The NFL is becoming unwatchable

[Sgt. Largent]

I love my Hawks, and I will always watch them............but trying to watch other NFL games is becoming excruciatingly painful.

The flow of these games over the past couple of years with all the penalties, reviews, stoppages, challenges and commercials is freaking brutal.

Has the league jumped the shark on trying TOO hard to "get things right?"

 

[SeahawksFanForever]

I know exactly what you mean. Last night's game for example, some of those free plays by Rodgers should have been called dead and how about giving GB basically an extra timeout during KC's 2-point conversion attempt? They started reviewing the TD and basically gave away what KC was trying to do. I am not making any excuses. GB was clearly the better team and they won the game but it is annoying to watch. Stuff like this happens in almost every game and as you said, "trying too hard to get things right."

 

[kobebryant]

I love my Hawks, and I will always watch them............but trying to watch other NFL games is becoming excruciatingly painful.

The flow of these games over the past couple of years with all the penalties, reviews, stoppages, challenges and commercials is freaking brutal.

Has the league jumped the shark on trying TOO hard to "get things right?"

huh? I'm only in my mid-twenties but I feel old when I don't know today's lingo.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I love my Hawks, and I will always watch them............but trying to watch other NFL games is becoming excruciatingly painful.

The flow of these games over the past couple of years with all the penalties, reviews, stoppages, challenges and commercials is freaking brutal.

Has the league jumped the shark on trying TOO hard to "get things right?"

huh? I'm only in my mid-twenties but I feel old when I don't know today's lingo.

LOL, that's so cute!

a term to describe a moment when somethin that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality and popularity.

Origin of this phrase comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz jumped a shark on waterskis. Thus was labeled the lowest point of the show.

 

[kobebryant]

Thanks. I like it.

 

[Rex]

I love my Hawks, and I will always watch them............but trying to watch other NFL games is becoming excruciatingly painful.

The flow of these games over the past couple of years with all the penalties, reviews, stoppages, challenges and commercials is freaking brutal.

Has the league jumped the shark on trying TOO hard to "get things right?"

I agree with all of that but I think there is something else that makes it difficult to watch.....and no I'm not talking about anything the Rams do or don't do. :lol:

That problem is the TV broadcasters for each game. They are generally ignorant of personal and team history, in particular recent history, as in now. They are assigned a game then give a cursory study of each team....and then try to call the game. They get so much info wrong each week it is infuriating. It used to be that each team had its own TV broadcasters which knew what was going on with the team all season long. They were knowledgeable. It was enjoyable to watch. They showed much much more of the cheerleaders too.

 

[marko358]

I love my Hawks, and I will always watch them............but trying to watch other NFL games is becoming excruciatingly painful.

The flow of these games over the past couple of years with all the penalties, reviews, stoppages, challenges and commercials is freaking brutal.

Has the league jumped the shark on trying TOO hard to "get things right?"

Saw a tweet late yesterday that mentioned the penalties through week 3 are the most in 35 years or something to that effect.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

That problem is the TV broadcasters for each game. They are generally ignorant of personal and team history, in particular recent history, as in now. They are assigned a game then give a cursory study of each team....and then try to call the game. They get so much info wrong each week it is infuriating. It used to be that each team had its own TV broadcasters which knew what was going on with the team all season long. They were knowledgeable. It was enjoyable to watch. They showed much much more of the cheerleaders too.

There's definitely something to this, especially the cheerleader/crowd shots/general ambiance of the game is gone.

Before if there was an injury the camera would pan around the stadium and show some fans, cheerleaders or city shots to stay with the flow of the game and atmosphere. Now ANY stoppage is a quick cut to a 30 second commercial to wring out another 300k of revenue into the owner's pockets.

 

[minormillikin]

Something that I've seen a lot already this year with refs is highly annoying. A ref throws a flag, doesn't call the penalty, instead goes into conference with the other officials. Afterward, maybe they call a penalty or maybe they tell us "there is no penalty for..."

On one hand, that's great that they're stopping to make sure it's a penalty that should be called. On the other hand, it seems like they're hedging their bets by throwing flags at the slightest inkling, and as a result I've spent a lot of time watching refs huddled up in conference while I wait to decide if I can either cheer or boo.

Edit/note about commercials: All the games have pretty much the same amount of commercials. Sometimes they will go a while without any, and other times they will go to commercial at every opportunity. The reason is they have contracts with advertisers and they make sure to fit them all in based on the perceived flow of the game. It's actually sort of amazing how they've gotten the 3-hour game down to a science. In the last Rams game for example, they managed to catch up to all the other games by halftime, because they didn't need to go to commercial as often (they got most of the required commercials in during the delay).

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Something that I've seen a lot already this year with refs is highly annoying. A ref throws a flag, doesn't call the penalty, instead goes into conference with the other officials. Afterward, maybe they call a penalty or maybe they tell us "there is no penalty for..."

On one hand, that's great that they're stopping to make sure it's a penalty that should be called. On the other hand, it seems like they're hedging their bets by throwing flags at the slightest inkling, and as a result I've spent a lot of time watching refs huddled up in conference while I wait to decide if I can either cheer or boo.

Jon Gruden said this yesterday, he's been complaining about all the things I mentioned...........and said either swallow the whistle or restrict replay. The fact that now we have BOTH the refs throwing the flags AND using replay to decide whether they were right or wrong is brutal.

Swallow the whistle and let the coach's challenge or not. Don't do both, it's brutal to the stoppage time.

 

[marko358]

It takes some self discipline but I do enjoy watching a game on DVR after it's aired or start about an hour an a half after kickoff. So much more enjoyable to FFWD through commercials and stoppages but you have to avoid your phone and radio until you're able to hit "play".

 

[chris98251]

Best way is to get rid of replay, but to do this you will have to live with the errors. The Officials are so worried about being wrong they have no judgement anymore, the Coaches don't trust them, they don't trust each other either. Being under the microscope and called out on a play by play basis has got into all their heads as well as the leagues. The replay concept is a good intention gone bad by over scrutinazation of everything.

 

[JAGHAWK]

FANDUEL
FANDUEL
FANDUEL

 

[Sgt. Largent]

FANDUEL
FAN DUEL
FAN DUEL

Don't forget Draft Kings. I wasn't aware the NFL passed a new law that stated two consecutive commercials cannot be aired without one of them being a Draft Kings or Fan Duel ad.

 

[drrew]

FANDUEL
FAN DUEL
FAN DUEL

Don't forget Draft Kings. I wasn't aware the NFL passed a new law that stated two consecutive commercials cannot be aired without one of them being a Draft Kings or Fan Duel ad.

It would be a tiny bit more tolerable if we could actually play either game in the state of Washington.

 

[netskier]

The replays hold the refs at least a little accountable so we need to keep them.

Probably should have one broadcaster from both teams, to balance the coverage, plus someone like Gruden to provide a league perspective, or maybe not have that role at all. For me, it is about team vs team.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

With the endless commercials (mostly about fantasy football, betting on fantasy football, and ways to get even MOAR football and fantasy football stats stuffed into your life), the endless sensationalism of every single thing that happens, and the endless stoppages and over-analyzing the game's every facet, I think we know where this is going.

And speaking of over-analyzing the game's ever facet, I especially liked the stat they posted which showed Forte's yardage run on the field. Not how many yards he'd run with the ball, not how many multipurpose yards he'd gotten receiving and running--just running up and down the field. Quality analysis, there!

 

[Sgt. Largent]

With the endless commercials (mostly about fantasy football, betting on fantasy football, and ways to get even MOAR football and fantasy football stats stuffed into your life), the endless sensationalism of every single thing that happens, and the endless stoppages and over-analyzing the game's every facet, I think we know where this is going.!

Right, another hypocrisy.

We don't condone or like anyone gambling on our sport, especially players or coaches......................so here's 85 commercials in 3 hours promoting it!

 

[253hawk]

Saw a tweet late yesterday that mentioned the penalties through week 3 are the most in 35 years or something to that effect.

Most penalties through the first 3 weeks since the merger.

 

[Jville]

I rarely watch live broadcasts. I DVR virtually all broadcasts. I have also become an avid fan of the fast forward button.