Pro Football Weekly: The quality of play and coaching in the NFL has fallen off

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The following quotes are from NFL scouts, coaches and front-office personnel, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“A lot of good coaches have dropped down to college and are not coming back. I don’t think Nick Saban will ever return (to the NFL). It’s not just the big names. There are a lot of good, veteran assistants too. The resources are better. They’re building their own networks. The players are more open to coaching. When a lot of teams took away (the coaches’) NFL pensions, college became a lot more attractive. I hear it all the time. There’s a reason the quality of play has fallen in the NFL. I’m watching some of the coaching going on, and I’m just amazed how bad it is. This dive-option crap should not be working the way it is. It’s easy to stop. This league is all cyclical. (A Hall of Fame coach) once told me — remember what you are seeing now, because it will all come back. This stuff was around 20 years ago, and it got shut down. It’s only a matter of time before it happens again. … The NFL is and always will be a pocket-passing league. If you want to win, you better have a quarterback who can do it.”

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