It isn't that the league has to get simpler to survive; it's that the
best teams are so efficient that they wear you down with nanobots and
they beat you with button-hooks.The game is cleansing itself like art does every few generations. Call it Gridiron Minimalism.
The Patriots' success is not only in the return to simplicity. While the patriots might be racking up points on no-brain floaters to Moss and check-offs to Welker, something other than "back to basics" is going on. Great plays look simple because, by definition, they happen when one
guy runs quicker to one spot or jumps higher than his opponent. But it's what that set up that play that counts.
More important than slimming down the playbook is the establishment of a previously unknown level of erudition among both NFL players and coaches, among the most erudite of whom are currently the Patriots head coach, quarterback, primary wideout, and left side of the offensive line. The league avant garde has come to the conclusion that, knowing all the permutations in formation and coverage, the simple plays work best when the other team is on its heels.
Randy Moss beats corners because they know he's capable of a thousand routes. When you're facing a DB frozen in Dagwood-style calculations the best move is to go forward fast, which is what Moss does with cold efficiency.The simple playbooks work now in part because they have been preceded by a couple decades of convoluted schemes. But it's only with a high level of knowledge and skill that you can "get back to basics" and win with such ease. Those "gut" plays work best either right after, and sometimes simultaneous to, crazily complex football maneuvering. The NFL has never seen more byzantine blocking and blitzing packages. Play-action is so subtle now, it's lost on a lot of commentators. And G_d only knows what mind games are happening right before the snap.
