No sports organization markets itself like the NFL. Footage of rabid fans idolizing legends, hours of pre-match preparations, the insane popularity of fantasy football, alternative broadcasts, the push to expand internationally. For most of the last two decades, no league has fed its marketing department as much red meat as the NFL. But when it comes to on-field performance, this season has been pedestrian offensively and especially abysmal when it comes to quarterback play.
Tom Brady, who has been a part of several key matchups in his 23-year NFL career, criticized the state of football on ESPN pundit Stephen A Smith’s radio show earlier this week.
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“I don’t see the perfection that I saw in the past,” Brady said. “I don’t think the coaching is as good as it used to be. I don’t think the development of young players is as good as it used to be. I don’t think the plans are as good as they used to be.”
Harsh words from Brady, but he’s not entirely wrong, especially regarding his lack of player development. Many of the young quarterbacks coming to the fore are replacing future Hall of Famers who have retired or aged out in the last few years. In addition to Brady, we also said goodbye to Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers. And yes, we can throw Matt Ryan in there too. Some backup plans worked better than others — like Justin Herbert deciding that his receivers would catch the ball and not mess with his coach’s game management — but most didn’t. Thanks to the rookie salary scale, teams are increasingly rolling with undrafted quarterbacks while distributing salary cap dollars elsewhere; They are copying a formula that the Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes, the Philadelphia Eagles with Jalen Hurts, and San Francisco have applied to perfection. 49ers with Brock Purdy.
This season, an unprecedented 10 freshman point guards started matches, breaking the previous record of nine sets in 2019. Of those 10 players, CJ Stroud of the Houston Texans is the only one worth watching on a weekly basis, and he’s proven himself. smart playmaker. It’s easy to get excited about New York Giants home run undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito getting an improbable win over the Commanders (even if it was due in large part to Washington’s frequent turnovers), but it’s not like anyone lost any sleep. He is looking forward to his next match. The reality is that most of these rookies will be lucky enough to be on NFL rosters within a few years.
Part of the reason some fans feel there’s a decline in entertainment is that, with the older generation dwindling, the days of Brady v Rodgers or (Peyton) Manning v Brees in the same week are long gone. Ryan v Rivers – Articles that frequently express the breathtaking excitement of the NFL and make us feel good about devoting all of our Sundays to football.
Of course, these matchups were very interesting because they had years to develop and refine. And there’s hope that those rivalries will be replaced by new ones, like the Mahomes vs. Hurts showdown we saw this week on Monday Night Football. After all, Mahomes is already on his way to the Hall of Fame. And the NFL is full of great young quarterbacks who could join him, including Hurts, Herbert, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. But right now, it looks like we’re a few years away from the NFL’s young guns turning into a rivalry to rival Brady and Manning.
As for young quarterbacks who aren’t on the level of Mahomes, Hurts or Burrow, having so many terrible players roaming the NFL sidelines doesn’t help their development. Just ask Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears; It’s clear that Matt Eberflus is not benefiting from his development. And it’s not his fault that Fields is in the window to thrive under a true offensive wizard. It’s rare to have a run like that of Alex Smith, who was considered a bust in San Francisco before Jim Harbaugh revived his career and Andy Reid helped elevate him. (Then Reid himself is rare.)
Now we’re left with a series of inept head coaches fighting for their jobs while fielding young quarterbacks. The increasingly shortening of the head coach position, combined with the early departure of young quarterbacks, has hurt the position and thus NFL offenses. How do quarterbacks, and therefore offensive systems, need to be sustainable in the current environment?
The consequences of this are in full force. Yes, there are some great offenses like the Miami Dolphins running back Tyreek Hill. However, there was a decrease in scoring for the fourth consecutive season. Teams collected an average of 45.9 points in 2021. Teams are averaging 43.3 points this season, marking the NFL’s lowest scoring season since 2009.
However, the decrease in scores is not limited to the offensive struggle. The NFL is a cyclical league where the offense dominates periodically until defenses catch up and the whole process begins again. And right now the league is in a period of defensive innovation. As college offensive schemes have been adopted and evolved in the NFL, defensive coordinators have turned to college to find their own solutions.
This year’s most effective defensive coaches — Baltimore’s Mike Macdonald, New York’s Robert Saleh, Kansas City’s Steve Spagnuolo and Dallas’ Dan Quinn — have turned to college tactics to help mask coverages and harass quarterbacks.
In particular, defensive coordinators used the university’s style of ‘reversing downs’: trying to force a drive-destroying play by sending pressure down and away early. And these pressures have become more complex; a charcuterie board of zone raids, read attacks, lone robbers and would-be creeps. On subsequent downs, defenses dropped back, crowding the field with players in coverage and forcing quarterbacks to chase the ball downfield. At every level of the defense, there are more moving parts than ever before, more pieces for quarterbacks to figure out on the fly, and that can be especially difficult for young players trying to find their feet in a league where players are faster, stronger and more powerful. They are smarter than the ones they encountered in college.
Of course, injuries to names like Aaron Rodgers, Burrow and Kirk Cousins are an important factor not only in terms of scoring but also overall watchability. But the league’s quarterback-friendly rules should also be increasing offensive numbers to offset defensive innovation. On the other hand, most offensive lines have yet to catch up to the dominant passing offense era that currently defines the NFL. Football purists can easily be satisfied with watching hybrid defensive star Micah Parsons do his thing, but that’s not the case against Washington’s porous offensive line and with Sam Howell at center.
The best against the best is what moves the needle, it’s what has the NFL water cooler buzzing all week long. But as it stands now, the NFL looks like a huge disappointment.