One year after the trend evolved, but not too late, the Broncos came to an offensive realization.
The NFL is a passing league.
This first became obvious in 2007 when New England, Dallas and Green Bay soared through the air to lengthy undefeated starts.
“You can talk about running the football all you want, but if you’re going to score points in this league, you better make big plays in the passing game,” said Hall of Fame quarterback and Fox Sports color commentator Troy Aikman, who will be working the Broncos game today against the New Orleans Saints at Invesco Field at Mile High. “Look at Indianapolis, or last year, New England, Dallas or Green Bay — teams that are scoring a lot of points are the teams that are winning big in this league. They’re running the fast-break offense, and that’s what we’re seeing from Denver right now.”
The Cowboys started 5-0 last year by averaging 35.2 points and Tony Romo averaging 301.6 yards passing.
At the halfway point, Green Bay was 7-1, averaging a paltry 65 yards rushing in their seven wins and a whopping 298 yards passing from Brett Favre.
New England never bothered with the tedium of establishing the run until the final three weeks of the regular season. In a Week 6 matchup of unbeatens, the Patriots gained just 2.6 yards a carry while Tom Brady threw for 388 yards and five touchdowns in a 48-27 shellacking of Dallas.
In Week 12 against Pittsburgh, the Patriots rushed nine times — nine — for 22 yards. Brady threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns in a 34-13 win.
None of those three pass-happy teams beat the New York Giants in the 2007 postseason, so the Broncos will have to address deficiencies elsewhere before the year is out. But until then, there is fun to be had.
The Broncos’ offensive philosophy had always been run first, then play-action pass off the run. This season, they are passing first and passing again as a set up to the run.
In six previous seasons, the Broncos’ rushing offense ranked ninth, eighth, second, fourth, second and fifth in the NFL. Through two games this year, they rank 10th. Their busiest tailback, Andre Hall, is averaging 8.5 carries.
To which the general reaction should be: So? Jay Cutler ranks first in passing yards and the Broncos rank first in scoring.
“I don’t care how well you run the ball or how well you stop the run — if you have to run to score 40 points because your opponents are putting up 40, that’s not easy to do,” Aikman said. “We cover the NFC teams and if you’re playing Dallas right now you better be able to score points. If you played New England last year, you better be able to score points. And that’s what Denver’s got now after two weeks.”
A tougher deal.
It’s going to be almost impossible for the Houston Texans to have a successful season. It was their fault they got drubbed in their opener, 38-17, at Pittsburgh, but through no fault of their own, the Texans are going to have a tough time rebounding.
Hurricane Ike not only wiped out the Texans’ home opener last week, it is forcing them to play their first three games on the road and 15 consecutive games without a bye week.
“It’s in front of you. You understand it. It’s not like it’s a surprise,” Houston coach Gary Kubiak said in a conference call last week. “I don’t have to tell our players the challenge that they have. They understand that. Right now it’s about playing better football and rallying through our situation.”
Kubiak and Texans general manager Rick Smith have talked to Saints GM Mickey Loomis about the situation. Hurricane Katrina forced the Saints to play every home game in 2005 away from the Superdome. About the only advice Loomis can offer, however, is what not to do: The Saints finished 3-13 that season.
Who goes first?
Lane Kiffin has done a much better job with the Oakland Raiders than Scott Linehan has with the St. Louis Rams. Yet, because the Raiders are owned by the unpredictable Al Davis, Las Vegas has given Kiffin the same odds as Linehan to be the first NFL coach fired this season.
Then again, Kiffin has to feel good about having odds considering multiple Bay Area reports had him already fired by now.
