Who has the advantage on a Pass Play?

[Dan Thompson]

We all know that the O has 3 things can happen on a pass play, pass is caught, pass is intercepted, and the pass is dropped. Tey forgot a holding call on the O.

As far as the D goes, the pass is not close to the reciver, pass is dropped, pass is intercepted and pass interference is called, or PI is not called.

Who do you think has the advantage?

[BoulderSooner79]

Rules favor the offense, and the team must be coached to take advantage of the rules. "Officially" the receiver and the defender have equal rights to the ball, but that is not the way it is called. If a receiver plays defense to deny an interception on a poorly thrown ball, he is rarely called for PI. Combine this with the fact that the QB is trying to get the ball to the receiver and you can see why interception are fairly rare.

But even given that the rules favor the offense, I think the offense only has the advantage if they have great skill players. To complete a pass, a lot of thing have to go right. The QB has to have time, the pass has to be accurate, the pass has to past the line w/o getting batted down, the receiver has to be open, the receiver has to catch it, and finally, the receiver has to not fumble when tackled. Oh, and the line can't be caught holding. Any one of those things can go wrong. So in an offense like OUs this season, they have the advantage. If you watched tOSU try to pass in the Fiesta, you could see that the defense had the advantage.

[swardboy]

Sam! :D

[OUinFLA]

Bud did not favor the pass

[KsSooner]

I can still remember the first game I listened to on the radio, (hardly any TV coverage in 1999), when Josh started. In previous years a 3rd and long meant bad news for the Sooners. Here comes Josh completing 3rd down passes left and right! Must be demoralizing to the defense to have a stop on 1st down, 2nd down, and then give up a 3rd down completion for a 1st down on almost every series.
To answer the question though, if you are forced to pass, based on down and distance, I believe the defense has the advantage. But if you have balance and can pick and choose when you pass, then the offense has the advantage. (see OU 2008)

[TXBOOMER]

Generally, the offense has the advantage, they know the route etc. The average completion percentage has got to be greater than 50%. I agree with Swardboy overall though.

[rainiersooner]

I think the defense has the advantage - this is why most defenses key up to stop the run. More things must go right to complete a pass than a run.

[SoonerAtKU]

I've never understood the "3 things happen with a pass, and two of them are bad."

You can run for positive yards, run for negative yards, or fumble. Just like passing, you can complete a pass, not complete a pass, or have it picked. There's literally no difference, except a bad run can LOSE yards. Arguably, it's worse.

[Jmorales22]

Offense has the advantage. DBs are usually guessing which way a receiver is going to go, and if they play too close could get burned on a stop and go, etc. Also, on dual possesion, by rule the ball goes to the offense.

[rainiersooner]

I've never understood the "3 things happen with a pass, and two of them are bad."

You can run for positive yards, run for negative yards, or fumble. Just like passing, you can complete a pass, not complete a pass, or have it picked. There's literally no difference, except a bad run can LOSE yards. Arguably, it's worse.

Actually, you could also lose yards on a completed pass; plus you could lose yards by having the QB sacked. That's FIVE bad things. :eek:

There's a reason teams with a big lead stop passing the ball and just run it up the middle.

Of course, the flip side is that MORE good things can happen QUICKER with a pass than a run.

Wow - how many months until the '09 season begins? ;)

[BoulderSooner79]

Actually, you could also lose yards on a completed pass; plus you could lose yards by having the QB sacked. That's FIVE bad things. :eek:

There's a reason teams with a big lead stop passing the ball and just run it up the middle.

Of course, the flip side is that MORE good things can happen QUICKER with a pass than a run.

Wow - how many months until the '09 season begins? ;)

Coaches are control freaks and they like to keep their messages simple. Bottom line is that lots of good and bad things can happen on any kind of play. I've seen on several occasions where a team tries to play it "safe" and run up the middle and drain the clock only to have the RB fumble. If the defense knows it's coming, there will be 5 guys trying to strip the ball. The key is execution and making sure the defense doesn't know exactly what is coming, or else they do have the advantage - run or pass.

[SoonersEnFuego]

Offense does: snap count, route, timing, etc.

[SoonerSig]

Rules favor the offense. Schemes (regardless of zone, man) favor the offense if they have a QB who can read the defense and receivers who can run routes. Offense has a large advantage. Look at the total yards put up by teams instead of just looking at points scored. A team can move the ball 80+ yards and (just a hypothetical here) get two 1st and goals in a game and get no points out of either drive. Not that that could happen to us... :(

[swardboy]

On a wet grass field, a good QB has given the O the advantage. A guy from Stanford named Elway killed us back in the day on a sloppy field. OUr db's could not react well enough to the receivers' cuts.

I do not know to what extent this would apply on today's superior artificial turf.....dang, we had great weather to play in all of last fall.

[8timechamps]

Too many variables to answer.

If the defense is playing zone against a mediocre WR corp and QB, then the defense has the advantage.

If the defense is playing man against a mediocre WR /QB, the defense still has the advantage although the advantage is not nearly as big.

If you change mediocre to good/great, the offense had the advantage against man, but the defense takes the advantage in zone.

Think about it, most plays favor the offense. There's always going to be one more player on defense than offense (take the QB out). Yet, the offense can still move the ball (even if it's just a little). That defensive extra man is what keeps O coordinators up at night.

[Sooner70]

Actually, 4 things can happen on the receiving end when a pass is thrown and two are bad, depending on which side you're on. The pass can be caught or there can be an inteference call (good for the offense, bad for the defense), or it can be dropped or intercepted (bad for the offense, good for the defense.) Many passes are thrown with this 50% factor in mind.

I'd think the offense would have the advantage, especially with a high % QB and good receivers because the defense is in a reacting mode. Bud always said put the best athletes on defense because of this.