Week 3 NFL thread

So the throwback helmets -- which I think it's safe to assume are modern helmets with the old colors and decals -- are not properly fitted before use? And over the course of 17-plus weeks of collisions and game wear, the regular helmets never need to be adjusted or refitted?
That item makes no sense to me whatsoever.

 

For the beatings they take, I'm kind of surprised that NFL players -- at least linebackers, linemen and running backs -- don't use at least two helmets in a season.

 

They couldn't just paint them? I mean, doesn't Notre Dame do that like every week?

 

I wonder what will happen first, an 18-game schedule or an 18-week schedule.

I have some issues with them having two byes. Do you start them immediately? I think they did that at one point until they realized how stupid that was. Or do teams get two weeks off between week 4 and week 12? I can't imagine teams having bye weeks after Thanksgiving or so.

I remember at one point, about a decade ago, someone had brought up the possibility of them starting on Labor Day weekend and having the opener on Thursday, and then splitting the number of games being played on Sunday and Monday. I thought that sounded awesome, but I never heard anything mentioned about it ever again.

 

Labor Day was and would again be a terrible time to open the season. Ratings show it too. People aren't home, and if they are they're busy. Plus if you start on Labor Day you usually finish around Christmas, and that's an awful time to schedule the end of the season.

I remember that 18-week schedule, Mizzou. I think it was around 1990. Everybody hated it. Players, coaches, fans.

 

I think they start the byes too early these days already. I think it's pointless to have one before Week 6.

I think the concussion issue prevented the 18-game schedule from happening, because for awhile, it seemed like that was a foregone conclusion.

I don't know about Labor Day... It just seems like it would be a great weekend to watch sports and there's usually nothing on. If they expand the schedule, it will be interesting to see if they decide to start earlier or end later. I hate that the Super Bowl extends into February. I'd rather have it start earlier, but I could see it getting to the point where it starts the week before Labor Day and still goes into February.

 

Labor Day is the obvious answer. The calendar remains the same, you just eliminate a preseason game and have a Labor Day weekend that counts.

You can roll out a Wednesday and Thursday game(s), let preps and colleges have Friday and Saturday, then have another prime-time showcase or two on Sunday and Labor Day.

Beats the SWAC special that ESPNU tends to show on the Sunday before Labor Day.

 

Again: Labor Day ratings are terrible. There is too much else happening in the world. We on this board are not representative of the 100 million people who watch the NFL.

Also again: You start on Labor Day and you are on finishing many years on Christmas Day/Christmas Eve. Where ratings would be even more terrible.

 

If nothing gets changed, I agree that they would keep it as is. If they extend the season by a week or two, either for an additional bye or additional games, they'll either have to start earlier or end later. Obviously, there are negatives involved either way.

I will be very surprised if nothing is extended in the next 3-5 years.

 

It will take longer than that if it ever happens. The TV contracts run through 2022 and they are based on 17-week seasons.

 

They did have two byes at one point didn't they? And then they cut the week off between the championship games and Super Bowl. Or I could be dreaming all of it. If it did happen it didn't last long.

 

One season, 1993. 18 weeks, 16 games, with all the byes coming in October or November.

There were only 28 teams in those days and with as many as 8 teams at a time on bye weeks, some weekends you only had 10 games. Factor in a Sunday and Monday night games and it left two networks to split up only eight games in the Sunday afternoon windows.

The CFL has an 18-game regular season and it is borrr-rrring. Granted there are only 8 teams, so part of the problem is playing the same teams over and over again. But, still, by midseason you know who the good teams are and who the bad teams are.

If you added, or lengthened, the regular season, it would only push back the same drama you have now, because there can only be one final week anyway. Week 6, for example, would be less interesting. Teams could start 1-6 and still consider themselves contenders. The first half of the season would be almost meaningless.

It seems there are more than enough games as it stands now. There are games Sunday afternoon, Sunday nights, Monday nights and Thursday nights EVERY WEEK. For many years the NFL was rightly concerned about over-saturation, but that seems to have taken a back seat to the dollar in recent years.