An interesting article on today's pass rushers

[Kid Cid]

Here's a very interesting look as to why there aren't more dominant pass rushers like Reggie White in the NFL right now.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor...&id=3290984

[Randall]

Interesting take on it.

 

While college and zone blitz are factors I am surprised there aren't more skilled pass rushers today. It's hard to find someone like Reggie 300+ pounds with strength and speed that stop the run and rush the passer equally well.

 

In college players an depend on skill alone and don't develop moves. I agree with that part of it. More players should seek help from Bruce Smith and others. I wonder how many do.

[Kid Cid]

Interesting take on it.

 

While college and zone blitz are factors I am surprised there aren't more skilled pass rushers today. It's hard to find someone like Reggie 300+ pounds with strength and speed that stop the run and rush the passer equally well.

 

In college players an depend on skill alone and don't develop moves. I agree with that part of it. More players should seek help from Bruce Smith and others. I wonder how many do.

You know, you hear a lot about kids going to basketball camp over the summer, but not a lot about football camp. Now it is a bit tougher with practice and the season starting so early, but you would think that a two week camp in early July where a payer could focus on technique would be highly benificial for both O and D linemen.

[kingfish247]

The article mentions it but a big part is the shorter amount of time to get to the QB.

 

The West Coast Offense is a term that's thrown around a lot these days. While it's hard to pin down exactly what the WCO is, at its core it's a passing game based on timing (the QBs feet = the WR routes). More teams than ever do not rely on a traditional passing game anymore... deep drops, QB bouncing around waiting for WRs to get free, WRs in one-on-one matchups, and big pass plays. In fact, almost all teams use at least a bit of timing in their pass game.

 

Teams that don't employ at least some part of the WCO have had ridiculously high sack rates... for example, the '06 Raiders and any Martz offense. To further illustrate the point, in '06 the Raiders allowed 72 sacks. After switching OCs (Greg Knapp... a WCO underling from the Niners glory days), they only allowed 41 sacks.

 

The Lions allowed 63 sacks in '06, 55 in '07. Before Martz arrived, the Lions allowed only 31 sacks in a terrible year that involved the firing of the HC with 5 games left. Even before that, the Martz offense in St. Louis was in the bottom 5 or 6 in sacks allowed since 2002 (the 2001 SB season seems like an anomaly however they were only middle of the pack with 40 allowed).

Edited March 14, 2008 by kingfish247

[Randall]

The article mentions it but a big part is the shorter amount of time to get to the QB.

 

The West Coast Offense is a term that's thrown around a lot these days. While it's hard to pin down exactly what the WCO is, at its core it's a passing game based on timing (the QBs feet = the WR routes). More teams than ever do not rely on a traditional passing game anymore... deep drops, QB bouncing around waiting for WRs to get free, WRs in one-on-one matchups, and big pass plays. In fact, almost all teams use at least a bit of timing in their pass game.

 

Teams that don't employ at least some part of the WCO have had ridiculously high sack rates... for example, the '06 Raiders and any Martz offense. To further illustrate the point, in '06 the Raiders allowed 72 sacks. After switching OCs (Greg Knapp... a WCO underling from the Niners glory days), they only allowed 41 sacks.

 

The Lions allowed 63 sacks in '06, 55 in '07. Before Martz arrived, the Lions allowed only 31 sacks in a terrible year that involved the firing of the HC with 5 games left. Even before that, the Martz offense in St. Louis was in the bottom 5 or 6 in sacks allowed since 2002 (the 2001 SB season seems like an anomaly however they were only middle of the pack with 40 allowed).

 

 

It says that but teams with good pass rushers(the Giants for instance) have success. Any team that goes deep will give opportunities to good pass rushers on many plays especially if they can shut down the run and make the opponent one dimensional. I don't think the short passing game is the main reason for this.