a lot more than it does reality.
 

jphoss

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With the DBs having to play off the ball more it allows more space for wide receivers on short routes - one reason there seems to be a jump in QB accuracy over the past 12-15 years. I remember watching the NFL as a kid and even into my college years it seemed like 60% completion percentage was the mark of a very good QB, with the high 50s being respectable. Now we see most QBs are completing at least 60% of their passes because the game has been manipulated and the rules allow for easier high percentage passes. I also recall that the way the league caught up the RPO and initial black quarterback push in 2012/2013 was that the QB was allowed to be hit during the RPO even if he handed off the ball. Someone can correct me if I am wrong but I haven't seen QBs running the RPO in the past several years get hit after handing the ball off, usually the defender has to wait and see who has the ball or guess.

Hate to link a reddit thread because it's a liberal cesspool - but this one explains the emphasis of enforcement on the illegal contact rule dating back to 2004. After 2004 we started to see a slow but study increase in offensive numbers.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/2e4f2i

Awesome thanks for the link!
 

jphoss

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For anyone else curious I found this clip of Rodgers talking about the dumbing down of offenses. He’s very insightful where he talks about the rule changes allowing for quarterbacks to get away with bad throws and poor decision making. Basically lowering the skill level needed to play the position
 

Leonardfan

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Awesome thanks for the link!

No problem...it's really a conglomeration of rule changes and schemes which have led to the (over) simplification of many offenses and inflating numbers. I still remember when it was the norm for 1st round QBs to have to sit and learn a playbook (terminology, schemes, concepts etc.) and it usually took two years. Taking snaps under center, using 3, 5, 7 step drops were more the norm while Shotgun formation was used less frequently. Alot of QB play seems to not take place under center and we see QBs in Shotgun all the time. The rhythm and timing passing game of the past has been replaced by more quick easy reads/short passes which operate as an extension of the run game.
 

Leonardfan

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For anyone else curious I found this clip of Rodgers talking about the dumbing down of offenses. He’s very insightful where he talks about the rule changes allowing for quarterbacks to get away with bad throws and poor decision making. Basically lowering the skill level needed to play the position

Insightful interview...right from the proverbial horses mouth.
 
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