QUARTERBACK play has hit a new low in this year’s NFL season, and some critics are proposing radical changes to fix it.

With Quarterbacks scoring touchdowns at an extremely low rate through two weeks of the NFL season, some have suggested banning a certain defensive formation.

The NFL is seeing a drastic drop in passing offenseCredit: AP

Many are criticizing the two-high safety formation on defense for the passing dropCredit: AP
The two-high safety formation is the newest trend among NFL defenses as a way to prevent big plays from opposing offenses.

By placing two safeties deep up the field, quarterbacks are forced to throw the ball short into more traffic.

NFL analyst Mel Kiper gave a scathing review of the two-high safety defense on Get Up, calling for it to be banned.

“We gotta change this thing,” Kiper said.

“The NFL is being ruined by these two-high safeties.”

While the NFL is certainly showing signs of change this season, saying it is being ruined feels more like a personal opinion from Kiper.

Football critics have been whining about the irrelevance of the running game for years, and now NFL offenses are finally making a return to ground-heavy gameplans.

Let’s look at the stats through the first two weeks of the season to how how the league has changed this year.

Over the last five seasons, the number of passing touchdowns trough the first two weeks of the season have steadily gone down.

In 2020 there were 110 passing touchdowns throughout the league in the first two weeks. This season there have only been 69 passing touchdowns through Week 2.

The decline in passing offense has been reflected in yardage as well. Last season there were 15 300-yard passing games in the NFL through the first two weeks of the season. There have only been five this year.

Football is a game that is cylindrical. Different eras come and go throughout the decades. The league formerly was a run-heavy league before it adapted into a pass-heavy league.

It is possible that now the NFL is returning to a run-heavy scheme after years of passing dominance. That idea is reflected in the stats as well.

The two-high safety defense is vulnerable underneath, causing offenses to adjust by running the ball and opting for short passes over long shots.

So far this year, there are six running backs who are averaging over 100 yards per game. There are 13 running backs who are averaging over 75 yards per game.

Defenses have completely caught up to the passing game, and it is currently adapt or die for NFL offenses. It appears many are choosing to adapt when looking at their monstrous rushing numbers.

There are 22 teams averaging over 100 rushing yards per game, nine teams averaging over 150 rushing yards per game, and somehow the Green Bay Packers are averaging over 200 rushing yards per game.

The top five passing offenses currently have a combined record of 3-7 in the first two weeks of the season.

On the contrary, the top five rushing offenses are a combined 7-3 to start the year.

If defenses continue to employ the two-high safety strategy, teams will probably continue to lower their passing volume as the year goes on, until defenses eventually adapt to cover the added rushing volume.

As previously mentioned, the NFL is ever-evolving, and it will continue to change as offenses continue to experiment with new ideas.

For now, let’s not ban any defensive formations and let teams try out new ways to counter it.

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NFL teams are rushing the ball at an extremely high rateCredit: AP