NFL Week 1: Eagles defend their SB championship

Precisely. The injuries to prominent players have been more common in recent years.
I suspect ratings for this recently concluded Bears-Packers game will be down because people turned out at halftime, figuring Rogers' departure would make for an uncompetitive second half. SEC superfan and Trumpist lapdog Clay Travis will opine that it's all about good Amurricuns boycotting those damned social justice warriors. False.

I maintain that it is not simply a matter of injuries to prominent players; it is also the result of injury-related commercial breaks, which are more common in September because of cramping.

HS participation rates were recently released. Football participation in 2017-18 was 4 percent lower than only two years prior.
Football is the only fall sport experiencing participation declines. All others seem to be flat or growing.

 

Besides gagging away a 20-point lead, the Bears had a chance to make an absolute goat/ass out of Clay Matthews. Dammit.

 

What were the top rated shows last year?

Which form of entertainment are ratings going up?

 

This may sound dumb - but is there a website that actually has video recaps of NFL games. ESPN and the NFL network have numerous videos of key plays, but no single highlight packages that kind of explain how the the game went.

 

One more thing, then I'm off to what's left of Little Steven's Underground Garage:

I wonder if Cutler would have tried to get back in the game if it was his knee ... [/notmissedabit]

 

I'm with you, I think. The notion that the NFL is dying because good Ammurricuns are turning out those damned black and brown people is fiction. Revenue keeps climbing. NFL programming is still the most popular thing on TV, which is fading at faster rates than sports.
My point is that the decline has been exaggerated and is almost certainly not the result of the players' protests or ESPN's libruhl bias.
There are too many injuries. The commercial breaks are too numerous and too long. Andrew Luck hadn't played since the Crustaceous Period before today, which means the Indianapolis Irsays, once an unlikely source of national broadcast rating pop despite their smaller-market locale, have been irrelevant. Nobody cares about the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Tennessee Titans, etc.
Both New York teams have sucked lately. In most recent years, that has been true for the Washingtonians.
The Houston Texans (No. 4 or so media market) keep getting hurt.
And on it goes.

 

That was a truly disgusting performance. The defense was actually decent, but six turnovers is inexcusable.

I didn't care for the decision to play for the 42-yard field goal in overtime, either. Normally, that is fine with Boswell, but he was shaky on his extra points and that's a tough ask in that weather.

Conner looked great, but that fumble was a killer and that's something Bell almost never does. That looked like the start of a very long season for Pittsburgh.

For those that watched, there was no doubt that fourth-quarter punt hit the Browns' player in the head. I understand why it wasn't overturned, but the missed call was huge. The Steelers played badly enough to deserve a loss, but the officials did them no favors in the second half and overtime.

 

Now do the calls against Garrett and Gordon. Nearly everyone on that field sucked for 60 minutes. And then 10 more.

 

The call on Garrett was correct. I don't like the new rule, but they enforced it properly. If we're talking about the same play on Gordon, I agree that it was a shaky call at best.

The officials also missed an ugly peel-back block on the rookie left tackle that sprung one of Taylor's big runs late and the Browns first touchdown drive was sparked by a shaky holding call on the Steelers' nose tackle. I thought it was a badly officiated game all-around, but the only mistake that took away a turnover went against the Steelers.

That said, it's all on Pittsburgh. You're not going to win games turning it over six times, though they had a shot with Boswell's attempt in overtime.

For all the talk about Garrett, T.J. Watt had four sacks and got a piece of the field goal at the end of overtime.

 

I still can't believe a coach could start Nathan Peterman TWICE by choice and still have a job.

Bills go from playoffs to 2-14 in a year.

 

It was a crazy game.

The Steelers score TDs on three straight plays when TDs kept getting called back. Davis had two TOs in his hands that got called back. The balls seemed so soaked that neither team could do much with them.

A shit ton of penalties in both sides then they miss a Hines Ward block in open field.

Shit game in shit weather. A tie seems fair.