Busting out the NFL

Good analysis of the failure of the NFL to innovate

This is a big theme this year as far as the sports writers I read regularly: the NFL (and the NBA for that matter) is simply too conservaitve for it's own good sometimes. The person who came to my mind when reading this article was Warren Moon. When he came out of college the NFL was not willing to take a risk on a black quarterback with yhis skills. It took the arrival of Mouse Davis and the Run and shoot to showcase his talents, which eventually led to a Hall of Fame career. I understand there are good, valid reasons why a true spread offense wouldn't work in the NFL, but at some point a coach is going to come along and take a guy like Alex Smith or Troy Smith or Tim Tebow, build their offense around their talents and just kill people.

Too much of NFL coaching is built around coaches with their 'system', and the system is bigger than the players. One of the best quotes about Bear Bryant was he could beat you with his players then tun around and take your players and beat you just as bad. One of the most amazing coaching moves I ever saw in the NFL was how Don Shula, who for years had a team built on Defense, running game and an almost point blank refusal to pass the ball, totally reversed course and became a passing team when he had a great QB in Dan Marino.