I thought for sure they were going to lose that game. Instead I was treated to watching them, like someone said earlier, actually run the ball. It was a good game. And anytime I can watch Jerry Jones get squirmy is a good one. Some really bad injuries this weekend. It seems to me the season ending injuries are happening more often. Thoughts anyone?
The athletes are getting bigger, stronger, faster. But their bones and muscles still break and sprain and tear the same. You see it in the NBA too, the Achilles tendon tear used to be some freak injury now it seems to happen to a few players each year. The NBA coaches have responded by strategically resting players, and the league responded by adjusting their schedule to ease the load on those players. I think eventually the NFL will follow suit.
I don't see why they can't go ahead and drop one preseason game, start the season one week earlier, add two byes during the season, and have all the Thursday games preceded by a bye. You could just not have Thursday games the second week of the season, but every other Thursday. Right now, the Thursday games are usually terrible and teams aren't prepared or are banged up. Or something.
The NFL will never follow suit. If they were serious about the players, they would reduce the number of games to a total of 14. Two preseason games and 12 regular season games. Four teams make the playoffs and the Superbowl would be played the Weekend before Christmas. If you think this is nuts, well that is what the NFL looked like when the teams merged in 1970. The exception being that there were six preseason games. It will never happen due to TV money, gambling and fantasy football leagues. The NFL simply does not give a shit.
I hear this all the time, even after the 3 dozen or whatever number it is rule changes they've made over the last few years in the name of player safety. Kick offs have become meaningless, defenders are getting flagged every 3rd or 4th play, and if you so much as breathe on the QB a split second after he releases you can get a fine from the league. I know people want more and more player safety all the time, and there's valid reasons for it, but frankly it's ruining the sport. Cut it down to 14 games now? Fuck that, Just don't put any of your starters in the first two preseason games and let the 3rd stringers/rookies take the whole 60 minutes to show us what the JV NFL looks like. Yeah, it's true a season used to be 14 games (and 6 preseason games for a time, I might add) but do you know what football was like back then? It might as well have been a different sport.
Personally I don’t give a shit about injuries. If anything they should cut back on protective gear and let the players be a bit more cautious. Works for rugby.
Wow... just caught up on the game from yesterday. It'll be interesting to see how the Pack does this year. This is turning into a killer year for injuries.
On the plus side this will probably mean the vikings win the division, and then I get to watch the ensuing mental breakdowns in the streets of Minneapolis after they get eliminated from the playoffs in the most creative manner possible.
As long as it means the Packers don't win a Superbowl in the Vikings' stadium, I'll count that as a silver lining.
In all seriousness I really do want to see Minnesota win the big one. God knows they're due. I very much doubt it will be this year though. Actually, who knows? I mean, who is the team to beat in the NFC right now? The eagles? The falcons? There really isn't a stand out team so far.
Right now it appears to be the Eagles. I haven't watched any of their games but they don't seem to have any glaring weaknesses. I'm not sold on Carolina, especially if Kuechly is going to miss any extended time. The Lions are Jekyll & Hyde, Atlanta is coming back down to Earth after their ridiculous 2016 season, the Seahawks offensive line is pretty much last year's Vikings offensive line, and I can't take the Rams seriously yet. It really seems like the NFC is pretty wide open right now.
Sunday was by far the worst day I've had in a long, long time. This was just a piece of why. And typical. They are so fucking beat up, even if he hadn't gone down, they're just more fucked now.