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?
I don't know.
Plus, calling more penalties isn't going to shorten the game.
Meanwhile I'm watching EPL as I type this with zero commercials. NBC is doing a great job with it.
My opinion doesn't matter to the NFL though. As they increase profits they will keep doing whatever they want. It's a shame, I was obsessed with football and now I'm pretty indifferent about it.
WOW it sucks
Where did they get these clowns
Babineau
Sapp
Davis
They have made it a variety show with personalities that have no personality
Oh and lets talk more about the Jets
and then Johnny Football
Its a disaster!!!!
Non-NYG games lose my interest pretty quickly, I wind up watching CNN more during pre-season. Get off my lawn?
I've been an NFL fan for nearly 50 years but my viewership will definitely be down this year.
NFL AM has a pretty new girl.....that about the only thing I can say about it
I like T & A also. Just not with my football.
Why?
It's not entertaining.
On the other side of the ball, the Broncos and Packers did a ton of offensive pass interference last year by blocking before the pass. It's good to see the NFL start to call that more closely as well.
People need to stop complaining about every little change. For the most part, the people in the league office know what they're doing, and their goal is to make the game better.
Why?
It's not entertaining.
I will occasionally watch NFCE opponents and that's about it(besides the Giants). I doubt, with the Giants opening Monday night, I watch a game on Sunday. I may check scores but I won't plop in front of the TV and watch a game start to finish.
I haven't watched an entire non-Giants prime time game in years.
Why?
It's not entertaining.
Eric, I feel the same. I think part of it is just getting older and we have more going on in our lives. Second the older I get the more I realize its all just a game. Its entertainment nothing more, nothing less. If its not fun why bother?
End of story.
On the other side of the ball, the Broncos and Packers did a ton of offensive pass interference last year by blocking before the pass. It's good to see the NFL start to call that more closely as well.
People need to stop complaining about every little change. For the most part, the people in the league office know what they're doing, and their goal is to make the game better.
I don't agree at all, and I wouldn't call the changes to the games the last 5 or so years, little. The Seahawks figured it out, but how long does that last? How many other teams can do what they do?
Such a small sample size to justify your stance.
I don't get their strategy.
They already own the sports world, why actively try to fuck that up?
Bastid
It seems like a risky strategy, but perhaps they are right. As pointed out, revenue keeps going up.
I don't get their strategy.
They already own the sports world, why actively try to fuck that up?
Mark Cuban was right.
The pay for play at the SB half-time show should be all the evidence anyone needs. They want everything. And all of it.
I just want to win, regardless of the score. But the game is still more important than the fantasy. I can't imagine it isn't for the hard-core fans. The fringe fans? you don't or shouldn't tailor a business model around them because they have no loyalty.
What a waste of a potentially amazing resource.
Unfortunately, what we're seeing is a video game-esque iteration that most of us originally grew up loving because of its physicality, violence, hits, and outstanding competitive rivalries.
And I do agree that the NFL and NCAA have a responsibility to invest in the sport by supporting affordable advances in equipment safety. IM also of the mind to eliminate cut blocks, crab blocking and other techniques that focus on the knees or below the knees as a point of attack. And I would love to see the elimination of playing on artificial surfaces. These are pie in the sky wishes - I know - but these measures would go a long way in promoting better player safety.
We're slowly being replaced as fans by the generation that grew up playing fantasy football, so they've been raised to think things like QB stats dictate success and stuff like that.
You can see it in the endless Eli Manning debates here over his career...a lot of posters think he's not that good bc he doesn't put up big "fantasy" stats, without an understanding of the offense he's run to this point or the way Coughlin manages a game
And maybe I'm just waxing about getting older because I turn 40 next month...:)
Defense wins championships
Seems like the idea is to replace special teams and defense with offense.
Not the brand of football I enjoy.
Personally I'm really beyond caring anymore and except for a rare occasion I watch my Giants and that is it. The NFL has moved away from the game I prefer and really loved years ago.
As far as the shows, and while I agree they are awful there are plenty of people that watch wrestling and I never understood how they sit through that either. Obviously there is some entertainment value in over the top, loud nonsense and less for low key in depth discussions when it comes to many sports.
I really feel a little cheated as a fan. They have eliminated kickoffs as a part of the game. Now it feels like they are eliminating defense. If they keep calling it like this over the long term, I might actually lose interest in the game.
And the pace of the game is ecoming unwatchable. The worst part is, this is the chosen direction of the league. I never heard one person saying an issue with the league was all the uncalled defensive penalties. Half the league is throwing for 4K yards now and this is not enough.
Yup...They don't mind the fact that more penalties and stoppages happen, that is just additional ad revenue
Once players get used to stricter enforcement, they'll change what they do and the refs won't have to call as much.
I blame it on Goodell and his overall strategy which I just don't care for at all.
This pandering to the FF crowd and the HDTV crowd (to which I belong) is killing this game. I'll still watch the Giants but if something comes up and I have to miss a game, I won't freak like I use to.
I'm just happy they got those four Lombardis. When I was a kid in the 60s and 70s, I thought it would never happen. Now I can abandon ship without guilt.
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.
Quote:
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 )