Is the writing on the wall? Was Cuban right? This has to be one of the most boring, soulless and uninteresting seasons that I can remember. Are there ANY interesting teams? Semien's Broncos? Bradfords Vikings? Stantons Cardinals? The shell of the Seahawks? Gabberts 49ers? Keenums Rams? I have to scour every week to find a semblance of an interesting matchup. Thursday Night isn't even viable programming at this point, I think I'd rather watch House Hunters reruns. The Sunday and Monday games haven't been much better. Manning is retired and Watt is gone for the season. Brady is almost outta here and all we'll have soon is Aaron Rodgers and a bunch of joes. I thought the league was over saturated with Sunday, SNF, MNF, TNF and now Sunday morning. I guess it could work if the product was good but this is getting to be preseason level.
I'm afraid I have to agree. Where did all the transcendent talent go? I've always been more of a CFB fan, but the difference this season has been night and day. I can't bring myself to watch a non-Texans game. And no you jabronis, it has nothing to do with Kaep
@MystikArkitect has a point, but I only care about one team anyway. Every other team is "in relation" to the Texans.
Definitely am less interested in football now than at any point I can remember. I've never been a college football fan although I have a slight interest this season only because my team is ranked for the 1st time in a decade. The NFL seems very uninteresting right now. I have a difficult time even watching the Texans. I am way more interesting in basketball and soccer right now. I'm pretty sure there is no one on the planet that is a fan of Thursday night football
The NFL does seem a bit less compelling this year. Wouldn't describe it as boring. I've enjoyed college football quite a bit. This may be the year when it's more interesting to me than the NFL.
This year for me: 1. NCAA Football 2. Olympics 3. MLB 4. NFL 5. NBA 6. NCAA Basketball 7. MLS 8. Tour De France 9. PGA 10. NASCAR 11. NCAA Baseball 12. WTA 13. NHL 14. Formula 1
Ya the commercials, officials timeouts, tv timeouts, and replays have been pretty ridiculous for quite some time now. But add in a slightly more boring game and it's almost unwatchable. Not to mention that something small like the ODB situation from 5 days ago is still be talked about ad nauseam on every sports radio, ESPN, NFL Network, etc...
Egg ball has always been a boring, unskillful game. I was once invited to watch my first ever hand egg game which happened to be the superbowl. There was so much hype over it and I thought I'd give it a shot. Literally 2 minutes in and no kidding there was a 5 minutes commercial and this happened through the entire quarter. I left after the 1st quarter never to ever tune in to this garbage, snoozefest "sport"
Wouldn't hurt if they added some good color commentators. The guys they have bore you to death. Bring back "you make the call" & less stupid penalties for celebrating.
CF all the way. I've never really cared for the NFL after the Oilers left. Too many commercials, too many timeouts...and I read somewhere that an average 3 and 1/2 hour game only has around 15 minutes of real plays/action. Bores me to death. I don't even check my fantasy football scores any longer and RedZone doesn't even get me pumped, and I'm now usually out of the house when it comes on doing other things. The NFL doesn't even compare or come close to College Football gameday's. Zero ***** given, especially with all of the pansy rules now in place.
College football has that higher variability, high risk high reward stakes to it. One loss can knock you out of the championship game. Although there's a big disparity in talent level, teams can be inconsistent from week to week. That adds to the drama and excitement. Plus the atmosphere seems more diehard. The NFL has turned into the No Fun League. Too many timeouts, needless flags, and other BS by Goodell has sterilized the fun out of the game. While everyone is harping about the ratings, I don't think it's really declined that badly.
I don't feel like the good teams are scary or interesting anymore. Like Rice, Sanders, Emmitt, Taylor, Young, Elway, Montana, Marino. Even Aaron Rodgers doesn't have that star appeal for me. no drawing power. I think Brady and Gronk have it. But who else really pulls you in to watch. Seems like half the playoff teams these days have no real identity to root for or against. Still love watching my Titans, as we have two Heisman, but they give me headaches mostly.
Agreed, just very few standouts that appear to be non-human so far this season. There is no JJ Watt doing what he did in 2014, Brady has been out, Seahawks defense from '13-'14 (they are still good, just not great nor as fun to watch), Peyton is gone, seemingly no superstar receivers (Antonio Brown is great but doesn't have the wow factor)...basically there are no can't miss players or teams. Couple that with the election year and I think that is your reason behind the ratings drop.
I've long felt that the NFL, just from an entertainment standpoint, is far inferior to the college game. College atmospheres, at the highest level, are better than the sterile atmospheres of the NFL, there are more interesting offenses, there are far more wild finishes, there is much more variability in final scores (high-scoring vs. low-scoring), and there are just a ton more games in a ton more viewing windows on Saturdays, meaning that you can either binge on a full day of action, or just pick and choose a handful of games over the course of the day. On top of that, there are still actual upsets in college football. No single result in the NFL is ever that surprising. By comparison, the NFL just comes off as bland and dull to me, and then you factor in that I prefer MLB, NBA, college basketball, tennis, and college baseball more than the NFL and I just don't have much interest anymore.
Yeah, I concur. The NFL for the most part has been boring for a while, and it's been really dull this season. Hell, I haven't watched very much Texans football so far this season. - The product on the field is too homogenized and bland. Every team's style of play is more or less the same. Not enough creativity or risk-taking. - Parity - No REAL rivalries anymore. NBA and MLB have the same issue. - "PC culture" and politics has negatively affected the NFL. A lot of people, including many of those that agree with the politics, just want to sit down and watch a game, without being subject to the extraneous bullshit - Too many TV timeouts, replays, etc. - The NFL feels too "corporate" in its overall presentation. College football on the other hand still has some sense of purity. - Over-exposure, both in the days that games are broadcast and in the talking heads and myriad of shows from ESPN, etc. - Bad refs - No Fun League. Players these days can barely display any personality during the game...even mild reactions are getting flagged. The league is going way overboard with the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. I'm not surprised that TV ratings have declined this season. (Although part of that may be due to cord-cutters.) The NFL has been trying to expand its market appeal, but in the process the product has been watered down.
I think it boils right down to poor QB play all over the league. There really are a bunch of no-names starting at QB for almost every team. Quick....name 5 starting QBs besides the one who plays for your favorite team - without googling! Harder than you thought, right? Me too. High schools and colleges are all running the read-option, which is fun to watch.....but doesn't really do anything to develop future NFL QBs. I think we're finally starting to see the long term effects.