Why baseball is improving and the NFL is getting worse

[chiefzilla1501]

Last night and this week said so much about why MLB leadership is kicking NFL leadership's ass.

To the NFL, the Royals would be a super bowl nightmare. Midwest city, not a national presence.

The MLB commissioner had a chance to boost ratings by eliminating defensive shifts. Getting rid of defense creates more offense which gets casual fans excited. He declined. The NFL, on the other hand, has chosen the past few years to emphasize defensive holding to open up an already advantaged passing game.

This defensive approach, by the way, favors small market. While the Yankees were loading up on power and pitching, the Royals countered with defense and bullpen. The Royals, in fact, beat a Blue Jays team that took that exact approach mid-season.

Even in the larger markets, this year FOUR out of eight playoff teams were teams that had a significant playoff drought -- Cubs, Toronto, Houston, Mets.

We saw a banned gambler and a justly punished PED in the studio. The NFL, on the other hand, is considering penalizing Johnny Manziel for an incident in which no charges were pressed and is dealing with a gambling site with integrity issues.


I love the NFL a hell of a lot more than I love MLB. It's just a shame to see the two very different directions the two leagues are moving in.

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by Brock

Playoff baseball has always been awesome. It needs to be primetime always though. That daytime shit doesn't work for me.

This is so true. Bernie Carbo hitting a 3 run HR in game 6 of the 75 WS to dead center field. Bucky Dent lofting a soft fly ball over the monster to win game 163 in 1978 to win the Al East. Peter Ladd striking out Reggie Jackson to save game 5 of the 1982 ALCS. Dave Henderson hitting a 2 out, 2 strike 2run HR off Donnie Moore (who would kill himself later in life, never having recovered from it) to tie game 5 and change the series. Henderson had actually made a great catch on a deep fly ball by Bobby Grich of the Angels in the previous inning, crashed into the wall, and the ball jarred loose and went over the fence for a 2run HR.


What's tough is waiting 30 years for it to be your team.

[Garcia Bronco]

Laughable...the MLB blows in the same way the NFL blows...if you don't have the great pitchers or QBs you almost have no shot.

[kgrund]

Spot on. As much as people love the Royals and their amazing comebacks, rallys in baseball are more about the other team's pitcher(s) imploding than what your offense is really doing.

[KCTitus]

Originally Posted by jason54858

It's funny lol, out of all the NFL forums I visit I only see this sentiment here.

I'm guessing you frequent mostly team owned or sanctioned forums then, because if you cannot see that this league is headed for a serious crash, you arent paying attention.

For decades there have always been forces that hated the sport for its barbaric nature, and while MMA and Boxing are far worse, the simple fact of the popularity of the sport is what drives many who hate its very essence. In many ways those who hate the sport have this schadenfreude about them that likes imposing their will on anything that brings someone else entertainment or enjoyment. But I digress...

Let's look at the leagues problems....

Head Trauma/CTE/kids dying playing HS football. This has gone from a side issue to a persistent boil as a problem. The settlement was rescinded and returned to the courts for further argument. I think this could be the single biggest issue to bring down the league. It's not going to kill the league itself, but it will create a situation where the game becomes a joke or a shadow of its former self. I have notice a number of stories, especially on the UK Daily Mail, that is keeping count of the number of HS students that have died due to contact on the field. You probably arent aware of this the number is up to 7 this year. It may have happened in the past, but now it's getting media attention and that will sway public opinion.

The league is not about the game but about the brand or 'The Shield'. The game has become an absolute joke. The officiating has become so inconsistent, it has begun to call into question the veracity of the game itself. Screwy definitions about what constitutes a 'Catch' has gone beyond absurd and can lead to inconsistent rulings.

The Shield's focus, instead of ON the field, has gone to off the field. Its owners have become involved in daily fantasy sports sites, The Shield aggressively goes after its own customers who post gifs or videos of a play or two. Of course we all are aware of the usage of the term 'Super Bowl' and the extent to which The Shield will come after even churches who use the word but dont pay The Shield for the 'right' to do so.

Lastly is the Commissioner and his aggressive desire to push all the right politically correct buttons. We got Pinktober and 'No More' and the Commissioner's exempt list in which the league can punish a player for off field conduct even when no legal court finds him guilty. Not only is it inconsistent as rulings about what is a catch or not, but several recent incidents have gone wholly ignored.

All of this leads to a bad product on the field to the point that people become apathetic about it. It's not going to happen overnight, but I do think the peak has come and gone and the decline has begun.

[notorious]

College football needs to take a lot of blame.


Nearly every team runs the spread. The spread severely stunts a QB's growth when it comes to the NFL.


Fewer QB's=More teams that suck.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

Laughable...the MLB blows in the same way the NFL blows...if you don't have the great pitchers or QBs you almost have no shot.

Then why are the teams with the highest payrolls in the mlb struggling? It took the Dodgers an insane amount of payroll just to buy a spot in a playoffs they were clearly outmatched in despite having two of the best starters in the league.

It used to be that the richest teams bought the biggest bats. You can't do that anymore. Because pitching has become a priority, you can't afford small mistakes. Which is why Texas, a stacked team, lost because of errors. Which is why the Yankees reinvested their payroll not on sluggers and pitchers, but defense and bullpen. The MLB can change this overnight by enforcing strict rules against defensive shifts. They've chosen not to. That speaks volumes about how they're doing this differently than the nfl.

[RunKC]

The NFL has sucked this season. The disparity in QB play compared to last season is enormous.

Peyton, Luck and Bree's aren't the same.

It's basically Rodgers and Brady this year

[Kidd Lex]

Originally Posted by RunKC

The NFL has sucked this season. The disparity in QB play compared to last season is enormous.

Peyton, Luck and Bree's aren't the same.

It's basically Rodgers and Brady this year

All created by the rule changes that make it impossible to play man to man effectively. You want to fix the NFL get back to physical CB play with relaxed PI/def holding rules.

[Eleazar]

Baseball has managed to survive into modern times without becoming modernized. Baseball has maintained its soul in the new century. The game is played much as it's always been. It hasn't been watered down or commercialized or had its rules changed to make it a pillow fight like football has.

You know one thing that's great about baseball? Ask the average fan who the commissioner is. They won't know.

They don't know because baseball fans haven't been getting a Rogering from their commissioner like football fans have.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by RunKC

The NFL has sucked this season. The disparity in QB play compared to last season is enormous.

Peyton, Luck and Bree's aren't the same.

It's basically Rodgers and Brady this year

There are 16 QBs that have a QB rating between 90 and 115.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by BWillie

There are 16 QBs that have a QB rating between 90 and 115.

Doesn't matter. It sucks, especially if you are in the AFC. It's gonna be Manning vs Brady for the umpteenth time.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by BWillie

There are 16 QBs that have a QB rating between 90 and 115.

It will be interesting to see the nfl in three years when brady and Manning are out of the picture and Rodgers starts to get up in age.

The nfl has a pretty major talent drought coming soon. On the one hand, it will create parity. But it's been funny to watch the nfl jam jj watt down our throats. In three years, will there be anyone under 30 who will be viewed as once in a generation talent? It almost reminds me of the huge drop-off we saw after Jordan retired the first time.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by BWillie

There are 16 QBs that have a QB rating between 90 and 115.

Alex Smith is at #16, which should show you how terrible the competition is these days, and how that doesn't actually speak to the depth of quarterbacks... you can win a playoff game with Tim Tebow. Matt Cassel had a QBR of 93 one season.

Shitty teams play shitty teams every week, then for a few weekends in late January, the real contenders with real quarterbacks and real defenses play.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

Laughable...the MLB blows in the same way the NFL blows...if you don't have the great pitchers or QBs you almost have no shot.

History seems to indicate there's a lot more variety in mlb playoffs than nfl. It's a hell of a lot easier to find pitching than qbs.

[mr. tegu]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

Laughable...the MLB blows in the same way the NFL blows...if you don't have the great pitchers or QBs you almost have no shot.

The difference is that in baseball it is plural. You have to have multiple good pitchers to compete so buying up 1 or 2 players at ridiculous salaries doesn't really win much. In football if you have just one great player and its your QB, you have nearly everyone else beat with just one player.