National Football League

NFL's points of emphasis haven't brought an offensive explosion

Published Nov. 30, 2014 12:02 p.m. ET

foxsports

R-E-L-A-X.

That sage advice came from Mr. Rodgers. No, not the one from the neighborhood, unless you happen to live in Green Bay.

When Packers' fans panicked after Green Bay's 1-2 start, the quarterback basically told people to chill out. And he was right, as the Packers have gone 7-1 since.

Now, the people who were outraged about the new point of emphasis fouls put in place by the NFL this season, thinking it would result in a lot more points and a lot more passing yards, should heed that same guidance.

Nearly everybody thought that would be the case. Even the guys on the Randy Moss "Biggest Catch Show" on FOX that we taped prior to the start of the season, were predicting the exact same thing.

And Joel Klatt, FOX Sports' NFL and College Analyst, even predicted on that Moss show that he expected we would have a minimum of three quarterbacks with over 5,500 yards of passing offense.

Well, it hasn't been the case.

Yes, there is a huge increase in the number of fouls called for defensive holding and illegal contact. Through the first 12 weeks of the NFL season, there have been 239 defensive holding penalties called. At this pace, there would be 384 called by season's end -- which would be 69 percent increase over the 226 called all of last season.

The Illegal contact calls have increased even more dramatically. There have been 109 called through 12 weeks and we're on pace for 159 by season's end. That's a 205 percent increase over the 52 that were called in 2013.

Again, those numbers are through 12 weeks. You want further proof that you need to remain calm? Mr. Rodgers is, uh, No. 12. Spooky, I know.

Though there has been a huge increase in number of fouls called for defensive holding and illegal contact, there has been no such increase in passing yards and total points.

Passing yards are up only four yards per game. That's hardly an increase. And points per game? Down, 7/10's of one point.

What does it all mean? Obviously, nothing.

In this case, the point of emphasis on defensive holding and illegal contact was put in by the competition committee and the only thing it's resulted in is more fouls and more stoppages during the course of a game to either enforce or decline penalties in these two areas.

People generally don't like change, so we panic. We overreact.

As Mr. Rodgers said, relax. It's going to be just fine.