Monday, February 13, 2012

NFL Relapse

The wait for 2012 Kickoff has began

This weekend was weird for all of us football fans across the country. Though the actual playing is over, football never ends. With the impending draft in April as well as the Peyton Manning decision which is fast approaching at the end of March, the NFL will still be alive and kicking.
This ain't ending pretty

Though the game has been dramatically changing over the years and though I think these changes have taken away from what I remember the game to be, it is still the best game in the world to me - more on the college level, in my opinion.

I do like some of the rule changes which protect the players and also those which allow for the refs to make better calls and have them not be the deciding factor in a game. I like the stance that the league is taking: The Eye in the Sky don't Lie.
LOVE IT!!!!!!!! THEY HATE IT



Though I believe in the safety of the players, I think they have gone too far in protecting them. When I played the violent nature of the game was accepted as being part of it. There were guys who got crippled or paralyzed playing but what are the chances of that happening to one player during the course of your playing days. Even if you only play high school football and you start, you may play 30-40 snaps a game. Multiply that by 10 and then multiply that by the number of kids playing high school foot ball. Now check to see how many people were paralyzed during one year. I would bet that the probability of getting paralyzed while playing  high school football is under 1%. I don't think most ball players who play football truly think about being paralyzed or severely injured while playing. We all accepted that risk while playing, if you played scared you will either ultimately end up hurt, get someone else hurt, or both. I do think the better equipment, especially helmets, have done wonders in helping to cushion some of the blows sustained during football.

The probabilities of ending up like Stingly aren't great

Equipment alone does not fully protect players from sustaining concussions and this is where the NFL stepped in to attempt to remedy the possibility of head trauma. They are now penalizing for helmet to helmet tackles as well as hitting a defenseless receiver.  These two rules, in addition to protecting the QB rules, are really awful.

Here is my problem with it: You are going to tell a huge man, who is moving at full speed to mentally stop, gauge where the offensive guy's head is and then make adjustments to how to hit him, all while making sure he protects himself? Are you kidding me. Or, with respects to the defenseless receiver rule, you're telling me that a QB throws a bad ball and WR has to jump for or stretch out to get it and the DB has a clear kill shot that he shouldn't take it? That he should wait to see if the WR catches the ball and then tackle him? Really? This is still football correct? This is still the game where the team who physically dominates another team and breaks the other teams will is the one who wins correct? Is this not the league who made a living off of selling 'Sudden Impact' and 'The NFL's Crunch Course' DVDs?  I thought that you get paid more for the risks involved. If that's the case, then the players now a day are over paid. I do think that given the TV contract and merchandising money, NFL players are properly paid. They are paid what their market value signifies. But, we as fans are getting the watered down version of what a  lot of us remember as football.  We are being robbed. I want to see dudes get crushed and receivers get hit so hard that they have no idea where they are at. Not dirty but 'old school' legal. If the rules get any more soft we will be watching flag football in a few years. At the rate America is raising these soft boys now, flag football will be as big as ever by then.

Maybe the league should put a limit on the size and speed of players to ensure that the collisions will not be as hard and you know how the league will look if that ever happened. I will leave that alone for now.

Anyway, if the NFL really cared about the health of players then why don't they mandate knee, thigh and hip pads? Those aren't necessary? So let me get this straight, you don't want guys to tackle up around the head, but you would rather them to go after parts that aren't protected.
 What's protecting his legs?

Add to that, most times the players would have to duck their heads to make these types of tackles. Is it me, or do most of the neck injuries occur when a player ducks their head and leaves their necks exposed?

Does the NFL want this to be proper form?

With all of this said, I think that some of these rules need to be looked at again and changed or eliminated totally. Why not fine the QB for throwing a pass that leads a WR exposed. I do think that the launching rule is good for protecting the players but a pure head to head is just part of the game. Get it straight NFL.

One thing I liked to see this year was the emergence of the TE position and how this will totally revolutionized the game and how defenses play. Thanks to Tony Gonzales (who may have the finest, classiest wife in the NFL) and Antonio Gates, offenses are now making the TE a focal point of the passing game. The Gronk, Aaron Hernandez, Vernon Davis and Jimmy Graham are making it very difficult for defensive coordinators.

And who will you have covering Vernon Davis?

Think about it, just as the league began to  draft more CB's to play safeties because of the 4 and 5 receiver offensive sets made it impossible to keep those Sean Taylor, no-covering type safety's on the field, a new problem has occurred. Introducing the 6-6 260lbs, 4.4 running behemoth. Where before hand you used to use your SS to play the TE, then they became too big for the SS so you got your best coverage LB playing them. Well, the TE's became too fast for the LB's - Vernon Davis, a 4.3 40. DB's aren't consistently running that fast. Now where do we go? Just as DE's have become hybrids so will you next LB. He will have to be 6'5  and 250lbs with the athleticism of a small forward and the speed of LaRon Landry. Just as they have turned basketball players to TE's they will have to use these same guys to play LB's and I believe there will be a market for them- 3 down linemen, 3 LB's, Hybrid Position and 4 DB's.  Welcome to the new NFL.



One last note is that I was wayyyyyy off on my Superbowl pick, but there is one consolation prize: Chad Johnson did not get a ring and most of all he was a non factor. Johnson is one guy who I really don't like. Never have. I just don't like people who NEED attention and will do anything to get it. I always thought he was overrated and a loud mouth and a bad influence to our young African-American boys around the country - thanks Prime Time. So, I don't mind being wrong if that's the price.


Hey look a me!!!!!!!!1 Please


Have a great day and talk to you soon.

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