For the new page:
Pretty good read from WSJ. Ultimately, the NFL has managed to commoditize the SAM, nose tackle, and tailback over the last decade, so it's only a matter of time.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-nfl-has-a-quarterback-crisis-1441819454
Pretty good read from WSJ. Ultimately, the NFL has managed to commoditize the SAM, nose tackle, and tailback over the last decade, so it's only a matter of time.
Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said the new crop of college quarterbacks were flummoxed by a simple question about an under front, one of the most common defensive alignments. Whoa, no ones ever told me front before, he remembers one prospect saying. No ones ever talked to me about reading these defenses.
Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley said he had the same results when he asked prospects a question about defenses shifting from a common scheme called cover 2 to an equally mundane tactic called cover 3. Hue Jackson, the offensive coordinator from the Bengals, said he had to dumb down his questions, while Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton said some QBs failed to grasp things as basic as understanding a common play call. You have to teach these kids the absolute basics, he said.
In the last decade, many college football teams have embraced a form of offense that runs at a furious tempo with no breaks for huddles, the goal being to grind down and exhaust the defense. Teams that play this way dont bother trying to fool their opponents with complex schemes and trickery, they just bull forward as fast as they can. College defenses have been forced to adapt to this hurry-up mode by simplifying their fronts and coverage packages to help the players keep pace. The learning curve, at the NFL level, NFL people say, is so massive that its hard to overcome for all but the best college quarterbacks.
The trouble with this trend, NFL experts say, is that many of the players coming from the college ranks have spent their entire careers playing in this high-throttle system, which is completely different from the slower, deliberate and more complex nature of the NFL. When they come to the NFL, its as if theyre being told to stop playing speed checkers and start playing chess. And the NFL, which doesnt have a minor league of its own, has no influence over college coaches. They dont coach anything, said Rex Ryan, the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, when discussing college defenses.
Indeed, Snead has similar thoughts. He recalled the brilliance behind the Cover 2 or Tampa 2 defenses, popularized first by the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s then refined by multiple teams in the 1990s, which minimized the importance of cover cornerbacks, who could lock up wide receivers in man-to-man coverage and are expensive and hard to find. Snead said the race is on to find a similar strategy that minimizes the importance of the quarterback. The person who makes the quarterback like they made the cornerback will be a name that will be remembered forever, Snead said. But it will take courage to do it.
NFL coaches are still trying to figure out which elements of the college innovations can be used in the NFL. One issue is that NFL rules prohibit teams from snapping the ball as quickly after plays, meaning they cannot run a pure uptempo offense. Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase singled out Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly, a former Oregon coach, as bringing positive elements of the spread to the pros. They do a good job and they havent sold out to the scheme and most importantly their quarterbacks dont take huge hits, Gase said. The quarterback position is so valuable you want to adapt to their strengths, they do that.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-nfl-has-a-quarterback-crisis-1441819454
Pete Caroll already did it. And Seattle still had to pay him.