riggofan wrote: Why were the rules on bump and run changed to begin with?
My opinion?
Three reasons...
1: HOF Roger Werhli
2: SHOULD BE HOF Pat Fischer.
3: The NFL became aware that the attention spans and sophistication of fans was diminishing, and the league had just about maxed out it's fan base... New fans were needed to grow the league... Scoring was seen as a path to assure that the NFL maintained and grew the fan base... From a business perspective, they were right... Unfortunately, the integrity of the game has suffered...
Typically, before the NFL put it's finger on the balance between O and D, an innovation on D was countered with an innovation on O, and vice versa... unfortunately, however, the league felt this was not exciting enough... so they short circuited the evolution of the game (hence my integrity comment), and, basically, cheated the defenses of the league.
Today, as a result, defenses are largely little more than a foil for the offense.
Put it this way... in the old days, a cornerback could become a Probowler on guile, guts, and intelligence... in the late 60's, a Safety like Reed Doughty would be a sought after commodity. Now, unless you are FAST along with the other 3 attributes, you will struggle to make, much less stay with, a team.
Today, players like Charley Taylor, Harold Charmichael or Bob Hayes would destroy defenses.
Today, players like Roger Werhli and Pat Fisher would never get an NFL look
Back when Defense really meant something, the twice a year war between 6'8'' Harold Charmichael and 5'9'' Pat Fischer was a thing of beauty... most often a draw... but won more often by Fischer than Charmichael... Carmichael HATED playing against Fisher... because IT HURT. Today, the tall fast guy wins...
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.