As a life-long football fan (I’m 49 years old) i still believe in the old school recipe for success especially in the playoffs.
Two things:
1 - Running the ball.
2 - Stopping the run.
They have been elite in both area’s and i want that to stay, and even get better.
You have to be more creative in today’s NFL though. You can’t JUST be any one thing. You’re describing Vrabel’s Titans which were good teams, but never great teams. Unless you can punish a defense when they sell out to stop the run or decide to pass every down, you’re gonna struggle.
Thankfully, we can do those things. But you can’t lean too heavily into any one thing or you’ll be predictable, which is the WORST thing you can be.
I DO believe the plethora of two high shells is gonna shift the league back to a more run-focused era, but then defenses will adjust and offenses will adjust and so on.
But Ryan Tannehill
Dominate the LOS and good things will happen. That’s why I’m all about continuing to add to the oline and dline every year. We are getting a little old at some positions.
I agree. But the Eagles taught everyone in that Superbowl
a great defensive line 4 man pass rush is lethal!!
I’m not saying for this team to be 2-dimensional. I’m not saying don’t be good at anything else. Clearing they are as they have one of the best passing attacks. They got better at coverage, and continue to try to improve that area.
But you do have a system. This team prioritizes running the ball, and stopping the run at elite levels. That’s been their recipe for success. That’s basically the only defense they had that got them the division and got them to the NFCCG. Not to mention their 15-2 season. I believe in that brand of football.
I also believe it’s part of why they lost. They weren’t as good at stopping the run.
To me, the best way to keep a defense on their heels is to confuse them. That’s why in the best offenses (including ours) you see so a lot of motion, a lot of exotic blocking schemes, a lot of trick plays. Creativity matters. It’s VERY difficult to line up and say “we’re gonna do this over and over again and beat you,” whether that be run the ball or throw it.
It just so happens that the best way right now to get a defense on their heels is with the running game. They’ve been designed over the past decade or two to stop the pass, and the two-high shell that proliferates is evidence of that. But it’s also weaker against the run.
Back in 2007 though, when the Pats took the league by storm with a crazy passing attack, the opposite was true. Tom Moore and us/the Colts had been the outlier teams focusing on the pass until the Pats flipped the script and the whole league followed suit.
But it was about being creative to unlock the defense of the day, and Ben, for all that everyone hates him right now, was very creative. That was his best trait, the ability to toy with a defense. He was also an excellent strategist from both a timing perspective and with the ability to use a defense’s keys against them. I DO think they were Dan’s ideas, but I also think Ben took them and ran with them.
I also think, contrary to popular belief, that you don’t need mauler-types at OL to have a good running game. Ragnow’s not like that, and yet he’s spearheaded one of the league’s best running games the past 2.5 years. Decker too. Cam Jurgens isn’t like that for the Eagles (neither was Kelce), and Lane Johnson was lauded for his juice coming out, not his nastiness. The Ravens had Roger Rosengarten on their league-best run-blocking line last year, and the 49ers regularly lead the league in rushing with smaller, athletic OL.
Technique and intelligence go a long way for an OL in the run game, not to mention creativity from the play caller. Don’t get me wrong, I like a bludgeoning as much as the next guy, but I DON’T want to go back to the days of those stodgy, uncreative run games we’ve had to suffer over the years, especially back in the 80s and 90s (the Bobby Ross ideal). Defenses are too smart to let that work nowadays, anyway.
Good post. Also why our offense is so hard to stop. Defenses have to pick their posion. You wanna stack the box and try to stop our run game? Good luck with that. Goff will dice you up with play action all day. And he’s got studs everywhere to throw to. Wanna play nickel or dime? We rush for 250 yards.
Right. And that, to me, is the key to good offense in today’s NFL. Let the defense pick their poison. Either that or have a magician at QB.