18 Game season?

Personally I am not a fan of this. There are enough games in the season. I don't think it will hurt but I don't seeing it help anything either.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5903310

What about the additional injuries that will inevitably pile up? There is something to be said about that as well.

better that players should lose a season, or a career, in a preseason game.

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Originally Posted by BULLITT

better that players should lose a season, or a career, in a preseason game.

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Why is that?

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Originally Posted by Dagan81

Why is that?

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Sarcasm :wink:

I'm not in favor of it at all. I don't think that most teams can get their 53 man rosters set and be in shape at 100% with only 2 preseason games. The first two games seem to get both the starters and the backups on the field for some brief (about one half?) play. The rest seems to be devoted to playing the rookie draftees and free agents. But, it's usually the 3rd game that gives the newbies and guys on the bubble the most playing time of any. The 4th game is usually the tuneup game for the final roster.

If you reduce the preseason to 2 games and extend the regular season to 18 games how do the coaching staff and GM's have the time to completely evaluate players before making their decisions on who to keep and who to cut. It seems to me that if you do that you'll see the first two regular season games played at about the same level as a preseason game anyway and you'll have an avalanche of roster changes as well.

This just isn't a good idea and it smacks more of the teams trying to get more play out of their high price starters even at the expense of potentially shortening their careers. Players have never been much more than chattel to their owners anyway. 16 games works just fine and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The owners have ruled the roost in the NFL ever since 1920, and nobody was more greedy than Papa Bear himself. But, to the point. The NFL has always paid significantly less than the NBA and Major League Baseball, while it has seen since the late 1960s skyrocketing popularity that puts it on par with baseball. Didn't the NFL just start its free agency program in the 1990s? And what about the NFL allowing players to be cut from rosters and losing all the money that would otherwise be owed to them in accordance to their contracts? From where I stand, the NFLPA needs to grow a set of balls and stand up to the owners for good. This farce of having a hard salary cap should be gotten rid of and in its place, a salary cap that allows for a luxury tax like the one Major League Baseball has in place. I guarantee you that if this was done, you would still see the same teams as always winning from year to year, as well as the same franchises who lose every single season would not really improve either. Teams that want to win every year, will, and those that are cheap and won't spend a dime to purchase a key player or two, won't.

I'm no communist like the people who run the NFL are. I'm a capitalist. I see room for improvement. Players should be free to make what they think they are worth without the constraints of an artificially-watered down market price. MLB and the NBA are doing it, and while the NBA suffers from an image issue, baseball has thrived under this system now for nearly 35 years. I thank God that Curt Flood came along and stood up to the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals and helped usher in the era of free agency in sports.

I would only be in favour of an 18 game season if it meant that we got more games over here in Europe.

As a STH, hell yes! If these games weren't part of the season ticket package then they would be 1/2 price, at most, and more people could go to the game. That's the only way they can sell these damn things. Yeah, as a STH you know what you're getting into and no sympathy. BUT, screw them! This is the same as a two drink minimum on top of a cover charge, but about 100 times over.

Nope i like the 16 games. There is already enough plus the playoff games. Imagine an NFL team having to play 18 games, plus the playoffs. Injuries like crazy. Also the offseason would be a few weeks longer