There are a lot of successful offenses out there. In the NFL, offenses are typically a flavor of the month topic. Innovative OC's tear up the league, and in the offseason defenses adjust, and some other style of offense comes into vogue. As the rules have skewed heavily away from run games to primarily passing games, we've seen more points and more short-passing to establish the ball control and move the chains. Those offenses prioritize Yards After Catch (YAC) to generate chunk plays, often through screens or passes to RB's.
As offenses exploit space with speed, defenses adjust with faster defenders, which is why we now see LB's that are kinda hybrid SS/LB players with very good lateral quickness and elite speed. Most defenses play nickel as their primary defense, so defensive fronts are typically 5 or 6 people, so the old language of 43 vs. 34 is irrelevant, because nobody plays 7 up front very often any more. With all these quick passing offenses, defenses have moved to gap penetrating DT's who are primarily interior pass rushers like Aaron Donald or Ndamakong Suh. The old school guys who stopped the run are now rare pieces, and those run stuffing thumper LB's are now obsolete.
With those speed defenses and light players, teams like the Harbaugh brothers like to build, smashmouth run-first OL and strong running games work well. Defenses don't have the players to match up, because they're drafting for speed. Then the offenses throw the deep ball to get cheap TD's or force safeties deep and open up space for run games. Those teams are built on defense and the offense is a ball-control one. We could certainly play that. We have an excellent game-manager to complement the defense.
But, I don't enjoy watching those teams.
I want an explosive offense. I want a team that makes me feel like we're NEVER out of the game because our offense can strike quickly. I want a QB who is good at pushing the ball downfield, an OL who will keep him upright long enough to do it, and skill players who are dangerous. Hopefully, Tua will improve next year when he's fully healthy and gains some experience, and starts pushing the ball downfield more with confidence. He'll never have a cannon, but he can drop the ball into a bucket deep, and he has enough of an arm to chuck it downfield. Our OL is improving, but new. In time, they should improve. We need a complete back--someone who can pass protect well, catch well, run routes well, follow his blockers well, pick his holes well, and break tackles. We don't have the OL or RB to do those things yet. Our QB looks like a rookie, and he's not where he needs to be yet. What I want is for these pieces to continue improving and get there. I want an offense that scores points. I want an offense that threatens via the air, and grinds out leads in the running game. I want an offense that scores in the red zone (or Green Zone as Marino used to call it because that's where they earn their money). I want an offense that scares people vertically. I want an offense that can convert a 3rd & 1 consistently in the run game.
I lived through the glorious and exhilarating Marino years. Once you've tasted great food, it's hard to be jazzed with oatmeal. Our offense has been oatmeal for a long time now, and typically our OL has been milk-soggy mush. Let's get back to consuming great meals.
