What’s The Big Idea? — Changes To National Football League

Welcome to ‘What’s The Big Idea?’ week here at TPOP. We’re going to do an article each day from our writers about what they’d like to see changed in Baseball, Hockey, Football, and Pittsburgh. Next up is football:

Brian Harker — Consistency on Rule Interpretation, Less Meddling From Commissioner

Every man who has ever chosen and had the privilege to play in the National Football League has known that football is a violent sport, and is aware of the risks that are associated with that violence. They know the impact that playing pro football can have on their bodies long after their playing days have ended, but their love of the game out weighs those risks, allowing them to pursue their dream of playing in the NFL. The sacrifices made by these players is what has allowed the National Football League to become the most popular sports product consumed in the United States and the fastest growing sport in terms of popularity throughout the rest of the world.

The biggest risk that the popularity of the league faces, though, is from the cumulative actions of Roger Goodell and the league’s Rules Committee. Steelers’ Hall of Fame Linebacker Jack Lambert was definitely on to something when he once stated that they may as well put dresses on quarterbacks, after he was ejected from a game following his hit along the sideline on Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Sipe.

Since then, during Roger Goodell’s reign specifically, numerous reactionary rules changes have occurred following vicious, but legal, blocks or hits. Some examples — Bengals linebacker David Rivers’ broken jaw from a Hines Ward block; a concussion suffered by Browns wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi after he lowered himself into a head on collision with Steelers linebacker James Harrison; and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady suffering a season ending knee injury while being sacked by Chiefs safety, Bernard Pollard. The hypocrisy that comes from these rule changes is this: while a player that is initiating a block or a tackle cannot lead with his head, a running back that is plowing through the line can.

In addition to these reactionary rules changes, that haven’t statistically proven to make the game safer and are difficult for the refs to consistently interpret correctly, another problem for the NFL is Roger Goodell’s inconsistencies in handing down discipline. Whether it’s player discipline or discipline that involves a franchise for cheating, the commissioner has failed miserably with being consistent. This inconsistency often creates the appearance of showing favoritism towards certain players or franchises.

Take the New England Patriots and their history of rules violations with “Spygate” and “Deflategate”. There is no doubt that franchise is guilty of lying about their cover ups and deception in both occurrences and that the punishment that the commissioner handed down was much lighter than the violations deserved. How bad was “Spygate”? Unfortunately no one will ever know. Consider that Roger Goodell only watched a few of the tapes of the video evidence before making the decision to destroy all of them. Whether or not their venturing outside the rules helped them win Super Bowl titles or not, the bottom line is that the integrity of the league was put into question after the punishment was handed down. The credibility of the new rules, that are wrapped around “player safety”, are greatly reduced when fines are handed down for text book hits that rightfully aren’t penalized during games. Players themselves have gotten injured over these new rules, because the way they were taught to tackle their whole lives was now illegal and had to adjust in mid play to avoid a penalty. These issues need to be rectified before the game becomes a watered down and unwatchable version of the game it used to be.

If I were commissioner, on field rules changes would never be made as a result of a knee jerk reaction, as in the case of the Harrison hit on Massaquoi. All similar plays in question and the circumstances surrounding them should be reviewed the following offseason, not rushed in the course of the week in between games. All fines for violations of the same rule should be the same for every player. Having James Harrison get fined $150k for a late hit on a quarterback while only fining Haloti Ngata $25k is unacceptable. The fine needs to be a set amount and the violation needs to be clearly defined rather than left to the interpretation of each referee. The penalties for cheating and the associated fines need to be set and severe enough so that no team will knowingly attempt cheating. The caveat is that any team caught cheating would be ineligible for post season play. If they were caught after the season they would be stripped of any titles won. Their picks in the following draft would be distributed to the teams based on record. Their first round pick would go to the team with the worst record, their second pick would go to the team with the second worst record and so on.

As far as handing out player punishment and fines, I would set up and independent arbitration panel for the appeals process. The fines and punishment would be initially set up in accordance with the violations and would be automatically induced with each violation. The commissioner should have no part in the punishment or appeals process whatsoever. If Roger Goodell ever found enough humility to make these changes, his job would be much simpler and the game would be much better off.

Tiger Rowan — Get Rid of Roger Goodell

A few weeks ago, the editors of The Point of Pittsburgh asked me to ponder the following question: If you could change one aspect of the NFL, what would it be? Since I was on vacation, visiting family in Pittsburgh and West Virginia, it was the perfect time to ask my relatives their thoughts on this very question. Overwhelmingly, the answer was something along the lines of: “Get rid of Roger Goodell.”

I chuckled, and simply shrugged this off as Steelers fans being Steelers fans. But as my travels continued, so did the ire towards Roger Goodell. In Columbus (Browns territory), the answer to my query was a resounding: “Fire Goodell.” Likewise, Bengals fans were equally as derisive towards the commissioner: “Goodell sucks.” Finally, even as far west as San Diego, the almost-unanimous response was: “Roger Goodell is an (expletive)!!!”

The angst towards Goodell, from Steelers fans, was completely expected; they believe that the commissioner changed the rules, in order to specifically target the way that the Steelers played defense… especially James Harrison. But I was completely shocked to hear so many other fanbases hold as much, if not more, hostility towards the commissioner. In other words, what I had initially deemed as a joke, slowly and surely became an honest-to-goodness answer to my question.

So, this got me thinking: why is it exactly that people despise Roger Goodell so much? First of all, I realize how clich d it is to unequivocally bash the commissioner; Goodell could save a busload of children, and people would criticize him for the manner in which he did it. That said, there absolutely has to be a reason why the hatred for him is almost entirely universal.

The obvious reason is that most people feel that the rule changes which Roger Goodell has implemented, have “ruined” the game. Eh… maybe. In all honesty, it probably would not have mattered who was the commissioner when the lawsuits (from former players) sprung up. This might sound like sacrilege to other Steelers fans, but the NFL absolutely had to change the rules, in order to protect players from suffering irreparable brain damage. So, yes, I feel that Roger Goodell did indeed make the correct decision. Unfortunately for him, some people are going to criticize any decision that he makes… even the correct decisions.

Yet, I agree with the masses: Goodell is awful. Taking emotions and/or fanaticism out of the equation, I tried to pinpoint exactly why this sentiment crosses over into so many fanbases. Simply, it boils down to one word: integrity.

Pete Rose is the greatest baseball player ever. Period. Yet, he is not in the Hall of Fame, because his actions (betting on his own team) questioned the integrity of the game. Likewise, Roger Goodell has turned the NFL from a powerhouse into the most dominant “product” in the entire entertainment industry… but, there have been too many questionable incidents wherein the integrity of the game has been tarnished.

I could nitpick the specific incidents, but I do not even need to, because when I simply look at the gestalt, all that I see is a cropping of horrible blemishes. If the NFL were an apple, Roger Goodell would be the worm that has chewed enough holes in the skin to make me really question how badly I want to eat that apple. And it is not just me (a completely biased Steelers fan). When I ask over a hundred people about the NFL, from a plethora of different fanbases, the vast majority of them would not eat the apple either.

So, if I were to change one aspect of the NFL, that would be easy: I would thank Roger Goodell for all of the good that he has done for the sport, while simultaneously asking him to step down. Oh… and, I would ask him to take those new Jaguars helmets with him.