Is the passing league being neutralized?

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These are the QB ratings of all the QBs who faced the same opponents the Rams faced. Including Sam's.

Against the Bears:
Aaron Rodgers - 85.28
Tony Romo - 60.07
Andrew Luck - 52.9
Sam Bradford - 39.22
Blaine Gabbert - 37.68

Against the Seahawks
Aaron Rodgers - 84.46
Tony Romo - 74.06
Sam Bradford - 63.33
Cam Newton - 56.82
John Skelton - 51.04

Against the Cardinals
Ryan Tannehill - 86.53
Tom Brady - 77.96
Sam Bradford - 69.7
Michael Vick - 64.8
Russell Wilson - 62.5

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And these are the ratings for the QBs that faced the Rams.

Against the Rams
Robert Griffin III - 86.27
Kevin Kolb - 72.83
Matthew Stafford - 69.35
Jay Cutler - 58.93
Russell Wilson - 45.83

And those aren't even the top 5 teams. Seattle has the #1 ranked defense (in terms of yards allowed), and there's still the Niners Texans, Cowboys & Steelers. In terms of opposing QB ratings, the top 5 teams (in order) are the Bears, Texans, Rams, Falcons & Eagles. You have to go 12 teams deep before you can find a team that has yielded an average QB rating of over 80 (Vikings - 84.6) LINK

It's still early and all, and maybe my conclusions here are based on how sick the Rams are playing on defense right now, but it doesn't appear to be AS easy to just throw the ball around at will anymore. Anyone else noticing that trend? Or maybe something entirely different?

 

[Thordaddy]

You with your big questions and your small difficult ones,I have no idea except to say that the art of pass rushing has become more important and right now I think there are more elites at those positions .
Are sacks way up, cuz watching the NFC West it looks like they are.

 

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You with your big questions and your small difficult ones,I have no idea except to say that the art of pass rushing has become more important and right now I think there are more elites at those positions .
Are sacks way up, cuz watching the NFC West it looks like they are.

Yeah, I agree. The NFL trends anyway. I never thought (even with the rule changes) that teams were just going to sit back and accept the idea that defense isn't equally as important as offense. Coaches were going to find a way to compete if they didn't have the same advantages on offense that other teams had. It's only natural. Teams like the 85 Bears and 2000 Ravens were considered anomalies of sorts. Now I think they're going to be models. I hope we do see a swing towards defense. I like it more than offense, honestly.

 

[Thordaddy]

You with your big questions and your small difficult ones,I have no idea except to say that the art of pass rushing has become more important and right now I think there are more elites at those positions .
Are sacks way up, cuz watching the NFC West it looks like they are.

Yeah, I agree. The NFL trends anyway. I never thought (even with the rule changes) that teams were just going to sit back and accept the idea that defense isn't equally as important as offense. Coaches were going to find a way to compete if they didn't have the same advantages on offense that other teams had. It's only natural. Teams like the 85 Bears and 2000 Ravens were considered anomalies of sorts. Now I think they're going to be models. I hope we do see a swing towards defense. I like it more than offense, honestly.

I kinda think the shift by college teams to the passing game has put more premium on pass defense and since they are the develpmental ground I think it starts there.
Additionally I think you see teams morph who have franchise QB's
Take the Steelers , when Bradshaw was green they won on defense as he matured they became more and more dependent upon scoring and their defense lagged, same with the Cowboys , Patriots ,Saints.
It's one of the reasons Tebow was successful last year , he let his defense rest more moved the chains , put his defense in fewer bad situations faced defenses designed to stop the pass more than the run .
I'm not dogmatic, if you do ANYTHING well enough you can win, if all you care about is schemeing you'll get exposed and after you are everone will beat you.

 

[jimitroutboy]

Without doing any lengthy research I don't think teams are selling out on the blitz as much and/or blitzing 6-7 defenders as much. Certainly getting Gregg Williams out of the league reduced that one hell of a lot (rim shot).

I think when teams do blitz its a combo of rush four blitz one or zone rushes that still drop a lineman into coverage.

As a result there aren't as many hole to exploit and blown plays, big plays should be down, sacks should also be down ( if correct) and yards per catch should be down.

Sounds like a day off long assignment.