Gene Collier: Has passing become a little TOO easy in the NFL?

Quote :

See if you can identify a trend somewhere in the following paragraph.

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, a walking winter nightmare to NFL defensive backs coast to coast, completed 25 passes in a row last Sunday and 28 out of 29; Marcus Mariota, middling quarterback of the Tennessee Tuxedos, hit on 16 passes in a row Monday and 22 out of 23; Pat Mahomes, the hottest football story on a fast-heating planet, fueled the Kansas City Chiefs to 51 points the night of Nov. 19, and lost to Jared Goff and the Los Angeles Rams; Ben Roethlisberger — maybe you’ve heard of him — threw for 462 yards last Sunday at Denver and his passer rating went down!

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/gene-collier/2018/12/01/patrick-mahomes-chiefs-jared-goff-rams-nfl-passing-offense/stories/201812020097

I think keep the all the rules as of now the same but I'd change the Mel Blount rule from 5 to 10 yards.

Almost every new rule the last 15 years has helped or accommodated the offense in some form or fashion. When you can’t breath on a QB without a 15 yard penalty, touch a WR while they are constantly pushing the DBs off of them, it keeps offensive drives alive and makes movingly the chains that much easier even when it’s hardly earned by the offenses.

Offenses used to be afraid to throw over the middle of the field against certain teams because they knew they would get their WRs smoked. Now they throw over the middle with impunity and actually look for the flags to help their cause when legal contact is made and the refs often oblige even when legal hits are made because the sound of contact “sounded” flagable...

Gene Collier is right. It is almost a pure passing league, with the pass used to set up the run. Heck, if this is where the league is going, what should the Steelers draft this Spring? I say another WR, TE, OL, and possibly RB.


I've said it before, if 30+ points become the norm for games, I'm out.