Random NFL thoughts for the bye week
By Keith Myers
The bye week for the Seattle Seahawks has me having all sorts of random NFL thoughts about ratings, the Vikings, the Falcons, and a possible continuation of deflategate.
Don’t Panic over Ratings
There’s been a lot of talk about the drop in ratings for the NFL this season. The number a think-pieces blaming the drop on on everything from deflategate to Kaepernick’s protest is nauseatingly high.
The truth is that everyone needs to just settle down. 2015 saw record ratings for the NFL, so clearly the league is still doing fine.
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Before we look at off-field reasons for the ratings drop the on-field product needs to be examined first. There’s been a lot of terrible games in prime time so far. No one is tuning in to watch teams like Miami and Chicago.
The league has also been without stars like Adrian Peterson, Tony Romo, and Tom Brady, There is plenty of data that shows that the loss of big named players has a direct correlation to ratings.
The presidential election is also pulling eyeballs away from football. The first debate set records for viewership, and was shown opposite a Monday Night Football game.
Brady is now back which will help with viewership in the Northeast. The election is starting to look like a Seahawks-49ers blowout. Those two things and a string of better matchups coming up should provide a nice rebound in the NFL’s ratings.
Atlanta punished for contact at OTAs
The Atlanta Falcons have lost 3 OTA workouts for next season because it was deemed that there was too much contact in their June workouts. If that sounds familiar, that’s because it is exactly the same thing that happened to the Seahawks.
The Falcons just happen to be coached by former Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. So two teams have been dinged for practicing too hard in the summer, and both teams are part of the Pete Carroll coaching tree.
Because of that, there is likely some attention on the Jacksonville Jaguars. If Gus Bradley’s squad also ends up to have violated the rule, than we’ll know that there is a trend. Whether that means there’s a coaching issue or a witch-hunt going on, well, we’ll leave that for other people to speculate about.
Are the Vikings cursed?
The purple team from Minnesota has lost their starting QB, RB and LT for the season. Now it looks like their starting RT will be out for at least 8 weeks. After 4 games, they’ve lost arguably their 4 most important offensive starters, but they are still 4-0.
another player has been sacrificed. through this unholy process they will remain undefeated
— Arif Hasan, but NFL 🏈 (@ArifHasanNFL) October 7, 2016
Arif is trying to stay positive, but it is impossible to see them continuing to win if they lose any more of their stars to injury.
Deflategate is finally over (for now?)
Tom Brady’s suspension for deflating footballs being finally over. The two years of dealing with annoying story can finally come to a close. Hopefully we’ll never have to hear or read about it ever again.
Although… there is one situation in which I wouldn’t be against this story continuing:
just imagine: The NFL finds that the footballs in New England are OVERinflated this week, and suspends Brady for 4 more games. #inflategate
— Keith Myers (@MyersNFL) October 6, 2016
Come on, you know that would be hilarious!