Day 58

Fresh Start_58: The No Fun League

No, the NFL isn’t dying, but it has it problems for sure. I haven’t been that vocal about my feelings toward the NFL or their PA department on this blog, but I certainly have on the Play by Play podcast. I have no trust in the NFL or their PA system what so ever. I’d have to say for me, this all started when the Ray Rice chase came out a few years ago and how the NFL handled it overall. I am not going to be shy about it, actually I encourage you to go over to the Youtube channel and get my exact words on the matter. And it hasn’t just been that incident, in fact, every year since the Ray Rice suspension—there has been at least one incident that the NFL has had to handle and done it in a matter that completely was, for a lack of a better term horrific.

I am not condoning what Ray Rice did or saying it was right by any means. What I mean by this is, the NFL mistreated Rice in the process and pre-maturely suspended him before all the evidence was out, retracted that suspension and handed down an even harsher punishment. The NFL has done it with Josh Gordon, Tom Brady, and most recently Vontaze Burfict. In the case of Burfict and his most recent incident with league policy regarding the chop blocking rule, I hope and pray the NFL gets this one right. Burfict has already served one three game suspension this season—and following the cheap shot in Foxborough—he may be facing another more severe punishment. What I have in mind is a $500K fine and a 5-7 game suspension from the league.

The NFL cannot mess this one up this time around. On top of the favoritism of suspensions, the league also has two other problems… pass interference and excessive celebration penalty calls. There is no doubt that in the 2016 season the NFL has been more aware of what is going on during games on the field this year, but it is getting a bit out of hand. I have two examples for each and why the NFL needs to relook the policy behind the two rules. Let’s start with excessive celebration. This rule has been pushed to the limits by the likes of Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Ryan Carignan, Antonio Brown and of course Odell Beckham Jr. In the past two decades the NFL has been fighting the players on what is acceptable and what isn’t. The Randy Moss stripper pole obviously wasn’t accepted by the league but the Ryan Carignan “Hulk” celebration is. Antonio Brown’s new flashy dance isn’t accepted but the Von Miller sack celebration is. Odell Beckham Jr. can triple jump down the length of the endzone but getting into my first example; Vernon Davis gets a fifteen-yard penalty for shooting the football like a basketball…

Something just doesn’t add up here. There is no standard for what is accepted or not, while also banning creativity in the game and putting the good NFL personalities in a box. Let the players express themselves in any manor they want as long as it isn’t sexual or taunting the other team. I can’t count how many times I have seen a player rock the ball to sleep, is that considered “using the ball as a prop?”  The celebration that I have a problem with and my second is a play that was called correctly on Sunday and I have already talked about on the blog. That example would be the Odell Beckham Jr. celebration where he took his helmet off. It is clear that you can’t take your helmet off at any point and that is a perfect line in the sand. I would personally fit that in the category of taunting and penalize him for it accordingly.

The second problem is Pass Interference. Scott Van Pelt on Monday nights midnight Sportscenter put it perfectly. Pass Interference (P.I.) needs to be reviewable. Even he says that maybe it should only be reviewable inside two minutes, but at least he has a good start to a legitimate conversation that needs to be discussed. The amount of blown calls that P.I. affects during the last drive or two minutes of a game is astronomical. The two examples I am thinking of are the Julio Jones play in Seattle (just happened to be the last play of the game) and the Dominic Rodgers-Cromartie play in Metlife against the Ravens. Let’s start with DRC play… Joe Flacco throws a ball up to Breshard Perriman and Cromartie cuts in front of Perriman and attempts to catch the ball like he was the intended receiver. The ball flies through his hands and hits the turf and the flags fly. How it’s a flag I have no idea but I’m only a guy sitting on the couch. The Ravens would eventually score from the one-yard line, only to be erased by the OBJ game winning touchdown.

The other play in Seattle made Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn look like a serial killer. The Falcons where driving down by two with less than a minute to go in the game. Matt Ryan throws a forty yard pass that hits Julio Jones in the left hand and falls to the turf. Jones’ right arm was being held down by Richard Sherman. The officials were blocked out from the play and didn’t call anything, while Dan Quinn went absolutely insane on the closest official.

The NFL isn’t dying despite low view count and terrible play, but it will take a serious hit in the next few years if it doesn’t change some things in house.

Sources:(nfl.com, espn.com, giantswire.com, profootballtalk.nbcsports.com)

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