Let's bring this over from the other thread because I think this is a worthy discussion topic.
I know we're all watching because hey the Chiefs are the cream of the crop but in general is the NFL a more boring product now?
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Originally Posted by Megatron96:
Running the ball is part of it. Need to be able to run the ball at least well enough to force the defense to play honest. But it's also the lack of competent QB play.
Just look at last year and this year so far. All the young, dynamic, big-armed QBs are struggling.
But Joe Flacco took CLE to the playoffs. Andy Dalton, of all people, trucked LVR. Aaron Rodgers looked like a MVP candidate.
What was the common denominator? They all understand how to read a defense and where to go with the ball in most situations. They are fully well-rounded QBs, and not utterly reliant on their athleticism/arm strength.
When I watch all these kids playing QB, I see a lot of hesitation. Very little 'hit your back foot, and throw the ball to the right guy with good ball placement on time.' These kids are being thrown into the fire at the NFL level without the basic knowledge/experience necessary to compete with NFL defenses. They're ignorant. Most, f not all of those kids should be sitting on the bench, clipboard in hand, learning how to play the game properly, instead of being thrown into the deep end without the proper tools.
You're absolutely correct, but when you take the Next Big Thing QB with your #1 pick... the heat to play them is immediately ON
It takes an extremely ballsy head coach to sit that guy for a full season, and most just don't have the guts for it
[Reply]
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
Running the ball is part of it. Need to be able to run the ball at least well enough to force the defense to play honest. But it's also the lack of competent QB play.
Just look at last year and this year so far. All the young, dynamic, big-armed QBs are struggling.
But Joe Flacco took CLE to the playoffs. Andy Dalton, of all people, trucked LVR. Aaron Rodgers looked like a MVP candidate.
What was the common denominator? They all understand how to read a defense and where to go with the ball in most situations. They are fully well-rounded QBs, and not utterly reliant on their athleticism/arm strength.
When I watch all these kids playing QB, I see a lot of hesitation. Very little 'hit your back foot, and throw the ball to the right guy with good ball placement on time.' These kids are being thrown into the fire at the NFL level without the basic knowledge/experience necessary to compete with NFL defenses. They're ignorant. Most, f not all of those kids should be sitting on the bench, clipboard in hand, learning how to play the game properly, instead of being thrown into the deep end without the proper tools.
I think that gets overblown to some extent in these conversations because there's basically never a time a defense is going to assume Mahomes or Allen won't go over the top.... I feel like "well enough" in this situation is like running for 8-10ypc for an extended period of time.
If you're averaging less than that, the defense is effectively meeting its goal of forcing you to sustain a long drive with lots of first downs and lots of chances to fuck up.
A good run game in this case is also exactly what you're looking for in the pass game against that defense... ~3-6 yard chunks.
And yeah, if a defense can make Mahomes look bad, about 30 other team are completely fucked at the quarterback position.
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