Is the NFL Better than Ever Today?

[Jauronimo]

3 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

/

MNFLGA?

[SinceThe70s]

I wouldn't say the NFL is better than ever, but it's still damn good. If there's an NFL game on TV chances are I'm watching it. Can't say that about any other sport.

 

One thing about todays game is it feels to me like the majority of games aren't decided until the last two minutes. I don't remember last minute game winning drives - successful or not - being as prevalent as they seem to be now. I turned on MNF the other night and just as the game was starting Levy made a comment to the effect that they should just skip forward to the end of the game. Can't imagine his bosses appreciated that comment but my point is that to me it feels like we're getting a lot more down-to-the-wire exciting finishes. 

 

[Beast]

The game was much better 30-40 years ago on the field.

 

With saying that it is more interesting, IMO, today because of the 24/7 coverage, to include an off-season that has turned into being almost as interesting as the season itself. Also being able to tune into any game is a huge plus over the good old days.

 

 I'm fine with both eras.

 

Hockey, on the other hand, was MUCH better back in the day. 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Beast

[MJS]

I like the 90's. You had good offenses but defenses could still play defense. Today is good too, but I think officiating is as bad as it has ever been.

[Einstein's Dog]

I agree with the OP for the most part, the game is great today.  The conditions have made it more offensive oriented and that is fine by me.  Plus, of course, the Bills are doing well and that makes it all better.  And now there is so much more coverage, and the computerized fantasy football can make all games interesting to me.

 

Still room for improvement though.  Get the politics out.  And get crowds back in.

 

 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

This thread appears to be more about style preferred.

[Chandler#81]

Great topic, OP, and excellent contributions. The athletes in all sports are bigger, better & faster than days of yore. They are committed to year long conditioning programs and the $$ they earn is worth the commitment. 

As for the NFL specifically, today’s QBs are markedly better year in & year out than at any time previously. The coaching and game plans -even at the high school level, are where pro coaching once was. There’s no more single-wing or college specific offenses. Every level is playing ‘pro football’. 

[Chicken Boo]

I'll say this, 2019 had the best on field primetime games that I've ever seen!  

 

Over the years, the rules have made it easier for offenses.  That may give the allusion of a better game, but isn't necessarily the case.

 

I have a great appreciation these days for watching HoF QB match-ups(Rodgers, Wilson, Brady, Brees).  I get just as much joy in watching the young guns (Jackson, Mahomes, Allen, Murray...).

 

I do miss watching consistently good/great RBs, who can run between the tackles and truly dominant defenses.  Dalvin Cook, Derrick Henry are the only guys who give me that.  Who's the dominant defense these days?  There really hasn't been one since the Legion of Boom.

[Augie]

5 hours ago, Jauronimo said:

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

 

He is the black magic operator Fitz uses to stick needles into the straw doll of the QB starting ahead of Fitz. (HINT: Don’t make him mad!)

 

I don’t see how the game could be any better if you can’t even take your own keg into the stadium with you. 

 

I won’t go better or worse, just.........different. 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Augie

[Buftex]

I love the game.  But, as others have said, I really do miss good defense.  Nowadays, it seems like 75% of the games come down to the wire.  "Shootouts" have lost their lustre, because nearly every game is a "shootout".  Unless it is the Bills, I am getting a little numb to the high scoring games. I know the athletes are much superior, but the game is designed to allow to make that the norm. 

 

To me, one of the greatest football games I have ever seen was the 1991 AFC Championship game, when the Bills beat the Brocos 10-7.By todays standards, the NFL media would have you convinced that it was a "dog" of a game.  But I remember hanging on the edge of my seat,  every play of that game.  I miss games like that.  Jeff Wright and Carlton Bailey are immortals, for me, for that one great play.  It was a fantastic game, full of tension. I rarely feel that way anymore, when I watch

Edited November 20, 2020 by Buftex

[BananaB]

Game is watered down to help score points. Refs are terrible. The majority of the announcers make you want to turn the sound off at times.  I stopped watching pre game years ago because all the ex players love to talk about themselves so ***** much. 
 

Sunday use to be an all day thing, now it’s just watch the Bills and check my fantasy scores. The odd time if there is a good matchup I might check out another game. 
 

The other day I seen Pat Mcafee talking about how bad a lot of the announcers are, thought he was spot on.  When your watching from home you just don’t want to listen to some of those guys. Funny thing is, the guys who have been around the longest are probably the worst. 

[BADOLBILZ]

6 hours ago, Capco said:

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.  

 

Yep.

 

The last truly great NFL game of the "violent era" might have been the 2013 NFC Championship game between the Niners and Seahawks in January 2014.

 

It was a crossover.......a lot of the new protections were in place.......but the styles those two teams played allowed for a throwback.

 

It was an extremely violent clash between two Super Bowl championship worthy division rivals that absolutely hated each other.

 

You can't beat the perspective and drama that the old ultra-violent game created on it's own...........and it felt like a privilege to watch NFL players beat the living hell out of each other.

 

Today it's not just the lack of violence itself..........the significance of each season has changed now that QB's don't get hit and can get 20+ chances at a Super Bowl ring.

 

I'm glad enough that the NFL is adapting to a more sustainable style of play...........it wasn't very nice of us to celebrate the truly gratuitous violence and the impact it had on players.......so I choose not to actively compare the styles of play when I watch games today.

 

I still love it........still a great game......but obviously no.......it's not as compelling of a product. 

 

[BigDingus]

9 hours 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.   

 

I know I'll be in the minority here (because like you said people tend to always be nostalgic for things they grew up with), but I agree with what you said with one exception.

As a whole, I think the sport is better. As a product, there are issues, primarily the overabundance of ads & product placement. I get the NFL is a big business always looking for new sources of revenue, but the breaks in game action to discuss sponsors, constant cuts to commercials that last longer than the small bit of game time we watched, and the incorporation of ads into everything can dampen the experience.

Hell, just look at stadium names. They're worse than college football bowl games with the amount of sponsorship & name changes, many sounding absolutely ridiculous. It's rare that a stadium has a sports-related or historically significant name that matters to the team/town/franchise. Then next year, you suddenly have a new sponsor, new stadium name & it sounds even more commercialized.

Wouldn't be surprised if next year New Era, I mean placeholder name Bills Stadium, is renamed to  "Little Caesar's Hot & Ready Bills Coliseum!" 

[ExiledInIllinois]

No.

 

It's bigger, faster, stronger... But not better.  In fact, it's worse.

[DCbillsfan]

I've been watching the NFL since the 70s.  I have an absolute passion for it even now.  I hope though that this year is an anomaly.  Offensive holding is way down and DPI is way up.  For me, the best games are final scores in the 20s.  That's a good mix of enough offense and defense imo.

 

One thing that I don't care for is all the pregame and post game stuff/hype.  I usually just watch the game and nothing more.  The other difference is I used to watch any NFL game.  Now, I'm much more selective.  All Bills games and usually SNF.  Watching football all day Sunday is long gone.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

21 hours 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.   

I agree completely. Just go back and watch some of the 80s and early 90s games on YouTube, and it looks like the players are moving in slow motion. 
 

The game today is faster and more entertaining. Some of that has to do with maybe better athletes on a whole. Some of it had to do with more innovation on both offense and defense. 
 

[BillsPride12]

You can't deny that the players are bigger, stronger, and faster..and that the schemes aren't more complex today.  But for me personally I don't think it makes it a better product.  I miss the days when football had more of a street fight feel to it.  Nowadays guys are literally getting flagged for hitting guys too hard.  I understand why the rules have had to evolve over the years as the size and speed of the players have evolved.  If you took today's players and had rules from the 80s and 90s in place these guys would kill each other.  But from a fan's standpoint I miss the NFL I grew up watching.  It was the perfect combination of athleticism and physicality on display.  Players also didn't seem to shuffle around as much back then and there were real rivalries.  Game was also much less commercialized back then.  But like I said earlier things evolve, nothing ever remains steady over 30 years.  I still watch some games outside of Bills games but not nearly as many as I used to overall, which sounds like a pretty common point most people are saying.  I would also agree it's not just an NFL thing either as the NBA and NHL aren't as enjoyable to watch as they used to be either.  I will always be thankful I grew up in the era I did.  

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Nope, i want the old smash mouth days of football.

 

 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

On 11/20/2020 at 11:43 AM, 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.   

 

If you think most sports were better 30 years ago, imagine how much better they could have been if you had been able to watch on a 65 inch TV in 1080P.  Occasionally you see some grainy clip from back then, how'd we manage to even watch or see anything.  Certainly watching with today's technology makes all sports better.

[folz]

While I agree that nostalgia plays a part and the fact that it just meant more to you when you're a kid also weighs into the equation, but I have to say, even though I still enjoy watching the games and am still a die-hard Bills fan, I don't think the game is as good as it used to be.

 

I will take out the physicality factor. All of us older guys grew up with a much more brutal game, and it really changed the game to eliminate that factor. And although we lament that to some extent, for player safety, it kind of had to happen. So, I won't count that as a factor. Although I do find it interesting that there seem to be more injuries now than back in the day, overall. (I assume that is due to the size and speed of the players today, despite the improved safety measures. And some of it may be that we didn't hear about every single injury back in the day/less press, etc.---but it does seem like there are still more injuries now.)

 

In the positive category for today's game, I will say that overall the players are much more athletic. Some of the athletes in today's game are unbelievable.

 

But here is why I think the game used to be better:

 

1. Scoring: I'm sure a lot of younger fans love those 44-38 score games, but damn it, I like defense too. All of the rules to prevent CBs from doing their jobs, barely being allowed to touch QBs, etc. have led to over-inflated numbers, and most games become shootouts. Some of the best games I have ever seen were 9-6 defensive battles. But the average fan would be bored by games like that now, rather than appreciate those defenses and the strategy involved in a true field-position game. I stopped watching the NBA years ago when they took defense out of the game. What's the point if everyone scores on almost every possession. To me that is boring. Where is the drama and conflict of the game if you don't have defenses on an even footing? 

 

2. The NFL's own popularity: The NFL got too big and popular that, as others have said, there is way too much pre-game/post-game hype and talk, etc, etc. The Super Bowl has become completely unwatchable to me. At first, I could just skip all of the pre-game and just turn it on to watch the game itself. But now, because of the half-time shows, the TV timeouts, the extensive commercial breaks, the hype of the game, it just never flows like an actual game and has become boring to watch.

 

3. Refereeing/NFL story lines: Another reason I stopped watching the NBA years ago was because star players started getting special treatment. If you breathe on a star player driving to the lane, he gets the call; while a role player could get hacked by 4 guys in the lane and no call. I feel like the NFL has been heading in that direction too with players and teams. No one can tell me that Brady and the Pats didn't get preferential treatment over their dynasty run. It's not the reason for their success, but they definitely got a lot of help along the way. What about the thing with Cam a few years back where the ref told him he hadn't been in the league long enough to get that roughing the passer call. And there is no doubt to me that the NFL likes to push certain story lines. I'm not saying they out-and-out rig games (cause I don't think they do), but for marketing reasons, there are definitely scenarios they would prefer and are not above having the refs give a certain team a leg up in accomplishing that with a few calls here and there at key moments. The first time that became clear to me was when the NFL basically took a Super Bowl away from the Seahawks to give it to Pittsburgh, so they could have the storyline of the "Bus" driving off into the sunset wth a Super Bowl victory. Then there are things like the catch rules, Al Riveron and his bs replay calls, too many flags, just bad referees altogether, etc.

 

4. Free Agency: Although this is a necessary evil for the players' sake (it would suck to be stuck on a bad team your whole career), it did kind of destroy rivalries and loyalties. Things were a lot different back in the day when you had the majority of the guys on your team for like 10 years straight. They were like your family members, and the rivalries would get down-right nasty because these guys have been battling each other for a decade. There are no more real rivalries in the league anymore. Hell, now the guys all kneel and pray together after the games, swap jerseys, take pictures together. That stuff never would have happened back in the day; if you lost, you were pissed, hated the other team, and headed to your locker room.

 

5. Mythic Aura: This may be down to a bit of nostalgia, but I feel the same way about baseball. I feel like the game has lost some of its mythic quality, probably due to over-exposure, prima donna athletes, the money they make, social media, etc. For instance, Brady and the Pats will probably go down as the best QB/Dynasty ever. But, do they have the same aura of Lambeau's Packers, Shula's Colts or Dolphins, Bradshaw's Steelers, Landry's Cowboys, Walsh's 49ers, etc. The Frozen Tundra, the Galloping Ghost, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Billie "White-shoes" Johnson, Mean Joe Greene, Two yards and a cloud of dust, Johnny U, the "Ice Bowl", the "Comeback", the Steel Curtain. Great games still happen, players still have nicknames...but I just feel like that old mythic aura of the game no longer exists.

 

Having said that, the NFL is still fun to watch, but I just don't feel like the game is as good (overall) as it was back in the day. It has changed (not for the better imo), but it seems like younger fans might disagree with me on that, so it is what it is.

 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by folz