How long did it take for the passing game to become a basic part of nfl offenses after it was first developed? Yes believe it or not, the pass was once thought not to work or to be a gimmick play. Look at what happened when it was given a chance.
I think that's a fabrication. What are you basing that on? In 1936 the league had it's first 1000 yard passer in Arnie Herber. Then, Sammy Baugh came along and posted a 1000+ yard season in his rookie campaign.
THE LEAGUE RECOGNIZED THE EXCITEMENT OF THIS NEW PASSING STYLE AND IMPLEMENTED A RULE CHANGE TO ALLOW TEAMS TO CONTINUE WITH THIS NEW-FANGLED PASSING STRATEGY.
In 1938, the league introduced the 15 yard roughing the passer penalty in order to protect the QB, and thus this new passing ideology, and the game was IMMEDIATELY changed forever.
It didn't have anything to do with the 'adjustment time'...
Sean Taylor was one of a kind, may he rest in peace.
Yes, but pro football started in 1892, and the nfl started in 1920 initially known as the American Professional Football Association. The T formation wasn't brought to the nfl until the 1930's. For a period of time the single wing was the dominant offense in the nfl, and that is not exactly a passing offense.
Actually the T formation came in 1940 when Halas used it to put the worst whipping on the Redskins in football history 73-0. I know they started only a few weeks before when an offensive back went in motion before the snap by mistake. i know it was only a few weeks because the Redskins actually beat the bears 7-3 three weeks before the final and the Bears DIDN'T use the T formation yet.
But so what?
Sammy Baugh THREW for 352 yards in the 1937 championship game, and you're contending that there was no passing attack until halas' T formation?
Sammy Baugh is what revolutionized the forward pass... and I don't neccessarily mean him personally, but I mean the emegence of the 'Passer' is what led to a passing attack. Guys like Baugh, herber and Sid Luckman were just the first non running back types to be put into a position TO throw the ball.
The leaguie liked the added excitement so much that they implemented the rule in '38 to protect these new young gunslinging athletes.
Sure halas T formation drastically changed things as well. It pulled defensive lineman back from 7 and 8 man lines, and started football down the road to the complex game of shifts and slides that exists today.
But the passing attack was in full force a few years before that with Slingin Sammy Baugh.
The laeague didn't take long to adapt thereafter... it just took athletes like the guys mentioned for teams to realize that you could implement a passing attack that WOULDN'T be gimmick-y if you had a guy throwing who could THROW A BALL.
Sean Taylor was one of a kind, may he rest in peace.
Maybe the option wouldn't be gimmicky if the offense had a quarterback who could run the option and the offense actually practiced it.
Welch keeps talking about how you stop an option offense but the idea that a particular scheme or strategy can stop an offense is false. Any well devised offense will be able to adjust to what the defense is doing and exploit its weaknesses. Maybe for an option offense to work in the nfl, it would have to incorporate some other things, but I don't understand how you can say an offense absolutely won't work if it hasn't been tried.
The problem is that the linebackers line up so far off the ball that you would have to really pound the fullback and also be able to hit some quick playaction passes to the tightend to keep them from being too aggressive.
I won't pretend to understand the differences in the offenses described here, just a comment and a question.
I remember the first Lions/Redskins game of '91 very well. The Lions were well-hyped and heavily favored. The redskins were spun as mediocre and boring in the media. The final score was 45-0 and it wasn't that close. Fred Flintstone's offense got excatly nowhere against the Redskins defense.
