The Things About It That Drive Me Nuts
Written by Brian van Vliet - October 9, 2007
Football is perhaps the best sport on the planet. I have been watching the game for over 30 years. The Canadian Football League is an exciting brand of football, but let’s not kid ourselves it is nowhere near the talent level of the National Football League. US College ball probably has a better degree of talent. So I look at them as two separate sports and get a lot of enjoyment out of both. There are things about the rules of the game and the way that it is coached that I will never understand. I would give anything to sit down with a Professional Football coach and discuss these topics, but being an armchair sports fan, I can only throw it out to you readers.
Penalties inside the ten yard line
It is first down on the opposition’s five yard line. The defence jumps offside. The ball is moved half the distance to the goal line. That makes perfect sense. You can’t put it in the end zone.
Here is the problem. On the next play, the offence jumps offside and the ball is moved back the full five yards?? The same penalty on both teams but the offence suffers a 2.5 yard harsher penalty. If you are going to move the ball half the distance to the goal line on a defensive penalty, would it not make sense to move it half the distance FROM the goal line on an offensive penalty?
Prevent defense with the Lead
Here is a situation where a person has to question the IQ level of some “professional” football coaches. How many times do you see a team with a ten point lead with 5 minutes to go… Their defence has swarmed the opposition quarterback all game. Suddenly the defensive coordinator decides to pull everyone back and let the opposition chip their way down the field. Now before you know it, there are two minutes left and you are in a three point game. Then you hear the “We don’t want to get burned by the long ball.”
This armchair sportsfan says better to be burned quickly to give your offence time to recover and fire back then to sit back and let your opponent chew up the clock and position themselves for victory.
Up by 7 and not going for two point convert
This one just kills me. There are two minutes to go and you have a one point lead. You score a TD to go up by 7. GO FOR 2!!!! If you get it, you just won the game. If you miss it, and the opposition scores, they won’t go for 2. They will kick the single and play OT. I have seen it numerous times where the single is kicked to put the team up by 8 only to have the opposition come down and score, get the two point convert and win in OT.
Running Backs vs Quarterbacks – rushing yards
Why when a running back gets a pitch out and is hit behind the line of scrimmage, the yards are subtracted off his rushing total? A quarterback can scramble around and get nailed behind the line and it is called a sack and the yards are not taken off his rushing total. Then the statisticians put the QB rushing yards right alongside the running back. It’s not apples to apples and it makes no sense. If you are going to count the yards gained on an individual’s stats, then yards lost must be subtracted.
The Old adage defence wins championships
Offence sells tickets and defence wins championships. The most misleading saying in all of sports.
Look at the 07/08 version of the Chicago Bears. Everyone has been raving about their defence. This team lost the Super Bowl to a high octane offensive Colts team. Now the powerhouse Bears sit with a 1-3 record and 95 points scored against them. Why because Rex Grossman can’t move the offence. Outside of 1 or 2 exceptions in the game, if you have zero offence, you have zero chance. Who’s the best team in the NFL right now. New England. And it aint cause of their D.
Complaints of Running up the Score
Football coaches are the biggest babies when it comes to this. In hockey, a guy can score a 5-2 goal into an empty net with 2 seconds remaining and no one complains. God forbid you punch in a meaningless touchdown with no time remaining. The coaches of the losing team will cry about lack of class and running up the score. Grow up!! Football is meant to be played for the full 60 minutes.
Agree or disagree, I’m off the goalpost.
