Excellent submissions by all.
Let’s get to it.
Hi Tyler,
The NFL talks about player safety being so important to the NFL. This year seems that there has been a ton of injuries, or maybe bigger names injured. The NFL schedule doesn’t seem to support their claim of player safety. Look at the Packers schedule (sorry it’s the one I know by heart) They play a Thursday night game in September, a Thursday night game in October, a Wednesday night game in November, and a Friday day game in December. Possible Saturday game in January. The only weekday they don’t play is on a Tuesday. The Rams and Packers play on a Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. So the NFL gave both teams their bye week beforehand, but they only get a mini bye. Both teams will practice mid-week during their bye so it’s not a full week. They will get a mini bye after their game but neither team gets a full week off. I understand it’s all about the money but it comes with a big price to their players.
Thank you for your hard work. Appreciate all you do for us.
Steve Livermore
De Pere, Wisc.
You’ve beautifully laid out the league’s hypocrisy. It’s maddening. Why should we take anything the NFL says about “player safety” seriously when the league’s trying to Pac-Man every day of the week and add an 18th regular-season game? Neuroscientist Chris Nowinski, recently pointed out to Pablo Torre the ridiculous virtue-signaling of the guardian caps, too. Extra padding around a helmet does not change the reality that a brain is jiggling inside the skull. Chapter 1 of “The League of Denial” sticks with me forever. As the authors write, a woodpecker evolved to allow its head to bang against a tree. Humans were not.
You all know how I feel about football. The good this sport gives you, in my opinion, far outweighs the bad. If our two boys want to lace ‘em up one day, I’ll be ecstatic.
It’d simply be nice if the league — for once! — was transparent. Honest. Sign up to play pro football and, yes, brain damage is a potential consequence. If the 32 owners could agree to live in this reality, it’d serve as a compass toward morally sound decisions… such as a schedule that makes a lick of sense.
Injuries are a guarantee. New rules won’t make much of a difference, no matter how many “football is safe”-themed infomercials spam our screens.
Until blocking and tackling is outlawed, we’ll see players go down every week.
Blocking and tackling will not be outlawed any time soon because — despite the league’s dalliance with flag football — owners know America is drawn toward these car crashes, these modern-day gladiators doing something most only dream of. So, everyone continues to engage in this silly song and dance. We’d all take the NFL a lot more seriously if they eliminated the preseason, quit adding regular-season games and quit trying to own every holiday and every day of the week.
Money rules.
This will move one direction.
Good evening, Tyler. I am really enjoying your analysis and, especially, your conversations each week with Jim Monos and Bob McGinn. Having grown up in Viking country I am fascinated by your discussions about the NFC North, player by player.
Other than the Vikings’ special and apparently unique defense, most of the attention goes to the offensive capabilities of the teams, and of special QBs — Stafford, Mahomes, Allen, etc. With the possible exception of the Chiefs, the defenses of those teams leave a great deal to be desired.
Coaches and others often quote Paul Bear Bryant’s statement that “Offenses sell tickets, but defenses win championships.” Is there reason to believe that the Bills, and Rams, in particular, can be sufficiently competitive defensively to have any chance at the end of the year?
Thanks,
George from Maine
Pleasure to have you, George! Your question is a good one, and a concerning one for the 2026 Buffalo Bills. I don’t think we’ve written about a player more than Josh Allen at Go Long, from our initial skepticism/questions in 2020 to our 1 on 1 this summer.
For my money, he’s the single-most dominant player in the sport.
Yet, even Josh Allen unequivocally needs a defense to reach the Super Bowl.
