Professional Football Researchers Association Forum
PFRA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history of professional football. Formed in 1979, PFRA members include many of the game's foremost historians and writers.
TodMaher wrote:
Don't forget 1995 was an expansion year - two more teams to dilute the defensive talent pool.
While true, the AFC didn't see a similar bump.
The NFC that year was just crazy. Maybe just one of those crazy things that happens from time to time with no real good reason but wasn't sure if anyone had any insight.
There were also a number of rules changes in 1994. Sometimes it takes a year for teams to really take advantage of the new rules. Some of the 1994 rules aided offenses, but not necessarily passing offenses. The two point conversion was adopted, kickoffs were moved back to the 30, and placement of the ball on missed FG's was changed to the spot of the kick or the 20, whichever was more advantageous for the non-kicking team.
I dug out my 1995 PFW Almanac. In a brief review of 1994, it stated that "there was strict enforcement of the five-yard, no-contact rules for defensive backs." That could have been key as well. It may have taken some coaches a year to fully take advantage of the strict enforcement. (Mike Shanahan and Steve Young took full advantage in 1994.)
That's all true, but 1995 was a spike, not a new plateau. Receiving yards fell by 200 yards per game in 1996, and continued falling by another 100 yards per game in 1997.
Jeremy Crowhurst wrote:That's all true, but 1995 was a spike, not a new plateau. Receiving yards fell by 200 yards per game in 1996, and continued falling by another 100 yards per game in 1997.
That can't be right, can it? If receiving yards fell by 200 yards per game, that would be the same as passing yards falling by 200 yards per game, and I'm sure that didn't happen, in 1996, 1997 or any other year. There must be a wrong word in there somewhere.
Jeremy Crowhurst wrote:That's all true, but 1995 was a spike, not a new plateau. Receiving yards fell by 200 yards per game in 1996, and continued falling by another 100 yards per game in 1997.
That can't be right, can it? If receiving yards fell by 200 yards per game, that would be the same as passing yards falling by 200 yards per game, and I'm sure that didn't happen, in 1996, 1997 or any other year. There must be a wrong word in there somewhere.
Maybe he was talking specifically about Scott Mitchell??
