Nanny, Nanny, Boo the NFL

Earlier this week, FOXBusiness posted a great article by Steve Tobak – “Will Nanny rules Break the NFL?” This is a fun read, and while Tobak may not be correct on all points, he is insightful enough to point out that the NFL may be endangering their brand by trying to protect its owners.

Daddy, what’s a kickoff return? In 2011 NFL owners voted to move kickoffs from the 30 to the 35-yard line, apparently to reduce the number of kickoff returns that result in injuries. But kickoff returns are exciting. Fun. I miss them. It’s the same thing with parents not letting their kids go out and play because they might hurt themselves. It’s nuts.

A lot of things the NFL is doing with rules right now are nuts, but for this season; I’m still a five seat season ticket holder. Not sure how long that will last. Besides the ever changing game rules, there is that looming new stadium in ATL, which will no doubt result in PSLs, which will certainly price me out of the game.

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2 thoughts on “Nanny, Nanny, Boo the NFL”

  1. You’re back!

    NFL is in a tough position. They have a tentative settlement to pay former players $700 plus million, which is a much lower amount than many people feared, for concussion-related problems.

    Yet there still hangs over the league the sense that concussions could derail the popularity of the game. ESPN and other major sports media won’t publicize it but PBS ran League of Denial. I’m going to try to find it on demand or view it online but it sounds like the NFL knew there were problems for years but not only suppressed the knowledge but had doctors in its pay greenlight players who had suffered concussions going back to play again.

    So they have rules prohibiting helmet to helmet hits but WRs are suffering knee and leg injuries which may end their careers prematurely as defensive players target their legs.

    NFL also prohibits defensive players from diving at QBs’ legs in the pocket, because teams typically have the most invested in QBs. WRs, RBs and TEs are relatively more expendable, though I heard Plexico Burress say that most WRs would rather be hit in the head than in the legs.

    But that may be shortsighted thinking on their part. While they may be able to continue their careers and earn more, repeated head injuries could cause them long-term problems after football.

    There is some truth that Goddell wants a squeaky clean image of the league but the other part of it is the legal quandary that it finds itself in.

  2. I agree that the NFL is sort of in a tough position, but at the end of the day, this is football. Maybe make all players sign waivers – similar to smoking, playing in the NFL could kill you. Extreme? Yes, but with the exception of protecting the QB (they are the primary product driver), I don’t think the refs even know what is considered a legal tackle because the game moves too quickly for them to determine if a defender was really going after a head shot, or if the ball carrier actually turned, lowered their head, or otherwise caused the head-to-head contact.

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