Archive for the ‘NFL’ Category

NFL schemes to take some ‘foot’ out of football … say what?

May 14, 2015

Back in the very old days, the Cleveland Browns had a placekicker named Lou “The Toe” Groza.

He didn’t kick soccer-style.  He  was an overweight “toe kicker” who played tackle when he wasn’t kicking.

Despite all of that, he earned another nickname: “Mr. Automatic” by rarely missing an extra point.

You see, kicking an extra point wasn’t a gimme in those days.

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These days, every NFL kicker is Mr. Automatic.

In 2014, NFL kickers converted 99.3% of all extra point attempts.

NFL owners are looking to change that … to put some excitement back into the extra point.

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Posted in NFL, Rules, Sports & Athletics | Leave a Comment »

Question: Why the NFL rule that allows teams to BYOB?

May 13, 2015

Of course, in this case, BYOB means Bring Your Own Balls

Yesterday, I posed the question: Why didn’t the NFL take the deflategate opportunity to ditch its wacky rule that allows each team to bring & use it’s own balls.

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My argument, simply stated: The rule is nuts.

MLB pitchers don’t bring their own balls.

NBA shooters don’t call for their favorite balls when they step to the line.

The NFL rule is what nuns call an occasion to sin.

Put mere mortals in those situations, and guess what they’re gonna do.

You got it: SIN.

So, eliminate the temptation, right?

I got curious and searched for some background on the BYOB rule …

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Posted in Football, NFL, Rules, Sports & Athletics | 1 Comment »

Brady: “Maybe those guys gotta study the rule book and figure it out”

May 12, 2015

In the words of Yahoo Sports:

 

The NFL took deflate-gate very seriously, hammering the New England Patriots with unheard of punishment in the matter of deflated footballs.

The league announced Monday that quarterback Tom Brady was suspended four games, the team was fined $1 million and will lose its 2016 first-round draft pick and a fourth-round pick in 2017.

That’s a huge punishment considering there was no evidence Brady was directly involved and the Patriots’ ownership and coach Bill Belichick weren’t involved.

Say, what?

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Here’s why I think the punishment fits the crime (or, is maybe a tad on the light side) …

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Controversy in the NFL play-offs … What would Zeus say?

January 6, 2015

No, we’re not talking about the defensive pass interference penalty flag that was picked up without explanation in the Cowboys-Lions game.

Everybody is all over that one.  So, we’ll pass.

What caught my eye was a piece in SBNation headlined: “Lions fans should be a bit mad at the referees for what happened as they tried to seal a win. They should be just as mad at their coach, though.”

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The situation:

Late in the game, the Lions had a fourth-and-1 on the Dallas 46.

At first, they lined up to go for it. But they didn’t.

Instead, the Lion’s punter shanked a 10-yarder …

Retrospectively, a bad call, for sure.

But, coach Caldwell was just going with coaches’ conventional wisdom.

Leading to a broader question: how often is NFL coaches’ conventional wisdom right (or wrong)?

I’ve got something on that …

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Posted in Cognitive biases, Conventional wisdom, Football, NFL, Sports & Athletics | 1 Comment »