State of the NFL by: Tyler Edgerton

Engaging Sports and Personal News has decided to try something outside of the box. 
You normally only hear from me and what I have written. Change should be something to embrace and I think you all will be excited for what is about to come. 

Okay okay, I will not hold you in suspense any longer. 

At times you all will be hearing from 22-year old Tyler Edgerton, our new guest contributor. Edgerton is a student at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. He is studying Sport Studies and Communications. 
The world of sport and new media changes and evolves every single day. Engaging Sports and Personal News is following that trend. 

Edgerton has much to offer to the world of new media as he has given himself experience in writing as well as hosting a podcast... just like me! 

Be sure to take a listen and look at Tyler's other work on his website (mysportingedge.com), as well as follow him on Twitter (@TEDGE23)
Now I bring to you a piece from Tyler Edgerton discussing the state of the NFL:

Image Credit: Brian Bahr/Getty Images

What’s wrong with the NFL?

The NFL product has seemed to disintegrate over the course of the past few seasons. This season has continued the trend even more so. Through the first half of the 2016 campaign, the product on the field has sloped off tremendously. There has been a large swell of criticism and pointed fingers to explain the NFL ratings slump, so what happen to the league many would call the greatest in the world? To be quite honest, it’s a multitude of proceedings.

The primetime match ups are largely disinteresting, and the penalty delays make the game day presentation dreadful to say the least. Couple that with a presidential election that will decide the fate of this country for much longer than the next four years, and a World Series that carried the most compelling storyline since the early 2000s, the NFL hasn’t stood a chance.

Sunday afternoons are still ruled by professional football, but late night match ups and even the NFL’s international series starring games in London on Sunday mornings are dipping in ratings.
According to MMQB.com, "Monday Night Football is down 24% from last year at this time, Sunday Night Football is down 19% and Thursday night down 18%." The reason why? The London morning, Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night games have featured teams with a combined record of 85 - 96 (.469 winning pct.) It is not only poor meeting over a mediocre NFL every weekend, but there been entirely too many yellow cloths spotted on the field. 

          This year, the league has produced 1,687 total penalties in 8 weeks. That breaks down to roughly 14 per game. In just three season from 2013 to 2015, the rate of accepted flags has spiked an astounding 13.7 percent, delaying the game, and annoying viewers across the league. This includes the ones broadcasting the game. Just a few weeks ago during a Monday Night Football match up between the Jets and Cardinals, both new comer Sean McDonough and the ever faithful Jon Gruden spoke their minds on the issue at hand. McDonough expressed his opinion with the following statement: "If we're looking for reasons why TV ratings for the NFL are down all over the places, this doesn't help. The way this game has been officiated is not something anyboth wants to watch." Gruden followed with "It's a hard game to broadcast - every play there's a penalty." Many point to the officials, but is it really their fault?

Many football experts believe it isn’t. Ex-offensive lineman and now current analyst Brian Baldinger believes the over-use of fags could be because of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL and NFLPA limits practice time. He claims “players aren’t practicing with the correct technique” simply because the corrections in the game cannot be addressed in practice. Other than the outside distractions of supplementary TV programming as previously mentioned, there is one additional rational to suggest the NFL isn’t the same, and that’s the lack of player quality.

One of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game in Peyton Manning making his decision to step away from the game this past offseason is part of the reason, but this issue goes much deeper than that.  An estimated 57.4 million viewers play fantasy football and the injuries and/or suspensions involved with the NFL have certainly made an impact in rating in my opinion.

At the end of the day, defense may win championships, but there is no doubt in my mind offense fuels the league. The greatest quarterback (Tom Brady) and running back (Le’Veon Bell) from the 2015 season both began 2016 with suspensions, while their teams combined to play three primetime games in that first four week stretch. We have seen the likes of Sammy Watkins, Dez Bryant, Tony Romo, Jamal Charles, Teddy Bridgewater, Tyler Eifert, Josh Gordon, and a list that just keeps growing limit the availability of Pro-Bowl caliber talent.

With a list of contributing factors to a diminishing product, the ‘No Fun League’ better figure out something quickly before they become the next national past time.  Displaying awful matchups on primetime and across the pond will not expand the product the way the league wants, and with every parents concern about the risk of concussions, could this begin an epidemic ending the NFL as we know it? It’s certainly something to ponder in the future.

  Tyler Edgerton

SportingEdge Lead Writer - mysportingedge.com

Twitter: @TEDGE23 | edgertont23@gmail.com