Is the NFL Better than Ever Today?

[May Day 10]

I was talking to my son in the car today about how people always look back to their childhoods and think everything was better (and often are correct).  

 

I used the NHL as an example.  My dad would always tell me how much better the original 6 was.  Now I tell my kid how much better the 80s and 90s were, with a lot of the fun stars of the day, high scoring games, lots of fights and rivalries, etc.  Hockey is boring to me now, and the quality of the players and coaching has made every game a war of attrition to see who makes a mistake first.

 

MLB the same way, although I much prefer today over the roid era.  Still long for the days of older ballparks and Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripkin, George Brett, Mattingly, Winfield, Strawberry, Hershiser, etc...

 

Then I got to the NFL and I paused...  I actually think it might be much better today than it was when I was a kid (Im 42).  I do think there would be an extra charm with the AFL days/1960s and 1970s that I missed... but overall, the sport has improved from the 80s and 90s.  It has gotten faster, more action, much more in quantity and quality coverage, ridiculous popularity, fantasy football/pools, and lots of stars.  

 

granted, there are things I dislike... mainly the extreme proliferation of video review.  It would also be nice if players had a longer shelf-life like they seemed to have in the past.   

[Bills fan since 87]

Interesting post.  I tend to think it was better in the 80s and 90s.  Not over polarized with 36 pregame shows, better announcers and the game was obviously much more physical. I miss the days of baseball diamond September games, hitting the quarterbacks and Monday being the big game.

 

With that said your points about how it is better now are all valid.  I always thought it was better then, but you do have me thinking now.  Good topic!

[Capco]

I kind of preferred when the sport was a little more violent, when DBs could be more physical with receivers, when QBs could get laid tf out, etc.  

 

Granted there were terrible physical and mental repercussions for the players that played during these times as we now know about CTE, but in a perfect, injury-free world I think that would be the best way to play football.

 

The rules as they are today are more considerate of player health and the science of maximizing our body's output has only improved since the days of yore, thereby increasing the longevity of the great talents.  So there's something to be said for that as well.  

[Captain Hindsight]

1 minute ago, K-9 said:

Nostalgia is a powerful drug. But most things were better in our pasts because we were kids with no responsibilities and little understanding of the world. 

[K-9]

 

Nostalgia is a powerful drug. But most things were better in our pasts because we were kids with no responsibilities and little understanding of the world. As for the NFL or other sports, I don’t think it’s any better or worse. But my enthusiasm for them is simply not as pronounced on a regular basis given all the stuff that life demands now vs. when I was a kid. 

[RoyBatty is alive]

I dont think the NFL has improved, not from a spectators point of view, from a players, yes.  From a spectators point of view imo it has gotten worse.

 

Players cant hit as they used to and QBs, especially marquis names like Brady, have been grossly overprotected.

 

And the NFL and its absurd rules about what a "catch" is.  A catch is like porn, you know it when you see it, it is difficult, i would say impossible for the NFL to try and "legislate" every single aspect of what a catch is esp when you have multiple camera angles in frame by frame analysis if you want.

 

I appreciate the safety aspect of the game but with all the legal ramifications, i fear the NFL is going to slowly morph into "non-violent" pro bowl like game.

 

As far as player "shelf life" when was the last time we ha dueling QBs in the 40s matched up against each other.  Qbs can last a very long time with the current rules. 

 

Jack Kemp took more brutal hits in one year than Brady has taken his entire pro career.

[SCBills]

As someone in my 30’s, i can say, at the very least, the NFL hasn’t fallen off. 
 

The NFL is as good as its ever been, if not better. (IMO).   Say what you want about the rules, but protecting QB’s has been a massive success for quality of play and the advent of fantasy has brought in waves of casuals. 

 

MLB is slow and boring to most people who didn’t grow up loving it.  It’s losing young fans at an alarming rate and has trouble marketing their stars.  
 

The NBA doesn’t have trouble marketing their stars, but has been struggling with, literally, everything else.   Probably the most glaring example of a league that peaked in the 80’s/90’s and has severely fallen off in recent years.  
 

*With the rise of college football, these players coming into the league are already stars in the making.  The NFL Draft is a spectacle.  Contrast that with the NBA Draft, which most people probably didn’t even know happened this past week.  
 

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by SCBills

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

15 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Jack Kemp took more brutal hits in one year than Brady has taken his entire pro career.

That's cold, Dawg.

[May Day 10]

I think if they allowed collisions like they did 25-30 years ago, players would die and we would see broken necks/backs all the time.  Players are so quick and strong now.  

 

I actually dont like seeing a player get laid out and they cant get up.  Its heartbreaking.  Back in the day, it didn't seem to happen as often.  

 

Even now with 'less hitting', these guys have a major toll taken on their bodies and I really respect that. 

 

I also believe that the NFL has transitioned well out of trench warfare and collision after collision into a captivating sport with a lot of offense and strategy.  On the other hand, the NHL hasnt at all, and it has gotten worse and boring.

[RiotAct]

No (or very limited numbers) of fans attending games = no way.

[1st Ammendment NoMas]

No

[Logic]

It depends on what you like about football.

If it's just the gladiatorial, "people smashing into people really hard" aspect, then you'd probably feel as though football has gotten worse.

If, on the other hand, you enjoy the athletic spectacle, the complexity and diversity of offensive and defensive gameplans, the creative deployment of personnel, and the parity, then you probably think football has gotten much better.

I tend to fall more in the second camp, though there are certainly moments where the over-officiation and over-penalization of hits is regrettable and irritating.

The level of competition across the league is great. The quarterback play is at an all-time high (though that fact is clearly inseparable from the offensive rule changes and protections that have been inserted in recent years). The playcalling and schemes and creativity and deployment of personnel is at an all-time high. The willingness of pro coaches to utilize college schemes and ideas has really injected new life and freshness into the NFL.

And this is all just the league itself: I haven't even MENTIONED the "access" to the league, or all the stuff around the league. Between super slow motion high definition replays, NFL Sunday Ticket, Red Zone, ten thousand preview, review, highlight, and recap shows, fantasy footballs, DFS, legal sports gambling, social media, mic'd up, NFL Films, etc, etc, etc....there has never been a better time to be a fan of football. Sometimes it boggles my mind to remember that, in order to find out what happened in NFL games across the league, you used to either have to catch local news sports highlights, or read the next day's newspaper. Crazy. 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Logic

[Jauronimo]

29 minutes ago, Captain Hindsight said:

How did you quote a post that was made 1 minute after this post?  Witchcraft? 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Jauronimo

[SCBills]

1 minute ago, Logic said:

It depends on what you like about football.

If it's just the gladiatorial, people smashing into people really hard aspect, then you'd probably feel as though football has gotten worse.

If, on the other hand, you enjoy the athletic spectacle, the complexity and diversity of offensive and defensive gameplans, the creative deployment of personnel, and the parity, then you probably think football has gotten much better.

I tend to fall more in the second camp, though there are certainly moments where the over-officiation and over-penalization of hits is regrettable and irritating.

The level of competition across the league is great. The quarterback play is at an all-time high (though that fact is clearly inseparable from the offensive rule changes and protections that have been inserted in recent years). The playcalling and schemes and creativity and deployment of personnel is at an all-time high. The willingness of pro coaches to utilize college schemes and ideas has really injected new life and freshness into the NFL.

And this is all just the league itself: I haven't even MENTIONED the "access" to the league, or all the stuff around the league. Between super slow motion high definition replays, NFL Sunday Ticket, Red Zone, ten thousand preview, review, highlight, and recap shows, fantasy footballs, DFS, legal sports gambling, social media, mic'd up, NFL Films, etc, etc, etc....there has never been a better time to be a fan of football. Sometimes it boggles my mind to remember that, in order to find out what happened in NFL games across the league, you used to either have to catch local news sports highlights, or read the next day's newspaper. Crazy. 

Agree with all of this.  
 

Will also admit that I’d probably be whining about how QB driven the league is now, if we didn’t finally have one ha. 

[Captain Hindsight]

2 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

How did you quote a post that was made 1 minute after this post?  Witchcraft? 

My powers are increasing 

[Jauronimo]

40 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

I was talking to my son in the car today about how people always look back to their childhoods and think everything was better (and often are correct).  

 

I used the NHL as an example.  My dad would always tell me how much better the original 6 was.  Now I tell my kid how much better the 80s and 90s were, with a lot of the fun stars of the day, high scoring games, lots of fights and rivalries, etc.  Hockey is boring to me now, and the quality of the players and coaching has made every game a war of attrition to see who makes a mistake first.

 

MLB the same way, although I much prefer today over the roid era.  Still long for the days of older ballparks and Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripkin, George Brett, Mattingly, Winfield, Strawberry, Hershiser, etc...

 

Then I got to the NFL and I paused...  I actually think it might be much better today than it was when I was a kid (Im 42).  I do think there would be an extra charm with the AFL days/1960s and 1970s that I missed... but overall, the sport has improved from the 80s and 90s.  It has gotten faster, more action, much more in quantity and quality coverage, ridiculous popularity, fantasy football/pools, and lots of stars.  

 

granted, there are things I dislike... mainly the extreme proliferation of video review.  It would also be nice if players had a longer shelf-life like they seemed to have in the past.   

Hockey is better now than it was during the heyday of the neutral zone trap, 2 line pass rule, and non-stop clutching and grabbing.  The skill level of the players is on display now that there is time and space on the ice.

2 minutes ago, Gene1973 said:

Hmm, this might not bode well for the "End Racism" slogan the NFL is pushing this season. Winston is a real QB, Hill, not even close...

Go home, Gene, you're drunk.

[PaoloBillsFanFromItaly]

I like dominant defenses, in my opinion the best football was early 2000. I think DB position is now almost impossible to play, too many times the offensive player initiates contact and the db Is called for interference, DB defends his position at the top of the router, again DPI, pass is underthrown, db makes accidental contact with the wr, DPI, cb is in press, pass is thrown, cb has the hands on the wr, DPI...

I hate shot out matches, I love when every first down is hard fought. When defenses are strong, offensive big plays and touch downs are exciting, now It seems to me un unfair game, and i get excited for takle for losses, ints and 4th down stops.

[Gugny]

14 minutes ago, Gene1973 said:

Geez, I deleted that as I put it in the wrong thread, you're too fast...

 

He hears that a lot.

[Don Otreply]

48 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

I dont think the NFL has improved, not from a spectators point of view, from a players, yes.  From a spectators point of view imo it has gotten worse.

 

Players cant hit as they used to and QBs, especially marquis names like Brady, have been grossly overprotected.

 

And the NFL and its absurd rules about what a "catch" is.  A catch is like porn, you know it when you see it, it is difficult, i would say impossible for the NFL to try and "legislate" every single aspect of what a catch is esp when you have multiple camera angles in frame by frame analysis if you want.

 

I appreciate the safety aspect of the game but with all the legal ramifications, i fear the NFL is going to slowly morph into "non-violent" pro bowl like game.

 

As far as player "shelf life" when was the last time we ha dueling QBs in the 40s matched up against each other.  Qbs can last a very long time with the current rules. 

 

Jack Kemp took more brutal hits in one year than Brady has taken his entire pro career.

Jack Kemp was a man... tb uses more product than any ten women you know, he is a little “B”.  What is making football worse is excessive use of instant replay, and referee favoritism, along with the refs obviously not knowing the rules, or how they are intended to be applied.  it truly makes some games appear to be on the fix because of that favoritism, and lack of rule application knowledge. It is more and more pronounced every year. 

[DrDawkinstein]

Good question... I'd say for the period of 2000-2020 today, it hasn't been as good of a product as it was in the 80s-90s.

 

Now, is that because it just "coincidentally" lines up to when the Bills were good vs a 20 year drought? Maybe.

 

But IMO, it was a lesser product because it was a boring league. There were 2 dominant QBs (Manning & Brady), and no one else really had much of a shot. It's also a copy-cat league, so everyone was trying to recreate what they were doing, but didnt have the QB talent to pull it off. Everyone ran the same offense, against the same defense. So predictable and boring.

 

Throughout this time, I became a much bigger fan of College ball, where you have far more variety in schemes and therefore the games and storylines are more entertaining.

 

I had often said "If Buffalo loses the Bills, I probably won't ever watch an NFL game again", with plans to just become a fan of College football only. No sour grapes or bitterness, just that no other team or storyline in the NFL interests me. That is mostly still true. It is difficult for me to really watch and get into any NFL game the Bills arent playing in.

 

All that said... The recent injection of young, fresh, DIFFERENT Quarterback talent has drawn me back in. So in that aspect, thanks to the new class of QBs and the retiring out of the old guard, I'd say the NFL is on the right track to improving.