NFL training camps are just around the corner. Before we know it, Kickoff 2006 will be upon us.
This offseason has been relatively quiet this year. With the new extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the salary cap has been increased and will continue to increase over the next six years.
Teams have also learned how to manage the cap better and fewer big name players are released.
Given the relatively uneventful offseason, I thought I would write down what I would like to see this NFL season.
Fewer Preseason Games
NFL preseason games are NFL football at its worst. The regular starters play very little until the end of the preseason schedule. Meanwhile, the field is littered with players who won't get into a regular season game without a ticket.
It's hard to blame the teams. Coaches don't want to take the chance that a regular starter will get hurt. But the starters play a little in each of the four or five games. There are more opportunities for starters to get injured.
If I had my way, the preseason would be two games instead of four or five.
I can't understand why anyone pays good money to see bad football in the preseason. Most players who will be on the team only play in the last few games anyway. So, forget all these other needless games. Give the players a shorter preseason and let them have fewer opportunities to suffer an injury that ruins some team's season.
No More Prima Donnas
I don't care who has gold teeth. I don't want to watch someone doing sit-ups in their driveway.
I want to see football. Enough of these players who think they are bigger than the game.
No more personal theme songs, no more websites, no more books.
The only player who should be in a commercial is the league MVP or Super Bowl champion. Somewhere along the line, the continual quest for endorsement deals became more important than winning football games.
Watch the NFL draft. When players are drafted, someone asks them where they would like to go and some players will be honest enough to say that they would like to go to a big market.
That is code for "If I go to New York, I will get my picture on a bunch of billboards and millions of dollars in endorsement deals."
If you haven't won anything, don't put your picture on a cereal box.
Decent, Fan-Friendly Primetime Matchups
Primetime football is a great television event. What ruins it? Blowouts.
I don't like the idea of switching games to try and get more intriguing games on television. I think this idea is unfair to fans who buy tickets.
I plan a big NFL game event every year with a bunch of friends. If that Sunday afternoon game is moved to Sunday or Monday night, the tickets are useless to me.
People have to go to work during the week and my entire weekend gets ruined if the game gets moved. If I wanted to go to a game that won't end until midnight, I'll buy a ticket.
If I buy a ticket for Sunday afternoon, that's when I want to see the game.
Besides, a Colts/Steelers game can be a one-sided affair just like the Patriots/49ers game would most likely be. You just never know.
That said, I hope that the night games go down to last-minute field goals.
Enough of Fantasy Football
I used to play fantasy football. But I don't anymore.
Here is what you get reduced to. Let's say that the Colts are your team. But they are playing the Patriots and you have Tom Brady as your fantasy QB.
Now you root for Tom Brady to throw a bunch of touchdowns against your team. Individual stats become the most important thing on your mind. Who cares who wins the game as long as your field goal kicker gets that 50-yard field goal?
Enough. If you are scouring the injury updates for hours and trying to trade Larry Johnson for Carson Palmer, you should get off the couch and play some football at the park.
Forget Los Angeles
The NFL has this unrequited love affair with Los Angeles. And yet, Los Angeles keeps giving the NFL the cold shoulder.
It is a very dysfunctional relationship that is pretty close to stalking. The NFL keeps coming around, calling all the time, and Los Angeles smiles politely and tries to keep its distance.
The second largest market has had lots of chances at NFL teams and all have left for better lives somewhere else.
The millions of dollars sitting in Los Angeles are hard for the NFL to pass on, but they should. Otherwise, some loyal fan base is going to lose their team to the sunny southwest. Are you nervous, Indianapolis?
Get Rid of Instant Replay
Football is a simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you run with the ball. You run until you get knocked to the ground.
In the NFL, you haven't caught the ball until you make an "athletic move" with the ball. You need two feet in bounds unless someone knocks you out of bounds.
The NFL rulebook has made the game too complicated. And we still get some strange calls such as the Troy Polamalu interception/fumble of Peyton Manning in the playoffs. Remember the tuck rule?
If officials blow the odd call, so what? Mistakes are still made with instant replay and we have to stop the game and wait for them.
The game is played by people and officiated by people. We need to deal with bad calls and let the game go on. Somehow, we had NFL champions before instant replay and we don't consider them tainted.
Let the players play and officials call the game.
End the Perfect Season Quest Early
Every year, the last team to lose their first game of the season gets the 1972 Miami Dolphin comparison.
Will a team go undefeated? Will Don Shula and other 1972 alums drink their champagne?
This story gets old every year. The great thing about the Dolphin's season was that they won every game including the Super Bowl.
Yet, the media (read: ESPN) drag the story on and every week ask: "Will (insert team name here) be the second team to go undefeated in the regular season?"
Regular season? Who cares? Winning every regular season game and not winning the Super Bowl isn't worthy of a comparison with the 1972 Dolphins.
Please, no 1972 Dolphin comparisons until an undefeated team gets to the playoffs.
Another Competitive Season
The great thing about the NFL season is that the games mean so much. With only 16 games, there isn't a great deal of room for mistakes.
One key loss can ruin a season. Hopefully, the games are close this season and the playoffs are contested by the top teams in the league.
In the end, the Super Bowl in Miami will be a great game with Peyton Manning winning his deserved championship.
Leave a Comment