I really question the decision-making at the NFL head office about a number of things, but two issues that just simply continue to rub me the wrong way:
(1) The conscious decision to further "open up" offenses by accentuating more defensive penalties. Teams will likely adjust and fewer penalties will probably be called in the regular season, but I think we're headed down a dangerous path where more and more games will be decided by referees rather than players. What if this happens in a Super Bowl?
Besides all that, it's not "fun" to watch. The constant delays are just awful.
Yes, sometimes if something isn't broke, don't "fix" it.
(2) Yes, I've harped on this over and over again, but what douchebags produce the shows on the NFL Network? NFL AM is simply the most unwatchable show on TV. I'm a "football junkie" and I simply can't stomach it for more than 30 seconds before I flip the channel. What the hell?
This is the same thing I feel about watching the NBA. There are constant timeouts and penalties, which lead to excessive free throws, and the game doesn't have an energizing flow. Compare that to watching Hockey, where the game rarely stops, and I've started to become a Hockey fan. Except for that Sindee Crosby crybaby. That is also one of the reasons I had a good time watching the World Cup. The game isn't cut-up for commercials. Commercials come during halftime. The advertising is done in the game in the background on those border things.
If I am with some people watching NFL games, I won't even notice the commercials or the penalties as I at least have someone to complain/explain to what went wrong/what just happened. I watch these games alone, and it's unbearable.
On the plus side I have more time to take a pee after a scoring play.
He said that explains a lot of the calls this off season and would greatly reduce ounce the season starts. We will see?
10 years from now when Johnny Manziel farts the football out of his ass for a touchdown my 12 year old son will think it's great.
The NFL Network is a total shit show.
The idea that Paul Tagliabue is a serious HOF candidate is absolutely laughable.
I stopped watching any teams except the GIANTS and the Bills several years ago.
I refuse to spend any money on pro sports in any way any more.
Mark Cuban WAS right.
I completely understand the emphasis on less physical contact to the head. The concussion studies have simply re-affirmed what we all know about the dangers of football. These guys are getting paid a lot but they are literally killing themselves for entertainment. So I'm fine with the game becoming less physical and enormous hits to unprotected receivers being called penalties.
But the defensive holding penalties that make things impossible for the secondary's are just awful. If anything, defensive holding slows down the momentum of the receivers which decreases the impact of potential hits they may take from a DB.
Simply put, Defensive Holding is safer for players than no-Defensive Holding. The emphasis making things impossible on DBs has little to do with player safety and more to do with Goodell and the league preferring a higher octane passing game. Currently the league is at 35 pass attempts a game and 27 rush attempts per game, within the next 10 years that 35/27 split is going to become a (40/20) 2:1 pass/run ratio at the rate things are going.
I completely understand the emphasis on less physical contact to the head. The concussion studies have simply re-affirmed what we all know about the dangers of football. These guys are getting paid a lot but they are literally killing themselves for entertainment. So I'm fine with the game becoming less physical and enormous hits to unprotected receivers being called penalties.
But the defensive holding penalties that make things impossible for the secondary's are just awful. If anything, defensive holding slows down the momentum of the receivers which decreases the impact of potential hits they may take from a DB.
Simply put, Defensive Holding is safer for players than no-Defensive Holding. The emphasis making things impossible on DBs has little to do with player safety and more to do with Goodell and the league preferring a higher octane passing game. Currently the league is at 35 pass attempts a game and 27 rush attempts per game, within the next 10 years that 35/27 split is going to become a (40/20) 2:1 pass/run ratio at the rate things are going.
Agree with everything said here. I think an unintended consequence of making the lives of NFL secondaries harder, though, is that D coordinators will further look to getting to the QB as the key to slowing down the passing attack. More blitzing and trying to hit these WRs before the 5 yd mark to disrupt timing. I think we may also see more late hits to QBs just to get in their heads. I could see D coordinators telling their rushers to hit the QB no matter what. This all may lead to worsening QB injures. Just a theory.
I rarely watch NFL pregame shows. Maybe some wrap-ups or preseason news.
I also have a strong dislike for where the NFL is going in terms of playing defense. If there's no contact being made, how are you supposed to defend? The jobs of defensive backs across the league has become that much more difficult. In fact, it's almost come to the point where having them on the field is a liability because of the penalties from contact. It's getting ridiculous. And yes, I do remember a time where you barely ever noticed a ref on the field. Now they make calls on virtually every single play. It's maddening.
Hence some of the changes.
I gather that the NFL owners and Goodell understand that in order to truly grow the sport, they have to make it more appealing to overseas markets (and Canada) and the litmus test for the league's popularity is the ability and willingness of an overseas franchise to be supported (ie stadium).
Hence some of the changes.
And yet the rest of the world is addicted to the lowest scoring and most defensive friendly game on the planet. So why would making defense impossible contribute to popularity?
As a BILLION dollar industry, you can bet your bottom dollar the NFL knows as much (if not more) about CTE today than most of the researchers. And they have to be worried. As the research progresses, and the conclusions become more irrefutable, there won't be many parents who let Johnny play football. I am guessing the League is trying to get ahead of the curve - but I believe they are destined to fail and that football won't be played in the USA in 2034.
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the other sports.
Hence some of the changes.
I believe what you are saying...
And yet the rest of the world is addicted to the lowest scoring and most defensive friendly game on the planet. So why would making defense impossible contribute to popularity?
Biggest reason for the worldwide love affair with Soccer is that all it takes is a ball and a field to play it
I still watch every game I can. I still love football. But it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore what they're doing to the game. It's just not what it was and the direction it's trending is frightening. I'm starting to believe that the game will be entirely unwatchable by 2020.
I have no idea if that is true or not but that is what I was told is a big turn off for them.
I third this. And I often watch the game with the volume very low so can't hear the idiots rambling on during the broadcast.
Can you print this Thread and send it to every NFL owner?
This is not what the fans want. If the fans wanted all this O, and diluted D, the Arena League arenas would sell out every game, Dallas would have a franchise, and the teams would have to rent the largest venues in their area.
RG1 is a mo-ron;see the Ray Rice suspension.
The second thing they did, (and are doing now) is increasing the viewership (which means increased advertising $$$) by making the game "more entertaining" (not better) so that people who are only mildly interested in football will watch it if there is nothing good, like American Idol, on.
The NFL knows that real fans are hooked and going to watch even if they degrade and dilute the product. So the NFL ignores the real fans and panders to the viewers who are not fans by making it more "exciting."
The NFL did not invent this strategy. Politicians have done this for years. Regardless of whether a politician is on the right or the left, during the campaign, he moves to the center to woo the votes of the middle of the road voters, because he know he has the votes of the hardliners in his pocket.
Johnny Rico!
The league, which not too long ago was selling VHS tapes of its most violent hits, thinks that it can get away with anything that maximizes its profits and minimizes its potential legal liability. And why not? Every year TV ratings and revenues increase.
With respect to this generation, they are probably correct. But they would be making a mistake assuming the same of the next generation. I was very surprised to see all the attention that the World Cup received. Past attempts to establish professional soccer leagues in this country were met with complete indifference.
NFLN just plain sucks. Why they don't emphasize NFL Films and dispense with the bullshit shows is beyond me.
And if you don't like a football talk show, just don't watch it. It's not like there is a shortage of shows to choose from.
Think about their burdens. They have to look for offensive holding, illegal formations, motion and hands to the face on the offense and then in the secondary they have to monitor defensive holding, illegal contact and pass interference calls. It is way too much for them to do. It is way too much for them to HAVE to do.
Just as you never see a penalty on a hail mary, you should never see anything other than a flagrant call on a 3rd and 15. When you get a call that extends a drive and the replay shows little if any infraction, you have to wonder what's going on and what judgements are being made.
Simplify their burden and the game will have a better flow and will be watchable.
Also, it is really bad that they make rules adjustments for something like the Seattle win, but they completely look the other way on the rampant use of pick plays and blocking downfield on WR's screens. I've also begun to notice over the past few years false starts aren't being called. That never used to happen. My only guess is that they are so burdened they are looking other places.
These rule changes would only marginally improve scoring, and would kill the flow of the games. I'm pretty sure we won't see them called so tightly when the season starts.
That should not have been made by one person.
Question: is there ANY network program that's worth watching any more? CBS was easily the worst of the lot: thankfully they got ride of Shannon Sharpe and Dan Marino, who competed for Dope of Month regularly. But FOX wasn't far behind, and now might surpass CBS with Randy Moss's Virginia twang making my ears hurt. I don't bother with anything ESPN produces, unless it involves an actual Giants game.
Maybe NBC's Sunday Night contribution? That seems the least grating of the bunch right now.
The collision-heavy football we've come to expect is simply not sustainable going forward knowing what we know now and are likely to learn in the future about traumatic brain injuries.
Players have gotten bigger, stronger and faster. Hits have gotten harder. But there's no way to toughen up the human brain.
At least college season is starting. The pro game is "eh" for me at this point.
The games, with their constant interruptions and endless penalties, are almost unwatchable.
I've come to think that soccer is a far superior product. No commercial interruptions except for halftime. The flow of the game is just so much more enjoyable. I'm already enjoying my second year or EPL and I can't wait for NYCFC next year.
At this rate the NFL will have completely lost me in 5 years. It's something I couldn't even have imagined 5 years ago. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Last year, the best team in the NFL (and probably the 2nd best team) were led by monster defenses. Both teams are generally near the bottom of the league in passing. And those are no flukes either, Seattle and SF have been successful with that formula for a few years.
Right now at the top of the league it's basically the SF/SEA model of physical deep, defensive teams vs. HoF-level QB led teams (Peyton, Brees, Rodgers, Brady). There's some good stuff there. The Super Bowl ended up being a total dud, but it was a very interesting matchup of styles in the modern game.
SteveMD
I usually remember most Giant history, but I don't recall reading about a 47 scandal. Could you elaborate?
Frank Filchock & Merle Hapes - ( New Window )