This is unwatchable
 

Finally have a chance to sit down and put my thoughts to paper.

I went last night and I am sickened by what I am watching. Last night's game was the most miserable experience I have ever even thought about having at a game. I can legitimately state that there isn't much more that gets me more excited than having tix in my hand and knowing I'm about to watch this beautiful game. I've loved it since I was a little kid, big games, I will shake leading up to kick off and feeling that energy that doesn't come from any other experience this side of sex.... I'm real close to just saying fuck it and finding something to replace it entirely.

This bullshit they are doing with these fucked up rules that cannot be applied at any reasonable level- it's fucking repulsive. I've watched some of the pre-season games and it's been a tough watch but being present in the seats when these damn form tackles, when these guys trying to jar the ball loose from a fucking 230 lb mass of muscle who has a head full of steam, having the game completely jammed up with these fucking idiots standing around debating this bullshit... fucking agonizing!

The NFL has ZERO fucking clue how many people are going to turn the dial off. If they keep this shit up, by the third game the ratings will be down 70% from last year. This is a disgrace. The fucking thing went on for over 3.5 hours last night...

STOP THIS BULLSHIT!

I will continue watching, but this new helmet rule is one of the dumbest fucking rules I have ever witnessed. Refs do screw up the game and the time it takes for them to finally make a decision is ridiculous.

One word-liability.

The owners care only about their money and getting sued like they have has pissed them off. They will make the game unwatchable before they lose another red cent. It’s sad but that’s what it is.

Yep, the players caused the problem with the lawsuits. This is the only thing the NFL can do to counter those.

The announcers keep saying that penalties will get toned down once the regular season starts. We'll see.

As with many penalities in the NFL, this one is SO subjective.

I saw probably 5 - 8 hits in the first half that I said to myself "there is a penalty for dropping the head" but no flag flew.

However, the 2 that were called on the Colts? Yeah, not even in my top ten of plays that should have been called but were not.

The guidelines are way too subjective; much like the defenseless receiver guidelines. Virtually any hit on a receiver within 1 sec of them catching the ball could be called under that rule but yet only the ones that "deserve" it are. The guidelines suck for defenseless receiver.

As do the guidelines for dropping the head. They pretty much want chest tackles only with the head straight up in the air and that is not happening.

Basically, as someone said, the NFL just gave themselves a tool that can be used to tilt the game in whichever direction they want it. My guess is that scoring is going to way up and Patriots scoring is going to go way, way, way up.

Walk Worthy,

The sooner the NFL realizes they can't make the game safer, the better off we'll all be. It's like if boxing outlawed hits to the head.

I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now.

Players should be educated and fully understand the inherent risks of the job at the professional level. Changing the pro game is not the correct path imo. Being honest about the risks and letting players make that decision for themselves is the path that needs to be taken.

If we are worried about children. Put them in equipment that will not allow them to be capable of getting hurt. Kids who are boxing at an amateur level have head gear and thick gloves that prevent any kid other than mike Tyson from being able to really hurt the other one.

I don't really watch NCAA ball - but I know they have a targeting penalty, which in the few games I've seen, is not called often, and didn't seem controversial. Though I've read a few articles about it being called unevenly and its a little controversial. But it seems to be working - why can't the NFL adopt a similar rule?

I was thinking about that last night. Maybe the NFL should adopt college rules for penalty enforcement. You get called for targeting and you get ejected. It seems like it might be an easy fix and the players coming in would already be used to it.

They don't have a choice. The players forced their hand by suing them. They were getting sued and called out for not taking player safety seriously by players, fans, the media, etc. They had no choice.

If a bunch of boxers got together and started suing the various promotions and sanctioning bodies, they would be in the same boat, and the sport would suffer.

Players can't have it both ways. They sue the NFL for their injuries and then complain when the NFL tries to make it safer to appease them and stop the lawsuits.

There is also the future players to consider. Less parents are letting their children play football because of the head injury concerns and long term health. Football works because it is a grass roots system, it also why it doesn't take off outside of America. But if you player base starts to diminish, then so does your long term development.

They are ironing out the rule, it doesn't work now because they are still trying to get it down. But I think they will.

I don't understand how some of these guys made it to the pros with such bad tackling form. You put your head down or lead with your head you will get a concussion or end up crippled. I never thought tackling with your shoulder would be so hard. I think a lot of the offenders are secondary guys who are more known for their speed than ability to tackle.

I can only speak for myself, it freaking hurts when you hit with the top of your head. I played in HS, not very good, O and D line and sometimes your head is what hits first. Why would you do that on purpose?

I'm committing blasphemy, but you're wrong. The NFL is in hot shit like tobacco companies were: the NFL sat on and suppressed science telling them the game was unsafe. That opened them up for liability.

If they had been transparent from the get-go, which is what Clint and I are saying, the NFL would not be exposed to liability.

The funny thing is that sub-concussive hits have also shown to be incredibly damaging to the human brain. Offensive and defensive linemen suffer those on every single play.

Like Clint said, as long as the players and NFL agree that the game is unsafe, then the issue is gone from the pro ranks. That would be the end of youth and high school tackle football, though.

You have to be a complete moron not to know that a game where people smash into each other repeatedly is unsafe. It didn't matter if they were transparent or not, lawsuits would have been filed, but you can't file lawsuits and then complain about what someone is forced to do as a result of them. Them not telling the players the game wasn't safe is like mcdonald's not telling people that coffee is hot. In either case, it didn't matter that people didn't have common sense, the lawsuits were still filed.

You are right. And the NFL is responsible because the rule was already in place, why, WHY wasn't it called? Spearing. It's in the rule book. Just call the penalty. It doesn't matter if you leave your feet or lead with your head, you hit with the head intentionally, it's spearing.

There's a difference between filing a lawsuit and it actually producing damages. Simply filing a lawsuit is irrelevant to the discussion.

Also, if you've studied that McDonald's case, you would understand that it is not a good example. They knowingly prepared and served coffee that was too hot; the lady got third degree burns from it and she probably wouldn't have if McDonald's served the coffee at the recommended temperature. Like NFL players, consumers know that they're signing up for something that's hot, but not scalding. In tort law, these differences make a significant difference.

I've gotten plenty of stingers and numb shoulders but I learned very early to keep my head up. I lowered it once in Jr High and the coach ripped me a new one. Good coach.

I think it is in real danger of disappearing the way it is now. This is why Goddell is pushing it. The feeding system is how it succeeds, football is an expensive sport to run compared to like soccer where all you need is a ball. Personally I never saw the helmet as protection but more a weapon. I wonder what the game would be like if you took it out.

I played DE, but yeah in the middle of the lines those guys are rocking each other every single play. Helmet to helmet hits every play. Every once in awhile I will read some guy talk about how rough soccer is and in American football you wear pads (usually trolls or guys from another country). But those pads once protect from superficial scraps, you get speared by a 250pd guy running full speed in your back or say your thigh and you see how little protection it really offers. Plus pads have shrunk quite a bit over the last 20 years.

You're just playing with the wording about filing, but that really doesn't matter. In both cases, lawsuits were filed and money was paid out.

You can say the players didn't know the degree of danger, but they knew it was a game where they were violently colliding with other players hundreds of times a game every week, during practice, etc. They knew it was very dangerous to do that, but they still sued the NFL saying "The NFL didn't tell me it was dangerous and they knew." The players knew too, but they sued the NFL anyway. So quite obviously in a situation like that, the NFL HAS to change things or risk more of the same lawsuits down the road. They don't have a choice. The players are now complaining about something they made happen.

I think the problem is whether the NFL is fully forthcoming or have withheld research they have done. If the players were making fully informed decisions that is one thing, but if they believed that they were not doing any lasting hard and then the NFL withheld information so they would continue to play, that is definitely a violation.

Also that McD's case is thrown around a lot as a common sense case, but when you get into the details McD's actually looks pretty liable.

I understand that it's an issue that can make it worthy of a lawsuit, but what I'm saying is that you have to be dumb as shit to not know that you're doing short term and long term damage to yourself with constant violent collisions with another human being. So could they sue? Yes, of course, obviously. They had a case, but in reality, you're dumb as hell if you didn't understand that you were doing damage to yourself playing football.

The players decided to go the legal route and once they did, then they have to understand that the NFL now has no choice but to try to make the game "safer" or risk MORE lawsuits. Blame the NFL if you want, but they had no choice once the lawsuits started.

As some have mentioned, there is inherent risk of serious injury in this sport and to pretend this sport will have the same mass appeal with these types of changes is foolish. Instead of changing the game, I'm a proponent of sharing the risk. Someone mentioned education, but that's not enough. If I were the league in the next CBA i would negotiate adding a standard indemnification clause in the contract releasing the team and league from liability from injuries that are a natural consequence for this sport. In exchange for this clause id agree to give the players some fixed % of their annual contract for any season ending injury and a slightly bigger payout for any career ending injury. This of course would need to be managed outside the salary cap. I think most owners should be willing to trade in the uncertainty of of one unpredictable massive payout for a predicable cost of doing business.....and just pass it along to their sponsors and customers like they do other costs. I think the players will value getting "insurance" hat they won't end up on the streets with no marketable skills and no way to support themselves.....

Owners need add a "Play at your own risk" clause, before agreeing to another CBA Agreement. You will make great money but may be injured, or go flip burgers and mow yards. Imagine most would buy right in... :cool:

They should do a better job of taking care of players health in the long term. And players know what they are doing

Want to play in the NFL from 2018 on sign a waiver. I think we are all on board with what transpired when NFL was found to have hidden vital info/data on head trauma. Knowing what is known now if you are still pursuing an opportunity to play football then the NFL should be released from all liability regarding head injuries moving forward.


If someone today begins a pack a day cigarette habit they should have no recourse anywhere in their future should they become ill as a result. Same if you decide to pursue a football career.

That would be ideal. The biggest issue with this is the perception issue and media. They were criticized quite a bit for not doing enough for player safety in the media.

Personally I would prefer for them to keep things how they were and have a waiver of liability added like you and others have mentioned. I hate the changes.

The chances of the players union agreeing to this are about the same as the chances of driving your car to the moon. It's just not going to happen.

"This is unwatchable" - thousands of guys who continue to watch the NFL

exactly

not that i think this is a bad post. i don't.

but i find it odd how people seem to automatically get behind the owners as opposed to the talent that people watch. almost always fans take managements side.

players can know what they are getting into and sign a waiver to not sue. but why can't the insanely rich owners take care of the players, who make them rich btw? why does that liabilty end after 5 years or whatever it is?

thankfully the players have a union that can navigate that.

I will watch till the name changes to the NFFL … (National Flag Football League) but will retain my right to bitch about the product … :cool:

Still not as bad as "I refuse a portion of my profits for no valid reason." - Business owners who used to show NFL games and now refuse to due to anthem protests.

That penalty on Gilchrist in the Packers / Raiders game- fuck me! And it's that same joke ass bitch ref that called the Colts game.

F this game, F it to hell.

And as for the "same guy that watches every game" thoughts, my interest and my viewing habits have been waning during the Goodell era, they are at an all time low now- I cannot stomach this shit- it's not even football, I don't know what the fuck it is besides shit.