“In the last decade, many college football teams have embraced a form of offense that runs at a furious tempo with no breaks for huddles, the goal being to grind down and exhaust the defense. Teams that play this way don’t bother trying to fool their opponents with complex schemes and trickery, they just bull forward as fast as they can. College defenses have been forced to adapt to this “hurry-up” mode by simplifying their fronts and coverage packages to help the players keep pace. The learning curve, at the NFL level, NFL people say, is so massive that it’s hard to overcome for all but the best college quarterbacks.The trouble with this trend, NFL experts say, is that many of the players coming from the college ranks have spent their entire careers playing in this high-throttle system, which is completely different from the slower, deliberate and more complex nature of the NFL. When they come to the NFL, it’s as if they’re being told to stop playing speed checkers and start playing chess. And the NFL, which doesn’t have a minor league of its own, has no influence over college coaches. “They don’t coach anything,” said Rex Ryan, the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, when discussing college defenses. “
When will the NFL adjust by developing a minor league, and competing with the NCAA directly? Forget draft age limits, and everything else that is wrong with the NCAA, and just start a minor league, where you can teach reading defenses!
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