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

mattjames2010 · Nov 4, 2017

perrykemp said:
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?

None of this stuff is new.

theogt · Nov 4, 2017

I kind of feel the same way. Not sure why.

9darter · Nov 4, 2017

Everson24 said:
It seems every Sunday evening I stop and wonder why I wasted valuable time with this watered down, corrupt and biased league.

I do the exact same thing. No freakin' way this league isn't rigged.

Pants · Nov 4, 2017

The one thing that I think is that, in the future, this is the season where people will look back and say "how on earth was goodell not fired MUCH sooner, he ruined the league, it's unwatchable" (and then people will get their kids in the car to go to their soccer game)

Everson24 · Nov 4, 2017

Pants said:
The one thing that I think is that, in the future, this is the season where people will look back and say "how on earth was goodell not fired MUCH sooner, he ruined the league, it's unwatchable" (and then people will get their kids in the car to go to their soccer game)

Let's face it the NFL has "Jumped the Shark" and Roger Goodell is the Ted McKinley of the NFL.

Jake · Nov 4, 2017

PA Cowboy Fan said:
The whole point of football was offense and defense. What fun is it if it's just offense all the time. Go play Madden for that. I miss the way football was played back in the 70's and 80's.

Yep, it's trending towards Arena Football - pass happy, indoors, and rarely a stop by the defense. It was fun watching Zeke run the ball in rain on a grass field last Sunday. What used to be the norm now feels like a rare treat.

Everson24 · Nov 4, 2017

Zordon said:
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.

Add to this list a third party company to hold the officials accountable. Too much bias in the subjective judgment calls that change the outcome of games (This will never happen because the NFL is working hand in hand with Vegas).

Everson24 · Nov 4, 2017

Direwolf63 said:
For me, the Dez catch/non-catch against Green Bay was a real tipping point. It was the start of my descent.

I agree. It was for me as well. I have been a Cowboys fan since 1970 and yet Tony Romo was my all time favorite player. I just loved the way he played the game and would always give even a bad team a decent chance to win.

When Dean Blandino overturned Dez' catch I felt so bad for Tony. I wish someone would have started a legitimate investigation into the decision to overturn that call. He had no business doing it. The line judge on the field made the correct call and some idiot watching the game with John Mara decides to make up for some bad PR by being seen in the Jerry Jones party bus. There was absolutely nothing ethically fair about that call and they spent the next two season trying to justify the call by taking away even more legitimate catches. And yet they spent two years battling deflate-gate that actually created no advantage in the outcome of that game.My interest in the NFL really waned at that point.

Pants · Nov 4, 2017

Everson24 said:
Let's face it the NFL has "Jumped the Shark" and Roger Goodell is the Ted McKinley of the NFL.

nicely put

Beast_from_East · Nov 4, 2017

Talking about concussions and CTE, I would be very hesitant to let my kid play football. Lucky, as a single parent of a 7 yr old girl I don’t have to worry about her playing football, she is way more into soccer and gymnastics.

As far as the Boyz go, once they are eliminated I am done till the SB and I watch that primarily for the ads.

Vtwin · Nov 4, 2017

lurkercowboy said:
I feel the same as many of you. The interest just isn't there like in previous years. I wonder what is going on for so many of us to feel this way? Is there something in the water or air or the zeitgeist or what? I used to watch every game available and consumed all NFL news I could find. Now I watch cowboys games and maybe a few plays here and there of other games. Interesting to see it is not just me. Has the NFL changed or have we?

Both. Neither for the better.

Shake_Tiller · Nov 4, 2017

I played and coached. I have watched perhaps 10,000 hours of football. The NFL has list its luster, not the game. I will die a Cowboys fan. But the NFL no longer interests me much. The reasons have all been named.

Beast_from_East · Nov 4, 2017

erod said:
The NFL has been a huge part of my life. Live for it. That is waning rapidly.

The NBA is rigged, so I've never had interest there. Baseball is cool, but only following one team. Hockey is great in the playoffs, but otherwise boring. Soccer has grown on me, but there is a limit there.

Politics and idiocy is ruining sports. It's pissing off the people that can actually afford what's advertised. That is a death knell.

The slow implosion has begun.

Then what are these dudes going to do for a living? They aren't rocket surgeons.

NBA is not rigged.

If it was do you think a team like the Knicks would suck ever year and one of the smallest market teams in the league in San Antonio would win 5 championship?

Wolf2k5 · Nov 4, 2017

Right? I stopped watching baseball when the whole Jackie Robinson thing happened. Made it way too "political"

Dhragon · Nov 4, 2017

Everson24 said:
Add to this list a third party company to hold the officials accountable. Too much bias in the subjective judgment calls that change the outcome of games (This will never happen because the NFL is working hand in hand with Vegas).

It would be great if a party not affiliated with the NFL could review and reward/punish good/bad officiating to stamp out bias and inconsistencies. But seeing as how hard the NFL is going after Zeke now to get/maintain their iron grip of control, they would never willingly give up any power

bark · Nov 4, 2017

I’m a Cowboys fan. Outside of their games it’s down to flipping around and checking a few scores that directly affect the cowboys playoff hopes.
Can’t sit through a full game of non cowboys football anymore.
I watch a few quarters when Romo is calling the game.
No pregame shows for me anymore and all the network coverage thru the week is unwatchable.
On Sunday, it’s sound down and listen to Brad sham on the cowboys network.
Probably make an exception this week since Romo is calling the game.
Personal interest in the league as a whole is at an all time low. Been a fan since ‘66.

hornitosmonster · Nov 4, 2017

It is getting that way for myself. Losing interest in the NFL and I rarely catch a Thursday/Sunday/Monday night game unless the Boys are playing. For much of the same reasons as the OP (minus the political stuff). It has become a mediocre, slow, and uninspiring game. Too many rules, too many penalties, too many commercials, and a bumbling commissioner.

erod · Nov 4, 2017

Beast_from_East said:
NBA is not rigged.

If it was do you think a team like the Knicks would suck ever year and one of the smallest market teams in the league in San Antonio would win 5 championship?

Regardless, it's a trash league.

wrongway · Nov 4, 2017

Everson24 said:
I've felt this way too. I started feeling this way when it appeared that the NFL was on a witch hunt and had their minds made up that they were going to hang him no matter what.
I used to watch all the pregame shows too and now I rarely watch any during the week.The game itself is a terrible product also. They are taking hitting out of the game, the limited padded practices cause injuries and terrible tackling.

Far too many commercials and all the flags and replays just slow it down even more. And maybe the most disgusting thing I see about the game is the biased officiating. In our game against the Commanders, there was little dought that the officials got the message from some higher-ups to keep the Commanders in the game due to all their injuries.Some of those calls against us were just a little too obvious. The Dez catch still irks me to this day. If anyone doesn't think we get shafted by the refs have never sat down and watched the calls the Steelers get. It seems every Sunday evening I stop and wonder why I wasted valuable time with this watered down, corrupt and biased league. I am so ready to watch the whole thing burn to the ground.

Not long ago I refused to think that the NFL was fixed. Now I feel like I did when I was first told that there was no Santa Claus. I want Santa again and I want my 1970s-1990's NFL back again too.

What the hell! Santa isn't real?!? Son of a .....

pete026 · Nov 4, 2017

I think it's obvious.

Romo becomes part of the #1 NFL booth team and the whole NFL goes to pot.

It's Romo's fault!
:muttley:

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

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