Wow, this from PFF.. The Fins have had 3, 100+ YAC games this year (Houston, AZ, and Cinci)... they only had one last year (first NE game)... Its amazing...
In relation to this, I was just looking at advancednflstats' air yards page. Tanny is getting only 41.2% of his yards from YAC. That's the 11th lowest % in the league. Given that I'm kind of surprised that we have that many 100+ YAC games this year. I'm not surprised that was the case last year. Matt Moore rarely checked down. Tanny seems to only check down when he doesn't see anything further downfield. What I also find interesting is that Philbin came from GB's west coast offense that utilizes a bunch of short routes. This year, Aaron Rodgers is getting 51.2% of his yards from YAC. I wonder if the difference between Rodgers and Tanny is Mike Sherman. Or I guess it could be our receivers and designing routes to fit their skills better.
I'm really glad this was noted (admittedly, was not privy to it) because its significant due to the way the team is throwing the ball by design and the overall significance of it in today's NFL. A lot of the concepts Mike Sherman has used, such as 'Double Slants', are designed to get players in space and enable them to do damage, so this shows it's paid off. Moreover, with the way NFL defenses are playing teams, notably squatting on routes, YAC needs to be acquired following the reception. In relation to carrying the ball, the same applies.
I'm surprised we didn't have 100+ YAC in the Oakland game. Anyway, Its amazing what a good QB can do for a team. Its a shame it took this long to find one.
As I mentioned in a different thread, this is now a YAC and RAC league, Cb's have to tackle effectively to limit the damage. This is one of my defensive metrics that most "experts" scoff. But think about it, receivers via rules are able to get open, meaning the Db MUST tackle more often. I suspect this is one of the reasons why Ireland signed Marshall.
