The NFL prides itself on parity. On any given Sunday, anything can happen, right?
Only this time, the same thing is happening every week. The good teams are exposing the bad teams. There’s one problem; there are more bad teams than you might think.
This Sunday was a classic case. When you are a professional, there is no excuse in losing a game against another pro by 59 points. The Tennessee Titans are better than that, although their record and most recent performance would beg to differ.
How about the Washington Redskins’ brass deciding to take away the play-calling duties from a coach? If you are Redskins’ head coach Jim Zorn, your shelf life has become shorter. Do not make any long-term purchases. You rent from day to day, and when you shop at the grocery store you never buy green bananas.
This is the HEAD coach, the boss, the guy who calls the shots, and he has been put on notice. Only in the NFL.
Did I mention the talent? The talent in this league is physically impressive, but there are few who actually have football skills. Throw in the fact that players have more injuries and shorter careers and it’s hard for some to stand up to players from just 10 years ago.
Sure, there are the Peyton Mannings and Adrian Petersons of the world that could play in any era, but there is a second tier of players who have been anointed as stars. If they only knew..
So, how did we arrive at the dilemma that we call the NFL? It started well before the players got to the pros.
Many players have been coddled since their days in junior football. Players are spared from grueling practices where they learn to play more than one position. Just like in some classrooms in schools these days, the teaching or the lack of teaching on the football field is shortchanging the players. By the time they get to college they can only practice 20 hours a week so there is not much teaching there either.
Then there are the pros. There are only two real practice days during the week. Monday is a day of recovery, Tuesday is an off day. Wednesday and Thursday are days to implement the game plan for the opponent on Sunday. Friday and Saturday are normally reserved for special teams and one final walk-through.
So when does the teaching take place? In a meeting room? The way you learn the game is on the field and there just isn’t enough time, mainly because coaches are too worried about getting their players ready for Sunday. It’s now become a system of teaching how to take a test.
It’s not the fault of the players and coaches, it is the system’s fault for how little time players play for coaches and play with each other. Free agency, salary caps and coaches on the hot seat are the reasons why today’s game is so watered down.
NFL personnel directors who evaluate talent now just crunch numbers with respect to how high you can jump and how much weight you can lift. Let’s not forget how fast you can run … and that is all they have for you. Few look under the hood to see if a guy can really play football.
So how do you fix it? What can the NFL do to upgrade?
Nothing. They are content with it because there is no competition. The coaches won’t speak out because they need a job. The players do not know the difference. The fans just want a game until they realize that their team is over-matched for all the wrong reasons.
In short, it will be the status quo for the foreseeable future. It’s too bad because we are all missing what used to be a great game.