Reason I ask is that recently, from what I would call football purists/ misguided super fans, I've heard that some people are disinterested loathe the NFL. I don't really think this is the case for most, but it would be interesting to hear about. Anyway their main qualms are lack of scheme diversity and crazy ass rules favoring the offense.
I'd tell them to cry me a river on #1 but they do have a point on #2. And really when you think about it the NFL has a lot of room for improvement.
So for this shit storm we all get to become Roger Goodell!!!!!!!!!!!
So basically we all get to change shit about the NFL. Sounds good? Good.
The first thing I'll start with is the worshiping of offensive players. Icehouse eloquently alluded to this point earlier this year, and I think he was spot on.
Look I understand protecting players, that's really what the rules committee should be focusing on, but it's getting to the point where it's affecting the outcome of the game. Shit I saw two this weekend alone. Example #1 comes from the Cowboys Vs. Denver. Kyle Orton threw a great pass to Eddie Royal with an oncoming pass rush in his face. Demarcus Ware? Puts a perfect hit on him right as he's releasing the ball. In fact I'd call the hit textbook. It was a smack on the helmet pat on the ass type of hit. But poor Kyle Orton's head came forward and hit Ware's. The call was helmet to helmet, additional 15 on the pass, and put Denver in FG position to tie the game at that point. The point is that legitimate helmet to helmet shots are dangerous, that's why there is a rule, but to call that on Ware is just ticky tacky bullshit.
#2
We all remember that. The world almost stopped turning, but we survived. Heir Goodell however thought something needed to change. Which is why we now have the "Tom Brady pussy ass bitch rule." If you watched SNF you saw Suggs busting his ass and barely grazing Brady below the waist. For which he received a 15 yard penalty. And evidently this shit happened twice in that game. You should try to check out the Ray Lewis interview about it. He basically said that we have guys busting ass and they get penalized for it. If you want the QB's to be protected you should just make it two hand touch and they are down. The worst part is right after the "hit" Brady is bitching to the refs for the flag. Hell even Rodney Harrison was telling Tom to take off the skirt, but that could be the HGH talking. So yeah, all that headbutting he does is just whistling in the graveyard because at the end of the day he's worried about someone grazing his knee. But it makes sense because QB's are exposed and would NEVER do anything dirty.
And it's not just QB's, poor Hines Ward can't lay fools out because defenders can't keep their head on a swivel. Something everyone learns...the hard way...the first year they play organized football.
Again, protecting players is a good thing for the NFL, I agree that the game should go away from the Chuck Bednarick days of destroying everything in sight. But again, once it starts affecting the outcomes of games, which are becoming increasingly close in the competitive NFL, (Rams excluded) it really takes away from the whole "gridiron" feeling. My final point which I found interesting was Namath, Elway, and Marino's take on the situation. All three were recently on Joe Buck Live, and all three thought the QB rules were bullshit.
Ok I have a lot more rules and changes in mind, but I'll let the Hobbers get after it for a while.
Shit storm begin.
Posts
Ok moving away from bitching about officials, I'd really love to see some form of minor leagues for the NFL. Fiscally, I don't think it would make sense for every team to have a "AAA" type ball club like in baseball, but I actually liked how NFL Europe operated.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm thinking is having a 12-18 team league. You put these teams in mid size market areas. Think something like Memphis. So an independent group puts a team in Memphis, they sign players, most of which would be free agents. But if you increased the roster sizes of teams (including practice squads) teams would be able to send guys down to develop while still retaining their rights. The FA's would also have one season contracts so a Kurt Warner story is not out of the equation.
The other thing is that the season would be in the spring/summer right after the draft. So basically you could have additional rounds with the idea that these players would be relegated to the minor league.
Which brings me to the point of loaning players. I think professional soccer has this down pat. Basically, I'm thinking that NFL teams could loan out players to the minor league. I'm thinking of guys like Chase Daniels, Matt Flynn, and Graham Harell.
Crazy? yes. But it would be awesome.
No more Brett Favre.
ReplyDeleteNo more nets behind goalposts. Balls kicked hard enough go into the stands, like homeruns.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if this has ever been proposed before, but I'd like to see a legacy credit that reduces luxury tax/salary cap/whatever contract or collective bargaining agreement roadblock that proliferates player trades.
ReplyDeleteSay, for every additional seasons after the first 3 played for a given team, you can add $250k to your team's salary cap, or knock $250k off luxury tax (again, I'm no expert on how this works).
I'm a casual fan w/o a team in my area. I follow guys I liked as college players. I like consistency. I despise change. More than anything else, I love the illusion that it's not about money, but a dedication to the team and organization.
The luxury tax rebate would greatly aid in my hallucination, by incentivizing ownership to retain "franchise" players and keep the same staff on board as long as possible, rather than buying and selling personnel like a stock portfolio.
Look, love them or hate them, the game is better when you can associate the Ravens' D with Killer Ray Lewis, or the Colts' offensive checks with Peyton Manning. Until recently, Farve (I will spell phonetically until he corrects his own error) in Green Bay was an institution unto itself. A rebate gives a team room to ramp up the pay of their franchise athletes, and gives them the incentive and flexibility to keep those athletes on the roster as they age in the league. Cap it off at 10 or 15 seasons if you want to prevent abuse, and make sure the players get 50% of the credit to keep from having perennial "will they ever be great" guys like Reggie Bush or even somebody like Rocket Ismail from skewing the system.
Would the dynasty effect that this creates help or hurt football? I'd guess help.
Booker Pogue hates his own genius. This was a post in itself that he just vomited into a comments section. Like he threw a rose onto a coffin as Lattimer, Stovall and I are shoveling mud onto it. Jerk.
ReplyDeleteGetting back to it, I say we allow group celebrations! Whats wrong with the Mile-High Salute or the Bob-n-Weave?
Booker Pogue has a great idea, but I don't know if it will happen with the new labor talks. I will say this though, I think some crazy shit will come about because of the destruction of the salary cap. Which again is a whole other post.
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