It’s understandable to fall into the perception that pro football has become extremely complex and sophisticated. But while the terminology and the technical machinery have advanced, it turns out you just can’t change the game of football. The teams that win most of their games are still the teams that do the basic things better than their opponents.
Two of the very basics of this brutal, aggressive game are running the ball and stopping the run. The public, and indeed the people who run the NFL, may have fallen in love with the passing game, but if you can’t run the rock, and stop the other team from doing it, chances are you’re going to lose more games than you win.