I remember in the heyday of RBs, like the Priest Holmes, LT, Shaun Alexander, Adrian Peterson Era, the allure of those backs was how they could rip off the *huge* runs, like 50+ yards and/or take it to the house on one play.

Obviously the rules seem to favor passing more so the transition towards a pass-heavy offense has made more sense, but when the Fangio Cover 2's biggest weakness is just running it down their throats, it makes me wonder why those breakaway runs don't happen anymore.

-Lack of Generation RB's in the NFL at the moment?
-Blocking assignments needing to be absolutely perfect for a breakaway run to occur?
-Maybe the fact that Safeties are pulled further back in Cover 2 means they have an easier time containing a great run to 15-20 yards rather than a house call?

Just making observations. I find it interesting that such a simple concept with an obvious weakness hasn't been exploited yet.

Like I said earlier, with athletes becoming bigger and faster and able to cover more territory more quickly than ever before, the size of the field has essentially shrunk.

There’s just less room for players to get into space than ever before.

See idk if I entirely agree with this.

Those guys had crazy good breakaway speed and ability to cut in the open field. If you gave them 5-8 yards of free space before the tackle, they'd eventually make guys miss and rip one off for a long TD. I just don't think the talent is there at RB in this generation.

Really good breakdown of what defenses are doing now to keep offenses struggling and force check downs.

I think 13 personnel is the answer with more running and destroying teams in the middle of the field with 3 TE’s.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fgbN4iCA6us?si=6hq42texphAkab5h" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The league has made it really difficult to cut block at the line, and it's harder for OL to get tot he second level to break off those runs. Plus, the pass happy college ranks don't develop oline and certainly not running backs.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pundits will tell you it&#39;s &#39;shell&#39; coverage, but it&#39;s more nuanced than that... <a href="https://t.co/wJLoQ2hHED">https://t.co/wJLoQ2hHED</a></p>&mdash; Cody Alexander (@The_Coach_A) <a href="https://twitter.com/The_Coach_A/status/1835654203844247619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Passing touchdowns through two weeks:<br><br>2019: 105<br>2020: 110<br>2021: 110<br>2022: 105<br>2023: 86<br>2024: 66*<br><br>*Pending MNF</p>&mdash; Steve Palazzolo (@StevePalazzolo_) <a href="https://twitter.com/StevePalazzolo_/status/1835707541914845645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Jim Harbaugh is gonna be successful bc he’s stepped back into a league that changed drastically since he left. Now it’s a passing league full of light LB’s and DB’s. LB’s are basically heavier safeties at this point.

These cover 2 defenses are begging you to run the ball and Jim Harbaugh’s entire identity is to destroy teams running the ball.

395 rushing yards in 2 games for the Chargers.

They played the Panthers in one of those games, cmon!