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T
he 2018 season was the
most prolific offensive
year the NFL has ever seen.
Teams combined to score 1,371
total touchdowns, the most in a
single season, and 847 of them
came through the air, also a
record. A total of 11,952 points
were scored, the second-highest
total in league history. Three
teams—the Rams, the Chiefs, and
the Saints—averaged at least
30 points per game, only the
fourth time in NFL history that at
least three teams had averaged
t hat ma ny.
When Kansas City and
Los Angeles played each other
in November, the result was a
video-game-like offensive
shootout. The Rams won 54–51,
the first time two teams had
scored more than 50 points in a
game. There were 11 offensive touchdowns, and
the teams’ offenses combined for 1,001 yards.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for
six touchdowns and a season-best 478 yards.
Seeing performances like that, as Packers
defensive coordinator Mike Pettine put it, is
“stressful.” “As a defensive staff, this is our
livelihood,” he said earlier that month. “We [watch]
these offenses each week and we’re like, All right,
here we go again.”
The evolution of offensive football has been brewing for
years in the college ranks. Slowly but surely, NFL teams
have adopted the spread offense of college football, where
the quarterback typically takes snaps from the shotgun
position, rather than under center, and the offense uses
three, four, or even five wide receivers to spread the
defense across the field. By spreading defenses thin
with more pass catchers to cover, all the
offense needs to do is confuse
one defender who
has both run and pass duties.
If that player commits to the
pass and stays back, run
the ball.
Offenses further complicate
matters for their opponents by
employing presnap shifts and
movement. One player is sent running
across the formation before the ball is hiked,
or three receivers rearrange themselves. How
the defense responds to the movement often
reveals what type of coverage they are in. If
a defensive back follows the receiver across
the formation, the D is probably in man
coverage. That knowledge gives the
offense an advantage.SCORING
MACHINES
L.A.’s Goff (16)
and K.C.’s
Mahomes lit up
the scoreboard
in November—
and so did their
defenses, which
combined for
three TDs.When Kansas City
and Los Angeles played
each other in November,
the result was a
video-game-like
offensive
shootout.”58 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS
First time two teams
scored 50 points in a game