The problem repeated damage to the brain caused by contact at high speeds, not just concussions.
I think the first step is to stop trying to defend a 6’-5" receiver with a 5’-8" DB. The big change that you are seeing the the rise of the tall, big-bodied receiver replacing the small, speedy receiver. The NFL defenses are already looking to move to taller, bulkier DBs that can defend these receivers without having to be Yoda in a lightsaber battle to do it. As we start getting parity there, the sides will even out, until offences move to a new style of receiver again.
If you factor out Peyton Manning this year, this thread would be titled “What should be done to rein in NFL defenses.”
Here’s my suggestion for QB’s throwing away the ball when they are out of the pocket. This also allows them to protect themselves.
A QB can release an uncatchable ball when out of the tackle box but the ball will be spotted at the yard line of the nearest defensive player who is not behind the line of scrimmage.
Ex: The ball is on the 50 yard line. The QB drops back to pass, scrambles back to the 40 yard line, sees there are no open receivers and throws out of bounds. The rushing defender is at the 45 yard line when the QB pushes the eject button. The ball will be spotted at the 45 yard line for a loss of 5 yards. That rewards the defense for effectively defensing the play, the QB doesn’t get smoked and there are risks and rewards on both sides. With instant replay this can easily be implemented to determine the proper spot.
Yea, I know. It makes too much sense so we will never see a rule like that put in place.
The “defenseless receiver” and “leading with the helmet” rules have gone so far the other way as to make the game barely recognizable.
The DB will always need to be faster. Since they don’t know where the ball is going they need to have quicker reactions. That will not change. DBs will be smaller than receivers.
So what is the problem with high scoring games? Some of the rules are dumb, and the pass interference rule that does equate to a 50 yard penalty certainly needs changing, but what if that is fixed and the games remain high scoring? So fix the problems, but I don’t mind high scores.
There’s a few things at play here that I think are leading to the higher scores. One of those is the profit motive, that the high-flying passing game is generally found by the audience to be more exciting, and that sort of play generally leads to higher scores because it simultaneously slows the clock with stoppages on incompletes and increases the speed at which teams cross the field with larger chunks of yardage per play. The NFL has actively made rule changes to help favor this because it increases viewership.
Personally, I’m not a fan of this sort of football. Considering that I played line in high school, I generally find the running game to be more interesting to watch, because it’s the part of the game I enjoyed most. I know from my father, and others from older generations who are football fans, they often find the running games more interesting too, simply because it’s what they’re used to seeing, and they often lament that the league has become increasingly pass-oriented, but it’s been that way since the introduction of the West Coast Offense.
Another thing that I think contributes to this is safety rule changes. For instance, it was a couple years ago, I think, that they started to crack down more on late or excessive hits on the QB. That makes QBs perhaps a bit more brazen in taking the extra read, but more importantly, it makes defensive players more apprehensive about hitting the QB. Similar, with excessive hits on defenseless receivers. I don’t think this is a bad thing, it helps protect the players, keeping them healthy and giving us better football to watch because they’re less likely to be injured and more likely to have longer careers, but I do think these sorts of rules ultimately favor offenses.
As for what they should do to fix it, despite not being a huge fan of it myself, I’m not sure it’s broken. The thing is, people who are passionate about football enough to care that it’s broken aren’t really in danger of being lost. Sure, they may end up being more interested in NCAA, but they’re even worse as far as scoring and passing and all goes, so I just don’t see that happening. That said, I could see some rule changes anyway.
As far as pass interference goes, I think it’s a careful balance between massively favoring offenses or massively favoring defenses. With the way the rules are now, if it’s a 40-yard bomb and it’s somewhat questionable, the ref either makes the call in favor of the offense, way over penalizing the defense, or they don’t call it, effectively penalizing the offense instead. If they cap it at 15 yards, it could easily be a big advantage to defenses. So, instead, I’d rather see some variations like what they did with facemasks, if it’s questionable make it 5-yards or something, and if it’s blatant, then make it a spot foul.
I’m of two minds on receiver’s gloves. Certainly, some of the ones I’ve seen are considerably stickier than skin or leather, but I don’t think they provide a huge benefit in that regard either. Should the NFL really get into specifically regulating gloves for a minor advantage that every receiver gets? Personally, if they wanted to impact receiving, and if they’re serious about protecting players in the open-field, they should start requiring more padding on those players. Sure, it won’t help with concussions, but it will help with other injuries and it would help to slow them down just a bit.
I think there is too much scoring but I would leave it alone. These things work out in the long run. The only changes I would make are for safety, such as getting rid of Thursday games