How is 54-51 even football anymore?

Am I the only one on this planet that thinks a 105 points in a football game is an abomination? Is there where we want this game to go?

I grew up watching CFL and with the wider field and 2 downs. Games looked a lot like this kind of thing. Pass happy score heavy league with pretty crappy defense.

When NFL and cable TV came to Canada I quickly fell in love with the NFL version of the NFL. Tough defenses ruled the day. RB's were the stars. WR's feared the middle where only the strong survived. It was a warrior game.

It's not the game I loved in my teens and 20's.

At least some teams like the Seahawks are trying to bring balance to the force before we all descend into the dark abyss of spread football and college basketball scores. How long that will last I don't know but I'm becoming less of a fan of this up and down the field seemingly at will due to handcuffed defenses that can't knock your block off for daring to run through the mifddle of a zone defense.

/rant

Outdoor Arena League.
How fitting that the NFL Network had Rick Flair on their pre game hype show.

Just think how good it would have been with Elite QB's playing. :stirthepot:

Nope sorry I loved it.. in the end this is entertainment for me and who can say that wasn't entertaining as hell?

therealjohncarlson":35mrgn43 said:

Nope sorry I loved it.. in the end this is entertainment for me and who can say that wasn't entertaining as hell?

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Well watching Punt Pass and Kick is Entertaining to to some people and you don't have to worry about injuries. Maybe thats where the game is headed.

Not my idea of enjoyable football to watch. Last night's Bears/Vikings game was a lot more entertaining to me and one of the more memorable primetime games this year (for me) was the 19-16 Dallas/Houston game. Sure hope this doesn't become the norm, but if it does then I guess I'll have more free time.

Enjoyable for sure to me, but damn those defenses were bad.

Teams that unbalanced just don’t get it done in the postseason- both teams endings could be as ugly as the 2013 Broncos and it wouldn’t surprise me.

New Orleans is great, Chicago is really well balanced, and heck, Dallas has a great RB and high end talent at every level of defense. We already know the Hawks can play these guys to a one possession game.

In the AFC I kinda really like the Chargers even though they’re a wild card team and just had a bad game. QB, running game, pass rushers, secondary and competent veteran coordinators in Whisenhunt and Gus Bradley.

KC is gonna lose their first playoff game to either Pitt or LA

I think shootouts can be exciting when they are rare. When shootouts become the new normal games are boring to watch. Teams routinely putting together big plays takes all of the tension out of the game. It's like watching a 2-hour movie where nothing of significance happens to the characters until the final 2 minutes.

I wasnt thrilled bout a game like this but thats me.

knownone":28ppo4nm said:

I think shootouts can be exciting when they are rare. When shootouts become the new normal games are boring to watch. Teams routinely putting together big plays takes all of the tension out of the game. It's like watching a 2-hour movie where nothing of significance happens to the characters until the final 2 minutes.

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Agreed. Like last year's Texans game, it was thrilling because of the lead changes and how you just hoped you would score next time you got the ball.

But only once. If every game was like that then scoring loses it all its meaning. Like basketball.

Complaining about this is just stupid. Check out this box score:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198609210nyj.htm

That's from 1986, 32 years ago. Bad defense is bad defense. The Rams and Chiefs have the two best offenses in football, and shitty defenses. Of course the score was going to be absurd, taking the under was always a losing proposition. I think the 2013 Legion of Boom could've handled these teams without issue.

Maulbert":6288kyd7 said:

Complaining about this is just stupid. Check out this box score:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198609210nyj.htm

That's from 1986, 32 years ago. Bad defense is bad defense. The Rams and Chiefs have the two best offenses in football, and shitty defenses. Of course the score was going to be absurd, taking the under was always a losing proposition. I think the 2013 Legion of Boom could've handled these teams without issue.

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My problem is that its getting more and more common these days. 38-33 games used to be a rarity. Now they occur every week. Heck it seems 45-42 is happening every second week. Now we get a game with two 50 burgers and one team loses.

Scoring should be hard. If not, then where is this sport headed.

Mad Dog":2v7oqdhf said:

Maulbert":2v7oqdhf said:

Complaining about this is just stupid. Check out this box score:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198609210nyj.htm

That's from 1986, 32 years ago. Bad defense is bad defense. The Rams and Chiefs have the two best offenses in football, and shitty defenses. Of course the score was going to be absurd, taking the under was always a losing proposition. I think the 2013 Legion of Boom could've handled these teams without issue.

Click to expand...

My problem is that its getting more and more common these days. 38-33 games used to be a rarity. Now they occur every week. Heck it seems 45-42 is happening every second week. Now we get a game with two 50 burgers and one team loses.

Scoring should be hard. If not, then where is this sport headed.

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In the college ranks.....Some BASKETBALL scores barely make it to that point. Defense and the ability to take the ball back with screens and pick and rolls that dont work keep the score down. And the Pros, I dont watch me me me me me ball.

I agree with the OP. It is hard to watch offense after offense with no defense to oppose them. As Chris said, PPandK without refs. But since they bought the refs, they will have to put them in there somewhere. Maybe a glorious glare at a line so the contestant is ensured to not cross it in their attempt to put the ball in the DR Pepper hole.

Arena League, lame. Right up there with a 15-14 baseball game.

They are terrible. Other than the D Line, which is great at pass rushing. Their Corners and safeties get owned on a regular basis. They are horrific against the run. So, that qualifies as an average at best D.
The Worship of that team is so funny. Now their offense, that is another story.

SoulfishHawk":1y0l2dek said:

They are terrible. Other than the D Line, which is great at pass rushing. Their Corners and safeties get owned on a regular basis. They are horrific against the run. So, that qualifies as an average at best D.
The Worship of that team is so funny. Now their offense, that is another story.

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Yeah I deleted my post before you posted after heading to nfl.com to take a look at their stats. I guess I haven't been paying attention to them as much as I thought I was

What's happening is that we're in a moment when offensive innovations are outstripping defensive innovations.

This always goes back and forth.

Remember when Chip Kelly set the NFL on fire in his first season? The Chiefs and Rams are basically Kelly 2.0 right now (running a lot of the same route combos, but with a greatly expanded playbook, the jet motion incorporated, and without all of the formational tells).

Just as RPOs have been around for forever and announcers finally caught on this year, pattern matching on defense has been around for awhile but doesn't get talked about that much, and in response to these offensive innovations teams are going to start masking pattern matching into cover 4 shells some more (some teams already do some of it in cover 3 a fair amount). High school teams are already doing this, and the NFL just needs to catch up.

In any case, complaining that two 9-1 teams that have by far the two most explosive offenses in the NFL got in a shootout is incredibly bizarre to me.

knownone":2kvdgypq said:

I think shootouts can be exciting when they are rare. When shootouts become the new normal games are boring to watch. Teams routinely putting together big plays takes all of the tension out of the game. It's like watching a 2-hour movie where nothing of significance happens to the characters until the final 2 minutes.

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Now this is I can pretty much agree with. I think it’s safe to say we haven’t reached that point yet judging by how people reached to the game last night.. although I will admit I don’t love the direction a lot of the rules are moving into.

In a vaum though.. exciting as hell game

knownone":vq8o0hys said:

When shootouts become the new normal games are boring to watch.

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When did shootouts become the new normal. IIRC scoring is up by about 3 points per game total.

Popeyejones":7ju3ccue said:

This thread is very funny.

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Well, at least this thread can entertain you this year, even if your team can't. :mrgreen:

Personally, I turned that game off in the 4th quarter. It wasn't entertaining, it was painful to watch the No-D NFL and the All-"Star" refs. It was like watching a boxing match where neither guy blocks a single punch, just stands there looking stupid with his hands down then punches the other one who's doing the same.