The NFL of the Future

[JuggernautJ]

I am watching the Pro Bowl and wondering if this is the future of the NFL.

No kick-offs.
No blitzing.
No Nickle or Dime defensive formations.
Whistles which are so early as to make the game into four-handed touch.

Safe, sanitized and uninteresting.

At least there are (almost) no penalties.

Is this where we're going?
And if so are you interested?

[John Grasso]

I just turned it off after watching about 5 minutes of it.

[single wing]

I quit watching the All-Star game about 10 years ago. Never missed not watching it. Football just not designed to be played as a All-Star game.

[ChrisBabcock]

No kick-offs.

[lastcat3]

I really think they should just announce the teams and that is it. The players obviously have little to no interest in playing the game anylonger. And I can't say I really blame them as no one would want to make it through the entire season without a serious injury only for it to happen in a meaningless all-star game.

[single wing]

Slightly off topic but Illinois is considering banning tackle football for youth.

[L.C. Greenwood]

I am watching the Pro Bowl and wondering if this is the future of the NFL.

No kick-offs.
No blitzing.
No Nickle or Dime defensive formations.
Whistles which are so early as to make the game into four-handed touch.

Safe, sanitized and uninteresting.

At least there are (almost) no penalties.

Is this where we're going?
And if so are you interested?

I think some in the media and elsewhere would like to see football diminished, with a Pro Bowl-style future. However, money will always have the last word, and I can see a huge drop off in attendance, TV ratings, and merchandise sales, if the sport is sanitized like you described. The sport is too ingrained in our country for the game to be essentially destroyed. I do think all levels of football have done a terrible job promoting the numerous benefits of playing the sport. There's a way out of this situation, but the time for action is now. I'd like to see the NFL running TV spots with former players talking about how the sport set them up for success beyond the field.

[sluggermatt15]

I sure hope the game does not become more "sanitized". As said above, this would strongly threaten to deteriorate it. I think clearly, player safety would be the cause.

I could see no more kick returns, as those rules have already been modified with touchbacks coming out to the 25 yard line and kicking off from 35-yard line.

I don't know about "no blitzing" because that is playing defense. If a team can't blitz or use nickel or dime formations, then why even play?

[MIKEBENNIDICT]

I'm not concerned about the future, I would rather just worry about today.

[Mark L. Ford]

I am watching the Pro Bowl and wondering if this is the future of the NFL.

No kick-offs.
No blitzing.
No Nickle or Dime defensive formations.
Whistles which are so early as to make the game into four-handed touch.

Safe, sanitized and uninteresting.

At least there are (almost) no penalties.

Is this where we're going?
And if so are you interested?

That was my impression too as I watched the officials whistle a play dead as soon as the defenders impeded the progress of the ball carrier-- that they really were playing touch football.

The Pro Bowl isn't just a meaningless post-season all-star game anymore-- it's still a meaningless game, but it has indeed become a controlled laboratory experiment to study how to make the NFL safer and more sanitized, while desperately trying to hold down the collateral damage of being uninteresting.

I think that eliminating the kickoff would be the worst of overreactions, and that it'll still be here 25 years from now. But I also think that the increasing concern over CTE, the lawsuits that follow, the increase in insurance costs, the fewer number of participants in tackle football at the scholastic level... will bring an end to the hard-hitting game that we've been used to.