Dumbest ideas the NFL had

[Bryan]

A previous topic reminded me of the aborted PI replay rule that spawned after the Rams-Saints NFC Championship from a few years ago. What a terrible idea, and at least the refs blew it off by overturning something like 3% of all PI replay challenges. Other dumb ideas:

*Rotating home-field advantage for postseason through mid-70s
*Rozelle Rule/"Free Agency" - you can sign free agents, but Pete Rozelle will decide the 'compensation', but only after you sign your free agent, making everyone involved upset.
*Goal posts placed on the goal line - perhaps the dumbest idea in history.
*Bonus draft pick in 1950's - why?

[Brian wolf]

The Rozelle Rule was criminal ... teams had no right to get anything once a player had played out his option and signed somewhere else. What Art Modell did to Jack Gregory was ridiculous. His team still had enough talent to go to the SB yet he gets compensation for being to cheap to sign him while Gregory signs with the Giants who are terrible.

Other stupid NFL ideas ...

Going from a 14 game schedule to 16 games
Going from 16 games to 17
Going from 17 games to 18 (soon)

1980s QB in the grasp rule -- which I feel goes on today--
Changing sudden death overtime from coin flip to allowing both teams having the ball. Before 2010 the games were too intense and physical to allow more extended time to games with these rules but now that the NFL has handcuffed defenses since then, less physical, intense play has helped teams avoid injuries with extended play into the overtimes.
Hitting a defenseless receiver ... yes the game may be safer without receivers taking more shots but how do you penalize a defensive player trying to tackle or seperate the ball from an offensive player ? The role of the defense is to make any player who wants to go over the middle on offense pay the price but now defensive players dont want to be as aggressive or pay more fines out of pocket. The days of Rodney Harrison or Cam Chancellor blasting receivers is long gone ...

[Brian wolf]

Other Dumb NFL Ideas ...

Adding another playoff game to the AFL for their last year in existence in 1969. While the Vikings had to play every week from the end of the regular season to the SB, the Chiefs got a bye week after beating the Jets in the playoff game before playing the Raiders for the championship.

Another dumb idea/rule was disallowing QB Ed Brown, who the Colts signed to help them win the division from playing against the Packers in the divisional playoff. He should have been allowed ...

The Mel Blount rule ... Defensive football changed forever when the League implemented the Mel Blount rule which basically started in 1977 but was fully implemented to start the 1978 season. Before, football purists who loved defense had low scoring games. By 1983, those same purists were laughing at what the game had become, similar to how older fans like myself, feel about todays game ...

[7DnBrnc53]

Other stupid NFL ideas ...

Going from a 14 game schedule to 16 games
Going from 16 games to 17
Going from 17 games to 18 (soon)

Exactly, Brian. I would go back to 14.

Adding another playoff game to the AFL for their last year in existence in 1969. While the Vikings had to play every week from the end of the regular season to the SB, the Chiefs got a bye week after beating the Jets in the playoff game before playing the Raiders for the championship.

Really? I didn't know that. Also, they made the mistake of taking the two second-place teams. It should have been KC & SD in the playoffs. The Oilers didn't deserve to be there.

[Brian wolf]

Yes, while the Vikings had a physical game with the Rams on sat, Dec 27th, the Chiefs and Raiders had a week off before playing on sunday Jan 4th, the day the Vikings played the Browns. The NFL Championship game was so one-sided however, people could have looked at it, as the Browns getting a rest while the Raiders-Chiefs game was one of the most brutal of the 60s.

[Brian wolf]

Sorry, the Vikings getting a rest ... the Browns had a letdown after beating Dallas ... again

[Jay Z]

The Mel Blount rule ... Defensive football changed forever when the League implemented the Mel Blount rule which basically started in 1977 but was fully implemented to start the 1978 season. Before, football purists who loved defense had low scoring games. By 1983, those same purists were laughing at what the game had become, similar to how older fans like myself, feel about todays game ...

Maybe the NFL was just trying to return to those not so long ago days of the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s when a pass could be completed downfield without the receiver being maimed. Which was certainly in place longer than what went on in the 1970s.

Dumbest NFL idea was the 6 preseason games teams played in the 1970s. Why the hell do you need a pre-season that's over 40% of the length of the regular season. When they played games all over the country, at least some other people got to see some NFL players play. By the 1970s, they'd mostly stopped doing that. So yeah, get rid of two of those in favor of some actual games that count. Of course, you're disturbing the "sanctity" of the 14 game schedule that had existed for all of 17 years.

[John Grasso]

Overtime in regular season games.

[Gary Najman]

The 1987 strike-replacement games.

[Gary Najman]

Overtime in regular season games.

I will add that at least in the 60s, the ties didn't count in a team W/L percentage.