by John Atchison

Created on: January 02, 2013

Long time National Football League (NFL) fans can shut their eyes and hear the bellowing tones of John Facenda, narrating old ‘60s highlight reels of the Vince Lombardi led Green Bay Packers. Bart Starr handing off the ball to bruising Jim Taylor and the elusive Paul Hornung, as the Packers rushed to championship glory. Whether it is the

 Lombardi Sweep or the Washington Redskins famed 70 Chip play, both offenses shared a similar characteristic. They both played what is called, "smash-mouth football".

Look up the term smash-mouth on merriam-webster.com and one will see the definition, "characterized by brute force without finesse". That describes perfectly what teams that play smash-mouth football are looking for. The team is not looking to run fancy passing plays or fool the other team with lots of misdirection. No, their goal is to line up and run the ball straight down the opponent’s throat until they have broken them and won the game.

Some might question why a team would want to play smash-mouth football, considering that the NFL is now about highflying aerial attacks for the most part. Teams like the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers have risen to prominence based on a dynamic passing attack, with a sprinkling of run plays to keep the other team honest. This is exactly the type of team that coaches want to employ a smash-mouth football approach against.

When NFL teams run this style of offense, it eats up a lot of clock. Unlike a passing team, where incomplete passes stop the clock and preserve time, a smash-mouth offense consumes precious minutes. When the offense is executed correctly, drives are normally made up of 8-12 plays, which usually ends up in points while eating 5 or 6 minutes off the clock. This approach not only helps the offense, but the team as a whole.

If the team playing smash-mouth football is doing it correctly, it is keeping the other team's passing quarterback off of the field. The less time that a Tom Brady is on the field, the less damage he can impose on the defense. There is also the flip side of that to consider. While the team playing smash-mouth is keeping the offense off the field, they are also wearing down the opposing defense. Drives that go on for five minutes tend to wear down the burly men in the trenches. It becomes a lot harder to keep getting up off the field, knowing that another run is coming straight at the team.

Smash-mouth football can also lead to the occasional big play. As a team continues to hammer the defense with run plays over and over, they force them to pull more men up to try and stop the run. When they do this, it allows the quarterback to catch them off guard and beat them deep with a pass. Smash-mouth football might not be the most aesthetically pleasing brand of offense, but when run correctly, it certainly does have a ton of advantages.

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