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Daily Madden: The Popularity of the Passing Game

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - Oregon's 43-15 victory over California on Thursday was predictable, according to John Madden who told the KCBS morning crew Friday it looked liked the Bears could keep up with the Ducks until a second-half outburst by Oregon's fast offense.

"They're just relentless," said Madden.  "I mean, just, boom boom boom ... and the speed, they keep going at you and throw so many things.  And that LaMichael James is pretty doggone good."

James dislocated his elbow late in the 3rd quarter, an injury that looked worse than what it was, said Madden. "It didn't look like it was no big thing," said Madden.

Moving on to the NFL,  stats published in the New York Times show six quarterbacks are on pace to break Dan Marino's record for passing yards in a season. Meanwhile there have been 44 individual 300-yard passing games 4 weeks into the 2011 season, while there were 96 such games all of last year.

"Well yeah, I mean the game has changed," reasoned Madden. "And it's been kind of evolving to this the last three or four years."

"It's shotgun, it's spread 'em out, it's using four and five receivers, empty backfields ... so the running game has kind of been the short-passes, the slants, the screen game," said Madden. "And in the statistics, they count as passes, " he said.

Daily Madden: The Popularity of the Passing Game

Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services may have contributed to this report.)

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