Comments on: Examining the seasons of Calvin Johnson and Brandon Marshall in a different light http://www.footballperspective.com/examining-the-seasons-of-calvin-johnson-and-brandon-marshall-in-a-different-light/ NFL History and Stats Wed, 02 Jan 2013 03:49:24 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Richie http://www.footballperspective.com/examining-the-seasons-of-calvin-johnson-and-brandon-marshall-in-a-different-light/#comment-5964 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 03:49:24 +0000 http://www.footballperspective.com/?p=5864#comment-5964 Your historical list seems to show a change in the way NFL offenses run. Looks like in the 30’s and 40’s, teams just used one main WR (probably called an “end” then), much like teams were using just one RB in the 2000’s.

]]> By: James http://www.footballperspective.com/examining-the-seasons-of-calvin-johnson-and-brandon-marshall-in-a-different-light/#comment-5956 Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:40:15 +0000 http://www.footballperspective.com/?p=5864#comment-5956 Its all well and good to make statistical breakdowns and all but don’t lose site of the fact that a guy broke/smashed a record that had held up for over two decades in a league that has seen Randy Moss, Torry Holt, Marvin Harrison, Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald, etc and that he did it without any real proven weapons around him to keep defenses honest.

I don’t think any WR in NFL history including Rice and Moss has had as much defensive attention sent their way as Calvin Johnson this year. He was good enough that they were able to produce an above average amount of offense despite having no true #2 WR no proven #3 WR after Burelson got hurt a TE who regressed badly in Pettigrew who struggled with drops and fumbles.

They also had an unproven rookie RB coming off a missed year due to an ACL tear before last year who was solid but not a RB who forced teams to take resources from Johnson. I agree that Marshall had somewhat similar issues when Alshon Jefferies was out to deal with but Forte certainly takes attention from Marshall that none take from Calvin Johnson.

Now certainly, in a way this still favors Calvin because it leaves the Lions with nothing to do but throw it to him anyway and let him go get it but it does curtail his ability to score on big plays because he always has two or three defenders around him and an entire defense that has certainly gameplaned to keep him from beating them on his own.

An easy way to explain it, is if say the Lions were to sign Greg Jennings this summer and it works out giving them a guy who can catch 65-80 balls across from Calvin Johnson for 1100-1250 yards of his own and half a dozen TD’s or more. Sure it would make it extremely unlikely that Calvin does get 1900 yards again but chances are with that across from him he’d start chasing Randy Moss’s single season TD record instead and his per catch production would go back towards the high teens again.

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