The NFL is playing flag football...

[killgod]

Bill Belichick is ahead of the curve. He realizes if doesn't matter who is playing DB which is why Mathew Slater and Julian Edelman are getting significant playing time.

In today's NFL you need DB's who will catch interceptions, everything else is irrelevant because it's probably a penalty.


NFC seed #1: 31st Pass Defence, 1st in Interceptions
AFC seed #1: 32nd Pass Defence, 2nd in Interceptions

/shrug

 

[Tailback U]

In today's NFL you need DB's who will catch interceptions, everything else is irrelevant because it's probably a penalty.


NFC seed #1: 31st Pass Defence, 1st in Interceptions
AFC seed #1: 32nd Pass Defence, 2nd in Interceptions

/shrug

Or hall of fame quarterbacks.

/shrug.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

It's all about the flags.

I'd like to see how much yardage was gained coming from flags that turned a 3rd down into an automatic 1st down and extended a drive that ultimately led to more points/yards.

Probably impossible to keep track of, but it'd be interesting to see.

Not impossible to keep track of at all...I just ain't paying a service to have those kind of numbers available to me.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The game has changed but it doesn't render this shit meaningless (the non cheating football things, baseball is it's own story).

You just can't compare what Brees is doing now to what Marino did 25 years or whatever ago fairly, but to say what Brees has done this year doesn't mean a damn thing?

That's a bit dramatic.

Not really...its the same thing..."rule changes"...in the NFL, its on the field rule changes. In baseball, its off the field rule changes.

In the NFL, they cracked down and took away a defenses ability to, well, play defense physically. The end result was the NFL going to spread, passing offenses and numbers skyrocketed quickly.

In baseball, they cracked down on amphetamine use. The end result was baseball going to HGH and steroids, power and run production numbers skyrocketed quickly.

 

[Senser81]

It's funny because in many stat areas (yards, points against, conversion rates) they are dominating.

Perhaps the areas they are very poor in, sacks (35 - 17th in NFL), fumbles (2 - dead last) and interceptions (11 - 8th worst), are what's giving that perception. The "big exciting play" that gets thrown all over the TV and gets people excited, the turnovers and points.

I haven't been impressed by them either, but perhaps it's because they've been effective but essentially boring?

Some of it is that their division contains some of the worst offensive coaches in the NFL...Harbaugh is a total idiot, Marvin Lewis is deadly dull, and Fritz Shurmur's kid doesn't even know how to read the scoreboard.

Another part of it is that people don't realize how good the Steelers defense has really been. If you look at standard deviation stuff and how they compared to the rest of the league, the Steelers defense in 2008 was arguably the best in NFL history. People bring up the 2000 Ravens, but there were several other teams in the NFL that year having monster defensive years. The Titans defense in 2000 was nearly as effective as the Ravens.

So I think people expect more from the Steelers defense, and they don't realize that even though they now play a much more timid style and aren't as good as they were in 2008, they are still one of the best in the NFL. It just doesn't seem that way.

 

[Senser81]

You would think we would see some 2000 yard receivers to correspond with the 4000 & 5000 yard passers, but we don't. In fact, there are less elite WR's than we've seen in many years. Why? Because EVERYBODY gets open now, and QB's spread the wealth. Teams have two or three Devery Henderson's or Jordy Nelson's because defenses cant cover anyone anymore.

Disagree to an extent. Victor Cruz had nearly 1600 yards for the Giants this year. And he's terrible.

3 of the top 25 single-season receiving yardage seasons occurred this year:

Calvin Johnson (1,681 yards/#7)

Wes Welker (1,569/#19)

Vic Cruz (1,536/#24)


And I don't know about your "elite" WRs comment, either. I think there are still several elite WRs in the NFL. The problem is that since every team wants to pass the ball on every down, everyone wants a #1 WR (except Chicago) and a top-notch QB. You may say "Yeah, every team always wants those things", but I don't think it was the same emphasis in the past. So what you get now is elite WRs like Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Smith stuck on teams with bad QBs, and you have elite QBs like Drew Brees and Phil Rivers (?) stuck on teams with bad WRs.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

And you can throw the kickoffs from the 35 stuff right out the window. I don't buy for a single second that it has anything to do with the increased yardage for two reasons:

1.) rushing yardage hasn't spiked, just passing yardage

2.) in case you forgot, the NFL kicked off from the 35 for many years, and we did not see any change in offensive numbers when they moved it back to the 30 (and they moved it due to too many touchbacks)

It's the defensive rules. Nothing else matters.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Disagree to an extent. Victor Cruz had nearly 1600 yards for the Giants this year. And he's terrible.

3 of the top 25 single-season receiving yardage seasons occurred this year:

Calvin Johnson (1,681 yards/#7)

Wes Welker (1,569/#19)

Vic Cruz (1,536/#24)


And I don't know about your "elite" WRs comment, either. I think there are still several elite WRs in the NFL. The problem is that since every team wants to pass the ball on every down, everyone wants a #1 WR (except Chicago) and a top-notch QB. You may say "Yeah, every team always wants those things", but I don't think it was the same emphasis in the past. So what you get now is elite WRs like Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Smith stuck on teams with bad QBs, and you have elite QBs like Drew Brees and Phil Rivers (?) stuck on teams with bad WRs.

But my point was that you aren't seeing corresponding historical receiving totals to match the historical passing totals. 1,500-1,600 yard receiving seasons are very good, but nothing out of the ordinary like 5,000 yard passing seasons.

Bums like Cruz lighting it up shows that anybody can get open now, which was kinda my point. Brees & Rogers don't even need to have elite guys on their team anymore, because when you are that accurate to begin with, and everybody is always open, well, you see the results.

 

[Senser81]

But my point was that you aren't seeing corresponding historical receiving totals to match the historical passing totals. 1,500-1,600 yard receiving seasons are very good, but nothing out of the ordinary like 5,000 yard passing seasons.

Bums like Cruz lighting it up shows that anybody can get open now, which was kinda my point.

Eli Manning throws for a bunch of yards, and Vic Cruz has over 1500 yards and one of the top receiving years in NFL history. How is that not corresponding?

The top two TE seasons in NFL history occurred in the SAME SEASON, which was this year. And they were turned in by guys who were relatively unknown before this season.

And I think you are underestimating the significance of the 1500 - 1600 receiving season. Its not like rushing totals...only Jerry Rice has gone over 1800 receiving yards, and he only did that once in his career. So to expect WRs to all of the sudden start having 2000 yard seasons is a bit much. Not many WRs have topped the 1500-yard mark. Of the 20 WRs who have done it in NFL history, 7 are active players.

 

[Rush]

NFL is stepping on my toes over flag football broadcasting rights. Faggots.