[Yakuza Rich]

I think what we'll see in about 5 years is that teams will be so geared to stop the Green Bay's, New England's, etc on defense and other teams will try to copy their 'spread 'em out and throw' schemes that it will leave a gaping hole for a team that will utilize more of a standard formations (21 personnel or 11 personnel under center) and utilize some creative ways to run block and throw off play action. I think some coach will figure out that there is a flaw to having all of these players on defense play from a 2-point stance and that you can run the ball at will if you can figure out new ways to run block. That and you'll save your QB from taking a beating and keep your defense fresh.

I think part of the problem is that coaches start to think that if they are down by a touchdown against a team like Green Bay that they have to start throwing like crazy in order to keep up with Green Bay's high powered offense. But in reality they are just playing into Green Bay's hands. It's almost akin to a basketball team thinking that they need to run a fast paced offense to stick with some powerhouse team that is great at running the fast break. More often than not, you'll get ran off the court.

Strangely, football coaches don't understand that.

Furthermore, the history of the game shows that defensive players are more likely to get injured than offensive players. So a HC smart enough to balance out the offense will not only keep his defense fresh, but keep them from getting injured. And like I said, his QB will also have less opportunities of getting injured as well.

It may not produce blowout wins and record breaking offensive performances, but it might wind up being the easiest way for a team to just win ball games. And I think Jim Harbaugh may have started to figure this out already.








YR