This has been a strange season already only 2 weeks in. Teams that should be winning, and are known for their D are losing, records are being broken on the offensive side of the ball. Young QB's and backups are throwing for insane yards and TD's. How much of this is a result of the rule changes and over officiating? There have been some horrible roughing the passer calls and PI calls keeping drives alive. Will we see a decline of talent over the years due to kids not wanting to play D anymore. It's obvious the league wants more scoring but it's too obvious. I have no idea what a defensive player is supposed to do anymore. Just curious what everyone thinks about this.

Are some of the surprise teams (including us) anygood or have we just benifited from poor/Over officiating?

Will we see a decline in talented D players in the league over the next several years?

I think that they've made the league so QB driven that they are killing other positions in the process. RB for example is a dime a dozen position. Steelers won't even give the best one in the game a contract because they know the value of a HB is limited in today's game. The league is all about the QB now and unfortunately if you don't have a Rodgers or Brady you have to build a perfect team to compete.

Those guys get to stand in the pocket and move around without much fear of getting crushed and dink it off to whoever gets open, because they can't get breathed on without a DPI call and they know they can't get crushed going over the middle. The game has changed dramatically and not for the better. I'm all for player safety, but not when it's just an excuse to get more scoring. You want more protection for the QB? Ok fine, then bring back in the grasp and be liberal with calling it. You can't smash recievers who run across the middle? Fine, than allow the defense to bump and fight with the reciever who crosses. The game doesn't have to be Uber violent to still allow defensive players to have a chance.

I look at KC and this may be premature, but they're probably set for a long time. They have a really good young QB, and he's not going to be hit much and his weapons are going to be allowed to run free. The D was non-existent in that PIT KC game. It looked like a track meet

Lot of good points Brimy, but defense isn't dead by any means.. Looking at the standings it's easy to draw conclusions, but rules have a way of coming and going. 
Look at our division..The Browns have given up the second fewest points only behind Baltimore and the only reason they've given up the fewest is because of the Buffalo blow out . Take that game out of the equation and the Browns are leading the division in defense . Strange indeed. 
What's really strange is if you compare the Bills this season to us last season they've outscored us by 14.. 
What conclusions other than Zampeze can you draw from that?
I LOVE the fact that the Squats have a net -5 points so far this season..  We've netted 22 points .

Right now, Jacksonville looks to be the best defense in the NFL and the second place team isn't very close...

They have Pro Bowl talent on all three levels and play an aggressive scheme. I have no idea their contract situation with the majority of these players, but they won't be able to keep them all for long.

Passing offense grew dramatically every year from '05 to '15, but actually dropped a little each of the last two years.  So I say we wait a few weeks to see how things shake out.  I seriously doubt that Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to throw for 6000+ yds and 60+ tds.

The QB is so important I have no problem with rules to protect them.  Nothing uglier than an NFL game with a couple of back up QBs.  The problem is that the officials go too far at times.  The call against Clay Matthews was ridiculous and that pretty much cost them the game.  But that has been happening for years.  Anyone remember that call against Justin Smith that cost us a game against Tampa Bay?

I don't think the quality of play has dropped at all.  The NBA and MLB experience the exact same thing.  Scoring goes up and down due to multiple trends, not just rule changes.

Yesterday, the NFL had an average passer rating of 105.1.

Aaron Rodgers' career passer rating is 103.9.

That should be the lead story on every analysis of the NFL right now.

There were 28 QBs playing:

16 QBs had a passer rating over 100.
21 QBs had passer ratings over 95.

— Football Perspective (@fbgchase) September 17, 2018

It's not dead, but it's no secret that the NFL favors offense and point scoring. And from a business point of view it's tough to blame them.

Like Fred said it will probably come down closer to reality by midseason.

Yet as others pointed out the league favors points scored for ratings and have rules skewed in that direction.

You even breath on a QB this year and it is a flag it seems. Believe they are just making a point right now though.

(09-17-2018, 01:59 AM)TKUHL Wrote: This has been a strange season already only 2 weeks in. Teams that should be winning, and are known for their D are losing, records are being broken on the offensive side of the ball. Young QB's and backups are throwing for insane yards and TD's. How much of this is a result of the rule changes and over officiating? There have been some horrible roughing the passer calls and PI calls keeping drives alive. Will we see a decline of talent over the years due to kids not wanting to play D anymore. It's obvious the league wants more scoring but it's too obvious. I have no idea what a defensive player is supposed to do anymore. Just curious what everyone thinks about this.

Are some of the surprise teams (including us) anygood or have we just benifited from poor/Over officiating?

Will we see a decline in talented D players in the league over the next several years?

I think it will get a bit more under control as the season goes on. It is really early and with the new rule changes,
players, refs and coaches are all trying to adjust. Don't like the new rule changes but it is what it is. Can't do much
about it but adjust. Just have to play smart on Defense, smarter than before.

(09-17-2018, 11:39 AM)CKwi88 Wrote: It's not dead, but it's no secret that the NFL favors offense and point scoring. And from a business point of view it's tough to blame them.

Not to mention the rules about protecting QBs.  Why not just come up with some technology to put them in a 'force field'?

The hitting the QB rules have gone a bit far in most opinion in North America but keep this in mind - with declining viewership in the US, the NFL is set to make more revenue from International sources plus gambling revenue. Both sources benefit more from stable play at the key QB position and more offense. New viewers and gamblers will not be as 'fixated' on older games that were tougher and rougher.

No, defense hasn't died.

The Rams shut the Cardinals out yesterday
The Redskins with Alex Smith only scored 9 points

You probably just have been watching the games on TV like the Steelers/Chiefs game that had tons of scoring.

Otherwise, seems like a typical year.....

(09-17-2018, 11:28 AM)Au165 Wrote:

Yesterday, the NFL had an average passer rating of 105.1.

Aaron Rodgers' career passer rating is 103.9.

That should be the lead story on every analysis of the NFL right now.

There were 28 QBs playing:

16 QBs had a passer rating over 100.
21 QBs had passer ratings over 95.

— Football Perspective (@fbgchase) September 17, 2018

This is like saying it was 105 degrees yesterday.

It's normally only 103 degrees on the hottest day.

THE WORLD IS BURNING

(09-17-2018, 02:30 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: This is like saying it was 105 degrees yesterday.

It's normally only 103 degrees on the hottest day.

THE WORLD IS BURNING

No not really. Average passer ratings have been on the rise for the last 20+ years. In 1998 the average league passer rating was 76.2 so far in 2018 it is 91.0. Defense is in a losing battle because of a lot of the rule changes. The penalties aren't improving passer ratings but it is continuing drives allowing them more opportunities for sure. Then you mix in the spread concepts and it really is difficult for defenses to be dominate.  It is one of the reason's why what JAX has been doing is impressive. 

Offenses are just better QBs, RBs, WRs, and K are just better than ever.

(09-17-2018, 03:04 PM)Jakeypoo Wrote: K are just better than ever.

Tell that to Cleveland. 

This short into the season if you look at just the undefeated teams, it would have raked in a billion bucks if it was a vegas bet.

(09-17-2018, 03:04 PM)Jakeypoo Wrote: Offenses are just better QBs, RBs, WRs, and K are just better than ever.

You are not watching the same games we are, xD. 

(09-17-2018, 02:30 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: This is like saying it was 105 degrees yesterday.

It's normally only 103 degrees on the hottest day.

THE WORLD IS BURNING

But that is Global Warming, even 0.5 degree average difference too quickly can have disastrous affects..xD  :andy:

(09-17-2018, 12:38 PM)Go Cards Wrote: Like Fred said it will probably come down closer to reality by midseason.

Yet as others pointed out the league favors points scored for ratings and have rules skewed in that direction.

You even breath on a QB this year and it is a flag it seems. Believe they are just making a point right now though.

Tell that  to Tyrod Taylor he took a hard helmet to helmet hit and the refs didn't flag it and tv broadcasters didn't say a word about it. I seen Andy get hit in head with hands three times in one game no flag. It depends on who you play for.