Offenses down around the league?

DVontel

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What do you think is the cause for this? Inferior QB era? More athletic DL? Two-High coverage?
 

kerouac9

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I don't know if "Inferior QB era" is fair, but I think we saw a golden generation of QBs cycle out.

I'd be interested if total TDs are down, also. Josh Allen rushed for 2 TDs against us and passed for zero.

Finally, I think that a shorter/less physical/no-game preseason does contribute. If everyone does it, the net competitive end result is zero, but I think it leads to less sharp play.

10 QBs in that 2021 season passed for over 4000 yards. Two passed for over 5000. Last year 10 players also passed for over 4000 yards, but the yardage champ (Tua) had just over 4600. Offense is just down in passing and running. Defenses are putting the top on these teams.

Except ours. Bill Simmons said on his guess the lines podcast Monday that our defense allowed 13 plays of 20 yards or more Sunday.
 

vince56

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1) The current crop of QBs is sub-par. Take out the top 4-5 QBs and the rest are mediocre at best. Even those top 4-5 played poorly this week, really. We were spoiled with the last 3 decades of great QB play.
2) No one is playing in pre-season, so the first 3 games become the warm-ups.
3) Pass rushers are just better athletes than O-linemen and very few teams have capable offensive lines.

We are also beginning to see the effects of less parents letting their kids play the game. I have to assume there are more and more parents that are keeping their kids out of the sport due to the long-term health and CTE concerns, which is going to over-time water down the quality of play. The days of the cerebral quarterback are numbered. It’s going to be more and more athletic QBs.
 
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DaHilg

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What do you think is the cause for this? Inferior QB era? More athletic DL? Two-High coverage?
I think it’s 100% defensive approach.. let teams do whatever they want essentially between the 20s, just don’t get burnt by the big play. Results into a lot more dink and dunk offenses thus lower passing TDs (and I’m guessing lower scoring overall).
 

Krangodnzr

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I don't know if "Inferior QB era" is fair, but I think we saw a golden generation of QBs cycle out.

I'd be interested if total TDs are down, also. Josh Allen rushed for 2 TDs against us and passed for zero.

Finally, I think that a shorter/less physical/no-game preseason does contribute. If everyone does it, the net competitive end result is zero, but I think it leads to less sharp play.

10 QBs in that 2021 season passed for over 4000 yards. Two passed for over 5000. Last year 10 players also passed for over 4000 yards, but the yardage champ (Tua) had just over 4600. Offense is just down in passing and running. Defenses are putting the top on these teams.

Except ours. Bill Simmons said on his guess the lines podcast Monday that our defense allowed 13 plays of 20 yards or more Sunday.
Maybe it's just my perception, but the Cardinals seemed to give up big plays or tiny gains against the Bills.
 

Cheesebeef

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1) The current crop of QBs is sub-par. Take out the top 4-5 QBs and the rest are mediocre at best. Even those top 4-5 played poorly this week, really. We were spoiled with the last 3 decades of great QBs.

Agreed and why I can only shake my head when people tout Kyler as a “top 10” QB. First, in the last three years, he just hasn’t been and even in an argument that he has, QBs from 10-17 are pretty much interchangeable.
 

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What do you think is the cause for this? Inferior QB era? More athletic DL? Two-High coverage?

I would say inferior QB play. Look how many teams trotted Rookies or Backups out there week 1. The Giants didn't want to play Daniel Jones but had no other option to with that contract. Breese, Rivers, Ryan and Brady are all gone now. Wilson, Rodgers and Cousins look like old men out there compared to 2019.

Plus running QBs are more in vogue now and they sap passing TDs with running TDs
 

MadCardDisease

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The other thing I would say that has limited Week 1 scoring is the new trend to not play starters in the preseason. So you are going to see it take longer for offenses to gel in the regular season. Week 1 has become the preseason tuneup for many teams. Where back 6 years ago, teams would play their starters and entire half in the 3rd preseason game as the tuneup.
 

Dback Jon

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The other thing I would say that has limited Week 1 scoring is the new trend to not play starters in the preseason. So you are going to see it take longer for offenses to gel in the regular season. Week 1 has become the preseason tuneup for many teams. Where back 6 years ago, teams would play their starters and entire half in the 3rd preseason game as the tuneup.
Bills starters played in Pre-season. Cards didn't
 

GatorAZ

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I would say inferior QB play. Look how many teams trotted Rookies or Backups out there week 1. The Giants didn't want to play Daniel Jones but had no other option to with that contract. Breese, Rivers, Ryan and Brady are all gone now. Wilson, Rodgers and Cousins look like old men out there compared to 2019.

Plus running QBs are more in vogue now and they sap passing TDs with running TDs

I went back 10 years and looked at the QB’s in passer rating. We didn’t know we were in the golden age:

(in no order)
Brady
P Manning
Brees
Rodgers
Luck
Roethlisberger
Rivers
Wilson
Palmer
E Manning
Ryan
Stafford
Newton
Romo
 

vince56

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I went back 10 years and looked at the QB’s in passer rating. We didn’t know we were in the golden age:

(in no order)
Brady
P Manning
Brees
Rodgers
Luck
Roethlisberger
Rivers
Wilson
Palmer
E Manning
Ryan
Stafford
Newton
Romo

Yep, there it is.
 

TheCardFan

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What do you think is the cause for this? Inferior QB era? More athletic DL? Two-High coverage?

Combination of those three plus more rushing td's in general.

How many TD's were scored by QB's rushing in week 1? Seemed like a lot (maybe 10?).
 

kerouac9

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I went back 10 years and looked at the QB’s in passer rating. We didn’t know we were in the golden age:

(in no order)
Brady
P Manning
Brees
Rodgers
Luck
Roethlisberger
Rivers
Wilson
Palmer
E Manning
Ryan
Stafford
Newton
Romo
If you didn’t know you weren’t paying attention.
 

Chopper0080

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What do you think is the cause for this? Inferior QB era? More athletic DL? Two-High coverage?
My theory is that it is two fold.

First off, playing QB from the pocket is emphasized less and less at the collegiate level. There is not the emphasis to play with timing and rhythm (for obvious reasons). Also, the number of years starts in college is also less which increases the inexperience. This leads to a steeper learning curve when players transition to the pro level, and as of now, the NFL is very difficult environment to learn fundamentals.

Secondly, in response to this, defenses are playing more two high / shell coverage which forces QBs to play with timing and rhythm (their weaknesses). This slows the game down, reduces big plays, and makes drives longer which increases opportunities for offensive penalties.
 

MadCardDisease

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My theory is that it is two fold.

First off, playing QB from the pocket is emphasized less and less at the collegiate level. There is not the emphasis to play with timing and rhythm (for obvious reasons). Also, the number of years starts in college is also less which increases the inexperience. This leads to a steeper learning curve when players transition to the pro level, and as of now, the NFL is very difficult environment to learn fundamentals.

Secondly, in response to this, defenses are playing more two high / shell coverage which forces QBs to play with timing and rhythm (their weaknesses). This slows the game down, reduces big plays, and makes drives longer which increases opportunities for offensive penalties.
Two very good observations as well.
 

HairZach

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I think a lot of it has to do with most NFL offenses pivoting to heavy TE usage and more ground and pound. Its not just us doing it, its most of the league. NFL defenses have the personnel/scheme to take away deep stuff now; the result is drives are longer, there are more rushing touchdowns, and there are fewer drives overall.
 
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Crimson Warrior

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My theory is that it is two fold.

First off, playing QB from the pocket is emphasized less and less at the collegiate level. There is not the emphasis to play with timing and rhythm (for obvious reasons). Also, the number of years starts in college is also less which increases the inexperience. This leads to a steeper learning curve when players transition to the pro level, and as of now, the NFL is very difficult environment to learn fundamentals.

Secondly, in response to this, defenses are playing more two high / shell coverage which forces QBs to play with timing and rhythm (their weaknesses). This slows the game down, reduces big plays, and makes drives longer which increases opportunities for offensive penalties.

That's why we're sitting pretty with our incredibly physically gifted dual threat QB!

K1's rushing line from Sunday:

Five carries for 57 yards! 11.4 average!

I wish in 2nd half DP would have called his number on maybe four or five more designed run plays!

Murray is still beating LBs and defensive linemen to the edge, and it's still no contest him vs. one defender in the open field!

For the love of god, run Murray more! lol
 

TheCardFan

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For the love of god, run Murray more! lol

I think he is running pretty close to the right amount and that gives defenses problems. He has averaged 6.6 carries per game in his career...not sure his body can handle much more.

I want to see a couple of downfield shots to MHJ vs running him more.
 
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