After a conversation with a football fan, I got to wondering. The conversation started by someone saying to me that he was surprised that the Rams game was not a sell out. My response was, “Why would you think differently?”
He countered with, “They are supposed to be better.”
At that point I asked, “How would you know they are going to be better?”
That question brings me to my point. The ever-changing NFL has programmed us all to think we and the media know what we are talking about. Case in point. There are people who attend practice every day, write articles and broadcast shows about what is going on at Rams Park. I have always wondered how they know what they are watching and how it will apply on Sundays.
In a league that is shrouded in secrecy when it comes to practices and what can and can not be seen and recorded, how is one supposed to recognize with the naked eye what they are trying to do as a team to get ready for an opponent on Sunday? Simple answer: Most have no clue as to what they are watching and are in no position to give reliable predictions about what a team will do.
In hockey, you can go to a practice and see what elements a team can practice and how it would apply to a game. Baseball is made up of batting practice and fielding drills. Pretty easy to figure things out there. Basketball is composed of drills and the practice of certain plays that would be required at certain stages of the game. In those sports it is easy to ascertain who is doing what and why.
Football is a different bird completely, and how one can tell anything about anyone at this early stage of the season is borderline comical. There are a lot of people who make a lot of money in broadcasting and predicting football game outcomes. Some of them have an idea of what the league is all about. If there are more than three in St. Louis, I would like to meet them.
Granted, it is not their fault, but come on, it is what it is and we could all do better. Here is one suggestion. Give the season time to breathe. I would suggest waiting four weeks before you predict what you have in the Rams or most teams in the NFL. I use the four week mark, because at that point players have had more contact in games than they may have had during an entire training camp, due to the new safety rules that have been implemented to protect players from wear and tear.
Before you start to pass judgment on teams and players, take more time than week one of the season. Let’s settle down a bit. Seldom can one determine a season after game one. Take your time. Football will be here for a while.
