Smart Links – 10/13/2011

Thursday, 13 October 2011 , by : Chris

Why have NFL passing yards gone up so much this season?

- Bill Belichick breaks down plays from the Patriots’ win over the Jets.

- Calvin McGee on the spread offense.

- Buck and strong safety fire zone, against both the run and the pass.

- Peyton Manning, dealing with his injury.

- Bruce Feldman joins Ty and Dan on the Solid Verbal.

Posted in the Category: grab bag 3 comments
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  • Troy Coll

    Seems like Mr Burke is conflating two concepts in his otherwise-great passing stats article. A WR screen is an entirely different type of play from route concepts like mesh and shallow cross where one receiver sets a “pick” for another as their routes intersect. Those route concepts have been in use in the NFL for quite a while, but I’ve noticed a rise in the number of teams making use of college-style WR screens (those that fit within NFL rules for linemen downfield, that is). As more defenses are adding LeBeau-style 3-under 3-deep zone blitzes, even traditional “pro-style” offenses are attacking the perimeter with these quick-hitters.

  • Mr.Murder

    The Bill B. link, was something I thought NE has done often. In the Raiders game they really worked across the face of down line blockers to nullify the scrimmage line and dare passers to beat full coverage sets. Not a lot of upfield pass rushing. For the Jets that meant Keller needed to play big, and he did not, very quiet overall. Even when he gets stats it is to a point teams will look for him at certain times and take him out, the offense loses chemistry drastically when he gets few reps.

    Don’t think Keller is good enough to get a majority of reps, but he is a complimentary player and his absence puts too much pressure on a struggling star players in their offense. Big part of the Jets mess was an inability to set the edge when Mangold was not there to open up middle runs.

    Now that he’s back they need counter/draw actions instead of strong side leads. Hard to convince people on the draw when you can’t establish things down the field, hard to counter when your runs at point of attack are not getting much in the first place.

    Maybe they need unbalanced sets to shake things up? That would help set the edge and play pass to one field side. A vet center back could help on protection and blocking changes that must be made to go unbalanced.

  • Anonymous

    I think passing yards are up because of missed tackles, simple as that. Tackling as a whole so far this NFL season has been appaling. I’m an offensive guy too and would normally credit the skills here….but seriously, no one is tackling right now.