Ravens Pollard: NFL will become extinct

I didn't hear Warner saying anything about not changing the rules and changing the equipment instead. I don't think that's what he was arguing at all. It's very clear to me that he is behind rule changes (not just in the NFL, but at all levels of football) aimed at protecting players. New helmets can't prevent concussions because concussions are caused by the brain moving within the skull due to inertia. As I have said before, even the best helmet in the world can't prevent a concussion.

Considering that you are arguing in this thread that the rule changes in the Goodell era are ruining the game, I still don't see how you can reconcile the differences between your position and Warner's.

 

I'm glad you wrote that out. I definitely do have a much better understanding of your argument now. It's less that he is "ruining" the overall success of the game and more that he is "ruining" the aesthetic of the game.

I don't necessarily agree with this perspective (I would argue that the on-field product is better than it has ever been), but I won't pretend it's more than a matter of opinion. Some people like offense, some like defense. There's no right answer.

 

The nfl wanted to reduce the number of kickoffs because so many concussions occur on kickoffs. They already some time ago eliminated low blocks on kicks because that caused so many knee injuries.

What if the player's union comes up with some study that says there is a 200% greater chance of concussions on running plays? Eliminate those also?

We all have this idea of what football is and if they start taking that away the game is hurt.

I like how nobody responded to the point i made about the 100 lawsuits.

 

Slippery slope much? That's not a valid argument. They aren't going to ban running plays and you know it just as well as the rest of us do.

I hope we can all aspire to a higher level of discourse than that.

 

Well... who would have thought kickoffs would eventually vanish back in the day? Who would have thought defending a WR would be one of the most dangerous things to do in terms of penalty (reflects on that shadow PI call A.J. Green got by jumping on one of our DBs)?

At the rate things are going, I wouldn't put anything past the NFL. If anything, instead of getting rid of kickoffs or adding all these stupid penalties for so much as looking at the QB wrong, they should just make players sign a waiver stating they cannot sue the NFL for injuries received while playing, or long term effects from those injuries. You just got paid millions to play a f'ing game, deal with it.

 

got to agree with that. Most women have evolved while men still are a tad hunched over. We like interesting games; we don't like players lying comatose on the field because some 300+lb. tackle knocked him senseless. Just how does something like that improve the game? As far as this woman is concerned, win at all costs is self destructive because in the end, you will run into that player, that team, that will leave you and yours comatose. And it WILL happen.

 

Deal with it.

 

Hey, I like a good track meet game as much as the next guy.

The problem I see is that the NFL is being homoginized. There used to be teams of different styles. The golden boy QB passing game team. The ground and pound team. The dominating defense team. It was fun to see different styles clash.

And there is beauty to a well played, hard contested 6-3 football game. I'm not talking about dirty play, I just mean hard, physical defense. Maybe its a guy thing, a war fantasy sort of thing. I dunno.

All that is vanishing from the NFL.

 

You are the first person I have heard to make this argument and I don't think you are right. In fact, I have read a number of articles lately, including some written by guys who definitely know what they are talking about, that have made exactly the opposite argument. Those guys are saying that the NFL as it stands right now is the most scheme-diverse it has ever been.

If you can provide evidence to support your argument, please do. What I see in the NFL today is vastly different from previous decades. There are still power running teams, but they are augmented by zone running teams, spread offenses (something unheard of in the NFL only a short time ago), short passing West Coast offenses, passing offenses based on double tight end sets, field-stretching deep passing offenses and now entirely new offenses that are difficult to classify (like what the Jets seem to be doing with Tim Tebow). Gone are the days of a guaranteed handoff on first and ten. Some teams now come out in 5-wide on 4th and inches. Offenses are at a level way beyond what they were as recently as the '90s.

On defense, schemes are more complex than ever, too. You still have your classic 4-3s and 3-4s, but now some teams run a kind of hybrid 4-3/3-4 too. "Specialists" (nickel corners and situational pass rushers) are more important than ever before--to the point that those players are now being drafted in the first round.

The NFL today is hardly homogenized, in my opinion.