The NFL Thread 2011: New York Giants Win Super Bowl XLVI

[amp316]

RolStoppable said:

amp316 said:

Just a little rant.

I am not trying to take anything away from the splendid play of Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, or Eli Manning but come on... All of them are on pace to throw for over 5,000 yards?!! Give me a break! I think only two of three guys have done it in the history of the game and now three might in one year? It's because the rules have changed and the NFL is turning into a sissy league that protects QBs. It's getting to the point where we have to put red shirts on them so the defenders know not to hit them. There was a play that I watched yesterday where Lance Briggs came in (not late) and bumped Tebow on the head with his shoulder. There was no upward motion where he was trying to knock him out. No helmet to helmet. None of that. It get's flagged for 15 yards! What's Briggs supposed to do? Wait behind the line of scrimmage until Tebow gets beyond it to hit him? Tim Tebow is a relatively large man weighing in at around 240 lbs. Is a two hand push supposed to bring him down? My point is, that guys are throwing for a ridiculous amount of yards because the rules have changed. It seems that about 90% of the hard hits on QBs get flagged and defenders realize this and are playing differently. This is what's leading to guys throwing for 5,000 yards and changing the NFL into a game of NFL Blitz. What's even more disgusting is that now WRs are getting treated like little girls too. Every time a helmet touches a helmet (inadvertently or not) it's 15 yards and usually a fine. When a guy leads forward to make a tackle with his shoulder (this is how it's taught), his head comes before the shoulder. Sometimes when two guys are moving at a million miles an hour, heads collide. Is a defensive back supposed to try to tackle with his chest now? Of course not. That is impossible. On the other hand, five guys can nail a RB on the same play helmet to helmet and that's allowed. Wise up NFL! Your game is physical and that's how it's supposed to be. QBs and WRs play the same sport as everyone else and don't deserve preferential treatment. Should guys be punished for trying to intentionally trying to hurt someone? Of course. But defensive players should also be allowed to hit a QB or a WR hard. That's part of the game and to be honest, it's very fun to watch.

End of rant. Not sorry for the wall of text.

I think the offenses profited from the uncertain state of this year's NFL season which led to defenses being kinda out of the loop. If you look back, the early games this season had some insane passing yardages (like Brady's 500 yard game), but it's settled down since then. How hard defenders are allowed to hit QBs after they have thrown shouldn't influence the pass yards stats and the stricter defensive pass interference rules have been in effect for several years now (at least I don't think they've made any changes more recently).

So yeah, you have defenses starting badly into this year (against both the pass and the run) combined with exceptional QBs. Brees is one of the two guys who had a 5,000 yard season before. Brady's record season is 4,800 yards. Rodgers has thrown for 4,400 yards before and we all know he's playing better than ever; highly accurate, 39 TDs with only 6 INTs. Manning already improved on his previous record, but he needs to average 300 yards per game to reach 5,000 yards. And unless one of these four QBs plays exceptionally well in the last three games, none of them will exceed the 5,000 yards mark by much.

Then you look at the more average QBs and their stats are basically just as mediocre as always. Records are meant to be broken, not to last for all eternity. I remember when Peyton Manning was on track to beat Marino's single season TD record of 48. Manning threw for 44 TDs in the first twelve games and eventually broke Marino's record by only one score (since then Brady took the record with 50 TDs in one season). So while it looks right now as if four QBs might best the previous best mark, probably at least two of them will fall short. And these four guys really play great seasons. Not just in yardage, but also in TD vs. INT comparisons.

In summary, I don't think it's a problem of the rules. The league has just more great QBs playing at the same time than ever before.

You might have something when it comes to defenses starting slowly due to the lockout.  They looked awful at the begining of the year.  How hard defenders are allowed to hit QBs does influence passing yards though.  I will give the example of the NFC Championship game last year, since I know that you watched that one.  The first two drives Aaron Rodgers wen right through the Bears like they weren't even there.  He took a lick when scoring the second TD by Walt Harris and then another one from Julius Peppers starting the next drive.  After that, Aaron Rodgers played woefully and the Packers didn't score another point because of him.  Cooincidence?  I think not.  Bumps and bruises not only physically slow a guy down, but getting hit hit after or during a play HARD makes a QB think every time that he throws the ball.  Also, it's not just after the ball is thrown.  Now when a player sacks a QB, there are instructions on how to do it.  Warren Sapp was demonstrating on I believe Inside the NFL ealier the season how this works.  Now a defender cannot drive a QB to the ground backward forcefully or even land on top of him without being flagged.   Now you have to grab the QB with two arms and roll sideways with your butt hitting first in order to cushion the blow. 

The reason that the best QBs in the league are throwing for a ridiculous number of yards is the rule changes.  Sorry Rol.  Just a few years ago a QB couldn't drop back and  throw every play without getting killed.  Why?  When a guy would drop back every play they would blitz the crap out of him and when he was brought down it didn't have to be like a carton of eggs.  Football always has been a physical game and now it isn't for QBs and it's also getting that way for WRs.  It used to be that if a WR went over the middle for a pass he had to fear for his life.  Not so much anymore.  Why?  Now a defensive back has to worry about his helmet touching the WRs inadvertently which is an automatic 15 yards regardless of the intent.  This causes them to let up.  The only skill position that isn't protected now is the RB.  It's pretty obvious that the NFL wants more scoring and doesn't care about defense anymore because the "casual" fan doesn't.  Sad really.

I'll agree with you that the mediocre QBs are very mediocre.  Why?  Right now we have an overall crappy group of QBs, besides for the elite ones.  Granted now the QBs overall are better than they were in the late 90's, but it's not even a comparison which group was better, now or the 80's.  No disrespect to the four guys mentioned, but I'd take Marino, Elway, Montana, Fouts, and Moon (pick four of these five) as a group over them.  Brady is an all time great QB that belongs with them and Brees is approaching that status, but Rodger is early in his career and still needs to play a lot longer to be an all time great and Eli Manning is very good (but that's about it).  People were calling for his head up until this year.  Could you imagine Dan Marino playing the 1984 season under these rules?  The guy would have thrown for 6,000 yards.  A comparison of the second tier of QBs between the 80s and present is laughable.  Bernie Kosar, Neil Lomax, Dave Kreig, and Jim Kelly were all better than Matt Ryan or Matt Schaub.  I could argue that one of the backups at the time (Steve Young) was as good as anyone playing now including Brady.  So please don't give me that there are more great QBs playing now then ever.  Sure, you show me stats that indicate otherwise but back then QBs were allowed to be hit and hit hard.

The rules have made this a pass happy league.