NFL, Cowboys, and Football all feel "off" to me this season

[Bleedblue1111]

It's felt that way for years for me, with Goodell at the helm. He has turned the NFL into a drama reality show, between the off field injustices, as well as on field, with bad officiating.

 

[superonyx]

I think a lot of it just has to do with people being unfamiliar with today's "stars".

Adam Thielan has the 2nd most receiving yards this year.
Kareem Hunt is the leading rusher.
Micah Hyde has the most interceptions.
DeMarcus Lawrence, who most regular fans don't know, is leading sacks.
Zach Brown has the most tackles.

No one knows these guys and none of them were college super stars in the same way guys like Megaton, Adrian Peterson and Ray Lewis were. The stars tend to end up on terrible teams like The Browns and are never heard from again because those teams aren't even trying to be competitive.

Hard to root for people you don't know on teams you already don't care about.

Great point.
The league is suffering from lack of star power for sure.
The problem is next season your list of players who are leading the league will most likely be completely different.
I had a good conversation with a friend of mine yesterday about this. I was telling him I didn't know if the product is just different or if I am getting older (42).
I agree that the NFL has a youth problem. My 15 year old could care less. I try to get my 5 and 8 year old to watch it.....but then I remember how flawed of a product it is where it will usually end with you feeling cheated ect.
The concussion thing is in the back of my mind. I am a human and the idea that people are inflicting permanent long term damage on each other feels uncomfortable.

Growing up I could tell you who the Coach, QB, RB and WR was for every team in the league and what the name of their stadium was.
Now I would fail miserably to be able to name the Coach, QB, RB, WR for any team not in our division.

 

[superonyx]

It's felt that way for years for me, with Goodell at the helm. He has turned the NFL into a drama reality show, between the off field injustices, as well as on field, with bad officiating.

Goodell has certainly sucked the life out of the NFL with this Zeke crap.
Its hard to invest 100% into the NFL when it seems like the league is working so hard against you.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

This is the first year in my life that I can remember not watching NFL Football from the time it came on until it was completely over for the day.. I am just not interested it at all this year. I watch the boys play and I still get excited and nervous etc when they are playing. But I haven't watched any other game this year, just not into it. The NFL has done a real disservice to their brand in my eyes over the last few years.

 

[eternaljester81]

I've mentioned to many people how I'm not just not feeling it this season like I normally do. You're definitely not alone.

 

[Garrettop]

I'm going on like 4 years at least of declining interest in the NFL in general. In 2015 I pretty much checked out when it became evident none of the backups were worth a crap. Other posts have pretty much captured all the issues with the league right now, and until there is a change in leadership I doubt things will turn around.

 

[AzorAhai]

I basically stopped watching when Hakeem retired. I keep up with standings and all but don’t care really.

Trying again this season though, watched 5 Rockets games so far.

It’s hard watching because you basically know in even the best of years, there’s maybe 4 teams who can win it all. Lately it’s been a year Long hype build for the Cavs vs the Warriors.

 

[jwitten82]

Same here, I use to watch almost every game but now a lot of the games are just boring. The TNF games are horrible, the only mnf game I watched in full this year was the Cowboys, and I use to watch every mnf game. I felt like that last year too. Maybe because the Cowboys are always disappointing, Ive been a fan since 2003, so only experienced two playoff wins

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

Cause I'm following the Cowboys. The rest of the league I don't care about. Maybe I 'll watch the playoffs but I really don't miss the regular season.

Same here. Right now, other than the NFCE, I have no clue who is in first in their divisions. I could care less. Was flipping thru channels last night and stumbled on the game. I honestly forgot it was on. Stopped a few minutes to listen to Romo and then moved on.

It's one thing to turn off casual NFL fans, that is probably pretty common, but I am not a casual fan by any means and I am getting turned off. I am not alone, and that should scare the NFL beyond belief.

 

[Section446]

The product is pathetic this year, it's just boring.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Same here, I use to watch almost every game but now a lot of the games are just boring. The TNF games are horrible, the only mnf game I watched in full this year was the Cowboys, and I use to watch every mnf game. I felt like that last year too. Maybe because the Cowboys are always disappointing, Ive been a fan since 2003, so only experienced two playoff wins

MNF games are awful and I can't stand watching ESPN.

 

[TheSkaven]

Anybody else feeling this way?

Yes. I think most of us do, but I’m looking forward to reading the comments.

I think that if I was growing up today, I probably wouldn’t be a football fan, sad to say. Those of us between 25-55, football is special to us. Sundays with football are days when we gather with family, barbecue, drink and watch football.

I don’t think it’ll be that way in 25 more years - for all of the reasons that you wrote.

 

[Jarv]

Maybe, however, I've been a fan of the NFL since I was like 10-11 years old. For my entire life I've gone out of my way to watch the best NFL games on TV each week that weren't Cowboys games. I've been a person why has typically had the Thursday night, Sunday night, or Monday night games on the background while catching up with email in the evenings / etc.

I'm just not feeling it anymore. I don't care about those other games -- even the ones between two good teams.

Again, maybe it's just me .

It's not just you, thank you for expressing it better than I could. Having said that, I agree with ALL you have to say, plus I miss Romo and hate seeing Ginger on the sidelines every week.

 

[JW82]

I would like to add to your points that the overwhelming greed of the NFL is starting to catch up with them. You will be hard pressed to find anything NFL related that is not overpriced these days. My son does social media for a NFL connected autograph company. It is unreal what they charge to get your picture taken and an autograph with an NFL player.

One thing that pisses me off, is they will have commercials with Michael Irvin talking about buying official NFL gear and not the imitation stuff...Why? It's made in the same sweatshop but cost 1/4 the price. Make the "Official NFL Gear" in the USA and I won't mind paying $125 for a jersey. "America's Team" and Jerry "Patriot" Jones, yeah sure..please find one official item with the Star on it built in this country besides the stadium!

 

[JW82]

The NFL was so magical when it was just on two days. Used to wait all week for NFL Sunday. That's been ruined. I wonder who's bright idea it was to start Thursday night Football or London games? Those are unwatchable too.

Agreed. I think they have been focused completely since Baddell became commish on The casual fan and in turn I think they have the die-hard fan a little disgruntled. And news flash, we are the ones who spend the money.

 

[Zordon]

Three fixes:

-Get rid of Thursday Night Football.
-Do something with the cap so that teams can stay together longer.
-Get rid of Goodell. Fresh start is needed.

Notice how a lot of this has to do with the owners/greed.

 

[Rockport]

NFL / Cowboys / Football all feel "off" to me this season and I wonder if we'll look back at the 2017 season someday as being the year where things started going south in a big way. Random thoughts on this topic:

• The incredible unfairness of the NFL's prosecution (so to speak) of the Zeke Elliot suspension. I don't think Elliot is a choir boy, however, in this country we strongly believe that someone is "innocent until proven guilty" and I don't think anyone has any faith the NFL has any more insights on Zeke's innocence / guilt than the legal system did

• Unexciting football. The Salary Cap, Parity, whatever you want to call it -- there are really no great/dominant teams with the exception of <maybe> the Patriots. It's hard to hate other teams with a passion like yesteryear.

• Extreme emphasis on offensive football and passing in general. I think they've gone too far with it.

• Watering down of football -- NFL games on Thursday Night, Sunday, Sunday Night, and Monday Night might be one day to many for me. I could do without Thursday night football

• The anthem thing. I will refrain stating my opinion on this other than to say the whole thing, top to bottom, is a huge black-eye for the players, owners, and the NFL. Putting the actual act aside for a moment, the players and NFL front office, and NFL league office have handled it horribly

• NFL head injuries (concussions) changing the way football is viewed by kids and parents of kids. I see a trend where I live where parents (especially dads) no longer urge their boys to play football. Most of them, and as a father of a 12 year old I fall into this category, am <OK> if they just stick to soccer / basketball / etc. Striving to play in the NFL someday is no longer a wonderful thing when we are finding the 50-75% of NFL players retire with CTE

• Beyond kids not opting to play football, my limited view of my son and his friend group (all 12-13 years old) is NONE of them care about the NFL. They are all passionate about the NBA and generally speaking I think the NBA is doing a great job of tailoring their sport to today's youth. Basketball, like soccer, is an infinitely more approachable sport than football. Anybody can play basketball or soccer to a certain extent. My main point here is the general sadness that my son doesn't seem to care, despite my best efforts, about the NFL and I don't get to enjoy the experience with him. I end up watching NBA games with him, the NBA will never be anything but slightly interesting to me

• Removing violence (bit hits, tackling a QB low, etc) from the game IMHO is taking a slow toll on the game. Don't get me wrong, each of these things taken by itself, seems like a good decision. Having said that, the game almost seems to be trending to towards flag football.

Sorry for the rant. It's probably just me, however, the game seems to be losing some of it's luster for me. I am less excited about Sundays. I care MUCH LESS about watching football outside of the Cowboys playing than ever before. Just feels weird.

Anybody else feeling this way?

I think it's just you.

 

[Dhragon]

The biggest reason for my declining interest is that in my eyes at least, it's becoming more and more likely that the NFL is indeed rigged, at least to an extent. I used to jokingly refer to conspiracy theories about how the refs are out to get us, etc. I think games are likely being at least influenced by factors outside of the play on the field and it's sickening.

Now, after the Dez catch/non-catch and now the NFL going after Zeke like a rabid dog, it's getting hard to believe the powerful guys in the NFL are ever going to let us compete fairly for another Superbowl anytime soon. I think the Dez no catch was the biggest thing to push me further away from being an NFL fanatic as I look back today upon it. Being ruled a TD on the field of play and without the hard evidence you need to overturn such a ruling, the NEW YORK office overturned it anyway. Can't see how that was anything but corruption.

When the odds seem stacked unfairly against your team, it's hard to feel that same hope and excitement you did before. At least for me.

My big hope nowadays is that Jerry can win in his Game of Thrones type powerplay with Goodell and his supporters so at least if the NFL is going to be rigged and corrupt, it can at least be rigged and corrupt in the Boys favor, LOL.

 

[erod]

Three fixes:

-Get rid of Thursday Night Football.
-Do something with the cap so that teams can stay together longer.
-Get rid of Goodell. Fresh start is needed.

Notice how a lot of this has to do with the owners/greed.

I'll add....

- No more games in London, Mexico, or anywhere but where they're supposed to be played.
- Put San Diego back in San Diego and drop this Las Vegas nonsense.
- Go back to what a catch used to be.
- Figure out what holding and pass interference is.
- Get off the color rush, pink, military, and obscure throwback jersey kick
- Outlaw political commentary during your pre- and post-game shows.
- Get all the fantasy stats off the bottom of the screen.
- Move the kickoff back to the 30 yard line.
- Move the league office out of New York to Omaha, and stop playing police and Judge Judy.

 

[BourbonBalz]

I fully agree. I've not had near the excitement for football in general this year as in year's past. I guess it's contagious.