Funny, that his passing league down the stretch...

[sick beats]

...deep into the play offs has a new/old wrinkle. The top 4 teams....9ers are a rushing team. Seattle is a rushing team. NE was once considered a passing team, but down the stretch, they turned into a rushing team. And even Manning, and his record-setting passing season, down the stretch, are rushing the ball in the play offs to win.

Sure, during the season, due to rule changes and the way refs are interpreting the rules, it was a record season for passing offense. But when push came to shove, who is left in the post season and how are they playing? More rushing plays and defense. And even the two weakest defenses have stepped up to play better defense in Denver and NE.

With the rules and how the refs are making calls, the NFL will remain a heavier passing league than ever before, but it is interesting that come deep into the play offs, rushing and defense are once again vital.

[SS Laser]

And the Steelers turned there season around with some good rushing games. Yes there is more improvement needed in the running game but it did step it up. I hope Pouncey comes back as good as he was before to see if he will help the run game. Very interested to see the running game in 2014. Hope Dwyer can stick around and draft a better 3rd option then we had this season. Still think the RB room can use a better option after Bell. Need some game breaking speed I think. Dwyer I hope see's now were he stands in the NFL and comes in ready to take some snaps for himself. He still seems to have some ability that Bell does not. Which makes for a nice change up.

[SteelerMaine83]

It's true, and it points to O & D line play, which points to the best available DL or OL available with the first pick, if there is one remaining that fits the scheme is worthy of being picked at 15. Line play (as demonstrated through the success of the running game and success of the defense) is still a huge key to winning in the playoffs.

[Rod Polamalu]

...deep into the play offs has a new/old wrinkle. The top 4 teams....9ers are a rushing team. Seattle is a rushing team. NE was once considered a passing team, but down the stretch, they turned into a rushing team. And even Manning, and his record-setting passing season, down the stretch, are rushing the ball in the play offs to win.

Sure, during the season, due to rule changes and the way refs are interpreting the rules, it was a record season for passing offense. But when push came to shove, who is left in the post season and how are they playing? More rushing plays and defense. And even the two weakest defenses have stepped up to play better defense in Denver and NE.

With the rules and how the refs are making calls, the NFL will remain a heavier passing league than ever before, but it is interesting that come deep into the play offs, rushing and defense are once again vital.

Exactly. Football is football. The foundation of success will always be toughness, defense, will and discipline. No matter how much any attempt to make it more appealing and or marketable for wives and casual fans with the high flying pass happy shenanigans.

An organization ignores this to their detriment.

[phillyesq]

You see the same general trend every year. There are crazy fantasy stats put up offensively throughout the year, but the teams that succeed in the postseason are those that control the line of scrimmage and can effectively run the ball. When the Chargers beat Manning earlier this year, they did it by controlling the pace of the game with the run.

Having an elite qb is also a part of the equation, but you need balance to succeed in the playoffs.

[feltdizz]

Whoever controls the LOS usually wins the game.

people like saying "it's passing league" so they can put a bunch of skill guys in their drafts...

A few people pointed out the KC/Indy game but that isn't the norm.

[sick beats]

You see the same general trend every year. There are crazy fantasy stats put up offensively throughout the year, but the teams that succeed in the postseason are those that control the line of scrimmage and can effectively run the ball. When the Chargers beat Manning earlier this year, they did it by controlling the pace of the game with the run.

Having an elite qb is also a part of the equation, but you need balance to succeed in the playoffs.

You might see it every year to an extent, but not to the degree we've seen this year: This season saw record-passing offense during the season, like we've never seen, but come play offs, most of the high wire passing offense receded greatly. Even Manning had much more "average" passing yards. Kap only had 150 yards.

[DukieBoy]

Whoever controls the LOS usually wins the game.

people like saying "it's passing league" so they can put a bunch of skill guys in their drafts...

A few people pointed out the KC/Indy game but that isn't the norm.

I agree, believe this is true. I think of all the posts about NT and about Hood this year, and I look at how we were run on this past season, and think we need to find the D players who can win or at least stalemate the LOS.

[feltdizz]

I agree, believe this is true. I think of all the posts about NT and about Hood this year, and I look at how we were run on this past season, and think we need to find the D players who can win or at least stalemate the LOS.

more rushing TD's last year against us in the last 40 years... but somehow they don't think it's important to draft DL because Hood didn't work out.

[sick beats]

more rushing TD's last year against us in the last 40 years... but somehow they don't think it's important to draft DL because Hood didn't work out.

I don't think that's the whole story; some of us don't want to go DL in the first round because, traditionally, we didn't need to draft our DL in the first round in the 3-4 system, since DL men are not the "stars" of this D. Other than Hampton, first round picks on DL men was rare prior to Hood and Heyward.

Ta'amu - 4th rd.
McBean - 4th
Harris - 4th
Nua - 7th
Adibi - 5th
Keisel - 7th
Bailey - 6th
Clancy - 3rd
Aaron Smith - 4th
Staat - 2nd
Rubio - 7th
Manuel - 6th
Raybon - 6th
Roye - 7th
Gibson - 4th
Buckner - 2nd
Henry - 4th