A proposal to fix the NFL that will never happen, Dave Dombrowski and Mr. Miyagi, and other thoughts
The quality of NFL games is down ... might that be due to too many international games and off-schedule contests like Thursday Night Football?
First and final thoughts …
What follows for the next few paragraphs is a classic example of windmill-tilting. I know that what I’m about to propose will not happen. I know that many football fans, if not most football fans, will not support what I’m about to propose. That’s OK. Sometimes it’s good for a professional opinion-giver to give an envelope-pushing opinion. So here goes:
The NFL should dial back its schedule. More games on Sundays. Fewer games on weekdays. Fewer international games. Hell, aside from Thanksgiving, I’d consider losing the now-regular Thursday night game altogether. Blasphemy, I know, but there are a few considerations that those who run the NFL ought to weigh as they continue their charge toward world domination.
» READ MORE: Mike Sielski: Jalen Hurts has a blood clot, and the Eagles now have major questions to answer
One, scarcity is the NFL’s greatest strength relative to the nation’s other major professional sports leagues. By spreading its schedule out so much — this season, there will be at least one NFL game on each of the seven days of the week except on a Tuesday — the league lowers each game’s value and attractiveness. Casual football fans will find where their favorite team plays, whether that game is broadcast on Fox, CBS, Amazon, or via a signal from another planet. I’m not persuaded that those fans are locked in on Saints-Falcons on a Thursday night or Dolphins-Jets on Black Friday. If every NFL game is an event, then none of them is an event.
Two, in light of the yearly lamentations about the poor quality of play during Thursday night games and throughout each season’s first four to five weeks, it stands to reason that teams and players would prepare better if their schedules were more routine-oriented. You want a higher quality of football? Give a team more than three days to get ready for its next game, and maybe hold off on having teams fly to Australia … ever.
Finally, keeping the schedule as fixed as possible, with ample time between games and less grueling overseas travel, might cut down on injuries. Yes, a 2023 study in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine found over a five-year period, “cumulative travel distance, overseas play, bye week timing, and adding one regular season game were not associated with increased injury rates in NFL players.” But the Boston Globe, citing statistics from the database NFL Verse, reported Friday that “the number of injured players and the number of player games lost leaguewide [in 2026] are the highest they’ve been over the past six seasons.” It was fitting, too, that the Globe noted that trend the day after the Eagles revealed that they had discovered Jalen Hurts’ blood clot after they had landed in London and that the clot had moved after they returned here.
Again, I realize there is no chance of this shift happening, and I also realize that I sound like another post-50 guy lamenting the way things used to be. Sue me, whippersnapper. I just can’t help wondering if the NFL really can’t get too big to fail.
Quick hitters
During his long-awaited end-of-the-season availability Thursday, Phillies president Dave Dombrowski explained, or tried to explain, that Trea Turner will pretty much get a tryout at shortstop next season. Before settling on that course of action, Dombrowski would do well to watch, or rewatch, The Karate Kid, one scene in particular.
When he’s about to begin Daniel’s training, Mr. Miyagi tells him, in so many words: You’re either all in on karate, or you’re not. There is no “guess-so karate.” The same principle should apply to the Phillies’ plan for Turner: Either he’s their shortstop and they send him back out there to keep butchering ground balls and bouncing throws, or they move him to another position and start his acclimation to it right now. No half-measures, Dave. …
Separated at birth: LeBron James in 2026, Granville Waiters in 1986. …
The way things are headed, the college football playoff will someday have 64 teams and end in March, and everyone will be happy again. …
Man, Dave Hakstol’s tenure as the Flyers’ head coach looks better all the time, doesn’t it?
» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni and Rick Tocchet share the same coaching strength. It might be hurting the Eagles and Flyers.
