Offensive philosophy

[lightsout]

I found myself recently rewatching Bama vs Michigan in the Orange Bowl. Tom Brady leading the Wolverines against Shaun Alexander's Tide.

The offensive philosophy of the game definitely shifted to spread a decade after that game, and with that came athletes redesigning themselves to fit that mold. Slimmer, faster, twitchier, more elusive. Gone are the gigantic warriors, the bruising backs, and the art of play action (I haven't seen a hard bite from a secondary on a play action in forever it seems). Now it's speed, speed, and more speed. Instead of plugging for 3-4 yards with the hopes of wearing down the defense and hitting the big one, it's pass for 4-7 yards with the hopes of your playmaker popping one.

 

Let's be honest with ourselves...this current era offense is fuging boring. Everybody here knows it. You bitch about it weekly. "dink and dunk offense", "no down field shots". Look around the league. Everybody is running similar poo, they just have speed to do it. Throw the obligatory shot, sometimes your guy wins the foot race but most often? Crossing route or screen and hope. 

There's no mind games with defenses. No defense is overly concerned with stopping the run. You have strong run games still for sure, but nothing approaching 2000-2009. 

Saquon should be this generation's Adrian Peterson, and would be...if they had a philosophy of "here are variations of I and single back, we're gonna make you suffer for all 30+ carries he gets". But of course he can't because finding 5 road paving OL on the same team is rare now, let alone a fullback since they all either became linebackers or tight ends.

Which brings me to us. If you ask me, Bryce would benefit most from his football IQ if he had the flexibility of yesteryear offenses. Remember QB play back then? They come to the line, you're reasonably sure the call is this, but then the entire formation shifts, now you've got no clue. Then the big play hits. You don't see that kind of poo anymore. Even better when there's just a subtle hot call. Jake and Smitty provided some of their best with the simple helmet tap.

Maybe it's nostalgia. Maybe it's the pain of this team right now. Maybe it's me hitting old age in my 30s and missing what used to be and hating these kids that are on my lawn. But who here wouldn't take a Davis/Stewart type back with this current roster and see if we can cook something up? Beats the poo out of watching 4 yard passes knowing we don't have the athletes to really break one for 40 plays every game.

[KSpan]

I went to a local high school football game the other week where the teams scored 99 total points and the game lasted over 3 hours. It really was incredibly boring.

Edited September 27, 2023 by KSpan

[lightsout]

18 minutes ago, KSpan said:

I went to a local high school football game the other week where the teams scored 99 total points and the game lasted over 3 hours. It really was incredibly boring.

 

See I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not because I know people genuinely love it too. But I'd be like "fug this". Seeing two defenses fail for that long isn't exciting to me.

[Jay Roosevelt]

I agree in a sense. I hate today's dink-and-dunk approach, but that cuts both ways. Back in the day (I'm talking farther back than the 2000s) it wasn't uncommon to see QBs with completion percentages around 50% because 1) defenses could get away with a LOT more, and 2) offenses were looking to get chunk plays when they threw the ball, not 4-5 yards on a screen pass.

It's just the evolution of the game. I'm sure in 30 years they'll be complaining about something else. Just the way it is.

[KSpan]

24 minutes ago, lightsout said:

 

See I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not because I know people genuinely love it too. But I'd be like "fug this". Seeing two defenses fail for that long isn't exciting to me.

I'm 100% serious. To expand on that, the Rams/Chiefs game a few years back that so many rave about was some of the most boring crap football I've watched in a long time. Ridiculously overrated.

[Moonraker]

Hardly anybody actually tackles any more either. Drives me insane on Sunday watching dudes just bounce off shoulder tackles. 

[WarHeel]

I feel like the Falcons Stewart/Williams’d us in week 1. Allowed Ridder to be a lot more comfortable in the pocket. 

[BIGH2001]

2003 panthers - run the ball all game with moderate success, play good defense and keep it close. Pull something out of their ass at the end with a bunch of pass plays on a game winning drive.

[Cdparr7]

Ellis posted on Twitter last night our personnel groupings so far this season.

11 Personnel (1TE 3WR)- 187 plays (92.1%)

12 Personnel (2TE 2WR)- 10 plays (4.9%)

01 Personnel (1 TE 4 WR)- 6 plays (3.0%)

Talk about some fuging garbage. 92% in one personnel grouping. I'm not even mad that we haven't ran 21 and 22 personnel (even though that is what our OL is built for) since we are in the West Coast Spread, but for god's sake can we switch up personnel groupings just a little more. Hell throw in a 10 or 13 personnel or something. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Cdparr7

[CRA]

5 minutes ago, Cdparr7 said:

Ellis posted on Twitter last night our personnel groupings so far this season.

11 Personnel (1TE 3WR)- 187 plays (92.1%)

12 Personnel (2TE 2WR)- 10 plays (4.9%)

01 Personnel (1 TE 4 WR)- 6 plays (3.0%)

Talk about some fuging garbage. 92% in one personnel grouping. I'm not even mad that we haven't ran 21 and 22 personnel (even though that is what our OL is built for) since we are in the West Coast Spread, but for god's sake can we switch up personnel groupings just a little more. Hell throw in a 10 or 13 personnel or something. 

[Wundrbread33]

40 minutes ago, Cdparr7 said:

Ellis posted on Twitter last night our personnel groupings so far this season.

11 Personnel (1TE 3WR)- 187 plays (92.1%)

12 Personnel (2TE 2WR)- 10 plays (4.9%)

01 Personnel (1 TE 4 WR)- 6 plays (3.0%)

Talk about some fuging garbage. 92% in one personnel grouping. I'm not even mad that we haven't ran 21 and 22 personnel (even though that is what our OL is built for) since we are in the West Coast Spread, but for god's sake can we switch up personnel groupings just a little more. Hell throw in a 10 or 13 personnel or something. 

Figured we would run more 2TE sets considering we kept 37.3 TE’s on the roster. 

[UNCrules2187]

5 minutes ago, Wundrbread33 said:

Figured we would run more 2TE sets considering we kept 37.3 TE’s on the roster. 

Seriously, what exactly was the point of keeping 4 TEs on the roster? We don't even USE the #1 TE. No reason to be using 7.5% of active roster on one position that isn't being used anyway.

[Wundrbread33]

OP, it sounds like you would have enjoyed if we just ran it back with Wilks and co, who did just what you are describing with a power run game to put the QB in the best possible situation. 
 

Wilks of course had Darnold, yet managed to finish 4-2.

 

A lot of people will excuse away that success, but it was success. 
 

I’m 37, so maybe we are just two old farts, but I saw Wilks philosophy as a smart approach in a league with only a handful of elite QB’s, with high odds that you won’t have one of those guys. 
 

It was fun watching us physically dominate with a power run game, but people don’t want that. They want to win the Mahomes way…but finding a Mahomes is damn hard. People don’t think about that part. 

[SmokinwithWilly]

Fantasy football and Vegas heavily influence the way the game has changed IMO. Multi billion dollar business focused around another multi billion dollar business that feed each other. It's going to stay that way until consumers start getting bored, then expect some new rule changes.