Game thread, Green Bay vs. Washington, 9/23/18

[igor67]

If the QB safety is this important make them 2 hand touch. I caught replays but not the actual games and those 2 tackles were so ridiculously clean I can't believe it. Until they come up with a sane way of handling this call I'm in the camp of having other things to do. I still have college and high school football.

I've also been working at trying to understand rugby which is really interesting and constant action.

[stoutdude04]

I see that a DL from the Dolphins tore his ACL on a play where he tried to avoid putting too much weight on the QB. So, while trying to protect someone else they created another injury.

 

When I played hockey we were always told that if you go half speed you'll end up with a chance of hurting yourself more-so than going full speed. It appears that's exactly what happened to that Dlineman.

[tmwiese55]

They simply have to understand that it's impossible to make an inherently violent sport safe. The players are fully grown adults making a decision to play in exchange for a large sum of money. Yes you shouldn't be encouraging the craziness of intentionally injuring like 20 years ago or blatant intentional cheap shots, clear that up and penalize/fine as much as needed. Maybe even moreso than they've been doing, take what that Bears LB did to Adams last year, throw the book at stuff like that one. But you have to let them play the game or you're going to throw the baby out with the bathwater, bite the hand that feeds, kill the cash cow, or whichever idiom you want to use. Everyone is aware of the risks now, it's their choice to play or not.

 

ETA: I'm one who's been off the NFL wagon for about 5-6 years already. If we didn't have the best QB and a contending team every year I wouldn't watch at all. I've yet to watch a play other than the Packers this year besides random plays on twitter when someone is usually bashing the penalty that was called. When they extended the commercial break frequency and length a few years ago that was it for me, I couldn't stay awake. And still often fall asleep during Packer games. And in the NFL you only have at most two games to choose from unless you pay for Sunday ticket or RZ. So there is a good chance both games are on commercial at the same and/or one or both games is trash or a blowout. The wide open nature of college football makes it much better to watch, plus there is like 8 games on at once. So at least one or two is going to be a good matchup or entertaining.

[MrTPlush]

According to Business Insider ratings the last three years:

 

1) 17.9mil

2) 16.5mil

3) 14.8mil

 

That is some big declines and this new tackle rule is almost sure to send it farther down. Advertising on the other hand:

 

1) $3.5bil

2) $3.8bil

3) $4.2bil

 

The declines are even worse for premier viewership games. A further sign people would rather watch/do other things. The garbage time Sunday day games fare better versus the last because really nothing else is on.

 

I would be all over college football if they expanded the college football playoff where Wisconsin could realistically make is occasionally. Instead it’s nearly impossible and you get dumb bowl game for all your hard work, no shot to win it all.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm sure Sleep Number, Charmin and 1-800-FLOWERS will only send the advertising higher.

[homer]

It's a tough situation. I get the need to protect the QB (what are the ratings for Packer games when Rodgers doesn't play?) but you also have to make the game watchable.

[bjkrautk]

It's a tough situation. I get the need to protect the QB (what are the ratings for Packer games when Rodgers doesn't play?) but you also have to make the game watchable.

 

Yesterday was the first time I learned it was possible to commit a roughing-the-passer penalty while the QB still had the ball. It's borderline absurd.

[FVBrewerFan]

According to Business Insider ratings the last three years:

 

1) 17.9mil

2) 16.5mil

3) 14.8mil

 

That is some big declines and this new tackle rule is almost sure to send it farther down.

The declines are even worse for premier viewership games. A further sign people would rather watch/do other things. The garbage time Sunday day games fare better versus the last because really nothing else is on.

 

I just saw ratings for the Sunday night game were up 18% over last year, and it wasn't even a good game. Maybe an isolated up-tick, but despite all of us complaining most of us will still watch.

[MrTPlush]

According to Business Insider ratings the last three years:

 

1) 17.9mil

2) 16.5mil

3) 14.8mil

 

That is some big declines and this new tackle rule is almost sure to send it farther down.

The declines are even worse for premier viewership games. A further sign people would rather watch/do other things. The garbage time Sunday day games fare better versus the last because really nothing else is on.

 

I just saw ratings for the Sunday night game were up 18% over last year, and it wasn't even a good game. Maybe an isolated up-tick, but despite all of us complaining most of us will still watch.

 

That is interesting, but I must wonder if people are still in "start of season" mode. I imagine ratings might slip as the year goes on.

[homer]

The GB Chicago game had pretty big numbers too I believe.

[brewcrewdue80]

I watched the first 3 games...well til mid 3rd quarter vs Washington. Im done for the year. Nfl lost me as a viewer. And these threads dealing with the Packers. I'll return when they put flags on QBs to no longer deal with what is a penalty/what isn't?

[jerichoholicninja]

I don't understand this whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like the rules." Same as I don't understand the whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like players taking a knee." To each their own though.

[pacopete4]

I don't understand this whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like the rules." Same as I don't understand the whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like players taking a knee." To each their own though.

 

For me, it just has me tuned out to other games around the league. I watch the Packers games and then check my fantasy teams. I hardly ever sit down and watch a non-Packers game. I used to, quite a bit.

 

And for me it is because of how the game has changed. Nothing to do with the kneeling stuff.

[BillScottCanRake]

I grew up with the Packers of the late 1970s. My first memories of the team are going 5-11 and 5-10-1. I was 16 before Green Bay had a non-strike winning season and 20 when they made their first full season playoff game. So I think I have learned to accept losses and appreciate wins appropriately.

 

Winning an NFL game is hard. The Packers played in 4 playoff games with James Lofton and Sterling Sharpe on the field. Two Super Bowl wins with two of the best quarterbacks to play. The margins are so small.

 

Now you have to account for how the game is officiated, and while that has always been true , I didnt grow up wondering what a catch was. I think until recently I knew the difference between a hard tackle and a penalty. And you have a league which is all about player safety playing games in Thursday nights just four days after another game. So now teams are not only having to beat their opponents, but they have to navigate poorly worded and inconsistently applied rules. And if they play on a Thursday it is almost more important to survive that game physically than win.

 

I love football, and I won't go so far to say I am done with it. But I can say I am much less invested in it both in time and money, largely because this random element the NFL has injected into the game over the last 10 years. I would probably feel the same way about baseball if I stopped understanding what a hit was.

[True Blue Brew Crew]

I don't understand this whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like the rules." Same as I don't understand the whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like players taking a knee." To each their own though.

 

That's because you're looking at this like people are watching less out of protest. I'm tuning out because I can't trust what my eyes see anymore. I can't get excited about a big play anymore. After every touchdown, turnover, 4th down stop, sack, long punt return, I literally have to pause and wait for the other shoe to drop. When you suck the enjoyment out of what are supposed to be exciting plays, you don't have much of a product. The number of times I've gone from sheer joy to sheer disbelief and anger over a terrible judgement call just in recent years is enough for a lifetime. The NFL is over-legislating its product which makes the outcome far too dependent on the snap judgments of its officials. I'm not tuning to to learn the names of the guys in black and white stripes. When a sports creates more moments of frustration than joy, you start to ask why I am investing so much in this. Eventually you tune in less, until one day you find that you're barely watching.

 

If I had to say where it all started, I'd say it was the Fail Mary. It's just gotten worse from there. I can't remember the last long punt return that wasn't called back. Now it's rising to that level with sacks of the QB. Face it, officials can determine an outcome of a game simply by making a judgement call on any given play they choose. Because something that could be "judged" as a violation literally happens on every play. And lately it has the feel that officials are wielding that power in a more active manner. Probably because the NFL has put more on their shoulders. And when a sport becomes dis-proportionally impacted by the non-athletes involved, I lose all interest.

[Fear The Chorizo]

What has really turned me off watching football is the fact that television broadcasts all need to have "officiating experts" check in to every game at least 4 or 5 times from NY, LA, or wherever their studios are while various coaching or turnover challenges are occurring, or to discuss why a horrible penalty call may have been correct given some obscure rule or overreacting point of emphasis.

 

Watching NFL football is looking more like watching a soap opera / WWF-style form of entertainment, with undue influence of on-field play by off-field reviews and officiating that at times just feels biased at worst or randomly inconsistent at best. The whole concept of "review is ok to make sure they get it right" has completely gone off the rails, because the rules governing the game that the reviews are supposed to abide by are just whacked.

 

When the biggest leaguewide storylines are related to penalty debates and injuries instead of actual football, the game suffers. I've completely tuned out to non-Packer games.

[homer]

2009 - 6.93 penalties per game

2017 - 7.57

2018 so far - 8.56

 

 

EDIT: this actually seems low to me. I think this might be penalties per team per game.

[tmwiese55]

2009 - 6.93 penalties per game

2017 - 7.57

2018 so far - 8.56

 

More and extended commercial breaks. More reviews. I assume PPG have gone up due to all the rules against the D but it's still not very wide open. Most team/offenses look exactly the same etc. There's only two games on at most at a time, usually only one. So if it's a dud of a matchup and/or blowout then I'd rather watch one of the countless great TV shows I can't keep up on. I just get bored with the games and struggle to stay awake, it's not out of any protest of politics or specific rules for me. I think they've overexposed themselves a bit too much combined with the quality of the product going down. Thought what they're doing with the rules is contributing to the product lacking, it's just impossible to make the sport safe, they're risking watering down the game with all this and killing the golden goose.

[bucks2281]

I’m in the same spot as the past few posters.

 

The significant annual rule changes that seem to occur as a result of something that happened the previous year that the league executives didn’t like, like the emphasis on a defender’s body weight while sacking the QB, has turned me off. Also, what was the point of reducing overtime to 10 minutes? The time reduction, along with the relatively new rule about both teams being able to possess the ball in OT, has led to more tie games— 2 already this year. In time, the league will probably decide it doesn’t like that and change the rule. Why should the rules change from year to year for any reason except to enhance player safety?

 

Outside of the game itself, I’ve found the arrogance of the league office and its executives to be really maddening. There was a lot of talk that the league is calling into networks, mainly NBC and ESPN, during games, to tell them to tamp down on criticism of officials and rule changes. See Tony Dungy’s defense Of the roughing the passer penalty on Clay Matthews in Week 2 as an example. I don’t know, there’s been this WWF-vibe during Goodell’s tenure and more specifically, the past few years that makes me want to not tune in anymore. It’s not the same game that I grew up with.

[jerichoholicninja]

I’m in the same spot as the past few posters.

 

The significant annual rule changes that seem to occur as a result of something that happened the previous year that the league executives didn’t like, like the emphasis on a defender’s body weight while sacking the QB, has turned me off. Also, what was the point of reducing overtime to 10 minutes? The time reduction, along with the relatively new rule about both teams being able to possess the ball in OT, has led to more tie games— 2 already this year. In time, the league will probably decide it doesn’t like that and change the rule. Why should the rules change from year to year for any reason except to enhance player safety?

 

I believe the OT changes came from the players as studies were showing more injuries occur during OT and the week after playing an OT game.

[MrTPlush]

I don't understand this whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like the rules." Same as I don't understand the whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like players taking a knee." To each their own though.

 

First off comparing those two is just absolutely ridiculous. One has absolutely nothing to do with the actual game. It is purely a political stand to not watch.

 

The rules suck, it ruins the game, and makes the game not enjoyable to watch...thus not watching it. It’s really easy to understand to be honest. If this doesn’t describe you then you probably still watch it just fine.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I've pretty much stopped watching the NFL compared to what I used to. I might have watched 60 minutes of combined NFL football last year other than the Super Bowl. This year I've watched maybe 30 minutes of action and the only 2 plays I seen last week were when I googled the Aaron Rodgers sack and the Clay Matthews sack. The rule changes the last few years have really turned me off. It started a few years ago when I watched a defensive back trying to make a tackle on a wide receiver. The other wide receiver made a block on the would be tackler. A flag was called for a defenseless player. Really, the player was trying to make a tackle, but he was defenseless. I just don't watch much anymore. I play fantasy football with friends, but I just look at box scores.

[brewcrewdue80]

I don't understand this whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like the rules." Same as I don't understand the whole "I'm not going to watch the NFL because I don't like players taking a knee." To each their own though.

 

The product is awful. Reviews that need indisputable evidence to overturn. Your an ump, make the call. I hate the calls that are wrong because it wasnt "clear enough" to overturn.

Kickoff rule and the end of a kickoff return. How about move the "kickoffs" closer when they are a safety turned punt change of possession. Have punters punt from the 30? With a punt return required lineup. The current way. Oh team scored-2+min commercial break. Kickoff through the end zone. Commer ial break to begin drive at 25. If a guy actually tries to return a kick, the defense is practically at the 15 waiting to tackle inside the 10 on the poor guy.

 

Hits. I am tired blatant offenses not called to only see a fine by the NFL midweek. The poor calls that then are called for clean hits. Its a 15yd penalty/auto 1st down. Game changing mistakes. And it is happening multipl times during a single game. Vs Washington it went their way twice. Ending GB's drive- that should jave continued. Continuing a drive for Washington that should have ended.

[young guns]

That sack by Donald was more violent then any of Matthews penalties, but since he just threw him to the ground but didn't land on him, no flag.