The Value of Run Defense

[Fat Dogs]

Nope. Teams that score more points tend to win games. Paging Dr. Madden...

Joking aside, you can score lots of points without racking up lots of yards. You can also accumulate a lot of yards without scoring points.

It's a passing league because it is more efficient. Consider the worst starter (in terms of efficiency), no. 33, Mitchell Trubisky, averaged 6.1 yards per attempt.

The best running back (in terms of efficiency), Raheem Mostert, average 5.6 yards per carry. However, he did that on only 137 carrier. The best with over 200 carries (303) is Derrick Henry--he averaged 5.1 yards per carry.

In a vacuum, one could argue that it's better for Mitchell Trubisky to throw in a given situation that it would be for Derrick Henry to run.

And that's just about to wash out of the league Trubisky vs. Dragging his team through the playoffs damn near by himself Henry.

Ha ha love me some Madden. I understand the efficiency aspect. Passing can get teams down the field with less plays but is also more likely to produce negative plays and turnovers. A strong running team can milk the clock and move the chains. Football is a great sport and so much contributes to wins. God I miss football.

 

[mradtke66]

Ha ha love me some Madden. I understand the efficiency aspect. Passing can get teams down the field with less plays but is also more likely to produce negative plays and turnovers.

Ah, but negative plays are built into the average. Even with sacks an incompletes, passing averages more positive.

Also, fumbles can happen on any play, even runs.

A strong running team can milk the clock and move the chains.

True, which is why you're after passing to score points and then rushing once the game is in hand to milk to clock. Milking the clock without points isn't enough.

 

[rmontro]

I just looked at the box score of those two Bears games. The packers allowed less yards rushing in both games. Makes me think.

Yeah, but did we allow less yards rushing because our defense was so good or because the Bears were trying to pass to catch up?

 

[Mondio]

I think we shut the Bears down pretty well on defense when we played. That's partially because Mitch isn't a very good QB. Seems when we only had to worry about one aspect of offense, we were pretty good. I know people bring up the MN game, but all those yards rushing and they were never really a threat to win and they couldn't score any points. The only time they scored was when we gave them the ball with a short field.

Other than that, the only game where we really failed was the 9er's game IMO. I mean our defense has weaknesses, it's definitely not this supreme team that can shut down your run, take away the TE and sack the QB at will. But they're still pretty decent in a lot of other ways. Every team deals with this. game situations are going to play to their strengths or not and each team is different in how they can exploit it. News flash, I know.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

I think Tennessee was pretty effective. Had their passing game not been in the bottom 1/3rd they would’ve made a deeper playoff push. But it was the running game that got them that far.

Tennessee had a very good defense and an unsustainable passing offense with AJ Brown and Tannehill. I don't think counting on that kind of passing efficiency is a winning proposition on a reliable basis.

 

[Mavster]

I'm eager to see how the defense performs this year. I felt they were fairly fortunate last season with the teams and QBs they faced

 

[gopkrs]

I'm eager to see how the defense performs this year. I felt they were fairly fortunate last season with the teams and QBs they faced

I'm thinking we don't have enough linebackers to play a real 3-4 with the Jones bros. as ends. And so a D lineman needs to step up pretty big time or we need to get one.

 

[jon]

Tennessee was very effective but you need a special talent like Henry to power through the middle of a defense. This O is easy to scheme against and that’s why it went away. I think a variation of smash mouth is more effective for today’s Game. Use pre-snap motions to get your backs into space like the Ravens and 49ers do. This 0 uses a lot of pulling line-man and off tackle runs designed to exploit stacked boxes. I’m pretty sure this is where our offense is headed.

Related to this, I saw a very interesting piece about the running game in which Jackie Slater goes into real depth about how his team / era worked on the run. Great comments, I thought.


https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...ppened-to-the-running-game-in-the-modern-nfl/

 

[Fat Dogs]

Ah, but negative plays are built into the average. Even with sacks an incompletes, passing averages more positive.

Also, fumbles can happen on any play, even runs.



True, which is why you're after passing to score points and then rushing once the game is in hand to milk to clock. Milking the clock without points isn't enough.

But that’s not the case. Why would you think running won’t allow you to score? Teams with a strong run game can score/wear down a D/ and lessen the chances of turning the ball over at the same time.

 

[Fat Dogs]

Related to this, I saw a very interesting piece about the running game in which Jackie Slater goes into real depth about how his team / era worked on the run. Great comments, I thought.


https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...ppened-to-the-running-game-in-the-modern-nfl/

Great read. I didn’t realize that Tennessee ran a complex run scheme. This couldn’t be more true. 210 lb’s can fly but will wear down when a 300 pounder hits him in the mouth every play. The longer these guys play the less effective they become.

 

[Fat Dogs]

Yeah, but did we allow less yards rushing because our defense was so good or because the Bears were trying to pass to catch up?

The same can be asked throughout the whole playoffs.

 

[Mavster]

I'm thinking we don't have enough linebackers to play a real 3-4 with the Jones bros. as ends. And so a D lineman needs to step up pretty big time or we need to get one.

I was very surprised we didn't draft a DL this year. Outside of Clark the group is extremely poor

The FO seems to be banking on a ton of players developing. We shall see how that plays out for them

 

[OldSchool101]

I was very surprised we didn't draft a DL this year. Outside of Clark the group is extremely poor

There’s been some reference by Pettine saying he’ll utilize Rashan some more inside the Tackles. I also think Keke has shown some good progress in his limited 10% snaps or whatever. If he can get that production with 50%+ snaps is the question.

I will say that similar to yourself, I wanted us to beef up the DL. I saw that as a top 2-3 need and really thought we’d at least add another more prominent FA interior DT.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

We can call it a passing league but shouldn’t that insinuate the team that passes for the most yards should win more often than they lose?

Once again, total yards is a terrible metric to evaluate success. Take a look at passer rating, the top seven teams in that category made the playoffs last season.