NFL in 2022

[Rupert Patrick]

But Trump said what he said on Friday and most would say it wasn't right. Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid and Malcolm Jenkins and company were not even actually protesting the flag or the country or the national anthem ...

Well, no one knows what's being protested, including the players that are taking a knee, allegedly doing so in protest. They even admit as such. That there isn't one or even a unified reasoning for kneeling -- other than today, of course, with it being in response to President Trump's comments. Prior to that, not really a clear message.

I snipped the timeline for brevity, but I wonder if many of them are protesting just to protest, that they don't really know what they are protesting about, but it is trendy to do so, and if they aren't doing it, they'll not be in the club somehow. I've been watching a lot of the interviews with the student protesters around the country, and many of them have no idea what they are protesting, they are following the crowd and it's the "in" thing to do.

[Reaser]

I wonder if many of them are protesting just to protest, that they don't really know what they are protesting about, but it is trendy to do so, and if they aren't doing it, they'll not be in the club somehow. I've been watching a lot of the interviews with the student protesters around the country, and many of them have no idea what they are protesting, they are following the crowd and it's the "in" thing to do.

No doubt that there's a lot of "me too" people.

Then you have high school kids taking a knee during the anthem all across the country. Even down to the youth level, there was even a team of 8-year old kids that took a knee. That's absurd, I can't stand the political use of children like that. But for the kids and teenagers, they're just emulating what they see NFL players doing -- along with following what their coaches/parents do.

Anecdotal: A high school player I know told me that three of his teammates take a knee because they think it's "cool".

Which going back to the point I was making, they aren't all protesting one thing and whatever they are allegedly protesting by taking a knee can change within a day (see: prior to today protests were allegedly about all these other things and then today the protests are about the President) ...

... A bit flimsy, and anywhere between some to a majority aren't even protesting at all and are taking a knee for the other reasons. Either way, it's individual reasoning. So no one is 'joining' a protest because there isn't one protest to join. It is not a unified protest. So it is each individuals choice what they are -real or imagined- protesting, but of course, anyone who's been on a football team and/or in a locker room knows you can get people to join in to be "one of us".

I have no doubt that there's players doing it for the attention, that there's players doing it because they're followers, and I have no doubt that there's players doing it because they honestly believe in their cause of choice.

Regardless, it's yet another one of the divisive pick-a-side debates that plague our society. I generally ignore most of that nonsense but unfortunately it's infiltrated football. Which is where the annoyance of it all comes in, for me. Especially the media/talking head coverage of it.

[Reaser]

As far as the more actual football stuff, which is what I meant for this thread to be but where things went is perfectly fine, I do see the league decreasing the number of preseason games to three for each team. We would then see more scrimmages between teams in training camp although they would be more boring to televise if televised at all.

I would not like it but I can definitely see the league increasing the number of playoff teams to 14.

I am all for having 18 regular season weeks with each team still playing 16 games.

There's no way the owners give up the combined (4/16) 20-game pre/regular season schedule. So 3/16 is extremely unlikely. 3/17 with a full international slate would probably be how it went if that was the combination. Would be hard for them to increase the regular season number with 'player safety'.

Expansion of playoffs is the most realistic. I wouldn't like it but I already don't like the current playoff format.

Double-bye is possible, too.

re: scrimmages in training camp, you're at least likely to see a fight ... and you get a lot of best v. best matchups. Team A's best WR going against Team B's best CB all-day in 1-on-1's, 7o7, goalline period, etc. I wish they were televised in full already.

Another idea is the college football style spring game -- of which i watch too many of those every year now that nearly all of them are televised.

The Packers already have the Packers Family Night which is similar and of course other teams have done pseudo-scrimmages. I've watched the Packers Family Night before when it was on TV and I liked being able to watch it. I'd watch 32 of those for all teams whether right before preseason started, or earlier summer, or a straight copy of the college spring game. I'm kind of surprised the NFL hasn't already done the spring game or early summer, to fill-in the calendar after the draft. Could even combine it with the 3-day rookie camp in May.

[Rupert Patrick]

There's no way the owners give up the combined (4/16) 20-game pre/regular season schedule. So 3/16 is extremely unlikely. 3/17 with a full international slate would probably be how it went if that was the combination. Would be hard for them to increase the regular season number with 'player safety'.

Expansion of playoffs is the most realistic. I wouldn't like it but I already don't like the current playoff format.

Double-bye is possible, too.

The Player's Union will never allow 17 games, unless some kind of rule is put in place that every player must be inactive one game a week, which would play havoc with consecutive game streaks. It would also mean owners would have to pay the players 6.25 percent more money, which they would rather not do Because of the concussion issue, which is only going to become a bigger issue in the years to come, I don't think even the public would buy a 17-game schedule. The only option would be a second bye week, which would artificially lengthen the schedule. Adding a week to the schedule would force the NFL back to opening the season on Labor Day weekend like they used to, which I never thought was a bad thing. It is highly doubtful the NFL will push the Super Bowl into the second week of February.

I for one do not want to see the playoffs expanded any further. Period.

[Ronfitch]

Question regarding the playing of the anthem ...

When did this become custom for NFL games?

I can find citations about MLB and the Army-Navy game in 1916, but cannot find anything about the origins for the NFL.

Thanks.

[JWL]

The Player's Union will never allow 17 games, unless some kind of rule is put in place that every player must be inactive one game a week, which would play havoc with consecutive game streaks. It would also mean owners would have to pay the players 6.25 percent more money, which they would rather not do Because of the concussion issue, which is only going to become a bigger issue in the years to come, I don't think even the public would buy a 17-game schedule. The only option would be a second bye week, which would artificially lengthen the schedule. Adding a week to the schedule would force the NFL back to opening the season on Labor Day weekend like they used to, which I never thought was a bad thing. It is highly doubtful the NFL will push the Super Bowl into the second week of February.

I for one do not want to see the playoffs expanded any further. Period.

I hope all that turns out to be the case.

[JWL]

Well, no one knows what's being protested, including the players that are taking a knee, allegedly doing so in protest. They even admit as such. That there isn't one or even a unified reasoning for kneeling -- other than today, of course, with it being in response to President Trump's comments. Prior to that, not really a clear message.

Lets look at the timeline:

- Kicking things off; Kaepernick wears socks depicting police officers as pigs.
- Kaepernick sits for the national anthem and no one notices.
Couple weeks later ...
- Kaepernick sits for national anthem and it's noticed and media blows it up. They ask him why he was sitting and it didn't really seem like he had a prepared answer, said some words then spit out "oppressed" which clicked as the perfect buzz word for him to use in subsequent interviews in the following days/months.

Maybe I am just not recalling things correctly. I thought that Kaepernick did explain why he was protesting when he was first asked about it. I thought he mentioned police officers killing unarmed people. You seem to indicate that came a little later down the road. I will not doubt your timeline.

I do not care to respond to anything else other than to say yes, at this point, most people do not know who is protesting what anymore. We even have people protesting the protesters now.

I will bow out of further political commentary. I don't like engaging in it anywhere even in my own home. I wrote some stuff here and tried to be extremely careful in what I wrote and still got a comment edited. Which is fine. I am not mad. The edit (I don't even recall what I wrote) just serves as a reminder to not engage in politics.

[JuggernautJ]

I will bow out of further political commentary. I don't like engaging in it anywhere even in my own home. I wrote some stuff here and tried to be extremely careful in what I wrote and still got a comment edited. Which is fine. I am not mad. The edit (I don't even recall what I wrote) just serves as a reminder to not engage in politics.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

Colin Kaepernick: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/colin_kaepernick
"I have great respect for the men and women that have fought for this country. I have family, I have friends that have gone and fought for this country. And they fight for freedom, they fight for the people, they fight for liberty and justice, for everyone."

"People don't realize what's really going on in this country. There are a lot things that are going on that are unjust. People aren't being held accountable for. And that's something that needs to change. That's something that this country stands for: freedom, liberty and justice for all."

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."

"I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed."


Agree or disagree I think Colin Kaepernick has made his point quite clearly.

[Reaser]

Maybe I am just not recalling things correctly. I thought that Kaepernick did explain why he was protesting when he was first asked about it. I thought he mentioned police officers killing unarmed people. You seem to indicate that came a little later down the road. I will not doubt your timeline.

I do not care to respond to anything else other than to say yes, at this point, most people do not know who is protesting what anymore. We even have people protesting the protesters now.

I will bow out of further political commentary. I don't like engaging in it anywhere even in my own home. I wrote some stuff here and tried to be extremely careful in what I wrote and still got a comment edited. Which is fine. I am not mad. The edit (I don't even recall what I wrote) just serves as a reminder to not engage in politics.

Ha! I specifically cut off the part that was eventually edited when I quoted you thinking that it could upset someone into politics. Funny that it got edited. I don't like politics either though luckily for me I never put myself on either side/party so when something does come up - in this case because it's part of football now - I can look at it honestly and without political bias.

Yes, my 'timeline' was accurate. The first bullet point in the 'protest' is wearing socks depicting police officers as pigs. That's where we start. Then sitting for the anthem, then sitting again for the anthem, then it was finally noticed and he was interviewed and yes in the first interview he did say various things, including that police were murdering people, he also threw out a bunch of other stuff, while saying "oppressed" multiple times. Which is the word that eventually stuck with people in the response, both positive and negative. The/his more polished statements/reasons for protest came in the following interviews which is also when he proclaimed his support of our military, then pledged a million dollars in donations, and down the line he eventually wore a Fidel Castro shirt (another time I laughed at a contradiction). Of course the media reports it as if he came forward and clearly announced that he was protesting police brutality and oppression and immediately donated money to causes. The reality is, the 'protest' started with socks, grew from there and any positives (donations) came after and likely in response to the extreme backlash he was facing.

[Reaser]

The only option would be a second bye week, which would artificially lengthen the schedule. Adding a week to the schedule would force the NFL back to opening the season on Labor Day weekend like they used to, which I never thought was a bad thing. It is highly doubtful the NFL will push the Super Bowl into the second week of February.

I for one do not want to see the playoffs expanded any further. Period.

Things I want and what's realistic are on opposite sides. I'd actually like to see less teams in the playoffs. Not going to happen.

The CBA is always about money/profits. They're running out of options and as we both said, the players aren't going to go for an expanded regular season (number of games). So that leaves expanded playoffs and/or an extra bye. Either creates more games to sell. Actual games with the playoffs. An extra week of games during the season with a second bye week. I see those are the two most likely to happen. I would guess that only one would happen and if I had to choose one I'd hope it would be the extra bye.