MIKE75 Posted June 2, 2017 Report Share Posted June 2, 2017 NFL defenses are repeatedly prioritizing speed over size. This season, look for offenses to counter by beefing up. Over the past few NFL seasons, getting smaller on defense has been all the rage. Safeties have become de facto linebackers. Linebackers have become edge rushers. And edge rushers have become defensive tackles. Speed — and the ability to negate offensive mismatches with it — has been at a premium, and teams’ quests to find mobility have often come at the expense of the size that defined so many defenses of the past two decades. It’s important to remember, though, that any time the pendulum swings significantly in one direction, it likely doesn’t take long before it comes barreling back. When it does, people without their heads on a swivel are liable to get knocked on their asses. If the tendencies of the NFL’s elite last season are any indication, offenses plan to react to shrinking defenders and positionless football by promptly reversing course. As coaches and decision-makers around the NFL took shrink rays to their defenses, the best offenses in football beefed up more than just about every unit in the league. Tennessee may be the best example of a team bulking up offensively as a means to push defenses around. By adding DeMarco Murray, Derrick Henry, and 2016 top-10 pick Jack Conklin to their roster last year, Titans general manager Jon Robinson showed his commitment to building a physical, run-based offense. https://theringer.com/nfl-offensive-strategy-going-big-a8e0ae117091 Number9 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post No1TitansFan Posted June 3, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 Thought for a second we were going to hear your detailed case for large women. begooode, Tormentedrose, TeamBass, and 5 others 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post chef Posted June 3, 2017 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 10 minutes ago, No1TitansFan said: Thought for a second we were going to hear your detailed case for large women. I think that's Kyle. woolfolksunclesuncle, begooode, No1TitansFan, and 3 others 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle021 Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 20 minutes ago, chef said: I think that's Kyle. Y'all think I like em big don't u Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WG53 Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 This keeps being said each year for the past decade yet it doesn't match reality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Face Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 I was watching the replay of the '05 Seahawk/Steeler Super Bowl yesterday on NFLN & the difference of just a decade is huge. Seattle didn't use any shotgun at all, they used a pure West Coast offense, the sets barely looked different on 1st down or 3rd & long. They'd have 3rd & 8 & be in a twin back set. I'm sure they gave up some explosiveness but I noticed how much less frazzled Hasselbeck was on 3rd down. Teams really put a ton of pressure on their tackles & QB these days, with all the spread sets. Obviously the new rules benefit the offense & the best QB's can mitigate the pass rush but I think a lot of teams would benefit using a little more blockers. It certainly helped our offense last year. That said, with our tackles & Mariota's improvement I expect to see a more open offense this year. TitanRein27, and XAEA12 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XAEA12 Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 10 hours ago, WG53 said: This keeps being said each year for the past decade yet it doesn't match reality. It's because it's hard to find big guys who are still quick enough. We have the benefit of having big players who are still pretty fast for their size in Henry, Murray, Walker, Lewan, Conklin, Mariota, and now Davis and Jonnu Smith. 2 rbs over 6 feet 225 who run 4.5s is rare, then 2 TEs over 250 running 4.5s, a 6'3 4.5 QB and 6'3 4.5 WR and everyone is a great blocker. It's a good philosophy but pulling it off is something every team can't do. Number9, and Mythos27 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle021 Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 6 hours ago, JNew said: It's because it's hard to find big guys who are still quick enough. We have the benefit of having big players who are still pretty fast for their size in Henry, Murray, Walker, Lewan, Conklin, Mariota, and now Davis and Jonnu Smith. 2 rbs over 6 feet 225 who run 4.5s is rare, then 2 TEs over 250 running 4.5s, a 6'3 4.5 QB and 6'3 4.5 WR and everyone is a great blocker. It's a good philosophy but pulling it off is something every team can't do. We have size and strength in front 7 but speed and ball skills in back 4... we are really balanced well XAEA12 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OILERMAN Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 13 hours ago, Face said: I was watching the replay of the '05 Seahawk/Steeler Super Bowl yesterday on NFLN & the difference of just a decade is huge. Seattle didn't use any shotgun at all, they used a pure West Coast offense, the sets barely looked different on 1st down or 3rd & long. They'd have 3rd & 8 & be in a twin back set. I'm sure they gave up some explosiveness but I noticed how much less frazzled Hasselbeck was on 3rd down. Teams really put a ton of pressure on their tackles & QB these days, with all the spread sets. Obviously the new rules benefit the offense & the best QB's can mitigate the pass rush but I think a lot of teams would benefit using a little more blockers. It certainly helped our offense last year. That said, with our tackles & Mariota's improvement I expect to see a more open offense this year. Steve Young never lined up in the shot gun XAEA12, and Mettamucil 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
big2033 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 The Ringer just posted an interesting article that ties directly to our philosophy: The Benefits of Going BigNFL defenses are repeatedly prioritizing speed over size. This season, look for offenses to counter by beefing up. https://theringer.com/nfl-offensive-strategy-going-big-a8e0ae117091 Ties into this tweet: titanruss 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
titanruss Posted June 7, 2017 Report Share Posted June 7, 2017 On 6/3/2017 at 8:06 PM, Face said: I was watching the replay of the '05 Seahawk/Steeler Super Bowl yesterday on NFLN & the difference of just a decade is huge. Seattle didn't use any shotgun at all, they used a pure West Coast offense, the sets barely looked different on 1st down or 3rd & long. They'd have 3rd & 8 & be in a twin back set. I'm sure they gave up some explosiveness but I noticed how much less frazzled Hasselbeck was on 3rd down. Teams really put a ton of pressure on their tackles & QB these days, with all the spread sets. Obviously the new rules benefit the offense & the best QB's can mitigate the pass rush but I think a lot of teams would benefit using a little more blockers. It certainly helped our offense last year. That said, with our tackles & Mariota's improvement I expect to see a more open offense this year. he did great but we helped out conklin a ton last season. so yeah, it'll be nice to test him a little more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
titanruss Posted June 7, 2017 Report Share Posted June 7, 2017 On 6/4/2017 at 0:15 AM, JNew said: It's because it's hard to find big guys who are still quick enough. We have the benefit of having big players who are still pretty fast for their size in Henry, Murray, Walker, Lewan, Conklin, Mariota, and now Davis and Jonnu Smith. 2 rbs over 6 feet 225 who run 4.5s is rare, then 2 TEs over 250 running 4.5s, a 6'3 4.5 QB and 6'3 4.5 WR and everyone is a great blocker. It's a good philosophy but pulling it off is something every team can't do. davis is faster than 4.5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
titanruss Posted June 7, 2017 Report Share Posted June 7, 2017 On 6/6/2017 at 2:25 AM, big2033 said: The Ringer just posted an interesting article that ties directly to our philosophy: The Benefits of Going BigNFL defenses are repeatedly prioritizing speed over size. This season, look for offenses to counter by beefing up. https://theringer.com/nfl-offensive-strategy-going-big-a8e0ae117091 Ties into this tweet: yep and it hurt us too. hindered marcus, hindered the ability of the WR to get open. made us predictable. EagleEye 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OILERMAN Posted June 7, 2017 Report Share Posted June 7, 2017 38 minutes ago, titanruss said: yep and it hurt us too. hindered marcus, hindered the ability of the WR to get open. made us predictable. Opposite, all 3 WRs made big plays off of playaction in 1 WR sets and actually created big plays. big2033 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nine Posted June 7, 2017 Report Share Posted June 7, 2017 1 hour ago, titanruss said: yep and it hurt us too. hindered marcus, hindered the ability of the WR to get open. made us predictable. But even more importantly....it made defenses *think* we were predictable. The Titans had multiple big plays from 1-WR sets because the defense thought they knew what was coming. The defense read the formation and loaded up to stop the run...and by the time they realized what was happening, the WR had already blown past the safety and was wide open. The Titans' 504 pass attempts ranked near the bottom of the league (#28 overall). However, they also had 53 pass completions of 20+ yards, which was the tenth-highest in the league...just slightly behind the Packers (57) and Patriots (56) and slightly ahead of the Raiders (51). Those teams obviously had more prolific passing attacks and threw the ball a lot more than the Titans did...but in terms of generating chunk plays in the passing game, the Titans ranked right up there with some of the best in the league. I know a lot of folks prefer a wide-open passing attack with WRs spread all over the field.....but there's also a lot to be said for making the opponent think one thing, then doing the exact opposite. Draw them up close and throw it over them; it works. big2033, Mythos27, and ChemEngr79 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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