If you’re a defensive purist and follow the NFL it’s time you switched to soccer.
Roger Goodell doesn’t care about your, or even care about maintaining a fair balance between offense and defense. He wants TV ratings and money. The way to keep achieving that in Goodell’s mind is make it easier for offenses to produce more points. This hooks the ever-growing casual fantasy football fan.
First it was tightening the hits on quarterbacks and flagging upper body hits. Now this season, it’s ordering officials to penalize defenders for downfield contact with an emphasis on hands-to-the-face penalties and defensive pass interference. Penalty flags have been thrown nearly 25 percent more per game this preseason than last preseason.
Scoringfests were once fun – because they were rare and earned. In today’s watered-down NFL, where quarterbacks don’t get hurt and yards and statistics are hugely inflated, it’s become run-of-the-mill. No big deal.
The NFL is a colossus. It’s going to take a lot to ruin it. But Goodell is on the way to doing that. Put an end to kickoffs, inflate scoring, completely defang defense, play 4-hour games. It’s all going to eventually add up to where people stop their unbridled enjoyment of football because it’s not true football anymore.
Give me more of Kam Chancellor and less of Ed Hochuli. Please.
