Normally early in the season, defense has the upper hand as teams look to gel, shake off the rust, get on the same page, etc etc. Not this year. I saw the numbers posted on a Steeler board, and they are pretty amazing.

Week 1 of the 2011 season saw 14 (!) quarterbacks throw for over 300 yards. Three of those went over 400 yards (including a rookie), and one (Brady) threw for 500 yards. That's almost half the league going over 300.

By comparison, here are the stats from the previous 9 seasons:

2011 had 14 300 yard passes, 3 of those over 400, 1 of those over 500
2010 had 3 300 yard passers, 1 of those over 400
2009 had 6 300 yard passers
2008 had 4 300 yard passers
2007 had 4 300 yard passers
2006 had 3 300 yard passers
2005 had 2 300 yard passers
2004 had 4 300 yard passers
2003 had 2 300 yard passers
2002 had 4 300 yard passers

What do you make of this? Does the lockout play a hand? Just a crazy weekend? Or has Goodell's rule changes and emphasis on protecting QBs and WRs finally made an impact?