How Technology Is Killing NFL DefensesWhat Once Was a Fair Fight Now Favors the Offense; Roethlisberger's Big Day
If it wasn't obvious before that defense is a lost art in the NFL, it is now.
On Sunday, teams gained the fourth-most yardage ever on average in a single day. Two of the top four yardage weeks in league history have occurred this season. Four quarterbacks on Sunday-Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck and Nick Foles-threw for 400 yards. That had never happened. For defenses, this isn't a temporary crisis; it's the new football reality.
Coaches point to a few causes for this. Quarterbacks are better; rule changes have neutered defenses. But the real thing killing defenses in 2014 is advancement in technology.
Confused? NFL defenses are, too.
Until now, the chess match before the snap had always been a fair fight. Offenses get to come out in a set formation and can make minor tweaks-a different route here, an adjusted blocking assignment there. But defenses can change their whole scheme based on what they see from the offense. They have always had the element of surprise, the ability to disguise a blitz or sneak up on an unsuspecting lineman, all at a moment's notice, just by pointing or hollering to a teammate to make the switch.
But then technology intervened. For about the last four seasons, players have had tablets to watch film on. This year, the effects are being felt for perhaps the first time. "Things that used to be subtle, like a safety lining two yards outside of a hash mark, is now a dead giveaway," said former NFL lineman Shaun O'Hara, now an analyst at the NFL Network.
This has created a world in which players could watch significantly more game film than they could be before. They could watch their opponents' third-down plays at the grocery store, or, some players admit, in the bathroom. It is a world in which everyone knows everything about everyone. Players have watched game film for decades, but they never had this much information.
And that, according to Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine, favors the offense.
"We have to tell our guys, 'Don't be that guy, don't be the sucker on the tape,' " Pettine said. "You can't tip off anything anymore, whether that's a stance or even the eyes. There are so many little things they can find now, and all they need to do is find one."
As a result, coaches say, getting to the quarterback has never been harder. Offenses can adjust quickly once they identify a blitzer, leaving more guys in to block on a given play and completely stopping the opposing pass rush.
"Access to video is the best thing we have," said New Orleans Saints offensive-line coach Bret Ingalls. "We get to say, 'Hey, every time a guy on this team points to the guard, it means he'll try this or that.' "
Cameron Heyward, a Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman, said that research of pass-rushing moves has gotten so advanced that he rarely wants to make the first move, since the offense will know what's coming. He said that offensive linemen have few "tells," and even if they had any, it wouldn't matter, since they rarely attempt the exotic maneuvers that defensive linemen resort to in their desperation to pressure the quarterback.
"You have to do a lot more countermoves," Heyward said. "We have to be totally sound so that we don't give away [tipoffs] now."
Defenses have to adjust in one of two ways, the Browns' Pettine said: Either try to never run the same blitz twice, or run basic defenses with no disguises that won't produce tells. For his part, Pettine is choosing the former. "We're constantly refreshing," he said.
The numbers back up the notion that offense is winning. According to Pro Football Focus, the average quarterback's rating against the blitz during the 2013 season was 85.7. When a quarterback wasn't being blitzed, the rating was only marginally higher-86.1. That isn't how defenses planned it. This season, the percentage of passing plays that resulted in a sack is 5.9%, down from 6.7% a year ago.
And then there is the Steelers' Roethlisberger, whose quarterback rating this season when blitzed is 12 points higher [/I]than when he isn't blitzed-a significant improvement over most seasons in his career.
This shouldn't be a surprise, given how Pittsburgh operates. Steelers offensive linemen say that their unit was an early adopter of using increased access to film to snuff out opponents' defensive tactics, so much so that they are mindful of making sure defenses can't find out anything about them.
"It's totally changed the way we've played," said Steelers lineman Ramon Foster. Fellow lineman Kelvin Beachum said that the team excels at "anticipatory management" with the new technology at their disposal.
"We've trained ourselves to, when I talk to Kelvin Beachum, I make sure to say, 'Yo, let's not do this with our hands. Just know it, no pointing,' " Foster said. "The technology part is crucial."
It seems to be working. On Sunday against the blitz-happy Indianapolis Colts-who had shut out the Cincinnati Bengals the week before-Roethlisberger torched the defense for 522 passing yards, tied for the fourth-highest total in NFL history.
This post was edited on 10/29 10:34 AM by NoleSoul
How Technology Is Killing NFL Defenses
If it wasn't obvious before that defense is a lost art in the NFL, it is now.
On Sunday, teams gained the fourth-most yardage ever on average in a single day. Two of the top four yardage weeks in league history have occurred this season. Four quarterbacks on Sunday-Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Andrew Luck and Nick Foles-threw for 400 yards. That had never happened. For defenses, this isn't a temporary crisis; it's the new football reality.
Coaches point to a few causes for this. Quarterbacks are better; rule changes have neutered defenses. But the real thing killing defenses in 2014 is advancement in technology.
Confused? NFL defenses are, too.
Until now, the chess match before the snap had always been a fair fight. Offenses get to come out in a set formation and can make minor tweaks-a different route here, an adjusted blocking assignment there. But defenses can change their whole scheme based on what they see from the offense. They have always had the element of surprise, the ability to disguise a blitz or sneak up on an unsuspecting lineman, all at a moment's notice, just by pointing or hollering to a teammate to make the switch.
But then technology intervened. For about the last four seasons, players have had tablets to watch film on. This year, the effects are being felt for perhaps the first time. "Things that used to be subtle, like a safety lining two yards outside of a hash mark, is now a dead giveaway," said former NFL lineman Shaun O'Hara, now an analyst at the NFL Network.
This has created a world in which players could watch significantly more game film than they could be before. They could watch their opponents' third-down plays at the grocery store, or, some players admit, in the bathroom. It is a world in which everyone knows everything about everyone. Players have watched game film for decades, but they never had this much information.
And that, according to Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine, favors the offense.
"We have to tell our guys, 'Don't be that guy, don't be the sucker on the tape,' " Pettine said. "You can't tip off anything anymore, whether that's a stance or even the eyes. There are so many little things they can find now, and all they need to do is find one."
As a result, coaches say, getting to the quarterback has never been harder. Offenses can adjust quickly once they identify a blitzer, leaving more guys in to block on a given play and completely stopping the opposing pass rush.
"Access to video is the best thing we have," said New Orleans Saints offensive-line coach Bret Ingalls. "We get to say, 'Hey, every time a guy on this team points to the guard, it means he'll try this or that.' "
Cameron Heyward, a Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman, said that research of pass-rushing moves has gotten so advanced that he rarely wants to make the first move, since the offense will know what's coming. He said that offensive linemen have few "tells," and even if they had any, it wouldn't matter, since they rarely attempt the exotic maneuvers that defensive linemen resort to in their desperation to pressure the quarterback.
"You have to do a lot more countermoves," Heyward said. "We have to be totally sound so that we don't give away [tipoffs] now."
Defenses have to adjust in one of two ways, the Browns' Pettine said: Either try to never run the same blitz twice, or run basic defenses with no disguises that won't produce tells. For his part, Pettine is choosing the former. "We're constantly refreshing," he said.
The numbers back up the notion that offense is winning. According to Pro Football Focus, the average quarterback's rating against the blitz during the 2013 season was 85.7. When a quarterback wasn't being blitzed, the rating was only marginally higher-86.1. That isn't how defenses planned it. This season, the percentage of passing plays that resulted in a sack is 5.9%, down from 6.7% a year ago.
And then there is the Steelers' Roethlisberger, whose quarterback rating this season when blitzed is 12 points higher [/I]than when he isn't blitzed-a significant improvement over most seasons in his career.
This shouldn't be a surprise, given how Pittsburgh operates. Steelers offensive linemen say that their unit was an early adopter of using increased access to film to snuff out opponents' defensive tactics, so much so that they are mindful of making sure defenses can't find out anything about them.
"It's totally changed the way we've played," said Steelers lineman Ramon Foster. Fellow lineman Kelvin Beachum said that the team excels at "anticipatory management" with the new technology at their disposal.
"We've trained ourselves to, when I talk to Kelvin Beachum, I make sure to say, 'Yo, let's not do this with our hands. Just know it, no pointing,' " Foster said. "The technology part is crucial."
It seems to be working. On Sunday against the blitz-happy Indianapolis Colts-who had shut out the Cincinnati Bengals the week before-Roethlisberger torched the defense for 522 passing yards, tied for the fourth-highest total in NFL history.
This post was edited on 10/29 10:34 AM by NoleSoul
How Technology Is Killing NFL Defenses
