Monday Night Matchup Week 12

Both the Premiere and Prime Leagues are undecided and will come down to tonight's game CAR @ SF. The Premiere League is between Doug and Josh. The Prime, between Denny and Erick.

Let's talk the QB position. Ever since the "T Formation" and Sammy Baugh way back in the 1930's, the quarterback has been the pivotal position on the field. The current trend, thanks to Bill Walsh and the "West Coast" offense (or as I refer to it, the "Nickle & Dime" offense), the scheme puts more and more emphasis on the position and away from the running back. In the old, "Three yards and a cloud of dust" days, a running back would get 20-30 carries a game, now they see maybe half of that total.

Quarterbacks are now passing 30+ times a game but that isn't translating to more 300 yard passing days. This past week, 4 QB's broke the 300 yard barrier and two of them are backup QB's, NYG Jameis Winston and AZ Jacoby Brissett. The bottom half (that's 16 teams) passed for less than 209 yds. The current offensive scheme changed the emphasis from the featured running back to the quarterback. In the process we don't see more explosive plays, the exciting and unpredictable twenty yard pass attempt has evolved into a screen passes and five yard pass attempts.

In the past a team could ride their workhorse running back all the way to the Super Bowl, think Emmitt Smith, Franco Harris, Marcus Allen and so on. But now all the pressure is on one man, the quarterback who has to read defenses pre-snap and post-snap and all in the face of blitzes from the middle, the outside and even secondary blitzes.

It truly is amazing that any quarterback can succeed but not surprising that so many fail. For every Patrick Mahomes there are Zack Wilson, Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence and Trey Lance, etc. Occasionally, you get to see a Geno Smith get a second chance but those instances are rare.

I know you are asking, "You have written a lot of words but what are you saying?" The schemes have changed but the outcomes are very similar. What scheme is "better"? The West Coast, the "Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust" or a balanced scheme? I would venture to guess that the answer is varied and depends on the success of the chosen system.

Where will the evolution of the modern offense take us? Will it go full circle back to the running back? Or more likely, will it take us down an unforeseen path.