WOW!!! I love this thread.
Most guys only feel like it helps the offense because drives are allowed to continue on defensive penalties and most defensive penalties result in a 1st down. You never really worry about it offensively because you still have the ball and more often than not with the exception of a fumble you don't lose your opportunity to put points on the board. So it seems as if it hurts the defense more. The better way to look at it is that it helps both coaches rather than looking at it from an offensive and defensive perspective.
I've seen interceptions dropped. I've seen holding on the defense on a crucial 3rd down. In fact my first ever super bowl win was against Oscar Woodard. I was up by 5 points with less than a minute to go. He threw the game winning touchdown and the
was shaken! It was a 6-6 on the offense the play was brought back and he failed to score. I won my first super bowl on an offensive push off by the wide receiver! haha
It helps both sides of the ball and the reality of it is that when you tense up and began to worry about the box effecting you it seems like that's when it really gets hot. haha
The box is great the way it is. If you start messing with the integrity of the box and allow changes then you will increase the odds of a lot more things happenining. If you ever took the time to count the number of shakes per game and divided that by the number of times action occured on the box you will find out that it is a very small percentage. Even more so...divide it by the number of penalties or fumbles that occur during the course of game. That would be even lower. What happens is that it always seems like it happens at the most critical time. It happens that way because of the "law of averages". By the 4th quarter we would have shaken the box so many times, it is highly likely that a critical double is about to hit. It's the law! You can't change it.
You gotta love it and there is strategy to overcome it but not to get around it.
However, what I would like to see happen is that at the end of the game coaches have the opportunity to kneel on the ball. I've seen shakes at the end of the game that cause fumbles and the coach that would have lost if "the kneel" was an option wind up getting an extra opportunity and winning the game. It was exciting when it happened but looking back on it and the way the game is played now...I'd like to see the kneel option implimented.