NFL season is gearing up and fans as well as players are chomping at the bit for the season to officially be underway. Unlike most sports the NFL is a league of hope. The average fan believes that his team has a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl and for the most part he or she is right. Unlike most professional leagues the NFL offers true parody, and the term any given Sunday does actually apply. A few years ago I witnessed it firsthand. I was able to watch my Beloved Arizona Cardinals come within two minutes of winning a Super Bowl. At the beginning of that season no one was picking my Red Birds to even win their division but they did and in convincing fashion. As a season ticket holder and proud owner of 4 seats in the first couple of rows from the field at University of Phoenix stadium, I felt like I was a big part of the success.
With that being said the game I grew up loving has changed and I definitely know it is not for the better. I watched Adrian Wilson be a menacing and dominate force at strong safety until all the rule changes. The league singlehandedly took away the greatest attribute of A-Dubs game, the big hit. The result was a shell of the player that once dominated the middle of the field and created havoc for opposing tight-ends and wide receivers. The services of hard hitting defensive players are becoming no longer needed. The heavy hitters will begin to fade out of the game like the fullback has of present.
Players are paid exorbitant amounts of money to play a dangerous game that most of us could never perform. Those large contracts are the NFL’s version of hazard pay. Players know they are playing a vicious game and players except the risk, due to the monetary compensation. I think the game is being ruined with all the safety rules that are in place. Get back to letting people play the game the way it was meant to be played, by instinct. Don’t ruin the purity of the game by drastic changes that only diminish your product. So note to Roger Goodell sometimes change is good but in this case you really have fumbled the ball.