NFL Evolution of the NFL

[Dirty Bird]

Not a fan of widening the field. Imagine the likes of Rodgers, Manning x2, Brady, Brees having more space to throw to receivers, will become a passing league even more. Also wouldn't it have a huge affect on the way teams play defence and whether to play zone or man?

But there's more pace and holes as the defence is spread out more. That plays into the RB hands too.

What we can agree on though is a wide field will make things more offensive based than now. harder to stop for the defences.

 

[GreyWind]

But there's more pace and holes as the defence is spread out more. That plays into the RB hands too.

What we can agree on though is a wide field will make things more offensive based than now. harder to stop for the defences.

Forgot about that. Not an idea I want implemented into the NFL and while I'm all for player safety this isn't the way to do it. Also how feasible would it be for some stadiums to widen the field? Seriously a lot of the current stadiums have very little room on the sideline as it is and I can't see every team then getting a new stadium built.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Keywords from my previous post: the sooner a rival league can emerge, the better.

 

[Dirty Bird]

LFL isn't good enough for ya?

 

[GreyWind]

Keywords from my previous post: the sooner a rival league can emerge, the better.

Not going to happen though, nothing of a serious enough threat at least.

 

[larkis]

Not going to happen though, nothing of a serious enough threat at least.

Has in the past

With the latest television deals being negotiated soon - if the NFL shafts or out price one network, the network can easily start up a second league. Think what would happen if ESPN didn't get MNF back.

 

[GreyWind]

Has in the past

With the latest television deals being negotiated soon - if the NFL shafts or out price one network, the network can easily start up a second league. Think what would happen if ESPN didn't get MNF back.

But it wouldn't be a serious threat unless they could somehow get some big names from the NFL to transfer over. Otherwise it would just be another second rate competition and nobody wants to watch players too old or have already been cut from NFL rosters run around. Nobody should witness Eric Walden starting at linebacker I don't care what league it's in, it's still inhumane.

 

[larkis]

Only takes one shrewed businessman to put the league on their knees. With the league appearing softer, place a few teams in the Southern US, one on the West Coast, one or two in the north eastern tip and you got yourself a league. If it had the backing of a major television network over there that would cover the games and the league as much as the NFL, you would be surprised. A few big names hopping over, maybe a marquee system similar to the A-league where a team has a 50m salary cap and can sign one player outside the salary cap to tempt away from the NFL. Or it can go the 20-20 cricket route and have quick 7 v 7 games. Either way it's not out of the question for a major league to set it self up, it just needs to make sure it has the foundation first with a major television deal instead of setting up first then trying to earn one. Just abuse the NFL feeder system such play games on Friday/ Saturday, recruit players straight out of high school or juniors from college and provide big contracts to recognizable names and you have yourself a league.

The NFL relies on it's monopoly to control everything so much, all a league needs to do is take a leaf out of Al Davis's book and rock the boat.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Remember, there are more billionaires in the US than anywhere else in the world.

 

[GreyWind]

Only takes one shrewed businessman to put the league on their knees. With the league appearing softer, place a few teams in the Southern US, one on the West Coast, one or two in the north eastern tip and you got yourself a league. If it had the backing of a major television network over there that would cover the games and the league as much as the NFL, you would be surprised. A few big names hopping over, maybe a marquee system similar to the A-league where a team has a 50m salary cap and can sign one player outside the salary cap to tempt away from the NFL. Or it can go the 20-20 cricket route and have quick 7 v 7 games. Either way it's not out of the question for a major league to set it self up, it just needs to make sure it has the foundation first with a major television deal instead of setting up first then trying to earn one. Just abuse the NFL feeder system such play games on Friday/ Saturday, recruit players straight out of high school or juniors from college and provide big contracts to recognizable names and you have yourself a league.

The NFL relies on it's monopoly to control everything so much, all a league needs to do is take a leaf out of Al Davis's book and rock the boat.

I'm not saying it can't be done, because it obviously can be. But it would take a lot of money and there is no way of knowing if it would succeed and if it did indeed fail how much money would be lost. Also in that above scenario of signing players out of high school and juniors then not only will that annoy the NFL but then NCAA would undoubtedly become involved adding another organisation that they are up against.

Honestly I can't see any players leaving the NFL in order to go to a rival league that may or may not fail in order to make potentially more money, as if it does fail there is always the chance they don't get paid and you know that Goodell wouldn't let them back into the NFL.

 

[Exe Gesis]

McKay says helmet rule “absolutely not” about litigation avoidance

Plenty of fans think that the move to make pro football safer comes from a desire to protect the coffers against future litigation filed by the players of today.

Falcons president Rich McKay, who chairs the league’s Competition Committee, addressed that concern during a Thursday visit to Pro Football Talk.
“Absolutely not,” McKay said, “it’s about protecting the players. I’ve been on the Committee for 20 years and it’s never been a discussion in our room of, ‘Well we’re worried about a litigation about this or a litigation about a knee injury.’ We’re worried about player safety and I think one of the great things about the league is it’s been a focus of ours for a long time and there’s such a long process that goes into it.

“People think that, well, there’s a Competition Committee, they take guys, and they come up with these rules. There’s such a long process. This is a rule we’ve actually talked about for a couple of years with the [NFL] Players Association, with the Head, Neck, and Spine Committee, with Coach Madden’s subcommittee, all of those things. So the reasoning behind these rules is, number one, the short-term health and safety of the players and, number two, the long-term health and safety of our players.”

McKay has no concern regarding the potential impact of enhanced safety rules on the long-term welfare of the game. At some point, could another league that promises “old-school” football with big hits and players willing to take the risks emerge to threaten the NFL?

“No, I don’t think so, Mike, and I’ll tell you why,” McKay said. “It doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be another league; obviously there could be at any time. But remember what football is. Football is the ultimate team sport and it begins at a very young age and we’re the leaders of that sport and we take the responsibility for that. So if we ever get the mindset that, hey, we have to leave this game as tough as it is and in some way we don’t encourage younger players to play our game then be assured of this, in time it will affect our game. It will have an effect and that’s something that we can never forget and that’s why we always say when we pass rule changes, we’re passing it hoping to force it all the way down to the littlest guys playing our game and so that everybody understands how safe our game can be.

“So the fact that somebody may decide to play ultimate football or ultimate whatever, fine for them. But in our game we’re always going to look out for the entire game, that starts from the little guys playing football, high school football, college football, and us because what’s made us great is that entire feeder system of that chain has made our game as great as it is.”

It’s a responsible and prudent approach, but the resistance from players and criticism from fans suggests that, eventually, a league that plays football “the way it used to be played” could pose a threat to the NFL’s future. Then again, if parents view the game as unacceptably dangerous, the supply of football players eventually will be choked off.

 

[Exe Gesis]

This is what the NFL should've been doing from the get-go. If only they could return to traditional rules and have all players sign a waiver.

Foster would sign waiver of legal rights

Texans running back Arian Foster seems to be new school, in many ways. But when it comes to football, Foster has an old-school mentality.

And Foster is willing to prove his acceptance of the risks by signing away his rights to sue the NFL in the future.

“Personally, absolutely, because I knew what I was getting into when I first had the dream of playing in the NFL,” Foster told Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco of ESPN Radio New York, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I knew what I was getting into. The game’s a violent sport. Anything can happen. People get paralyzed; people get hurt — broken legs, broken everything. It’s just part of the game, and I knew what I was getting into. So to me, it’s kind of like blaming the NFL for your injuries, and I don’t blame the NFL because it was my decision to partake in this game. . . . So I would never sue. I don’t have ill feelings toward those that have sued or whatever. That’s their business. It’s just the way I see it. I just wouldn’t.”

Foster’s comments came in the context of the new rule regarding the use of the top of the helmet in the open field. But Foster doesn’t believe the new rule will affect him very much.

“That play doesn’t come into play a lot with my running style, but you have guys like Adrian Peterson, guys that really are hard runners and try to create that contact,” Foster said. “This is going to affect them more than it will myself. But I find myself sometimes lowering my head and lowering my shoulders. It’s just, you’re not gonna think about the rule changes. We’ve been running like this since we were kids. . . . They want us to change that mentality in one offseason, it’s gonna be tough. I was never a fan of all the defensive rule changes also — where you can’t lead with your helmet or the facemask — because guys have been tackling like this for years. I was never a fan of that, and I’m definitely not a fan of this.”

While many believe the ongoing rule changes arise from a desire to limit future liability to current players, no current player can claim that he doesn’t realize the risks or that any information about the risks was concealed from him. Then there’s the fact that the players are represented by a union, which has the ability to push for any necessary safety changes.

Still, Foster’s mindset reflects the attitude of most players who have signed up to play football — and it’s the same attitude most of the players now suing the league surely would have had during their playing careers.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Rule proposal would further restrict chop blocks
Posted by Michael David Smith on March 20, 2015, 9:46 AM EDT

AP
For all the talk from defensive players that the NFL goes too far protecting quarterbacks and receivers, the league’s Competition Committee has actually taken a number of steps to protect defensive players by restricting the use of chop blocks. And one more step may be taken next week.

The Competition Committee has asked the owners to approve a new rule that would further restrict chop blocks. The proposal, which will be voted on next week, would make it illegal for a running back to chop a defensive player engaged above the waist
by another offensive player outside the tackle box. The Competition Committee says it’s a player safety issue.

It’s hard to believe the owners won’t unanimously approve that rule. At a time when the owners say player safety is their top priority, they can hardly justify voting down a proposal to protect the knees of defensive players.

Chop blocks are still legal in certain situations in line play, but some defensive players think there should simply be a blanket ban on all blocks to the knee area. That isn’t coming just yet, but that’s the direction the league is heading in: Increasingly, the Competition Committee is trying to get chop blocks out of the game.

 

[GreyWind]

I'm a fan of getting rid of chop blocks on players who are already engaged. But if they aren't and the chop block isn't coming from behind or the side then fair game.

 

[Brasher]

I'm a fan of getting rid of chop blocks on players who are already engaged. But if they aren't and the chop block isn't coming from behind or the side then fair game.

Agree....now it is up to the officials....most of the chop blocks flagged last year were incidental and then some of the worst that resulted in injuries went unpunished.

In regards, the whole concussion, helmet v no helmet and injuries in general, I've said it a million times before, make it mandatory for the defensive player to tackle with their arms instead of being a human missile and you go a long way to stopping the impact injuries.

 

[Shupe]

Tackle with arms? Geez, every second tackle will be broken.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Tackle with arms? Geez, every second tackle will be broken.

This!!!
I remember when I played Rugby League at school.
Need to tacklewith the shoulder.

 

[Shupe]

I actually play the game. I'm a cornerback and ****ed if I'm going to try take down a RB with my arms.

 

[Brasher]

Tackle with arms? Geez, every second tackle will be broken.

This!!!
I remember when I played Rugby League at school.
Need to tacklewith the shoulder.

I said tackle WITH arms not ONLY arms. Shoulder charges (no attempt to use the arms in the tackle) have been banned in both league and union and is pretty well extinct in Australian Rules now.

 

[Shupe]

But shoulder charges are so much fun!

 

[Brasher]

But shoulder charges are so much fun!

I can not argue this...nonetheless, the practice has been banned for player welfare in other codes for a reason.

I'm not saying you have to now become Billy Slater but tackling with the arms also promotes keeping your head up rather than dropping the crown as you turn into a human projectile.

 

[royals1922]

Don't know where to put this but in my travels looking at AFL football, I came across this article about Gridiron from the Sporting Globe of 6 February 1932( an Victorian newspaper) about safety and rule changes:

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article182140906

80 odd years ago the issue was all too alive....

 

[Broken]

Seeing the amount of one handed catches in this weeks Wildcard games I can't help but feel that the use of gloves will start to face scrutiny in the same way Stickum was in the 70s.

The freak catches made, this season at least, are more unbelievable than those on highlights from 40 years back, even accounting for the increase in professionalism in the sport. However it makes for an entertaining aspect of the game and the business of the NFL is a lot different to that in the Stickum era. Also there isn't a lot of media talk about the advantage gloves give, so realistically it might not happen.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Seeing the amount of one handed catches in this weeks Wildcard games I can't help but feel that the use of gloves will start to face scrutiny in the same way Stickum was in the 70s.

The freak catches made, this season at least, are more unbelievable than those on highlights from 40 years back, even accounting for the increase in professionalism in the sport. However it makes for an entertaining aspect of the game and the business of the NFL is a lot different to that in the Stickum era. Also there isn't a lot of media talk about the advantage gloves give, so realistically it might not happen.

Big advocate of banning them. Should only be used by QBs. Or they must be at a certain level of 'stickiness'.

 

[El_Scorcho]

They could do what the AFL have done and make it so they can't be any stickier than a normal uncovered human hand.