Lomax to Green 84
Hall of Famer
While watching the Illinois/Ohio State game yesterday, one of the announcers made a very simple, yet profound comment about the current state of college football. The announcer said that everyone is going to the spread offense, therefore causing the defenses to be built to stop the spread. What happened yesterday in the Illinois/Ohio State game was proof that there still is room for the power running game in college and hopefully pro football. Ohio State completed one pass yesterday and still dominated and humiliated the Illinois defense. The announcers talked about how athletic and fast the Illinois defense was, but also that it lacked the bulk to handle the old fashioned I formation (2 wide recievers, 1 tight end, 1 fullback, 1 tailback deep in the I). Ohio State's o-line is big, bulky, somewhat slow and not good at protecting their young quarterback. But for all their shortcomings in the pass blocking area, they are stout as run blockers and they manhandled the Illinois defense yesterday.
Look at the top 4 teams in the nation right now. 3 of the 4 teams (LSU, Alabama, and Wisconsin) employ big, run blocking offensive linemen and physical downhill runningbacks. Alabama is just pulverizing opposing teams defenses with their running game. Wisconsin for years has relied on huge linemen and physical running backs. For all the talk about how the spread offense has taken over college football, it sure seems that a physical power running game still can be very successful.
Now, look at the Cardinals situation. What frustates me more than anything about this team is that it has no identity. Are we a spread offense or a power running team? In truth under Whisenhunt we are a spread offense even though he preaches a Pittsburgh style running game. In looking at our personnel however, for as horrible as Levi Brown is at pass blocking, the guy can really set the edge in the running game. Same goes with Keith.
I would love to see the Cardinals scrap the 3 and 4 reciever, empty backfield alignments and go with either the traditional I formation, or a 2 tightend formation. The Vikings talked about the predictability of the Cardinals offense and much of that comes from the fact that Whisenhunt is bi-polar in his offensive mindset. When we line up in the I formation, we run the ball (duh!!) and when we go no huddle we pass (duh!!). Why not scrap the shotgun, no huddle and both run and pass out of the the I formation/2 tight end sets. We have no legit 2 or 3 wide recievers right now anyway, but we do have a pretty good young blocking fullback and some talented tight ends.
The key ingredient in this entire equation, however, is Beanie Wells. Whisenhunt's utilization of Wells or non utilization will ultimately be what defines his career going forward. If CKW can choke down the pride and feature Wells, we have a chance to be one of the most physical offenses in the league. His downhill, physical style will force teams to play us honest and will create opportunities for big pass plays. I love Larry Fitzgerald as much as the rest of you do, but throwing the ball to Larry 15 times a game just doesn't work. I'd rather hit Larry for 4 balls of 20+ yards instead of 8-10 of the 10 yards or less variety.
FEED THE BEAN!!!!!
Look at the top 4 teams in the nation right now. 3 of the 4 teams (LSU, Alabama, and Wisconsin) employ big, run blocking offensive linemen and physical downhill runningbacks. Alabama is just pulverizing opposing teams defenses with their running game. Wisconsin for years has relied on huge linemen and physical running backs. For all the talk about how the spread offense has taken over college football, it sure seems that a physical power running game still can be very successful.
Now, look at the Cardinals situation. What frustates me more than anything about this team is that it has no identity. Are we a spread offense or a power running team? In truth under Whisenhunt we are a spread offense even though he preaches a Pittsburgh style running game. In looking at our personnel however, for as horrible as Levi Brown is at pass blocking, the guy can really set the edge in the running game. Same goes with Keith.
I would love to see the Cardinals scrap the 3 and 4 reciever, empty backfield alignments and go with either the traditional I formation, or a 2 tightend formation. The Vikings talked about the predictability of the Cardinals offense and much of that comes from the fact that Whisenhunt is bi-polar in his offensive mindset. When we line up in the I formation, we run the ball (duh!!) and when we go no huddle we pass (duh!!). Why not scrap the shotgun, no huddle and both run and pass out of the the I formation/2 tight end sets. We have no legit 2 or 3 wide recievers right now anyway, but we do have a pretty good young blocking fullback and some talented tight ends.
The key ingredient in this entire equation, however, is Beanie Wells. Whisenhunt's utilization of Wells or non utilization will ultimately be what defines his career going forward. If CKW can choke down the pride and feature Wells, we have a chance to be one of the most physical offenses in the league. His downhill, physical style will force teams to play us honest and will create opportunities for big pass plays. I love Larry Fitzgerald as much as the rest of you do, but throwing the ball to Larry 15 times a game just doesn't work. I'd rather hit Larry for 4 balls of 20+ yards instead of 8-10 of the 10 yards or less variety.
FEED THE BEAN!!!!!
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