As teams pass more than ever, NFL is slowly losing its soul

Have you taken a look at an NFL box score lately? Just kidding. I know you haven’t because no one looks at box scores anymore.

But if you’re a football dork who also happens to host a weekly NFL podcast (like me), then there’s no way you could miss the sea change happening before our eyes.

Did you know that in Week 4, four quarterbacks — four! — threw the ball at least 50 times, with Colts quarterback Andrew Luck (62 attempts) and Raiders QB Derek Carr (58 attempts) leading the pack, followed by the Vikings’ Kirk Cousins and Eagles’ Carson Wentz each registering 50 attempts?

Did you fully comprehend that Ben Roethlisberger threw it 47 times last Sunday, while Marcus Mariota (43), Joe Flacco (42), Deshaun Watson (42), Eli Manning (41), Andy Dalton (41) and Aaron Rodgers (40) also joined the 40-attempt club?

Even the Rams’ Jared Goff (465 yards) and Falcons’ Matt Ryan (419 yards) had huge days without crossing the 40-attempt mark, while Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes — the league’s leading passer and consensus quarter-season MVP — is on pace to throw for 4,800 yards, 56 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

What you’re witnessing right now is a full-blown passing extravaganza, an aerial circus the likes of which we’ve never seen. A closer look at the league-wide numbers proves it, too.

Entering Week 5, NFL teams are on pace to throw an average of 36 times a game, a single-year record, and they’re also on pace to throw for 255.7 yards a game, which would top the previous high-water mark (set in 2015) by 12 yards. What’s more, quarterbacks are on pace to finish with a 94.5 passer rating, which would smash the previous high (also set in 2015) by more than four points.

Given the rule changes the league has promoted in recent years, this shift toward coaches choosing to pass more makes all the sense in the world. Playing pass defense in the NFL nowadays would be like the NBA allowing its players to dunk, but making the act of jumping an automatic personal foul; many of the players would have the talent to jam, but wouldn’t be able to since the league essentially legislated the physicality necessary to pull it off out of the game.

I don’t think the NFL cares. From the increased emphasis on the body-weight rule, to the much-maligned helmet rule, to the league’s decision to give receivers the “Michael Jordan in 1993” treatment and eliminate contact of any kind between receivers and defensive backs, the NFL has made it clear that professional football is about the passing game now.

Did you know, for instance, that NFL teams are rushing the ball an average of 25 times per game this season, the lowest mark since stats started being tracked 86 years ago? That stat has been steadily decreasing for 15 years.

I know that for a 34-year-old, I sound like an old man when I complain about this stuff. But as someone who loves football and appreciates the machismo of trench play and glory of varied run schemes as much anyone, I still say something’s got to be done about this.

The powers that be in the NFL love to tout the virtues of the game — like its ability to bring people of various sizes, shapes and creeds together for one common purpose. They’re not wrong. As far as high school sports go, you won’t find a sport that’s more inclusive — bringing communities together — than football.

But if they believe that football imitates life, it’s also important to remember that life is about balance. Men and women in their 30s, many of whom spent their 20s grinding away at work, eventually come to the realization true happiness comes once they find a work-play balance that suits them, a yin and yang of sorts. Football isn’t so different, as it’s the combination of the run and pass — and the elements that go into each of them — that makes football a beautiful sport to watch.

Think about the things that get you excited when you watch a football game. Long bombs? Sure. Houndini-like quarterbacks with frog-like voices and a knack for bringing their teams back late? Of course!

But let’s not forget, up until the mid-2000s, when the rules first started shifting toward offenses, this league was built on power football and strong defenses. This sport grew into a multi-billion dollar behemoth on the backs of gnarled men who played hurt and crashed into each other and embraced the physical brand of football that sold tickets and brought eyeballs to the sport.

For decades, casual fans came to appreciate things like the elegance of a Gale Sayers or Barry Sanders always making the first guy miss, or the brute physicality of the Steelers’ 300-pound inside linebacker Levon Kirkland, colliding with Mack Truck-ish fullbacks like Mike Alstott in the hole.

And dorky, diehards fans (like me) came to appreciate the coordination of the 6-foot-5, 330-pound offensive linemen who were tasked with pulling around on sweeps and walling off defenders perfectly so the runner could scoot by, not to mention the brutality and barbarism of a fourth-and-1 halfback dive, which featured over 3,200 pounds of yoked-up humans crashing into each other over inches.

You get the idea, I’m sure. The irony is, while those visuals may have struck a chord, a good portion of you are still good with this passing revolution because high-scoring games make fantasy football — the not-so-hidden economy that drives the league — more fun.

Let’s face it, fantasy players would be pretty bummed out if the league’s passing averages went back to 1992 or something, when Steve Young won the MVP by throwing for 3,465 yards and a league-high 25 touchdowns, and Troy Aikman had a career year — seriously— by throwing a career-high 23 touchdowns. Can you imagine a world where you’d pray for a two-touchdown day from your quarterback, because most QBs averaged about one a game back then? I can’t. Not anymore.

So yeah, we aren’t going back to those days, and we shouldn’t. But I’m advocating for a return to normalcy when it comes to rules enforcement, which would give defenses a fighting chance on Sundays and would likely force teams to run it more, thus giving some much-needed balance to America’s Game and preserving all the entertaining elements that made so many people fans of the sport in the first place.

Subscribe to The Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast
Apple Podcasts• Stitcher • Google Podcasts

More from Yahoo Sports:
• Charles Robinson: Prepare for more ties in NFL games
• LeBron sports Kaepernick shirt during NBA preseason
• Tim Brown: Braves understanding October’s cruelty
• Dan Wetzel: Underbelly of college hoops is being exposed