Another Sports Podcast
Is the Quality of the NFL In Decline?
All right guys so this one's going to be a little bit different. I'm going to do this one sort of in the frame of a question that question is is the NFL in a state of decline in terms of quality and There's definitely a bunch statistics to back that up Scoring is that the lowest it's ever been since 2006 This is coming off of a lot of years where offenses were Going gung-ho and putting up a lot of points and it really seemed like for a long time there If you wanted to win a game in the NFL you had to put up thirty one thirty four points That's no longer the case. It feels like there's a lot more 18 to 10 games. There's a lot of 21 14 games a lot of low scoring games this day is which to me I like I don't mind the low scoring game As long as it's a good defensive game Sometimes low scoring and good defense are not always the case Sometimes it's just a sloppy game Which definitely bodes to the quality and I would definitely get into that as we go on Yeah, it feels like there's more parity in the league too at the moment. There's a really there's only a few Off count so we got the bills. We've got the Steelers. We got the Seahawks the Vikings and The Chiefs there's five three and O teams at the moment. I believe let me just double check my math here So it feels like there's definitely more parity in the league Then there has been in a long time Yeah, we have one two yep five so if we have five three and O teams Feels like there's definitely been more parity in the league than there has been in a long time. So you got a lot of teams That maybe aren't perceived to be as good beating what teams that you would perceive to be as good It's definitely been a lot of unpredictability week to week the past three these first three weeks of the season Which you know doesn't bode well for the gamblers like myself, but You know, I kind of like that element of it That's kind of the big reason why I like you know football in terms of relative to some other sports is any given Sunday But I think a big reason why The NFL seems to be in a big state of decline has to be the offensive line play and the young quarterbacks in the league that have not performed well Outside of Jaden Daniels the other day on Monday night it feels like a lot of and this goes back to what I was saying earlier where You know just because the game is a little scoring doesn't necessarily mean that there's a lot of good defense being played It feels like whatever happened in the past few years the offensive line play in the league has Really gotten behind the defensive front and Maybe that's just says something about the type of athletes that are on the defensive side of the ball at the moment It feels like every team does have a game wrecker behind the in their front seven Don't know when the last time that was there was a long period of time there where there really wasn't that many good pass Russia's in the league But now it feels like every team's got a guy that can really get after the quarterback And I feel like these offensive linemen now are very outmatched and I don't really know how to fix it The league definitely didn't make it easier this year with the Focus on legal formation with all these outside tackles lining up too far in the backfield You really have to I mean it definitely is the athletes on the defensive side of the ball are definitely better than the offensive line at the moment and It's it's leading to a lot of sloppy offensive play And it hasn't bode well for a lot of these quarterbacks A lot of people are criticizing the quarterback play in the league at the moment And I don't necessarily know if it's necessarily the quarterbacks and themselves, I mean obviously there's some quarterbacks that are just not good but When you look at the landscape of the league and you see all these guys now, you know Sam Donald over in Minnesota who you know has had a career resurgence You know, he gets behind a good offensive line a good offensive coach And it's and after looking like he couldn't play in New York for years It all of a sudden he's able to put drives the other put up points on the board is an MVP candidate maybe necessarily everyone is overreacting but he's putting up numbers like an MVP candidate and I just think that these offensive lines and these offenses offensive coordinators really in general and the fact that there are a lot of these QBs are getting rushed these days is really led to a Little bit of a decline in the quality of play and maybe the excitement that you're expecting out of the NFL week to week Obviously, it doesn't hurt help that there's three preseason games now and you have Teams that really don't put any emphasis on the preseason. It feels like the preseason used to be a Bit more of a warm-up for the regular season than it is today when it was four games And it was a 16 game slate now a days These teams seems to hide everything behind closed doors. They put everything in joint practices where it's a bit of a controlled environment and They really treat these preseason games like they're nothing so Guys aren't really getting a lot of reps in the preseason They aren't getting a lot of reps in practice because it's less padded practices these days And I think that is leading to these first Four or five six weeks of the NFL year are kind of a bit sloppy a bit Not what you'd expect out of NFL action It has picked up in the past few years though as the year goes on So I expect it to be just the same this year Scoring is down to the lowest it's been since 2006 this year, and it definitely feels that way Like I said it really felt like years ago you'd have to Felt like for a few years there it was trending in the direction of you had to put 30 points on the board And that's just no longer the case which is good that defense is Added back into the game. There was a period of time there where it didn't feel like you could win games on defense anymore that that was a thing of the past and That hasn't held true, and it feels like a lot of these defenses have caught up to the offenses Despite the many rules that They have to deal with Regarding defending the past in particular but No, I don't think that it doesn't necessarily hurt my interest in it But I've definitely heard from around the league and around the internet and everywhere with that people Aren't necessarily as thrilled with the product this year and that there's especially Sunday. I Think you know you have a marquee game like the Saints and the Eagles and it's 3 nothing going into the second quarter, which you know it was Not necessarily It was a bit of a sloppy game once each team got onto each other side of the field Didn't help that Siriani Nick Siriani goes for it on fourth and one When he could have easily kicked a field goal to tie the game at the end and half But that's that's neither here nor there stores started to open up at the end of the fourth quarter but Yeah, so you have a marquee game. It's low scoring that in a dome where a lot of people thought it was gonna be a high scoring high flying game and It sort of gives the perception that wow a lot of these offenses aren't ready and it's true You know you look at around league a lot of these teams aren't They're just Everything looks rushed everything looks like it's pieced together Coaches are experimenting a lot with whatever they have You know perfect example. This is a Chicago Bears the Chicago Bears have Kayla Williams as their first overall pick at quarterback and They've thrown him behind in atrocious offensive line Probably the worst in the league He does have weapons there with DJ more and you know, etc But he has absolutely no time to get the ball out of his hands and He's just been shoehorned into that organization and expected to fix everything and it's not happening And it feels like there's been a big emphasis in the past few years and it's not really a feel I mean The past few years we've had five quarterbacks taken in the first round now six quarterbacks taken in the first round It feels like everyone's looking for that Patrick Mahomes that Tom Brady Aaron Rodgers sort of tight wall who you know, Aaron Rodgers was developed behind Brett Favre for a few years but everyone's looking for that guy that comes into their organization and just Flips a switch and there hasn't really been a good trend of that lately I Feel like there was a period there where we saw a lot of Hall of Fame worthy quarterbacks Tom Brady Peyton Manning Aaron Rodgers Drew Brees And I feel like it may have screwed with everyone's perception that you just get a quarterback and there's like there's a guy in every draft that you just take and You just shoehorn him into your crappy organization crappy team and they're just gonna fix everything and that's not That hasn't that trend hasn't been Holding steady over the past few years has been all sorts of quarterbacks taken There's been a lot of them that have been that just have not worked out You know, there may be something with this Jane Daniels kid who was taken in the taking second overall by Washington He's setting records right now for rookie completion percentage and you know all that but it's only three games and he has kind of played a little bit of cream puff schedule even though last night was Impressive it was very impressive what he did last night especially towards the end of the game where it was starting to slip away from Washington and He made a big-time throw with a blitzer right in his face Towards the back pile on to Terry McClellan So obviously if you're Washington you feel good about your quarterback at the moment but you never know there's been teams that have felt good about their quarterback after week one or after year one and And it's gone the other way, you know, you look at CJ Stroud was great last year Not off to a sort of so-so start this year Who knows if that was just a flash in the pan last year, maybe he's not You know anything special or elite You know even look at a guy that I would consider an elite quarterback, but You have to start sort of start questioning him would be Joe burrow who kind of instantly came in made the Cincinnati Bengals relevant and You know they went to a Super Bowl and never since then they did go back to the AFC Championship game But ever since that AFC Championship game. It's sort of been turmoil in that organization ever since then Obviously he gets hurt last year and it looks like he's not really over the injury. He had put it together in the second half last night But you know, I think It's sort of the jury might still be out on him. I mean, it seemed like he wouldn't he's an established guy, but You never know these quarterbacks could backslide You know, there's There isn't a lot of evidence that you can just draft the guy you can just suck and suck and suck and then draft the guy and he's gonna instantly turn your crappy team into contender and I feel like that's What is really apparent in the league and Brady mentioned this Tom Brady mentioned this at his little fanatics thing About how it's a bit of a shame that all these young quarterbacks are getting thrown in because they need time to develop they need time to learn the game and That's why you know a lot of these guys they flame out at their team But then you know after a few years being in the league you look at a guy like Sam Donald Even Jared Goff Jared Goff was sort of looked at as a bit of a joke I mean he went to the Super Bowl with the stacked Rams team But you know didn't do anything in that Super Bowl the team put up three points But now he goes to the Lions and he's leading one of the most explosive offenses in the league and he's got a good team around him So it feels like there isn't enough emphasis on development Around the league, you know, you look at a guy like Jordan Love at the Green Bay Packers have really done a good job with development they sat Jordan Love behind Aaron Rodgers and That first week against the Eagles, you know, sort of so-so. So we'll see with him. We'll see if he just had really good half of the season or not but They've sort of shown that it works Sitting these quarterbacks and developing them and not you know force them especially into a bad situation Some of these guys have gotten lucky and they've gotten into a good situation. I would say Jane Daniels might be that type of guy this offensive line is performing well He has a really good receiver and Terry McLorin who you know is Probably top 10 Yeah, he you know, he's thrown into a better situation He's got a good offensive coordinator and Cliff Kingsbury who's worked with sort of guys like him before You know, it seems like he was really thrown into a better situation than say Caleb Williams A better situation than what Drake May would be in right now if he was playing And you just sort of have to question, you know Your quarterback cannot just be your be all end-all and I feel like that's leading to the quality of play decline is You're seeing a lot of these young quarterbacks get thrown into the game get thrown into games too early around a team That's not ready for them You know, then you look at the Bears like especially It's like you get the number one overall pick and you don't think to put anything into protecting them like a lot of these teams just think that All that's all they got to do is just draft the quarterback and I feel like it's it's been too simplified too dumb down And maybe that's why these defenses are having success because there isn't any offensive scheme going on at the moment and It's been easy for these defenses to just feasts And yeah, you know, I feel like that's that's been sort of the big thing plaguing the league at the moment is just the sort of inconsistent play of these offenses and and young quarterbacks and and It's why a lot of people are have been a little bit tuned out of the league so far to the first three weeks I think a lot of them just look at these games. They're just they're just not good games um and So yeah, let me know what would you guys think? um, I think that You know to fix it going forward I think a lot of these teams need to chill out on the quarterbacks, you know, it's a bit of a joke that You know, you never you used to see Drafts where there'd be one quarterback taking in the first round you'd see two quarterbacks taking in the first round now it's like five six a year and it's all done with the Thought that oh we got to get a quarterback. We got to get a quarterback and there's a lot of these quarterbacks are just not first round talents Um, you know you look at mac jones who was a first round pick Who years ago would not have been a first round pick But the Patriots need a quarterback and they fall for the pressure and they just need the quarterback so they take mac jones even a guy like you know Um bownecks bownecks sort of same thing you don't look at bownecks and say that guy is a first round town He had a good game. Yes. He had a good game on sunday but there's nothing Over the top. He didn't really You know steal that game for them Um, you know, he's just sort of there He's just sort of an average quarterback at best and you know jj mccarthy is another another one who hasn't really gotten in But there's nothing about what he did at michigan that like wowed you And a lot of these quarterbacks are just being overvalued Um in the name of just we can't miss we can't miss on any of these guys so That's sort of my take guys on why The league seems to be in a bit of a decline In terms of quality. Another thing I would say too is um, you know These kicker the kicking has gotten a little bit too easy Um, that sort of kind of takes a little bit of the excitement away out of it Uh, this is just sort of a off-going rant but You know, these kickers have now Made it so If you cross the 50 yard line You're pretty much guaranteed three points Which makes it all the more infuriating when these coaches continue to keep going forward on fourth and short Um in sort of unneeded Circumstances looking at you nix siryani and your uh fourth and one Call there at the end of the first half um That's that's another thing too. It's just some of the coaching decisions that you see on a weekly basis Are just what is going on? It's all analytical driven It's never really any feel for the game sort of moment. No one really ever thinks that way anymore um And yeah, I think when you combine it all it's just It's leading to a little bit of a crap product which I still enjoy it, but I can then see why some people are like this is Not good. This is not good quality But uh, that's where i'm gonna wrap it up guys. Uh, let me know what you think Thank you.