Quote:I'm not big on Mularkey, but smashmouth football does work. Look at the playoffs.

 

You need a very strong defense for it to work in this age though. Tennessee had the 12th best defense by yardage, but still allowed the 27th most points per game at 26.4. Jax allowed 28.

 

Seattle on the other hand allowed the least PPG at 17.3

KC 17.9

Carolina 19.2

 

The smashmouth style works, especially when it gets cold, but you need to be able to stop the other team from scoring as the philosophy is inherently low scoring in itself. Buffalo and Dallas are prime examples from last season. Both ran the ball well, Buffalo being the league rushing leader, Dallas 9th, but both failed to make the playoffs due to poor performance of their defenses.

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