Watched most of the playoff games, feel like there's something off about the league this year. The only game that felt right was Seattle's blowout win. There was no ambiguity, just one team crushing the other which used to happen most of the time in the 80s and 90s. Last 10-15 years, everything hinges on one flag, one catch/no catch ruling, one fumble, one instance of clock mismanagement. It's scores high in drama, low in decisiveness. You want dramatic outcomes, but only between the two or three top teams. You don't want a coin flip drama every round, just feels arbitrary and fake.
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While it can feel “scripted” and definitely the refs can sometimes play into it (Brady / Mahomes getting 50/50 calls most of the time) I think unequivocally the level of talent and competition in the league is better today than 10 / 20 / 30 years ago.
NFL has turned into a factory that churns the most elite athletes out where it’s pretty common for players on their rookie contracts to be the best in the league for a year or 2
So many memorable wins and superbowls have been based on luck when the margin of error for either team is small.
Out of anything this year I think we just have worse QBs in the playoffs than normal
maybe, but I think it's better when there are juggernauts who we looked forward to facing off against each other. As it stands, a Bills-Bears Super Bowl is just as plausible as the teams that are left.
Rams Seahawks are the 2 best teams in the NFC
Denver’s D is elite and Patriots look like a new emerging dynasty with Drake Maye although his stats in the snow game were mediocre.
Overall I agree it would be better to see a Josh Allen or Lamar in contention but they aren’t here because they fell short. Messed up their best chance to get a SB with no Mahomes or Burrow in the pathway
not saying it's better with Allen or Lamar, Allen was a coin flip game too over JAX. Want to see 2-3 teams unequivocally dominate, then have to face off against each other. In 1990, Giants beat 2-team defending champs SF with Montana/Young 15-13, then had to play the Bills who won 51 - 3 in the AFC title game over the 12-4 Raiders in the SB. Those were matchups I wanted to watch. Now it's maybe SEA, maybe LAR, maybe BUF, maybe CHI, JAX, DEN, NE -- all coin flips.
This is what the NFL wants. They want parity. They want quick rebuilds and every team to think they have a chance to make the playoffs and/or compete for a Super Bowl.
I think eventually they will go to an 18 game season and expand the playoffs.
they may want it, but it's an inferior product IMO. You want to watch Sinner-Alcaraz or Djokovic-Nadal after they crushed everyone else. You don't want the early 2000s tennis where any one of 10 guys could win, and you knew they were nothing special.
I heard David Jacoby, I think, making this point about how salary caps prevent us from seeing sports played at their absolute peaks.
I'm mostly sold on it. I'd rather see leagues with two teams playing nearly optimal ball and crushing everyone else, than more close games between more mediocre teams.
I agree but it doesn't seem to be reflected in the ratings or attendance numbers. NFL is killing it. Whether a watered down product has a long term effect remains to be seen.
it's at the point where people think games are fixed, the outcomes are so arbitrary. I think legalized gambling and fantasy are helping, but the product itself is getting diluted