What is happening to the NFL?
The NFL is not looking great lately.
What is Mahomes doing? What is a penalty or not anymore? What is the sport becoming?
If you're a Chiefs fan are you truly, deep down, impressed by this team? By Mahomes and Kelce? Do the Chiefs even feel or look talented anymore? Instinctually, do the Chiefs even seem like a team that is truly dominant?
Watching the game all my life, the game does not come off as a physically demanding sport filled with tough guys. Sorry, not sorry, football was always a sport of tough guys, with a nice injection of intellect and strategy thrown in.
This game is transforming into an act. Mahomes is literally out here flopping like we are playing soccer or basketball. It's simply gross. Football was always the opposite of those kinds of sports. Literally why I liked it for so many years. Football was about controlled chaos, but emphasis on chaos. Who is tougher? Who can take more pain? Who is stronger?
Why is the NFL apologizing for being a mean tough sport? Who does this satisfy? I hate watching players get devastated yeah, but boxing, MMA, and ice hockey is not sitting here apologizing for anything. Life is not fair man, these players have money and options, nobody is forcing anyone on the field. I may be looking at this with a lack of nuance, but I don't recall football being a sport of nuance, like ever. Soon the sport is going to turn into basketball and they're going to analyze every little moment and every time a fingernail touches someone's head or something.
Football in 20 years....
Well techinically Jim, the player's left pinky fingernail mildly brushed the QB's head 3.7 seconds after the quarterback threw the ball, and this clearly violates the 3.6 second rule everyone should be aware of. Simply inexcusable! The defensive player should have been more careful when counting in their head. The defensive player didn't even apologize and ask how the QB felt after that vicious hit!!! What a dirty player. No sportsmanship!! BAN HIM.
Jared Goff got absolutely lit up into another dimension yesterday against the Commanders. I know for an absolute fact like the sky is blue, if that were Mahomes getting destroyed, that player would receive a 50 yard flag and his whole family would be banned from playing football for generations. Yeah, I'm kidding a little. But you see my point.
Players should be safe to an, obviously. There are dirty hits and moments in the sport. But at least be consistent. This is football man. This is not a sport for scared individuals. Not everyone has to enjoy it.
Honestly, watching a Chiefs game feels like a whole different experience from any other NFL game. It's like the Chiefs are being guided to victory by the refs. A mockery.
Meh. It's just an insult to the viewer's intelligence at this point.
The NFL seems to forget that there are other football leagues. The other day I heard about the European League of Football and found it intriguing. Before the NFL playoffs even started I thought this sounded pretty cool. I even randomly picked a team to loosely support in the Hamburg Sea Devils. Honestly, I discovered and thought about this before this weekend's NFL playoff games. There's also the UFL which I may have to look more into. Maybe one of these leagues will actually play actual football.
Don't get me wrong, the Titans are always going to have my support. I'm wayyyyy too deep in the game to ever abandon them. It's simply too deep in my soul, and the NFL knows there are fans like me out there. But leagues evolve, who knows. Anything is possible. If the NFL were to progressively get weirder and weirder I guess anything is possible.
Yeah, I know the NFL is not shaking in their boots to lose a Joe Schmo like me blogging on Hive. But still, I know I'm not the only NFL fan that feels this way. I mean the Chiefs beat the TEXANS, the Titans arguable number one rival. I felt a bit bad for the Texans man.
It's not even a Chiefs problem either, I don't think. The sport is getting cuter and cuter and just more and more eyebrow raising.
I could rant for days. I'm still an NFL guy for now. There's simply so much history and so many memories made for me to truly leave as of now. The game is still, somewhat recognizable.
Here's another bottom line. Watch 2005 NFL football. Now, watch 2025 football. I wonder if 2045 football is going to just be flag football?
I just had to get this off my chest. Weird times.
While I applaud the penalization of late hits and what not I feel as though these personal fouls are being doled out far too often. I don't recall exactly who it was but a guy in the secondary got hit with a personal foul for excessive force or whatever it is called on the sidelines. The thing about this particular penalty was the the defenseman was already airborne going for the tackle with great momentum and then the runner stepped out of bounds. While I don't think it was a "flop" on the part of the runner what the hell is the defender supposed to do? Change his direction mid-air? Is he supposed to tickle the runner to convince him to go out of bounds? I get that we need to protect the players but like you said, these guys know what the signed up for and I'm pretty sure that they kind of expect to take some big hits throughout a game.
Oh and even thought I pull for KC because of family members that live there, I don't feel that the Chiefs are a dominant force at all and are quite fortunate to have made it this far. I don't see them winning the Super Bowl unless they are just saving the talent for the last 2 games of the year.
Hahaha tickling the opponent is a hilarious thought for sure that's great. I appreciate your input for sure, glad I'm not totally alone in wondering what sport is actually being played anymore. It's like the league/refs decides when, where, and who can be physical. I mean especially at the PRO level, the sport should be rough and tough where dudes can be 'macho' for a lack of a better word. I don't know I just had to get some thoughts off my chest hahaha. Of course yeah, some hits are absolutely excessive and late no question i agree. My silly example in my post about 3.7 seconds was probably not the greatest example ever hahaha but yeah. I just find myself in awe in a disappointing sort of way sometimes. I miss Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher, Ed Reed, Brian Dawkins etc. maybe I'm just getting old HA.
Yeah when it comes to the Chiefs I do believe Mahomes is pretty darn talented no doubt. Maybe there's a smidge of envy on my part hard to say. But a few of those penalties are just super suspicious. Then you see Swift and think about the ratings the NFL is feasting on idk it's just a bit strange sometimes.
Again, I just had to rant and thankfully Hive is here for that LOL.
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