Dumbest ideas the NFL had

[Citizen]

The 1987 scab games top the list for me. Oh, wait -- counting the results and stats of those abominations was the dumbest of the dumb.

Refusing to acknowledge the results/stats of the AAFC is pretty dopey, too.

[Brian wolf]

This big idea was mostly from owners but the league didnt have a problem with it ... replacing grass fields with PolyTurf.
Maybe back then despite having more money than anybody, the owners werent able to have parts or whole fields of grass placed or fit into their fields like now but no solution at all would have been better than artificial turf, which helped the dead ball era of the 70s with injuries and getting so hot it affected players feet. The Dolphins and Steelers were the first teams to win and adapt to this surface along with the Dallas Cowboys but in the case of the Dolphins, lost some major players to injury by the mid-70s. I liked the idea of filling a stadium like Memorial in Baltimore or Kezar in Frisco with dirt, sand and paint once the grass was worn out.

[JWL]

The 1987 scab games top the list for me. Oh, wait -- counting the results and stats of those abominations was the dumbest of the dumb.

Refusing to acknowledge the results/stats of the AAFC is pretty dopey, too.

not sure what is dumb about that since the games counted

[Bryan]

The 1987 scab games top the list for me. Oh, wait -- counting the results and stats of those abominations was the dumbest of the dumb.

Refusing to acknowledge the results/stats of the AAFC is pretty dopey, too.

not sure what is dumb about that since the games counted

The one part I thought strange was how records could be set in scab games. Anthony Allen held the Redskins single-game receiving record with something like 286 yards in a scab game. Ernie Accorsi forced the Browns to bench Brian Brennan during a scab game because Brennan was about to break the Browns receiving record. The Bears had something like 22 sacks in two games. Kind of weird to look back on it now if you don't have the context.

[Brian wolf]

Though it wasnt a dumb idea because many fans and media embraced it at the time, the NFL playoffs starting in the 1990/91 season had me upset because I didnt feel additional teams deserved the playoffs. Going from 10 teams to 12 for the postseason didnt seem like much in hindsight but it confirmed my belief at the time that the NFL was going to bring more parity to the league one way or the other.

I liked the idea of teams truly battling for their division with just one playoff game for the wildcards in each conference but though higher seeded teams needed to take care of business and eliminate the wild cards, a team getting hot at the end of the year could definitely shake up the playoffs like Jax vs Buff/Den in 1996/97 ... Admittedly, alot of good postseason games that decade.

[John Grasso]

The 1987 scab games top the list for me. Oh, wait -- counting the results and stats of those abominations was the dumbest of the dumb.

Refusing to acknowledge the results/stats of the AAFC is pretty dopey, too.

not sure what is dumb about that since the games counted

The one part I thought strange was how records could be set in scab games. Anthony Allen held the Redskins single-game receiving record with something like 286 yards in a scab game. Ernie Accorsi forced the Browns to bench Brian Brennan during a scab game because Brennan was about to break the Browns receiving record. The Bears had something like 22 sacks in two games. Kind of weird to look back on it now if you don't have the context.

There's a similar event in Major League Baseball. Ty Cobb caused a one-day strike in 1912 and the game was played with substitute players. Baseball recognizes the records set in that game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Travers

[sheajets]

Current roughing the passer rule. Whatever it is. Basically touch the QB and it's a flag

Defenseless receiver nonsense. Any kind of big open field hit while a receiver is attempting to catch the ball is a flag

The Rooney Rule

[Brian wolf]

That defenseless pass receiver penalty started from Rodney Harrison. He was great at hitting receivers near the neck and chin ...

[JeffreyMiller]

The 1987 scab games top the list for me. Oh, wait -- counting the results and stats of those abominations was the dumbest of the dumb.

Refusing to acknowledge the results/stats of the AAFC is pretty dopey, too.

not sure what is dumb about that since the games counted

The one part I thought strange was how records could be set in scab games. Anthony Allen held the Redskins single-game receiving record with something like 286 yards in a scab game. Ernie Accorsi forced the Browns to bench Brian Brennan during a scab game because Brennan was about to break the Browns receiving record. The Bears had something like 22 sacks in two games. Kind of weird to look back on it now if you don't have the context.

I've never really had a problem with this. If the regular players had played, they would not have had to worry about their records. If I had any skills, I would have been a scab player in a heartbeat.

[sheajets]

That defenseless pass receiver penalty started from Rodney Harrison. He was great at hitting receivers near the neck and chin ...

And I agree that spearing with the helmet in that area is absolutely a 15 yard personal foul

But you have incidents where a guy is moving in for a perfect hit only to have the receiver drop his own head, make it helmet to helmet...and the penalty ends up being called on the defender. That's an absolute joke. Very obvious knockout blows where the safety clearly has no interest in the ball should be called. But pure football hits need to remain.

Mandate larger and heavier should pads to slow things down a bit. There will be less helmet to helmet contact in general. When guys collide shoulder to shoulder their heads won't knock together because the size and distance of the shoulder pads will keep the players heads separated.