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Yes, that's our boy Felix getting the huge pic to go with the story. 
* The Wall Street Journal
* JANUARY 13, 2010
What's With All These Long Runs?
The Passing Game Is King in the NFL, But Giant Holes Are Opening; Misdirection
By REED ALBERGOTTI
[SP_FEATUREPJ1] Getty Images
Felix Jones of the Dallas Cowboys scores on a 73-yard touchdown run against the Philadelphia Eagles in Saturday's 34-14 playoff win.
If it seems like the NFL has been taken prisoner by the forward pass, you're not mistaken. A dozen teams passed the ball for more than 4,000 yards during the regular season, the most in at least a decade.
But in a delightful turn of events for football purists, all this aerial action seems to have an unexpected side effect: it's allowing more running backs to break off long, epic runs.
During the regular season, the number of running plays from scrimmage of at least 35 yards reached its highest point since at least 1991, with the number of 50-plus-yard runs jumping by 33% over last year's figure.
Some of this increase is due to the electrifying performance of running back Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans, who broke six touchdown runs of more than 35 yards this season. But even without the Titans, who didn't make the playoffs, the trend continued: last weekend's four wild card games saw five runs longer than 35 yards, the most in any one playoff weekend since the league went to a 12-team playoff format 20 years ago.
These included a touchdown scamper of 83 yards (the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Rice, on the first play from scrimmage in the 33-14 win over the New England Patriots); 73 yards (Dallas's Felix Jones in the 34-14 Cowboys win over the Eagles); and 47 yards (Cedric Benson of the Cincinnati Bengals in a 24-14 loss to the New York Jets).
Even teams that had big passing games added on with big run totals: The Cardinals had 156 yards on the ground to go with their 375 passing yards in the 51-45 overtime win against the Packers on Sunday.
Football fans of a certain vintage will remind you that running is the lifeblood of the sport—after all, the forward pass was banned until the early 1900s. For many years, purists continued to believe that hucking the ball downfield made a mockery of the sport.
View Full Image
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Getty Images
Ray Rice of the Ravens scores on an 83-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of Baltimore's 33-14 win over the New England Patriots Sunday.
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In recent years, however, the passing game has evolved from respectability to primacy. Rules limiting defensive contact on wide receivers and quarterbacks have made the passing game a vital component for any winning team. This season, teams scored 710 times through the air, compared with 646 the year prior, an increase of 10%.
If the increasing number of long runs has a root cause, it may be the effect these prolific passing teams have had on defenses. Craftsmen such as Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau and Jets head coach Rex Ryan, formerly the defensive coach of the Ravens, have figured out how to create pressure on quarterbacks with confusing schemes that create maximum chaos but require fewer rushers.
Modern NFL defenses employ speedier and more agile players on the front seven than they did in years past. Defensive linemen who could stop the run and drop back in pass coverage—a key component of Mr. Lebeau's zone-blitz scheme—are teamed up with linebackers who are big enough to stop running backs in their tracks but fast enough to aid in covering wide receivers.
This season, this endless chess game has a new wrinkle: offenses have learned to disrupt things by running when the defense thinks they're going to pass—a tactic that creates mismatches that favor the offense. Teams are adding extra offensive lineman to steamroll these nimble defenders as they rush the pass. And they are using the speed of defenses against them by running "misdirection" plays that send defenders scrambling in one direction only to see the ball go the other way.
The Ravens, Jets, Cardinals and Cowboys all tallied runs of more than 35 yards over the weekend on these misdirection plays. The Packers were burned so hard by a fake by Cardinals rookie running back Beanie Wells that the team's linebackers took themselves out of the play without even being blocked.
The Jets made the Bengals look silly with a quick toss to Mr. Greene that was so sneaky that the rookie back from Iowa's run amounted to a light 39-yard jog to the end zone.
Mr. Jones of the Cowboys scored two weeks in a row on similar running plays that completely fooled the Philadelphia Eagles. Saturday night, the Cowboys were in a running formation on first down at their own 27-yard line. Mr. Jones took the handoff, faked to his left and cut back to the right. Eagles linebackers Moise Fokou and Jeremiah Trotter bit on Mr. Jones's fake, but they should have known better: They had two 300-pound clues.
Dallas guards Kyle Kosier and Leonard Davis were pulling to their right—a telltale giveaway of the direction of the run. Had Messrs. Fokou and Trotter followed the guards, and not the motion of the fullback and the running back, they would have stuffed Mr. Jones for a loss. Instead, he strode 73 yards for a touchdown.
Another way offenses break big running plays is to convince aggressive defenses they're going to pass. While trailing by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter Saturday against the Jets, Cincinnati lined up with three wide receivers and only Cedric Benson in the backfield. On defense, the Jets had their lighter and quicker defensive backs on the field in anticipation of a pass play. The Jets had also called a blitz designed to pressure Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer up the middle.
But before the snap, Mr. Palmer anticipated the pressure from the blitz and changed the play to something known as an "outside zone." This play sent Mr. Benson, the running back, on a run to the outside, away from the blitz.
On the play itself, after Mr. Benson cleared the line of scrimmage, the only person capable of making the tackle was Jets safety Kerry Rhodes, who couldn't get across the field in time. The play resulted in a 47-yard touchdown run.
To be sure, running games usually get stronger as the season goes on, and especially in the playoffs. Not only does the choreography of the offensive line improves with time, but in the playoffs, everybody is playing harder and running faster, creating all kinds of room for anomalous results.
"Playoff football is different," says Matt Bowen, a former NFL strong safety who works as an analyst for the National Football Post.
"Guys are playing for money now," he adds. "They know if you make a play on wild-card weekend, it could mean a bigger contract."
Write to Reed Albergotti at reed.albergotti@wsj.com
* The Wall Street Journal
* JANUARY 13, 2010
What's With All These Long Runs?
The Passing Game Is King in the NFL, But Giant Holes Are Opening; Misdirection
By REED ALBERGOTTI
[SP_FEATUREPJ1] Getty Images
Felix Jones of the Dallas Cowboys scores on a 73-yard touchdown run against the Philadelphia Eagles in Saturday's 34-14 playoff win.
If it seems like the NFL has been taken prisoner by the forward pass, you're not mistaken. A dozen teams passed the ball for more than 4,000 yards during the regular season, the most in at least a decade.
But in a delightful turn of events for football purists, all this aerial action seems to have an unexpected side effect: it's allowing more running backs to break off long, epic runs.
During the regular season, the number of running plays from scrimmage of at least 35 yards reached its highest point since at least 1991, with the number of 50-plus-yard runs jumping by 33% over last year's figure.
Some of this increase is due to the electrifying performance of running back Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans, who broke six touchdown runs of more than 35 yards this season. But even without the Titans, who didn't make the playoffs, the trend continued: last weekend's four wild card games saw five runs longer than 35 yards, the most in any one playoff weekend since the league went to a 12-team playoff format 20 years ago.
These included a touchdown scamper of 83 yards (the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Rice, on the first play from scrimmage in the 33-14 win over the New England Patriots); 73 yards (Dallas's Felix Jones in the 34-14 Cowboys win over the Eagles); and 47 yards (Cedric Benson of the Cincinnati Bengals in a 24-14 loss to the New York Jets).
Even teams that had big passing games added on with big run totals: The Cardinals had 156 yards on the ground to go with their 375 passing yards in the 51-45 overtime win against the Packers on Sunday.
Football fans of a certain vintage will remind you that running is the lifeblood of the sport—after all, the forward pass was banned until the early 1900s. For many years, purists continued to believe that hucking the ball downfield made a mockery of the sport.
View Full Image
SP_FEATUREPJ2
Getty Images
Ray Rice of the Ravens scores on an 83-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of Baltimore's 33-14 win over the New England Patriots Sunday.
SP_FEATUREPJ2
SP_FEATUREPJ2
In recent years, however, the passing game has evolved from respectability to primacy. Rules limiting defensive contact on wide receivers and quarterbacks have made the passing game a vital component for any winning team. This season, teams scored 710 times through the air, compared with 646 the year prior, an increase of 10%.
If the increasing number of long runs has a root cause, it may be the effect these prolific passing teams have had on defenses. Craftsmen such as Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau and Jets head coach Rex Ryan, formerly the defensive coach of the Ravens, have figured out how to create pressure on quarterbacks with confusing schemes that create maximum chaos but require fewer rushers.
Modern NFL defenses employ speedier and more agile players on the front seven than they did in years past. Defensive linemen who could stop the run and drop back in pass coverage—a key component of Mr. Lebeau's zone-blitz scheme—are teamed up with linebackers who are big enough to stop running backs in their tracks but fast enough to aid in covering wide receivers.
This season, this endless chess game has a new wrinkle: offenses have learned to disrupt things by running when the defense thinks they're going to pass—a tactic that creates mismatches that favor the offense. Teams are adding extra offensive lineman to steamroll these nimble defenders as they rush the pass. And they are using the speed of defenses against them by running "misdirection" plays that send defenders scrambling in one direction only to see the ball go the other way.
The Ravens, Jets, Cardinals and Cowboys all tallied runs of more than 35 yards over the weekend on these misdirection plays. The Packers were burned so hard by a fake by Cardinals rookie running back Beanie Wells that the team's linebackers took themselves out of the play without even being blocked.
The Jets made the Bengals look silly with a quick toss to Mr. Greene that was so sneaky that the rookie back from Iowa's run amounted to a light 39-yard jog to the end zone.
Mr. Jones of the Cowboys scored two weeks in a row on similar running plays that completely fooled the Philadelphia Eagles. Saturday night, the Cowboys were in a running formation on first down at their own 27-yard line. Mr. Jones took the handoff, faked to his left and cut back to the right. Eagles linebackers Moise Fokou and Jeremiah Trotter bit on Mr. Jones's fake, but they should have known better: They had two 300-pound clues.
Dallas guards Kyle Kosier and Leonard Davis were pulling to their right—a telltale giveaway of the direction of the run. Had Messrs. Fokou and Trotter followed the guards, and not the motion of the fullback and the running back, they would have stuffed Mr. Jones for a loss. Instead, he strode 73 yards for a touchdown.
Another way offenses break big running plays is to convince aggressive defenses they're going to pass. While trailing by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter Saturday against the Jets, Cincinnati lined up with three wide receivers and only Cedric Benson in the backfield. On defense, the Jets had their lighter and quicker defensive backs on the field in anticipation of a pass play. The Jets had also called a blitz designed to pressure Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer up the middle.
But before the snap, Mr. Palmer anticipated the pressure from the blitz and changed the play to something known as an "outside zone." This play sent Mr. Benson, the running back, on a run to the outside, away from the blitz.
On the play itself, after Mr. Benson cleared the line of scrimmage, the only person capable of making the tackle was Jets safety Kerry Rhodes, who couldn't get across the field in time. The play resulted in a 47-yard touchdown run.
To be sure, running games usually get stronger as the season goes on, and especially in the playoffs. Not only does the choreography of the offensive line improves with time, but in the playoffs, everybody is playing harder and running faster, creating all kinds of room for anomalous results.
"Playoff football is different," says Matt Bowen, a former NFL strong safety who works as an analyst for the National Football Post.
"Guys are playing for money now," he adds. "They know if you make a play on wild-card weekend, it could mean a bigger contract."
Write to Reed Albergotti at reed.albergotti@wsj.com