Points per game over the last 40 years

[ArgoRavi]

I hope you are right, Ravi, but I really, really doubt it. Cdn football has become a game heavily influenced by coaching, defensive strategy and situation substitution. Plus many of the QBs, backs and receivers who in the past would have come to Canada are staying, and playing, in the NFL. Twenty-five years ago Drew Brees, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton, to name just three, would almost certainly have ended up in the CFL. I just don't see anything this year or in recent years to convince me that the downward-offence trend is going to change.

I am reluctant to call one year a trend though. The league had a similar drop-off in '06 when roster sizes increased and blocking rules, for one season, became more restrictive on punt and kick returns. If we look at the post-U.S. expansion era (1996 to this year), scoring has been consistently in the 50-54 point range with only a few exceptions. Scoring was at 52.40 points only last season.

As I look at the numbers again, I am hesitant to blame expansion as scoring actually rose by 3 points per game from '01 to '02 when the Ottawa Renegades came into the league. What does concern me is that we do seem to be seeing somewhat more conservative play-calling and a little less creativity than we once did which can both be attributed to the reasons that you provided above, Paul.

When was the last time that we saw a team "take a shot" on second and less than a yard? We used to see that frequently enough not long ago but I am not sure that I have seen it even once this season. I am also concerned, on almost a weekly basis, by poor clock management at the end of the half/game. Ron Lancaster would roll over in his grave if he could see the clock management that exists in the league today. It seems like QBs cannot do anything until they have heard it in the earpiece in their helmet. No QBs call their own plays anymore either. I watched the NFL Network documentary on Doug Flutie last night and started to wonder about what Flutie would think about the Canadian game today as it is quite a bit different with respect to the leeway afforded QBs than it was when he played.