Sorry for the late thread, my interest in the NFL is at an all time low and no one else went ahead and created it.
Does no one care about football anymore?
The officiating in the Card/Vikes game is horrible.
Wow, 8 PATs missed and 3 blocked, so far.
two 3-and-outs for the Packers. Surprised no sacks.
And Pierre Garcon announces his college is “Haiti”. What, ashamed of Mount Union now that they lost for the first time in 112 regular season games (Oct 2005)?
Well that’s depressing. The Packers fold under the crush of injuries, and, with Aaron Rodgers being pedestrian, they can’t recover from having to start a plethora of inexperienced, outclassed defensive backs and linebackers. Not a great season at all.
There is still hope, but the loss to Washington’s professional football team and the Vikings righting the ship and the Lions suprisingly not sucking makes it a real upshill battle. Luckily the Bears still have Jay Cutler and a suspect secondary.
Rodgers’ play and the injuries, are the stories of the season. After struggling (how nice is it that only being the #9 QB in the NFL is struggling) last year, Rodgers still hasn’t gotten back to his awesome standard he set earlier in his career and his accuracy has dipped noticably. I can’t for the life of me figure out why his play has dropped off, but he can no longer carry the Packers to victory all by himself. Which is what he has to do as the Packers lose players left and right.
Even worse than the dropoff by Rodgers is the sudden not-goodness of Clay Matthews Jr. While I don’t want to speculate, I will and say maybe it’s the PED investigation that has “hampered” his play, but he’s simply not getting enough pressure on the QB and is a liability in run defense. He’s being outplayed by both Julius Peppers and Nick Perry, and sometimes by Kyle Fackrell and Datone Jones. Not good for a guy who should be coming into his prime.
Watching the Pack this year is giving me flashbacks to the 70’s. You mean other teams actually cover receivers? Wow! And, postseason? What’s that?
And it doesn’t help that the networks run both the “not in my house” and the “I’m Clay Matthews and I’m awesome” commercials numerous times during the games. All they do is make me say, maybe you guys should spend more time practicing and less time in Hollywood?
The PED thing might well play a role, but Matthews has been fighting recurring hamstring injuries for a couple of years now. I’m beginning to worry that, like J.J. Watt, he’s a freakish athlete whose body is starting to break down on him.
It feels like everyone’s interest in the NFL is down this year. But why? Not everyone is a hopeless Browns fan like me. But heck, I still visit the threads. Is it election hangover? The NFL being “softer?” Colin Kaepernick? Something else?
Speaking only for myself, I’m having more and more trouble enjoying the game given what we are beginning to understand about its long-term effects on the men who play it. Someone gets laid out across the middle and in the back of my mind, I’m wondering, “was that the hit that will lead to him killing himself in 20 years? Or forgetting his child’s name?” Overdramatic, maybe, but it does make the whole thing seem a bit insane.
For me, personally, it’s a mix of the following (probably in more-or-less descending order):
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My team, the Packers, is coming apart at the seams, and the past month has not been fun to watch.
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I think that the league, in general, has reached the point of oversaturation. Even if I don’t count the pre- and post-game shows, most weeks, it’s now possible to watch five games in their entirety (and, this upcoming week, with three games on Thanksgiving, one could watch seven games).
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The concussion issue has increasingly given me pause about following a game which is so devastating to the health of so many of its players.
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The rules and the officiating have become too much of a distraction. Between games which seem to have a penalty on every other play, seriously blown calls, and rules that have become so complex that the fans (or the officials!) can’t understand them (particularly the rules on what constitutes a catch), it takes away from the actual play of the game.
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The league’s efforts to give the games and players a uniform, professional, “corporate” stamp seem to be determined to justify the nickname of “No Fun League.”
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The league’s aggressive drive to maximize revenues (e.g., merchandising the hell out of everything, the horrible “Color Rush” uniforms, the entire Los Angeles saga, the pushing of games – and, sooner or later, a team – to London, etc.) also detract from the play of the game itself.
That hasn’t really been an issue for me. I’ve always known that having a 275 pound fast and powerful man banging you directly in the head would result in issues later in life. I didn’t think that somehow the head and brain were somehow different than the knee or the ribs or the neck or any other body part that can be permenantly harmed by playing a violent game.
Those uniforms…it boggles the mind. Certainly Exhibit A for the concept of “a solution looking for a problem.” Teams have developed a look, their fans become familiar with that look, and then–for one game a year-- try a really ugly variation of that look because (reasons).
I completely buy this one. The NFL forgot to “leave 'em wanting more.” I like football, but there is just too much coverage. Too much time devoted to it on Sports Center, on sports talk radio and way too many NFL exclusive shows.
Nevermind the fact that each game has around twelve minutes of something happening, over 3 hours. Boring as soccer might be, at least something is going on for 90 full minutes that usually takes 2 hours to play through.
The rules have become a fucking nightmare. There was one play on Sunday (I was listening to the game because the TV signal was one that does not reach here) where a receiver was called for OPI because he just stopped and forced the defender to go around him. Not even any contact. I think any PI should at least involve contact.
If I may be cynical for a moment, the problem they are trying to solve is that some fans already have the home, and away, and alternate, and throwback jerseys for their team and Officially Licensed Merchandise[sup]TM[/sup] doesn’t just create itself.
On the other hand, styles evolve and teams do change their looks from time to time. I remember when the Bengals’ helmets were just orange with the word “BENGALS” on them.
Another thought on the topic, upon further reflection:
Overall, the quality of play in the NFL feels like it’s down. Now, this is absolutely a qualitative assessment, and it’s probably impossible to prove, but it feels like there are more missed tackles, more poor execution of pass routes, etc.
My gut tells me that this goes back to the changes in this CBA regarding OTAs, and practice time during the season. Teams aren’t able to spend nearly as much time with their players during the offseason as they were before the current contract went into effect, and they’re able to spend less time in contact drills during the season. I suspect that this makes it harder for players to (a) learn the extremely complex systems that most NFL teams run (both on offense and defense, and (b) maintain a high level of proficiency in the game’s fundamentals.
Ohh, absolutely. The problem that they’re trying to solve for is, “how do we get yet more dollars out of our fans’ wallets??”
True, though that’s a different issue. The NFL is now essentially ensuring that all teams are wearing at least one alternate uniform (two, if the team also wears a throwback uniform).
And, what is a catch? How hard can it be to simply say if the receive has the ball in his possession he has caught it? He doesn’t have to make a foot ball move or keep it in his hands after reaching the ground.
Another vote for too many commercial breaks. I cannot watch unless I’ve recorded the game and start watching about 45 minutes late so I can skip the commercials.
As with most rules, while they might seem silly sometimes, exist for a reason. Consider the effects of removing that rule. It would then be legal to have a trips bunch where two of the WRs are blocking downfield for a third, simply by getting in the way of the corner and safety. That would be nearly impossible to defend against.
Pick plays are illegal for good reason.
It’s hard to make it that simple without increasing the number of fumbles tenfold. If possession (I.e, two hands on the ball, ball isn’t moving) is enough, for any length of time, to be a catch, then losing the ball after that point before being down means it’s a fumble. And that happens A LOT every week.
Is that what you want?I’m not sure if any team could keep the ball long enough to score under that system.
I agree it happens, but I think two or three times a game, max. And sometimes the offense recovers. In any case, I don’t think they should make the rules defy reality just to influence the outcome. “Yes, it’s a catch but we won’t call it one because it changes the game.” If it’s a catch it’s a catch. Consequences be damned.