Comments on: Does the NFL Lack Creativity?

By: Woogo

Woogo — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:24:29 +0000

Creativity in the NFL does exist, there are some fine examples listed above. The problem, if it is a problem? is you have one maybe two games before the coordinator on the other team has watched hours of film and figured out away to stop you. Then it’s back to the drawing board. I think two very good examples of creativity are New England (who will throw a TD to anyone on the team). And Pittsburgh under Cower, who ran some interesting trick plays.

By: i agree with pitch back (sort of)

i agree with pitch back (sort of) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:24:35 +0000

I agree. I wish NFL teams would lateral the ball more, even if it’s just a hook and ladder play. If the play is specificaly designed for a lateral at a certain point, with conditionals, the risk is considerably diminished. Lateralling every play is a terrible idea, and the team would never hold a possession into the redzone, but once or twice a game at least can’t be that bad, if the team practices and plans well.

smart aggressiveness/risk > conservativeness

That being said, the Titans are one of my favourite teams in the NFL :S.

By: pitch back on every play

pitch back on every play — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:41:09 +0000

I think there should be laterals on almost every play. no huddle offense, kamikaze, direct snaps to multiple players. this would work with athletes.

at least it would be fun to see for one season, even if they got wiped out, but i actually believe it presents a lot of high risk, but high reward scenarios that could produce an entertaining and moderately successful team

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:06:01 +0000

Sean: Reggie Nelson ran a 4.35 40, which I believe was White’s fastest 40 time, too. And it’s not just about speed for defenders. It’s also about positioning. White might burn you a few times at first, but once defenders have learned his tendencies, he’ll be crushed.

I’m not the only one who remembers Darrell Green, right?

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:57:00 +0000

NFL LBs and safeties aren’t as fast as Pat White and Noel Devine.

By: cian

cian — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:35:46 +0000

it all depends on how you define creativity. if it’s a diversity of systems, well the nfl will never measure up with college football. there are a galaxy of teams in college ball, and yes the defenders in the nfl are too fast for some of the flash and gun stuff. however, how to use the players on the field in new and exciting ways, then i think the nfl measures up all right.

the game plan of the packers in the divisional round victory over the seahawks used a two fullback inverted wishbone in their zone-stretch running plays that allowed ryan grant to pick from a variety of holes on the playside and backside of the blocking. he only ripped the seahawks for 201 yards (after those early horrible fumbles). or what about the patriots offense through the regular season? they unabashedly ran a spread offense with a legitimate deep threat, something to balance all those quick hitches and bubble screens.

the fact is a good nfl offense can contain aspects of every offense that came before it. sure, some coaches rigorously adhere to a system, but the most successful can get pretty creative, whether it’s belichick or jason garrett in dallas or mccarthy in green bay or rex ryan in baltimore (yes, d-coordinator, i know, but very bold!)… creativity is all a matter of how you look at it.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:18:28 +0000

Richard: At least Delhomme can run an offense. All Ookie ever did was run. The real mistake was signing David Carr, who couldn’t run a Wing Stop.

Carolina didn’t build the offense around Delhomme, either. That offense was built around a running game where the starting running back had lost a step because of injuries and had developed butterfingers to boot. Why DeShaun Foster was allowed to keep starting as long as he did still baffles me. He should have gone back to the 3rd-down blocking back role he had in 2003 and let DeAngelo Williams get 20-25 carries a game.

And yes, it’s always going to be Ookie’s fault, because no receiver worth his salt ever wanted to play for him. Receivers are selfish brats who want the ball all the time, and they were never going to get the stats they wanted in Atlanta with Ookie behind center. The same thing is happening in Tennessee right now. Who wants to catch Vince Young’s passes if he’s only going to throw the ball 75% as much as Brady, Romo or either Manning?

And hey, isn’t Senor Mexico’s favorite tight end in Nashville now? I wonder why…

By: Will

Will — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:26:26 +0000

I don’t think the Falcons ever truly committed to Vick’s talents, and now we’ll never know if doing so would have extended Mora’s career in Atlanta or ended it much, much sooner. I always wondered what would have happened if Atlanta had got a player like Randle El to back up Vick and had Michael Bishop (or insert your favorite not-an-NFL-QB). That would have been an experiment of trans-Spurrier proportions, and I would have loved to have seen a couple of seasons worth of it.

That said, there is a place for creativity in the NFL, one just can’t expect it to take the same form it would in soccer. Think more in terms of a Brett Favre jump pass or the Dan Marino fake spike. I’d even include a runner like Barry Sanders whose vision made him the arbiter of where the running lanes were; Sanders was sheer joy to watch, and shame on the Lions for never surrounding him with an adequate passing game (Ditto for Marino, the Dolphins, and a running game).

The creativity is there, but I do understand that the penalties for failing in one’s attempts to be creative can be so disastrous (loss of possession or even instant opponent score) that it seems only the great ones can get away with it for longer than a few pre-season games, and even for the great ones it is a rather subtle brand of creativity.

By: Richard

Richard — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:55:33 +0000

Is it always michael vick’s fault the falcon’s didn’t win a super bowl during his tenure? Peerless Price as a #1 wide receiver, michael jenkins and roddy white being #2 and #3 wide receivers, jim mora being an absolutely terrible head coach, simply not being as good as the eagles the year they went to the nfc championship had to have something to do with it. That’s why price is on an nfl roster right now and warrick dunn was able to run up the middle with ease last year because linebackers were spying the QB?

“what happens if your quarterback gets hurt?”

thats true, its too bad the carolina panthers built their offense around superhuman athlete jake delhomme, in retrospect, that was a bad idea.