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

[Direwolf63]

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 have many similar feelings.

There have been many who have said it here, so I will just repeat it: for many of the reasons laid out above, the NFL may very well be gone in 20 years.

 

[AzorAhai]

It's 100% not just you. I'm shocked at how quickly I find myself becoming ambivalent about a game I've been avid about my whole life. When the Cowboys are eliminated, I've no longer got any interest whatsoever in how the season turns out. That's crazy for me.

It’s happened to me before with the NBA. Used to be a big fan, but then they got political with the Trayvon Martin stuff and started grouping up all the stars on one team and I quickly lost all interest. It’s not quite the same, but the NFL is getting political and the quality on the field isn’t the same.

 

[pitt33]

I started to change my feelings about the game with when free agency began many years ago. I always liked how teams were built through the draft and the occasional trades. But then again, you need a great front office to pull that off. As we all know this FO has just recently began to draft better (sans the 2nd round) and I still believe McClay has a big hand in this.

It's a year to year league know and I miss the dominate teams. You know, like the "team of the decade" teams.

 

[perrykemp]

Lots of mediocre teams, with mediocre QB's Not many big name gunslingers around.

A lot of people here got their wish with Rodgers getting knocked out.

The thing is he is one of those players a LOT of people tune in to watch to (A) Marvel at his ability to spin that ball (B) Win the game.. ie Packers fans (C) Watch him lose -- ie just about every other non-Packer fan in the league largely because, despite his incredible skills, Aaron Rodgers is quite possibly the most unlikable player in the league.

 

[Direwolf63]

As for the NFL Network and pregame shows? Forget it.

You couldn't pay me enough to watch that garbage.

 

[JW82]

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 .

No- I get it. Maybe over saturation. Between the MNF,TNF, SNF. the 50 NFL talk shows. The fantasy football. Honestly this BS with Zeke really sickens me too. I feel a little of that disinterest too. I only watch Dallas games.

 

[mmohican29]

Absolutely.

I might feel differently if the Cowboys were 5-2 right now, but it still feels like pre-season with the same issues just pounded into the NFL's fans mind:

Goodell
Kap
Zeke
Kap
Zeke
Goodell
Zeke
Kap
Kap
Goodell

I'm very close to over it. In fact, CZ is my only source of NFL news. I will not watch ESPN, NFLN, or any of the Undisputed or First Take shows anymore.

Just feels like the most boring and political football season of my lifetime.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Parity, salary cap and poor reffing/stupid rules

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

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.

 

[Direwolf63]

Parity, salary cap and poor reffing/stupid rules

Good point. Referring is terrible.

What is a catch anyway?

 

[erod]

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.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

No- I get it. Maybe over saturation. Between the MNF,TNF, SNF. the 50 NFL talk shows. The fantasy football. Honestly this BS with Zeke really sickens me too. I feel a little of that disinterest too. I only watch Dallas games.

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.

 

[JJHLH1]

I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been passionate about football for decades, but now I’m pretty much only interested in watching Dak play. The game isn’t as exciting as it used to be. Goodell has hurt the league to a serious degree. And there are way too many interruptions to the game. Instant replay has hurt in this regard, and it’s not perfect either ( ie Dez’s catch against Green Bay).

 

[Tabascocat]

It’s happened to me before with the NBA. Used to be a big fan, but then they got political with the Trayvon Martin stuff and started grouping up all the stars on one team and I quickly lost all interest. It’s not quite the same, but the NFL is getting political and the quality on the field isn’t the same.

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.

 

[EST_1986]

I haven't watched any games but Cowboy games since week 2 and am not changing anytime soon.

Why be on the Cowboys FAN board then?

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

Why be on the Cowboys FAN board then?

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.

 

[EST_1986]

Cause I'm following the Cowboys. The rest of the league I don't care about.

I completely misread that. Thought you said you haven't watched a Cowboys game since Week 2

 

[Satchel89]

All the politics has definitely taken it's toll. It's drained some of the excitement for the NFL. There is a lot of mediocre teams too. Not a ton of good games to watch but the Officiating is atrocious. They ruin the fun of watching the games. Defensive guys can't touch anyone. There's holding on every other play and it just seems to get worse and worse. The Titans and Colts on MNF game a few weeks back was a perfect example of that. I know it's not a marquee matchup but there was a point where the was a flag on 6 straight plays and even Gruden was talking about how Officiating is ruining the enjoyment of the games.

 

[WhizKid]

I definitely did not let what happened 3 minutes before the game, stop me from watching the next three hours. That's just silly. But, I am annoyed at the commercial breaks (although down) and the referees have been absolutely horrible the last few years. Roger Goodell has been absolutely abysmal at his job. And like you, I agree that the way the league and the players have handled the protesting during the anthem has been absolutely horrible. Everybody is tone-deaf and it has turned into a 'me vs you' thing that has become paramount to actual discussion and resolution.

 

[TheCount]

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.