CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Over the decade, empty backfield sets became commonplace in football. Either using four, sometimes five wide receivers, or splitting a running back wide, having an empty ...

A few truths we know to be true. The empty-set formation showed up a ton for the Bengals last year. It returned, and the Bengals have one of the highest usages of the tactic in the league.

To do that the Eagles used tempo and more empty sets. The results of that idea were encouraging. Philadelphia had nine dropbacks from empty sets and netted 116 yards from that formation ...