How do you make the NFL watchable again?

[Enfuego]

Think most of us agree the product quality is down right now. Think you can do some things to make it better.

1) Allow players to celebrate.

2) A complete upgrade of the stadiums. I get it. It's a business but the atmosphere at a college game like Clemson is amazing compared to a NYJ game.

3) The pass interference penalty in the NFL has to change. Guys can't play anymore without it being called routinely.

4) Stagger the start times more so we can actually watch more teams up close. Red zone helps.

5) Widen the hashmarks.

6) Fix the replay system. It blows.

Thoughts?

 

[Coldweather]

cheersgifNumber 1 and 3 should help!cheersgif

 

[doubledeuce22]

Change PI to 15yds and/or enforce it the way book says only call if significant advantage given. Same with defensive holding and illegal contact. These defenses have no chance out there. Mmqb had a stat that 'pass interference' would be the second leading receiver in yards on the packers.

Get rid of xp, commercial, kickoff, commercial.

No more Thursday games.

go back to two bye weeks. Too many injuries especially to star players.

new commissioner.

 

[doubledeuce22]

And it will never happen but I'd be fine with no replay. Can't take the constant discussion about the ball moving and dragging feet and everything else that goes with it. I think no replay the officials would call it like they see it instead of relying on review and likely do a better job.

 

[HamGlaze]

Topless cheerleaders.

 

[PatsFan1283]

You bet enough on it to get the blood flowing.

In all seriousness it is a pretty slow game. Atleast teams go no huddle and hurry up more now. 10 minutes of action in 3 hours is tough to play in this era.

People don't watch commercials anymore with anything else, so asking them to do so with NFL is going to be a chore. MLB going through the same issues. Arietta/Bumgarner last night and there was barely a peep about it. Imagine if Pedro vs Randy Johnson happened in a playoff game 15 years ago?

2 byes is a good idea. I'd say give the defense more liberty but people honestly do not want to see that. Most of you don't. Scoring is what brings ratings and 95% of us don't have the attention span to watch a defensive battle unless it is two elite defenses. Whenever there is a defensive battle involving non-elite defenses, people just call it "bad football" despite the fact that a much larger % of games used to go this way.

 

[PatsFan1283]

What is wrong with the stadiums? Most new stadiums pretty nice.

You aren't going to get the same atmosphere for an NFL game as a college game, it just doesn't mean as much to the people watching (atleast it shouldn't)

 

[DesertNole]

#3 is the single biggest problem I have.

 

[tatehill2000]

Change PI to 15yds and/or enforce it the way book says only call if significant advantage given. Same with defensive holding and illegal contact. These defenses have no chance out there. Mmqb had a stat that 'pass interference' would be the second leading receiver in yards on the packers.

Get rid of xp, commercial, kickoff, commercial.

No more Thursday games.

go back to two bye weeks. Too many injuries especially to star players.

new commissioner.

lolol,,, wow,,, those cut deep,,, and true,,

 

[DrunkenHorseplayer]

PI should be 15 yards and maybe no automatic 1st down; defensive holding and hands to the face should definitely not be 1st downs. Kickoffs should be eliminated.

 

[NBAcapper08]

the fact you cannot celebrate after scoring a touchdown is just....mind boggling

 

[PatsFan1283]

PI should be 15 yards and maybe no automatic 1st down; defensive holding and hands to the face should definitely not be 1st downs. Kickoffs should be eliminated.

Sounds nice in theory but a lot of angle shooting can come from this.

You get dusted on a 9 route and just grab the dude from behind rather than give up a 70 yard TD.

Kickoffs/XPs are pointless, just bogs down the game.

My guess is once it starts hurting the owners in the wallet that you see some of these changes (as well as people legally being able to bet games possibly) but it might take a little bit.

 

[The Guesser]

Think most of us agree the product quality is down right now. Think you can do some things to make it better.

1) Allow players to celebrate.

2) A complete upgrade of the stadiums. I get it. It's a business but the atmosphere at a college game like Clemson is amazing compared to a NYJ game.

3) The pass interference penalty in the NFL has to change. Guys can't play anymore without it being called routinely.

4) Stagger the start times more so we can actually watch more teams up close. Red zone helps.

5) Widen the hashmarks.

6) Fix the replay system. It blows.

Thoughts?

Agree with 1,3, and 6. Although I severely disagree with going to the College rule. Just get a standard of what is PI, and call it more consistently. To expand on #3, and I know this won't happen with the Concussion emphasis, but that stupid Defenseless Receiver penalty has to go. Nothing worse than a D player making a nice hit, keeping a receiver from catching the ball, and 5 seconds later, the damn flag comes in.

 

[JohnBlue123]

Less is more.

1) contract by 4 teams. There just isn't enough quality talent for all teams. There are some very shitty QBs and coaches in the league.

2) 3 game preseason

3) 14 game season with 2 bye weeks = 16 week reg season.

4) get the fuckers off roids

5) less commercials

6) no thursday night games

7) definitely let guys celebrate a bit more.

The league is overregulated

 

[bobbyjones2]

i am watching a different game

i see a celebration after every...single...play....five yard gain? show your biceps

fewer commercials, and to be fair, contraction to about 20 teams would be a start

 

[slapshot]

All passes to TE and WR must be more then 10 yards downfield

That would get rid of the stupid one yard pick plays heck Manning not playing anymore

 

[KingEleven]

i am watching a different game

i see a celebration after every...single...play....five yard gain? show your biceps

fewer commercials, and to be fair, contraction to about 20 teams would be a start

I'm with you, there is too much celebration!

 

[Acebb]

Short answer: You can’t.

Reasons

1. The people running it are not very competent, not out of the box thinkers, and are somewhat delusional.

2. The next generation of fans are coming of age with a crap product. Most of the people commenting are Gen X or older. Millennials are the last generation who observed even a scintilla of defensive play. Think about it, I grew up idolizing the Steel Curtain, now Aaron Rodgers (wildly overrated) and Andrew Luck are emphasized as “great”

3. In addition to above, tens of thousands of children being steered into participating in other sports due to “safety” reasons. Their interests 10-20 years from now simply won’t be in the NFL.

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

Pass interference rules are the worse.

You just wait for a flag on every pass play.

The traditional NFL is gone. It's a bubble screen league., Notice when the draft comes around and they talk about the top receivers coming out. They talk about a guys size being 6'4" or something as if that is a good thing yet the most productive wide receivers are usually little quick guys with a couple exceptions.

Dan Marino's numbers would be off the chart in the current NFL.

 

[Albatross]

PI has to go unless its a mauling.

Too many tv timeouts. Make every team use up their 6 and thats all the commercials you get....except quarter change.

Red Zone is bad ass.

I love the game tho.