It's no secret. The NFL has been absolutely atrocious this year, and I'm not just talking about the quality of play (which has also been atrocious). It's been week after week of nothing but brutal games, poor officiating, off field drama and injuries - ohhhh the injuries.
This season was off to a rocky start before the actual season even started. Injuries to top end receivers like Jordy Nelson of Green Bay and Kelvin Benjamin of Carolina in the pre-season took out 2 of the leagues premier pass catchers before they had played a down of meaningful football. Dallas quarterback Tony Romo has played 2 full games this year. Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger has been hurt, and the New England Patriots have been gutted by injuries to their top offensive skill players: Julian Edelman, Dion Lewis and Rob Gronkowski. Every team has at least one major injury, and it's a trend that doesn't seem to be slowing down.
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| Dallas QB Tony Romo |
Then there was the off field drama, most notably circulating around the Dallas Cowboys, who thought it would be a good idea to sign convicted domestic abuser Greg Hardy to a 1 year contract worth eleven million dollars. All this a year after the NFL made Ray Rice the poster child of domestic abuse, and slapped Rice with a year long ban. That suspension has ultimately ended Rice's career, as no teams are willing to sign an aging running back who has been labeled as the country's worst domestic abuser since OJ Simpson. But Greg Hardy? Sure, go right ahead. And the punishment for Hardy? A 10 game suspension which was cut down to 4 after an appeal by Hardy and the Players Association. 4 games for a guy who nearly beat his girlfriend to death, and threw her on a bed with automatic weapons on it. Is this what the league has come to? That it needs clear video evidence to figure out that this guy shouldn't be allowed to play? What Ray Rice did was terrible, and I'm glad he's out of the league. But what Greg Hardy did was worse, but because he's in good shape and can generate a pass rush, he gets to play. That's so backwards, and let me just say I hope the Cowboys never win a meaningful game so long as Greg Hardy is wearing that jersey.
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| Greg Hardy |
One of the only things that has been worse than the overall quality of football this year has been the officiating. There have been multiple game altering calls this year that have been just flat out wrong. There have been obvious missed calls, mystery calls (Buffalo - New England #WhistleGate). But most of all, and this is the frustrating thing, there are just too many damn penalties. Every time I turn on a game it seems every play draws at least one flag. Trying to just sit through a game without the refs making their presence felt is all but impossible. The best quality a referee can have is to rarely been seen - to show up only when absolutely necessary, and to not alter the outcome of the game. The opposite has happened this year. Refs are blowing calls left, right and centre, and I'm not sure if come playoff time we won't see some total bullshittery by the blind zebras who have been calling themselves referees. One things for sure, the NFL needs to make a change, and let the officials know it's not up to them to decide games, it's for the players.
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| We don't know what you're doing either. |
Last thing I'll touch on is just the overall quality of play. It's been bad - really, really bad. For instance I just finished watching the Dallas Cowboys edge out the Washington Redskins 19-16 on Monday Night Football with a last second, 54 yard field goal by Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey. Sounds thrilling right? Wrong. That game as summed up by ESPN's John Gruden was "A 58 minute pillow fight." The only touchdowns of the game for both Dallas and Washington came in the last 2 minutes of the game, and those were only due to a ridiculous punt return fumble by Desean Jackson and brutal clock management by Jason Garrett & the Cowboys. This game, much like almost every other game I've watched this year featured brutal play calling, awful execution, poor clock management and questionable officiating. The only thing it was missing was a season ending injury to a top end player. Aside from the rare lack of injuries, this game summed up this year as a whole.
So here we are, entering Week 14. I know that there's still a lot of football left to be played this season, and that this shipwreck could turn itself around, but I'm skeptical. There's just too many things that have gone wrong from a pure enjoyment perspective, I'm honestly not sure if it's worth getting excited for anymore. I just hope that in the coming Sunday's I can turn on a football game and watch the league and sport that I hold in such high regard. Because right now, it's becoming really hard to keep watching.
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| Good guy Johnny Manziel helping me prove my point - the self-fumble. |
- Cameron
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