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View Full Version : NFL teams prefer a shift to passing lanes now



Denver Native (Carol)
10-27-2009, 04:28 PM
http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_13647864

During his seven previous seasons in the NFL, Broncos cornerback Andre Goodman saw a lot of quarterbacks throw a lot of passes to a lot of receivers in a lot of different situations.

And he has a theory why the skies are getting less and less friendly for defenses and that almost no team has resisted taking flight.

"Quarterbacks and receivers in this league are good, and with the rules you can't really have much contact with the receivers, so basically you just know if it's a good quarterback, a good pass and a good receiver, there's almost nothing you can do about it," Goodman said. "So you have to keep yourself in position, and you or somebody else can disrupt one of those things."

Things go in waves in pro football. The offenses find a little something, defenses eventually find a response and the offenses move on to something else.

And these days, even the most traditional power-first teams such as Baltimore and Pittsburgh — the undefeated Broncos' next two opponents — have joined the crowd, slinging the ball around more than ever.

The Ravens (3-3), who have not finished a season in the NFL's top 10 in passing since 1996 — their second year in Baltimore — are eighth in the league in yards passing per game and third in passing attempts per game, while the Steelers (5-2) are fifth in yards passing per game.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, in only his second season, ranks eighth in the league in passing yards, while Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is second.

Both teams use a heavy dose of the shotgun formation and have thrown plenty even in short-yardage situations, when in past years they would have pounded away in the run game.

"(Flacco) can really stretch the field vertically," said Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, whose team is off to a 6-0 start. "He's made a lot of good plays."

Said Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey: "Teams throw more in college now, the defense can't be as physical with the receivers like they used to be and defenses spent so much time trying to stop the run — that's the first everybody talks about — I think sometimes offenses just move on."

Only three teams have run the ball more times than they have thrown it this season — Minnesota, New Orleans and the New York Jets. The Vikings have the league's best running back in Adrian Peterson, while the Jets are playing a rookie at quarterback in Mark Sanchez.

For their part, the Saints (6-0) are sporting the league's No. 1 offense in both scoring and yards per game. But the other 29 teams, the Broncos included, have thrown it more than they have run it, though Denver is close to even keel with only nine more passing attempts than rushing attempts.

But it's also when teams are running — or not running.

Sunday, even the Vikings, with a first-and-goal play from the Steelers' 1-yard line, couldn't resist. They tried to run Peterson only once, then threw two incomplete passes before settling for a field goal.

"I don't think there's anything special going on other than (teams) are playing really good defense in those situations," McDaniels said. "They don't get knocked off the line of scrimmage. It's tough to get a yard when they've got them all down in there."

The Ravens have set Flacco loose because of his improved decision-making, and as a result he already has three 300-yard games, including 385 yards against the Vikings in the team's last game before its bye this past weekend.

Last season as a rookie, Flacco had no 300-yard games and had 11 games when he didn't even top 200 yards.

"I think Joe is doing a great job of spreading the ball around to different guys," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said last week. "We've believed all along that we've got guys that can make plays."

Broncos defensive coordinator Mike Nolan said he doesn't see a trend, but rather offenses simply making choices about who they have and what they want to do.

"I don't think anybody wants to get away from running the ball if they can, but in some teams' cases, they also have some confidence in their quarterback," Nolan said. "They have a young quarterback they all of a sudden want to use more, or whatever the case might be . . . a lot of times guys just want to branch out."

Iron Horse72
10-27-2009, 04:31 PM
Good read but Goodman better tackle, the last few games he has sucked.