Now to be totally honest and transparent I have to admit that I don’t follow professional sports like I used to as a kid or even as a young man and I have lost track of what goes on in most professional sports. My lack of interest in sports really comes from a couple of different things, number one I don’t like professional athletes that much I just think there are despicable group of people. I really don’t like the way the rules of the games have changed and just the overall tempo of the game just bores me silly. My grandson however does like football, so over the last season I did sit down with him and watch several games near the end of the season and throughout the playoffs and that’s what leads me to the article that I’m writing today. What the hell happened to the NFL or at least the NFL I knew?
The NFL I knew as a kid and as a young man had great quarterback play, guys who could lead a team up and down the field and knew how to lead guys when the going got tough. It had defenses that would make you tremble. I can recall watching the Purple People Eaters, the Doomsday defense and the Steel Curtain, all this stuff seems to have disappeared from the game and I just wonder why did the NFL let this happen? It seems to me at least in my humble opinion that the NFL officiated defense right out of the game. They don’t want to see a defense holding team to no points or three points they want to see teams march up and down the field and score 100 points.
There are a couple things I saw that I just don’t get. Let’s start with quarterback play. It would seem to me that after Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, quarterback play drops off pretty substantially. There seems to be 2 types of quarterbacks in the NFL now, these RPO quarterbacks who are just basically running backs who occasionally throw the ball and then these “Joe Average” brand of quarterback.
Let’s start with the RPO guys, Tyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts and Deshaun Watson to name a few. I watched these guys several times and they are simply horrendous; I often wonder, is anybody watching these guys play? I mean I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of them complete a touch pass or a 7 yard out. Everything they throw is like a rocket and they’re always looking to run first, pass second. I just don’t get it, I don’t know why anybody thinks this is going to work in the NFL, but I can tell you with relative assurity, none of these guys are ever going to win the Super Bowl. I know one thing for sure if I was a defensive coordinator in the NFL that every time these guys run that same stupid play that still fools everyone, the play that they run over and over, fake the handoff and run around the end, my defense would hit the quarterbacks whether they have the ball or not, they’ll stop trying that play. I believe the Eagles made a serious blunder getting rid of Carson Wentz and keeping Jalen Hurts. I listen to these analysts talk about how exciting he is, and he does this, and he does that, but I also wonder if they ever see that he does all this stuff and they still lose.
Now let’s get to these Joe average quarterbacks now this started years ago I recall a quarterback named David Krieg who was around the NFL for years played on several different teams and stunk on every one of them. I used to laugh because they would always say “oh we keep around because of his experience and I used to think, yeah he’s experienced at losing. The League now has a slew of these guys, Andy Dalton, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jared Goff, I could go on and on it’s like watching paint dry when these guys are playing quarterback and the two that stick in my mind more than anything are Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan these guys are so average, I can’t believe the money they make in the NFL.
Next is officiating. The NFL is over officiating games, and it is deciding the outcome of some of these games. Pass interference is one penalty that comes to mind. The NFL needs to define what this is and let the receivers and defensive backs play. This penalty is called entirely too much, and teams know they can use to move down the field and get better field position. Unless the receiver is totally mugged, LET THEM PLAY!
This next topic is one that has baffled me for years, grown men’s love affair with the NFL draft. Jesus Christ, it is names on a board. I see guys on YouTube losing their minds over this, get a life! I’ve always said if I could come back as something is my next life it would be an NFL draft analysis. I often wonder, what did these guys study in college to become a draft analysis? It really on the same level and weather forecasters, say a lot of gibberish, make predictions, no matter if you are right or wrong, there are no repercussions, just an invite back to next year’s draft.
One last observation, I am not a Tom Brady disciple, but I believe it is passed time to give this guy his due. I mean like it or not, he is on the same level as Gretzky and Jordan now. Seven Super Bowls, more than any franchise and more important, he did it with some pretty average teams. I believe it is time to get passed the dislike for him and put him in the GOAT talk.