Can offense minded coaches win?

[Dean-Atlanta]

I get up this morning and see the news, that Tennessee Coach Josh Heupel is recruiting a 5 star WR named Ryan Williams who has decommitted from Alabama as a result of Nick Saban retiring.

Here are some things with this to consider:

College football coaches have limited NIL money and other resources with which to recruit and sign plays, as we in the PNFL have a limited number of draft picks and points with which to acquire talent for our rosters.

Tennessee had a TERRIBLE pass defense last season, so much so, that EVERY S and CB that played for the team last season has either exhausted his eligibility or has entered the portal. The team is complete rebooting its entire defensive backfield for the 2024 season. The team also badly needs an offensive tackle. But the team definitely needs CBs, another safety, perhaps a LB too. Surely there are players at those spots on the Alabama roster tat will probably jump in thre portal. They have several solid WRs on the roster and picked up 5 star WR Mike Matthews and got WR Chris Brazzell from the portal. Having possibly the worst pass defense in the SEC they are go0ing to the 5 star WR that decommitted from Alabama.

Here in the PNFL over the last couple seasons I used key draft picks to select WRs Josh Johnson, Kevin Austin, and the best WR in last year's draft at 4th overall, WR Quentin Johnston. Other than trading WR Amari Rodgers (former 4th round pick) for CB Jack Jones, I did not bring any good new young CBs. At that same time, Detroit used four first round picks in the last two drafts to pick up 4 solid high quality CBs. As a result, Detroit has a solid pass defense and goes 8-8 and is in the playoffs this weekend. I had one of the worst pass defenses in the league and my team finishes 5-11.

When I saw that Tennessee is trying to pick up the 5 star WR from Alabama, I thought of my own decision to draft WR Johnston rather than taking an arguably more needed CB with that pick. Favoring offense at the expense of defense may be a direction that may not be conducive to winning more games.

Something to think about?

[Matt-Jacksonville]

At the end of the day, you have to score more points than the other team to win the game, so for an offense heavy team, you have to have enough defense to stop the other team a couple times more than they stop you. Can it be done? Yes, but it doesn't happen often. That is why defense typically wins championships. It's much easier to win a 7-3 game by scoring one TD and holding the other team to 3 pts than it is to win a shootout 35-32. However, the consistent playoff contenders are the teams that have a good balance between Offense and defense.

[Mitch-Oilers]

If the other team doesn't score, you can't lose.