man of few opinions wrote:
A while back my son and I were discussing current offenses being used as compared to back when I was a kid during the 80's, and for fun we went back and watched a game from '86, it was the Giants and the Cowboys. The Giants were a real running team, and it was amazing how many 2-TE and even 3-TE sets they ran out of on any down, and how they ALWAYS had a FB in front of Joe Morris, and even against stacked boxes they were running very successfully. The Cowboys were the same way with Dorsett and Herschel Walker often on the filed together in 2-TE sets and only rarely had 3 WR on the field at any time. I dont think the Giants EVER had 3 WR on the field in that game. Mark Bavaro was looked upon as a very unusual commodity during that game as a gifted pass-catching TE. The other thing that struck me was how violent things were in the pocket - Danny White got the shit knocked out of him in that game and I am sure a lot of those sacks would have been instant flags these days, but back then nobody gave a shit, the officials pretty much stood there and watched him peel himself up off the carpet while the defense celebrated.
It was fun watching that old game, and we have watched a couple others since, its like a whole different game being played now, and not in a good way.
Good post. Your point is well taken about how the game has changed and not for the better. I hate the way the game get officiated right now and it seems for every new rule that they put in to try and improve things, the more screwed up it gets. I really hate the defensive holding calls, especially when the offense is in a 3rd and forever down. It seems to me that the officials really try to become the focal point in these games and not just let the players play.