Miami Dolphins Upset The Pittsburgh Steelers
In this week’s latest upset, the Miami Dolphins a relatively bad team in the NFL, blew out the Pittsburgh Steelers, a superbowl contender. How did the Dolphins pull off this amazing feat and what suddenly changed for this complete dominance seen in Week 6 of the 2016 NFL season? Well as we learned in networks when there is a dominant strategy the other player can predict and usually counter the strategy successfully. This is why it is suggested in the theory of strategy to not always play your most dominant strategy but leave for when you most need it or for short use.
Well in the case of the Dolphins and most teams in the NFL, passing the ball through the air is much more productive, quicker and more efficient in terms of scoring and moving the ball. This is especially true for a vertical passing offense such as the Dolphins which relies on tall receivers to be able to catch the ball deep down field for large gains. However if teams simply passed all the time it would be easy to counter by not blitzing, basically having players cover the receivers. This is why a good run game or being able to hand off the ball to the running back has to be successful or relatively dangerous. For example by creating a semi dangerous run game today, giving Jay Ajayi 23 carries or handoffs, the Steelers defense was more worried about the run than the pass, so when the Steelers blitzed or stacked the box to prevent the run, the passing offense bloomed and led the Dolphins to be able to take advantage of the Steelers few mistakes that led to huge passing plays.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article108635967.html