ot: Monday night football

[eddief]

are the offenses = passing game of those two teams really that good or are the defenses sorta mediocre?

[cderalow]

two bottom third defenses with top five offenses...

no surprise it was going to be an offensive slug fest.

[Jeff N.]

Fun to watch. Was hoping KC would win in order to put the effing Chargers further back in the division.

[marsh]

Went to the Bears game Sunday night, the polar opposite: two of the top defenses slugging it out in the cold. Both extremely entertaining games.

[Jeff N.]

Went to the Bears game Sunday night, the polar opposite: two of the top defenses slugging it out in the cold. Both extremely entertaining games.K. Mack was a huge acquisition for Da Bears.

[MattTuck]

Despite Goff's ridiculous numbers, it wasn't enough to lift my fantasy team to a win.

Was a fun game to watch, from what I saw. The defenses both had their shining moments -- perhaps brought about by the aggressiveness of the opposing offense.

[kppolich]

Basically, the NFL wants more offensive, higher scores, and they are getting it. They even had a commercial flaunting the highest point totals ever so far this season. More penalties on the defense gifting 1st downs makes this all possible.

Chiefs 32nd out of 32 teams
Rams 16th out of 32 teams.


The Kansas City Chiefs committed 14 penalties for 145 yards. They were flagged a total of 17 times.

The Los Angeles Rams committed 7 penalties for 50 yards. They were flagged a total of 9 times.

Together there were 21 penalties for 195 yards. There were 26 total flags in this game.

Source:
http://www.nflpenalties.com/game/kansas-city-chiefs-at-los-angeles-rams-11-19-2018

[rwsaunders]

"Flag" football for sure. LA gained more yards on KC penalties (145yds) than on Todd Gurley's total performance for the night...94yds.

[MaraudingWalrus]

It isn't just rule changes that are causing this. Sure, they're contributing, but not the only factor.

There is significant offensive scheme innovation that is really flourishing - and yes that's obviously aided some by the rules favoring an offense, but it isn't because of the changes in rules. It's aided by smart analytics people actually being listened to, or even having control over the offensive scheme and personnel, and not just the classic "we run up the middle because that's what we do in football" type people running the show.

Some of these schemes are changing in order to fit the talent that is out there. The personnel on the Chiefs is roughly the same as last year, but swap out Alex Smith - a totally competent NFL quarterback - for Patrick Mahomes and you see quite a difference. That's due in large part to Mahomes skillset being unique enough that it lets Andy Reid do some creative things. Mahomes has ungodly arm strength - it's bonkers. But he's also (save a few bad passes last night, some of which he was hit while launching the ball) ridiculously accurate. He's mobile enough to move around and buy some time before firing a damn cannon of an arm and perfectly placing a ball where only his guy can get to it.

It's aided by Tyreek Hill being otherworldly fast - like wouldn't be embarrassed in the Olympics 200m finals fast - so he's able to get way downfield in an incredibly short amount of time that allows Mahomes to get the ball out quickly AND have huge gains - unlike a short screen that gets the ball out in only a few seconds but only gets 3 or 4 yards.

There's a proliferation of high skill and specialized skill players with coaches and GMs now smart enough and ready to accept some analytics to develop improvements and changes in scheme that benefit them. Couple this with the defense being somewhat hamstrung by rule changes, and you get what we saw last night.

[MattTuck]

His high school time in the 200.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sports/comments/9y8tts/tyreek_hills_high_school_200m_time_vs_the_fastest/

[eddief]

So are there more balanced offense / defense teams who can compete / win over these two?

[Olison3]

So are there more balanced offense / defense teams who can compete / win over these two?

Well.....The Saints beat the Rams a couple weeks ago in a close game.
And the Patriots beat the Chiefs in a close game earlier in the season.

[pjm]

I like Mahomes, but with two fumbles and a pick-six, he handed the Rams 21 points.

[ojingoh]

So are there more balanced offense / defense teams who can compete / win over these two?

No, not until there is another affordable copyable formula. This is a salary cap league.

That game was fun as hell to watch. Best MNF game all season, even with Witt basically making no sense and Booger having nothing to explain.

[MattTuck]

Well.....The Saints beat the Rams a couple weeks ago in a close game.
And the Patriots beat the Chiefs in a close game earlier in the season.

True, but both teams had to score more than 40 points to accomplish it. Not exactly dominating defensive performances.

Rams are a warm weather team, and chief's speed advantage is likely to be neutralized somewhat by inclement weather. Unfortunately, (or fortunately), the rams have one game in Chicago and that is the entirety of their remaining 'cold weather' games. And, if the standings remain, they'll have home field advantage, so no need to play cold weather football.

[Olison3]

Saints and Rams both have just one loss. If they both win out the remaining games then the Saints will have home field advantage (head-to-head tie breaker). There's still 6 weeks left in the season, should be fun all the way to the end. Chicago might have something to say about it, that defense is nasty.

[marsh]

I used to coach youth football, I've been geeking out trying to figure out how you would possibly scheme to stop these offensive juggernauts. Back in my day we would just do cover 2 or 3 and hope for a good pass rush from our down linemen. Colleges are doing some funky personnel packages to combat it to varying levels of success: Space-backers (https://www.footballstudyhall.com/2018/7/21/17595370/can-the-4-2-5-still-stop-the-spread-tcu-horned-frogs-gary-patterson-michigan-wolverines-space-backer).