Improving the NFL

Matthew Robi

1. Enough with the yellow flags: Let the players play

First off, NFL players and fans really do appreciate the NFL taking steps to protect the quarterback position and understand how important it is for quarterbacks to stay healthy. But there must be a better balance.

The UW Daily's sports editor Ethan Kilbreath had this to say about the yellow flag issue:

"The safety of a largely defenseless quarterback is of the utmost importance in the game of football. But unfortunately, a lot of calls in recent years have appeared ticky-tacky and interferes with the game. It's hard to make a blanket statement about the NFL straying from a physical brand of football, but there appears to be an increase in botched roughing the passer calls"- Kilbreath

As it is now, defensive players can hardly touch the quarterback without drawing a flag, and all those flags disrupt the flow of the game, making it nearly impossible to significantly pressure the quarterback.

2. Make overtime fair

Everyone loves a good overtime win, well assuming your team is lucky enough to win the coin toss. When asked about the fairness of the NFL's overtime system, Robi Report columnist Rob Jokinen said "the NFL overtime rules are inherently uncompetitive and luck-based. The flip of a coin more often than not decides the winner, not the play on the field from both sides of a team" (Rob Jokinen). Last season, the team that won the coin toss won the game 59% of the time (including regular and post-season). Meanwhile, the team that did not win the coin toss only won 41% of the time. Overtime is largely in favor of the offensive team as the rules benefit the offense. Overtime is by no means 100% fair, but the issue is neither are any of the substitute options.

3. Play more games in Mexico/Canada

For whatever reason, Roger Goodell insists on hosting games in England, despite England showing little interest in the NFL and football entirely. The NFL failed to sell out tickets in both visits last season. The first one being The Atlanta Falcons (home team) vs The New York Jets and the second one being The Jacksonville Jaguars vs The Miami Dolphins (home team). It might be a good idea to have more games in Mexico and Canada and stop having games in England completely.

4. Drug Testing & Leniency with marijuana use

The league needs to begin publicly testing for HGH. It is not fair or safe for some of the league to be on steroids and the remainder to be clean. The NFL needs to either guarantee the players that nobody is on steroids or allow everyone to use steroids. There cannot be an in-between because then some athletes are getting massive advantages and people will get hurt.

Football is a very physical sport, and NFL players are constantly battling/playing through all kinds of injuries that fans don't even know about. Due to this, many players use marijuana in their day-to-day lives. Players use marijuana as medication because it is a much safer alternative than getting hooked on pills, a lot of players utilize weed for pain relief/overall enjoyment.

The NFL makes it relatively easy to avoid getting caught with marijuana in your system but the most worrisome marijuana issue in the NFL is the consequence of having been caught. Tyler Fernandez (long-time NFL fan and marijuana aficionado) explained, "If you do get caught, you get put in an impossible system where they constantly drug check so it's hard to come back from (ex: Josh Gordon)"- Tyler Fernandez. Josh Gordon is an example of an athlete who had all the right skills to be a valuable asset to any football team but for whatever reason could not stop using marijuana. Due to this, his entire career he was labeled as a drug addict and all sorts of names. Even though in reality most athletes were doing the same thing. This is unfair because it ended up affecting the number of games he could play (because of constant suspensions) and negatively impacted his contract negotiations.

The only reason a drug should be banned is if it is providing an unfair advantage, but marijuana won't provide anything close enough to a competitive advantage. It really just benefits an athlete's quality of life/pain management.

5. Younger Officials

The average NFL referee is 51 years old. Many people are of the belief that age shouldn't affect your probability of getting a position. But in an occupation that is as physically challenging as an NFL referee, most would agree it's a better idea to rely on younger refs.

6. Let the players celebrate

Finally, NFL players quite literally sacrifice their livelihood to put up the numbers they produce, and they should be allowed to have fun and celebrate their success. Angelo Arcena (10-year NFL fan) says, "obviously, if their celebration is blatantly inappropriate they should be fined but some playful celebration is harmless"- Angelo Arcena. Celebrations are no different than athletes smack-talking to each other, it is simply another part of the game and shouldn't be seen as unsportsmanlike. It is fun for the athletes/fans, and it adds a little more competitive edge.