Quote Originally Posted by run pMc View Post
Is that a bad thing? If all a team does is throw, or their RBs are crap, defenses will drop 8 and force the QB to make good choices and throws. We saw that with teams dropping extra men into coverage against Rodgers and he struggled. Imagine Bortles or Eli Manning in that scenario. Minnesota had a terrible running game and look at their offense. I'm not suggesting a return to 45 runs per game, but I think a running game that a defense has to respect is worth something.
Not a bad thing at all. Bobble's typical point, about the importance of being able to run well (forget balance for a minute), still holds.

You want to be able to run decently, even if the purpose of your run calls is not to dominate the LOS, nor shorten the game, nor make it a lower scoring affair. You might want to run to constrain how crazy the defense can get to stop your passing. To punish it occasionally for sticking a safety in as nickel backer, etc. Not to mention specific goal line/short yardage/end of game situations.

You just don't want to devote franchise level money to do it.

This is where the front office and coaches have to meet in the middle. You aren't going to get a League Top 10 run game when you devote a lot of resources to the pass (esp. with veteran Pro Bowl QB). So you need to devise a run game that works with talent that is young and vets that tend to be average.