Every time I see you comment on Cam Newton directly or indirectly, I'm putting you on my ignore list for the rest of the day.
Michael Brewster, if he comes out is he the next great center prospect (ala Mangold or Pouncey) or is he just the best in an average center class?
Many scouts from what I gathered if he declared would be the top Center prospect. He is staying for his senior season, Mike Adams as well.
I mentioned it was "a passing league" in post last off-season and it caused 4 months of debate. I wasn't trying to be provocative. I thought it was obvious. And this was after Indy made the SB as the 32nd ranked run team. And the year before that Arizona also made the SB as the 32nd ranked run team. Even Pitt when they won it against Arizona were ranked 23rd.
well i know you have a more nuanced definition of passing league. basically it has to be effective or efficient passing not just passing for passing's sake but if you look at the AFC this year you will see that all the teams left are top ten in rushing attempts so unless a team like the Seahawks wins the Super Bowl, you'll need the Packers or Bears to win it all (20th,21st in rush att) to keep making that argument that the running game is still irrelevant and at 20 or 21 that argument starts slipping a bit and if the AFC wins then that argument goes out the window. Its clear that teams are catching up to the spread defensively as the flood of new DBs in the drafts is making clear. Teams just needed to draft enough DBs to play a good dime defense to combat the spread and it took a couple of drafts to do that. That and adding linebackers who can cover and play the pass. The running game is back this year. it will never go away and will probably thrive over the next few years as more defenses gear their defenses to stopping the pass. The key is exploiting the other teams personnel and if everyone is geared to stop the pass then you will have success being a running team just as a few years ago passing teams had the edge because defneses were geared to stopping the run
The running game is used as a change of pace. Running attempts go up at the end of games, they don't get you wins, all they can do is help preserve them. Look at the yards rankings for the 12 playoff teams (1,4,5,9,11,12,14,22,24,28,29,31). They are all over the map. If you look at efficiency (1,4,8,10,17,19,23,25,25,25,25,29) you find that 3/4 are in the bottom half of the league. So you you don't have to run for a ton of yards or run well. All you have to do is not abandon the run like Henning did this year.
noone said you had to run for 4.5 yds a rush. thats not a running team. a running team is based on rushing attempts and running out the clock at the end of the game when you're protecting the lead is one of the primary reasons you need a running game. defenses are catching up to the spread. they havent shut it down yet but every year it will become less effective as more DBs and pass defense linebackers are added to rosters. football is cyclical. there is always a solution to any innovation. it just takes a few years because it usually involves having the right personnel packages and that requires a few drafts. and once they develop defenses that shut down the spread, running teams will take over. then people will start adjusting to that and the whole cycle will start agin
IMO a good running teams needs to be able to pick up positive yards on 1st down more times than not...... consistently pick up 3rd & 4th and 1..... push a pile or create an opening on the goal line, and be able to eat up the clock to close out a game. (mixed in with some big play ability and effectiveness in the screen game).
Of course there's always innovation, but you're acting like running is immune to that. The fact is that for years run/pass ratio has been shifting to the pass side. The key is not being predictable. Our running game, as poor as it was this past season, would have been sufficient if they had been smart enough to stick with it. In fact, I believe it would have looked better late in games simply b/c we had runners who have a history of playing better with more carries. I believe that the running game has been marginalized b/c you simply don't need to run well to win. You need to pass well, you need to defend the pass well (win the YPA battle) and you need to win the turnover battle. Every thing else is less important. Look at the playoff teams: Seattle is the only one who lost the TO battle and lost the YPA battle and still made the playoffs; TB is the only team that won both battles and didn't make the playoffs. That pattern has been consistent for years. The teams that focus on improving their run games are missing the boat (and the playoffs). You can't pass every play, but to say that running well is as correlated to winning as passing well is factually and inarguably incorrect.
According to Football Outsiders of the eight playoff teams running efficiency ratings. The Bears, Seahawks, and Falcons have poor quality running games overall worse than the Dolphins this year. The Falcons are the only one of the group that has a good passing game. The Steelers, Ravens and Packers have average running games. All three have excellent passing quality ratings. The Patriots and Jets have excellent running games. The Jets have a much worse passing game than even the Dolphins though their passing is better than their 2009 team. The Patriots have a titanic passing game advantage over anyone. This was also revealing on what are the hallmarks of NFL champions.
That article on the Hallmarks of Champions basically concluded that teams that dominate through the air win. I have been claiming that it is a recent trend, but their numbers indicate that that's the way it has always been.
The Stelly kid at Northeastern State is much a man bench press 485, Rep 225- 30 times with great speed and HANDS! Work ethic out of this world will make a NFL team especially the Dolphins a great one. Played 6 games was named first game his freshman year offensive player of the week, then an All Lonestar Conferency First Team Fullback along with second team All Region. Not bad for a kid that stepped in when Redshirt was pulled half way through the season.
