michiganjoe posted:#12 putting up 375 a game would indicate the offense isn't functioning as the head coach desires. Unlike MM, I take him at his word about running the ball.
That’s not necessarily true. If the offense threw for 390 and they ran for 125, would that indicate the offense isn’t functioning well? And there may be times the defense does a “pick your poison” game plan and the offense is simply being dared to throw. In a game like that, the offense would simply be functioning as the game plan dictated to allow for the greatest chance of success.
One factor that cannot be discounted is the additional PI rules and the possibility that these changes could have some unintended effect this season that teams weren’t prepared for.
Prior to 2008, only Marino did it. In 2011, three different QBs threw for 5000, and if Rodgers would have played game 16 he likely throws for the 357 yards he needed to get to 5000 as well. It’s happened 9 times this decade. The game has changed. Ben Rothliesburger “quietly” threw for 5100 yards last year- and the Steelers neither lit up the score board all season long nor did it really seem like Röthlisberger had that kind of season. That’s the NFL today.
I think we need to recalibrate what excessive yardage means in today’s game, and how balance is defined. We also need to take coach speak with a certain amount of skepticism. The NFL in 2019 is not one that even values the running back. In the end, don’t you just want to put your team in the best position to win? With the rules of today, and the complexity of offense and skill level of today's QB athletes, we have to at least acknowledge those consequences. Achieving this seemingly impossible statistical feat should be tossed aside no more quickly than have something that happened once in 90 years of NFL football happen 9 different times in the last decade. And it may or may not be indicative of anything but the convergence of circumstance that generated the same explosion of passing yards the last decade.
I would be fine with one thing or the other- run for 3000 yards, pass for 10,000. Another Lombardi up on the shelf is the goal. But it is remarkable to me at least how this number, before seemingly impossible, seems completely possible today. And would any of us be surprised if #12 was the guy to do it? It wouldn’t be to me...