Thoughts on the "read option"

tripleguy

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The read option and QBs that can run that play are all the rage these days, but is it really the start of a new era at quarterback?

First off, the game is decidedly a passing game. Rules favor QBs and receivers. What happens now when a QB functions more like a running back. Will you get penalized if you touch his helmet? Will you not be able to hit him if he slides? This hardly seems fair and maybe a change in the rules ensues. After all, if he's now running the ball on designed runninng plays, he's a running back. He shouldn't need special rules to protect him any more than running backs need special rules.

Then there's the issue of longevity. Any franchise with a good, passing QB counts on his services for 12-15 years (Manning, Favre, Elway, etc.). You run the ball, you increase your chances of getting hurt exponentially. Look no further than RG3 to see how well that's working out for him. If you're a QB and you're fast, you're probably not built or designed to take hits while running the ball all over the field (the last Packer's game is an exception because I'm assuming the other team at least gets a hit on or touches the opposing QB). Your pads aren't up to it and your body isn't up to it. So if you're a team who has a running QB as your starter and your QB goes down with an injury, what if your backup isn't a running QB? Hard for the whole offense to now adjust to a pocket passer. It would be interesting to see what would happen in Seattle if Wilson went down and Flynn comes in. How many weeks might that adjustment take? And you can't really count in having a running QB around for 10, 12, 15 years so do you bulk up on backups? Are they going to be mass-producing these guys in college? Will defenses adjust (Packers defense included) and render the play not worth the risk?

So what say you - passing fad or here to stay?
 

HyponGrey

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"Irrelevant." We don't and won't run it. At least for a few years.

Teams, college especially, pros too, will still use it, like they have for years, like the way the wildcat still isn't gone, so DC will still need to know how to defend it.

The only "adjustment" needed to defend it is one of attitude. Discipline.
 

Oshkoshpackfan

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It's a gimmick, just like the wildcat formation was. It will soon be gone just as the wildcat fad is. Anytime you have your QB in a position designed to run, that will spell trouble eventually. Running QB's don't typically have a long life span. Mike vick has never played a complete season due to injury from running around like a fool, rookie RG3 is already suffering the effects with a bad knee injury from to many scampers. You need to have a guy like Arod, good pocket passer, good roll out passer, and can scramble for a first down but knows when to either slide or run out of bounds.
 

PackFanNChiTown

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All the young QBs scramble their first year or two, until they get hurt. Rodgers was a scrambler too until the concussion he suffered in Detroit, then he learned to stay behind the line except for the occasional run.

The one constant of QBs who favor the read option heavily is they will all eventually get hurt because of it. ALWAYS. Then they knock that s**t off and start playing from the pocket.
 

realcaliforniacheese

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I think the read option as a designed play won't last more than a couple of years. QB's will get injured, DC's will adjust. Not that many teams have the two headed snake of a great running game and a QB that can flat out run. But this year it may well take SF to the championship. I hope not, down here in So Cal there has been a big resurgence of SF decals and the like that have long been absent. I hate sunshine fans.
 

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