1) Participation in high school football is slightly down the last 1-2 years -- but if you go back to 2005 (or so), the participation is up. So it isn't as though the NFL is currently suffering from lack-of-talent thru the high school & college pipeline.
2) Not many QB stars right now, but that's just a short-term fluke -- with all the kids playing football year-round, and the summer camps, and the video/playbook coaching, think of all the QB whiz-kids who will eventually enter the NFL.
As others said, you can go back 20-30 years, and find some TERRIBLE years for QB play. I mean, Neil O'Donnell made a Super Bowl -- and Bubby Brister won some games, Shaun King, David Carr, John Friesz, Jon Kitna. All these guys started several games in the NFL.
2) Not many QB stars right now, but that's just a short-term fluke -- with all the kids playing football year-round, and the summer camps, and the video/playbook coaching, think of all the QB whiz-kids who will eventually enter the NFL.
As others said, you can go back 20-30 years, and find some TERRIBLE years for QB play. I mean, Neil O'Donnell made a Super Bowl -- and Bubby Brister won some games, Shaun King, David Carr, John Friesz, Jon Kitna. All these guys started several games in the NFL.
tbh i think the nba is in worse shape moving forward
with the contracts getting to outrageous numbers beyond what is remotely close to what the public thinks is true value, i can't see the quality of the game improving to match it. also with super teams like warriors wrecking everyone by 20+ pts it makes it really not as fun to watch on top of the fact that scrubs are being way overpaid. it's like you're paying harrison barnes 100mil to be below avg...ok. and his team sucks.
with the contracts getting to outrageous numbers beyond what is remotely close to what the public thinks is true value, i can't see the quality of the game improving to match it. also with super teams like warriors wrecking everyone by 20+ pts it makes it really not as fun to watch on top of the fact that scrubs are being way overpaid. it's like you're paying harrison barnes 100mil to be below avg...ok. and his team sucks.
Except in the 1970s and 1980s, you had *the* option -- not the read-option, but the old-fashioned option. Hello to 60 carries per game, and 8 passes!
And somehow, that generation still produced Dan Marino, Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Fouts, Jim Kelly.
Just because some college teams are running wide-open offenses, you can't deny the increased level of coaching/training/practice @ youth level.
Are we really saying that youth/college football in 2016 is "worse" for QB play, compared to 1979? Come on.
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/foot...st-round-nfl-qbs-turn-out-to-be-busts/2226900
From the historic 1983 draft class through 2009, teams drafted 34 quarterbacks in the top 10. Half of them were busts and less than one-third became stars, according to a Tampa Bay Times analysis. Even with a sea of statistics, scouting remains an inexact science; it's hard to predict who will become the next Peyton Manning and who will become another Ryan Leaf.
From the historic 1983 draft class through 2009, teams drafted 34 quarterbacks in the top 10. Half of them were busts and less than one-third became stars, according to a Tampa Bay Times analysis. Even with a sea of statistics, scouting remains an inexact science; it's hard to predict who will become the next Peyton Manning and who will become another Ryan Leaf.
NFL will still be number one with the NBA creeping up on them. I could see the NBA beating the NFL with the key 18-52 demo, but losing overall. MLB will continue to decline and MLS replaces NHL as the 4th major league. NHL closes up shop or moves to a primarily canadian league with fewer than 8 American franchises.
Here’s how each individual network did in 2015:
• Fox drew 20.75 million viewers across all its games, a slight increase over last year’s 20.728 million average and the second most-watched year season since broadcasting NFL games in 1994. Fox said its most-watched NFL seasons have come in the last seven years (2013: 21.2 million; 2015: 20.75; 2014: 20.73; 2010: 20.11 million; 2011: 20.10 million; 2012: 19.7 million; and 2009: 19.1).
• Fox drew 20.75 million viewers across all its games, a slight increase over last year’s 20.728 million average and the second most-watched year season since broadcasting NFL games in 1994. Fox said its most-watched NFL seasons have come in the last seven years (2013: 21.2 million; 2015: 20.75; 2014: 20.73; 2010: 20.11 million; 2011: 20.10 million; 2012: 19.7 million; and 2009: 19.1).
CBS said its NFL telecasts averaged 19.1 million viewers, a two percent increase over last year’s 18.7 million viewers. The 19.1 million viewers was the highest number of average viewers for the regular-season for the AFC television package in 29 years. The network said its 16-game Thursday Night Football schedule on CBS and NFL Network (and over-the air stations) averaged 13 million viewers, up 6% compared to 12.3 million in 2014. The games that aired on CBS during Weeks 2-8, & 14 were the most-watched program on television in primetime for that night across all networks, and all six primetime games on NFL Network and over-the-air stations (Weeks 9-16) were the highest-rated and most-watched program on cable television for each of the Thursday nights they aired.
