NFL Week 11

[storyteller0910]

@Hamlet

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.

Hey, if you accurately guessed at the breadth and depth of the concussion issue years before the rest of us, consider yourself duly congratulated. I did not so anticipate, and now that the breadth and depth have become clear, it impedes my enjoyment of the game. I’m OK with the fact that it doesn’t bother others.

[kenobi_65]

@JSexton

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.

The issue generally isn’t with plays that might be fumbles. The issue is nearly always with plays that could be either ruled a catch, or an incomplete pass (i.e., did the receiver establish possession of the ball before going to the ground / going out of bounds).

Until about five years ago, this didn’t generally seem to be a particularly difficult ruling for the officials to get right – and what the rules said was a catch generally jibed with what a fan would watch, and agree was a catch. But, in the aftermath of the Calvin Johnson “catch”, and the Dez Bryant “catch” (both of which were ruled to not be catches), as the NFL has tried to fine-tune the rule to make it clear, it’s done anything but.

The way the rule is now worded doesn’t make sense to many fans, there are plays that look like a catch, but by the book, can be interpreted to not be, and it’s also clear that even the officials aren’t entirely certain of how to interpret the rule.

[Johnny_Ace]

@storyteller0910

Hey, if you accurately guessed at the breadth and depth of the concussion issue years before the rest of us, consider yourself duly congratulated. I did not so anticipate, and now that the breadth and depth have become clear, it impedes my enjoyment of the game. I’m OK with the fact that it doesn’t bother others.

Stand and bang your head against a wall, wearing a helmet or otherwise. You’re going to do damage to yourself. (And this was known well before the ‘revelations’ about the NFL.) Duh.

[magnusblitz]

@kenobi_65

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.

There’s many factors that go into it, but one huge one is the fact that teams are moving more towards draft picks and younger free agent players rather than veterans, because of the salary cap. Teams would rather take an UDFA they think is 90% as good as the veteran, because he costs 50% as much. The rookie wage scale has really helped too - one of the reasons Seattle has done so well is because they were paying their QB a third-rounder’s salary instead of tens of millions of dollars.

See “The NFL has an age problem” for more examples.

[Shawn1767]

For me, I’m losing interest because it seems more and more like a blatant cash grab that doesn’t care about quality or people’s health.

It’s over saturation, it’s the demanding new stadiums, it’s the pointless trips to London.

I started thinking, being a football player is someone’s job. If you were working at a factory where they found out that 20 years after you worked there, there’d be serious health issues, they’d probably do something about it or shut the factory down. There are so many injuries now that I think players are like Kleenex to the teams: one gets used up, there’s another one that pops up to take its place.

And there’s no real connection to the teams for fans. Each year the team players get mixed up with players going to other teams, you get a whole new set of players to “root” for. Seinfeld is right, you’re basically rooting for a uniform. And then sometimes, the whole team gets up and moves. And then you realize it’s a business and it’s no fun any more.

[dalej42]

I’ll add a few more reasons my interest is down.

1. The nonstop parade of arrests in the off season.

2. Endless suspensions for either PEDs or marijuana

3. The deflating footballs story which dragged on longer than election season

4. Early morning London games and Thursday games all season long. Ever since I was in high school, I used to play some variety of pick 'em. Now I don’t, there’s just too many games and easy to forget one. Those early morning and Thursday games are also a pain in the butt for fantasy, especially when I’m still focused on baseball pennant runs and playoffs.

5. I have access to all sorts of European soccer, and I can’t spend the entire weekend watching sports especially in a year with very mild weather extending into late November.

[DCnDC]

In other news, Cutler could be out for the rest of the season. Might this finally be the end for him and the Bears? Probably a convenient time to part ways.

[kenobi_65]

@DCnDC

In other news, Cutler could be out for the rest of the season. Might this finally be the end for him and the Bears? Probably a convenient time to part ways.

Despite being a Packer fan (and Wisconsin native), I live in Chicago. Cutler’s had close to zero fan support for years, and it’s sounded like John Fox has no real love for him, either. The only reason he’d been playing the past few weeks was that Brian Hoyer broke his arm against the Packers last month. I’d be stunned if Cutler is back here next year.

[EllisDee]

Not to go off-topic by talking about an actual Week 11 game, but as a Giants fan I was thrilled by this awesome Paul Perkins juke. So good.

[eschereal]

@dalej42

Early morning London games and Thursday games all season long.

Yeah, the Thursday thing is pretty fucked up, but there are only 3 or 4 early London games. The last one was nearly a month ago, and most fittingly, ended in a tie.