The team that I wanted to win the Super Bowl did so, but the
game was unnecessarily “exciting” when the Baltimore Ravens squandered a
22-point lead in the third quarter; it was as if the bizarre power outage soon
after Jacoby Jones’ 108-yard kick-off return to start the quarter was the sucking of the energy out of the Ravens and
transferring it to the 49ers. At least that’s how it looked after the
interminable time it took for the play to resume. The San Francisco 49ers—as
they did previously against Atlanta—turned around a mediocre first half into an
agonizing experience for opposing fans wondering if their team’s offense was
going to emerge from hibernation in time stave off the effect of a defense that
was suddenly hemorrhaging yardage and points. We had seen this before in the
playoffs: Seattle’s scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter against
Atlanta in what appeared to be a shocking comeback win, and the 49ers shutting
out Atlanta in the second half after
trailing 17-0 in the NFC Championship game. No lead was safe against one of
these new-fangled, “read-option” offenses where not only did the quarterback throw
the ball downfield with regularity against seemingly hapless defensive backs,
but on occasion streaked past them with the ball in their own hands.
Yet the losing streak of “running” quarterbacks like Colin
Kaepernick in the Super Bowl continues. Sometimes looks are deceiving. I’m sure
most Seahawk fans have the impression that their team tended to start slow and then
picked-up steam in the second half; but in fact the team scored 28 more points
in the first half during the regular season than in the second. There is also the
impression that this new breed of quarterback and offense is the model of
efficiency, and they do indeed seem to wrack-up huge chunks of yardage both in
the air and on the ground at will. But that impression is more akin to a
lethargic person’s reaction to carelessly sticking a finger in a wall socket;
the sudden burst of energy seems more “electrifying” compared to what went on
before. The 49ers outgained the Ravens
468 to 367, but ran 10 fewer plays, had two fewer first downs and converted
only 2 of 9 third downs compared to 9 of 16 for the Ravens. The 49ers carved-up
large chunks of yardage, often on consecutive plays; none of their long scoring
drives were time-consuming affairs—only one drive was longer than 3 minutes—and
it all seemed too easy. Or too hard; when the Raven’s defense stopped acting
like a sieve and gut-check time came for the 49ers, they couldn’t convert. On
their final drive, they marched 75 yards on just five plays, and then Kaepernick
threw three straight incomplete passes to turn the ball over on downs.
The “traditional” quarterback prevailed again, but is the young,
athletic quarterback with a coach who is enamored with what he can do with him
the wave of the future? You can look at this new development in a number of
ways. The “read-option” works now because defenses are set-up to defend against a
particular passing offensive style that has been in vogue since the 1980s.
Teams may believe that in order to “compete” they need to adopt this latest
fad; but if they all do, that negates its effect. And although Robert Griffin III won the
Offensive Rookie of the Year honors this season, he also represents the
pitfalls of moving away from the “traditional” pocket passer; having torn his
ACL in college, the specter of injury and reinjury will be a recurring theme,
and since his running ability is the basis of his success, his value will
ultimately be depleted as time goes on, maybe sooner rather than later. And I
suspect he won’t be alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment