I love American Football! It is by far my favorite sport to the point where I can watch almost any match-up and enjoy it. Like any addict who has been in withdrawal, I decided to go on a NFL binger this weekend.
I watched the Dallas vs Philadelphia opener and thoroughly enjoyed watching Jerry Jones' team get beat. I hope he cried himself to sleep on his giant pillow made of money. Then on Friday I watched my favorite team (or maybe they are my second favorite team now) the Los Angeles Chargers defeat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Brazil. Unlike many people, I don't hate Mahomes, Kelce and the Chiefs. Mahomes is one of the most amazing players I have ever seen. I just wish the Bears had drafted him instead of Mitch freaking Trubisky! The only thing I have against the Chiefs is the fact they keep beating the Chargers. Well until Thursday that is. I took Saturday off and watched a terrible movie. And today I am right back on it watching the NFL Redzone for the early game and the Detroit Lions vs green Bay Packers in the afternoon. I'll then watch tonight's Bills vs Ravens and of course tomorrow's Bears vs Vikings game. My gosh that is a lot of football!
I guess I telling you all of that to try and give myself some credibility for the rant I'm about to vomit out. Some NFL rules are just flat out stupid. Although I could probably name about twenty dumb ones, today I am just going to focus on two that have to do with protecting the quarterback.
I am not one of those people who whines, :you should just put flags on them! This isn't football!" I get it. Teams have invested over $400 million in some of these quarterbacks. Without a great quarterback, a team has no chance and the games are pretty unwatchable. So please, by all means wrap them in bubble wrap. Fine. As long as everyone is playing by the same rules (which I think they are now that Tom Brady has retired) it's all fair. But for the love of god, please use some common sense!
Here are two (maybe it bleeds into three) examples from what I have already watched this weekend.
Hitting the quarterback when he breathes on the out of bounds marker. If anyone even breathes on a QB while he is veering toward the out of bounds line, they are immediately flagged for 15 yards. Because that is such a huge penalty, defenders have become hyper aware to just let the QB go out of bounds. And that is fine. It is a gentleman's agreement: "I won't crush you and you just nicely dip out of bounds". Well several quarterbacks, including Patrick Mahomes on Friday, have decided to try to take advantage of that rule. It has become commonplace for a QB to pretend to go out of bounds only to then turn on the jets and run down the sideline for another 10 yards. Mahomes has even started to lower his shoulder and hit a defender who is slowing down and letting up. They either need to allow QBs to get hit like running backs and receivers or they need to finish off the rule by saying that if a QB is running out of bounds, he is considered down as soon as he stops his forward momentum. It is simply not fair to allow the QB to have it both ways. the same holds true for a fake slide. If you fake slide, you should be down and their should be a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct... because it is unsportsmanlike conduct.
The next one is about protecting a QB after a turnover. On Thursday, after turning the ball over, Dallas QB Dak Prescott made an amazing touchdown saving tackle. The Eagles only scored three points after that turnover thanks to Prescott's heroics. But maybe he would not have made the tackle if the Eagles were allowed to block him.
What is this "out of bounds" you speak of?
In today's Packers vs Lions game, Packers QB Jordan Love threw and interception. During the runback, a Lion dared to block Love like a football player. he was penalized for doing so. There is a rule that says you are not allowed to touch a QB after a turnover unless he is making an effort to be involved in the play. So now a defender needs to turn around, look for someone to block, check their number or recognize them as the QB and then not block them all during the frenzy of a turnover. That is absurd. So the QB can make a touchdown saving tackle but the defense has to be careful not to block him unless they think he is going to make a touchdown saving tackle? What if the play starts on one sideline and ends on the one the QB is closest to. He may not have seemed like he was going to make a play, but now he is.
Again there is a very easy solution. If a QB cannot be blocked, they should immediately run off the field or sit down where they are at. It is simply not fair that he could become an unblocked defender at any point during the play. He's either a defender or not. There should be no gray area.
I love football but it is simply becoming too complicated. As in almost every thing in life, common sense would salve these problems.