NFL Evolution of the NFL

[ERead]

Some really interesting mini-docos of major historical developments in American Football:

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story?id=09000d5d81130404

I learnt a lot. I hadn't know where the specialist kicker position came from, for example.

Any surprises in there for any of you guys?

BTW, NFL.com is just freakin' cool.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Another good contribution.

There are some big contributors emerging. Fuey, Wizard, ERead, etc....at this rate, there might be ways to get mod additions in the near future.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Paul Brown is a god.
There are a great influencers and innovators in the ilk of Brown over the years. Halas, Lombardi, Davis, Walsh, and many others.
I love that history right from start to today, many great characters.

 

[usalion]

Very good list- can't really quibble with any of their picks, although I would probably pick a more general thing- the evolution of the passing game- and replace the West coast Offence, which could eb part of that- remember that football originated as a running game, like rugby (union) and that it was only gradually that passing became a part of the game- guys like Sammy Baugh, Sid Luckman and Otto graham did a lot to turn it into a running and passing game.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Good point, usalion. I think the evolution to incorporate forward passing was a massive thing that was neglected by NFL.com

Would also include the invention of the running/passing QB as another that might not be top 10, but worthy of a mention.

 

[usalion]

Good point, usalion. I think the evolution to incorporate forward passing was a massive thing that was neglected by NFL.com

Would also include the invention of the running/passing QB as another that might not be top 10, but worthy of a mention.

actually, after posting, i got thinking- seems like their top 10 are all connected with the actual NFL- evolution of passing game started before the NFL came into being....still, a major change in the way football was played- and no question the passing game has most definitely evolved over time...look at the QBs of each decade to find the classic QB and look at the way they played....for sake of argument, could I throw out these (maybe open a debate on my choice, which is fine....

1950s- Otto Graham
1960s Bart starr, Johnny Unitas
1970s Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw
1980s Joe Montana
1990s Troy Aikman, Steve Young
2000s Tom Brady, Peyton Manning

 

[Woodson]

actually, after posting, i got thinking- seems like their top 10 are all connected with the actual NFL- evolution of passing game started before the NFL came into being....still, a major change in the way football was played- and no question the passing game has most definitely evolved over time...look at the QBs of each decade to find the classic QB and look at the way they played....for sake of argument, could I throw out these (maybe open a debate on my choice, which is fine....

1950s- Otto Graham
1960s Bart starr, Johnny Unitas
1970s Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw
1980s Joe Montana
1990s Troy Aikman, Steve Young
2000s Tom Brady, Peyton Manning

Interesting comment there usalion (great to hear from you again)
I recall watching Randall Cunningham ('90's Eagles playmaker QB for those who don't know) and it was his impact plays that remind me of Big Ben.. willing to make something from nothing and consistently good at that.

Funnily enough, when the draft prospects of the '04 season came out, Big Ben was aligned in the Jim Kelly mould.. as much as they still have much in common (Toughness & build), I think Big Ben has evolved remarkedly.. even drawing comparison with Randall Cunningham. Vince Young & Micheal Vick are perhaps better comparisons to RC but the way I see Big Ben breaking out of the pocket, (pocket collapsing more like it), reminds me of RC's amazing ability to be dangerous on the run as is Big Ben..

Thoughts?

 

[ERead]

Good point, usalion. I think the evolution to incorporate forward passing was a massive thing that was neglected by NFL.com

Would also include the invention of the running/passing QB as another that might not be top 10, but worthy of a mention.

Probably find that most Americans forget there was a time before forward passing. It is so much a signature part of the game.

I wonder if there is any recent (or old) doco on the contribution Walter Camp made to the game (by which I pretty much mean his invention of the game).

 

[Burningleviathan]

I love the kicking thing. It's just amusing to think that no one thought of going side on before.

 

[fuey]

Paul Brown is a god.
There are a great influencers and innovators in the ilk of Brown over the years. Halas, Lombardi, Davis, Walsh, and many others.
I love that history right from start to today, many great characters.

You will find those http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story...emplate=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true

there!

There's some really interesting lists there...

Also, re: the forward pass, don't under-estimate the influence of Don Hutson's career. At the time, the way the game was played, I think he would've made a lot of teams open their eyes to the fact that running the ball wasn't the ONLY way to move the chains.

 

[Wizard]

Can't really disagree with any of those ten.
Clearly television is #1 and free agency #2 at least from my perspective. The game is never the same once free agency is introduced and i think AFL will find this out pretty quickly.
Thats quite informative for the younger guys around here as well actually, especially the 1978 rule changes. I didn't know the full details there so that helps significantly.

Astroturf is obviously awesome but i still don't mind watching games in Oakland, Miami etc where they play out on the nice lawn fields.

 

[ERead]

Can't really disagree with any of those ten.
Clearly television is #1 and free agency #2 at least from my perspective. The game is never the same once free agency is introduced and i think AFL will find this out pretty quickly.
Thats quite informative for the younger guys around here as well actually, especially the 1978 rule changes. I didn't know the full details there so that helps significantly.

Astroturf is obviously awesome but i still don't mind watching games in Oakland, Miami etc where they play out on the nice lawn fields.

Fieldturf is more awesome. I couldn't believe some of those Astroturf injuries! Talk about bleeding edge technology!

Does anyone know if there is any Fieldturf anywhere in Australia? I'd love to go run my hands through some! Looks like no (http://www.fieldturf.com/interactive_map.cfm/ - ignore the fact the little drop pin is initially in the australian landmass) but some in NZ.

Still, nothing like grass if it'll grow in your winter.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Check out the site linked below, a lot of information there.
Scroll your mouse left and right to view the different decades, click on things to read/watch about it.

To NFL Fans:

Now that another remarkable NFL season has concluded, let me express my gratitude on behalf of all 32 NFL teams for your incredible support. Record numbers of you watched at home, made your way to the stadium, and connected with the NFL in numerous other ways during the 2011 season. Your love of football is what makes the NFL special.

We are proud of the quality of the game today. From the individuals and team skills on display in every game to the record-breaking achievements of future Hall of Famers, the 2011 season was extraordinary on many levels.

It finished up with some of the most exciting playoff games of recent years leading to a tense, drama-filled Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots that was the most-watched show in the history of television. What a tribute to our players, coaches, and fans!

As good as it’s been, I believe the NFL’s best days are ahead. Our responsibility in leading the league is to protect and enhance the bond between our game and the passionate fans who sustain it. We know we have to earn your trust every day and prove we are worthy of your amazing support.

Our commitment to improve everything we do is ongoing. We are not done yet. From the game on the field to the fan experience at home -- and everything in between -- there are ways we can do even better. We owe it to you, the fans, to believe in better and strive for more. Our game has always evolved and that will continue. I encourage you to visit our new web site – NFL.com/evolution – to explore how the game has improved over the past century. There are more good changes to come.

Our mission is captured very simply in these four words:
Forever forward. Forever football. Thank you once again for your passion and commitment to the game we all love.

Roger Goodell

 

[Exe Gesis]

2012 Evolution commercial

 

[usalion]

That was a really cool, well done commercial. Good on the NFL fpor putting it together.

 

[Dirty Bird]

"drama-filled Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots that was the most-watched show in the history of television."

Incorrect.

The Half time show has that title. Not the game itself.

 

[usalion]

"drama-filled Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots that was the most-watched show in the history of television."

Incorrect.

The Half time show has that title. Not the game itself.

Particularly with the antics of MIA

 

[Woodson]

"drama-filled Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots that was the most-watched show in the history of television."

Incorrect.

The Half time show has that title. Not the game itself.

Don't buy that. The NFL Supabah is not just a one day event either.
There are plenty 'bandwagon' viewers who want to see other aspects and perhaps some of the game but when you consider that the SB is consistent in drawing a ridiculous volume of katrillion viewers, it's all about the SB package. Without the game, none of the other stuff happens.

The evolution of the NFL ad is ok but who are they trying to sell that idea to? The converted?

Parity is something no other league gives. Another reason to LOVE the NFL.
Looking back @ the Bills four consecutive SB's of the early '90's makes reaching the SB nowadays a bigger achievement.

 

[Exe Gesis]

What the NFL are trying to say with that ad, if you read between the lines of it, and the between the lines of Goodell's letter, is basically -- expect a lot more change to happen, in the name of safety, and it will be more exciting (arena/touch). I didn't want to make the anti-goodell spiel in the OP, but that was the point.

 

[Woodson]

What the NFL are trying to say with that ad, if you read between the lines of it, and the between the lines of Goodell's letter, is basically -- expect a lot more change to happen, in the name of safety, and it will be more exciting (arena/touch). I didn't want to make the anti-goodell spiel in the OP, but that was the point.

We (real fans) have already known, caught on, that safety is the direction they are heading on.. AND? more penalties on defenders? what else is new? QB's can't be touched? that's not really the case... the officials actually pulled back from the overzealous penalties in the second half of the season, SB included, which was a smart call.. (let 'em play!!) look at this 'facemask' helmet to helmet' (accidental hit)... for example.. nothing in it.. still, the fact remains..

 

[Exe Gesis]

...........

The younger fans unfortunately didn’t have the opportunity to see what us older fans now call real football. The game has really changed. The players have really changed both physically and skill-wise.

THEN:
• QB’s called their own plays
• No Free Agency
• A “Big” lineman was 6′4″ 280#
• Hitting was encouraged – Mugging too!
• Only way players changed teams was via trade
• Stick-um was liberally used
• Players played hurt
• Pass interference NOT called for simple contact
• Knocking people out was encouraged

NOW:
• QB’s have plays called in by OC. Some are allowed to audible out of them.
• Free Agency has had significant impact on the game and teams in particular.
• Average linemen today are 6′6″ and 310#. Plus they can run sub 5 second 40’s. Much more technique are used nowadays.
• Rules today now significantly limit hitting. Every little transgression is called and often fined.(ridiculous IMO)
• Players no longer are committed to a team. They are there strictly for the $’s. Team loyalty is of the past.
• Stick-um and like products are outlawed. In a sense, special gloves now do much of what Stick-um was used for.
• Some players today will play hurt. Others, will not play when “Nicked”.
• Today’s pass interference are too protective of the receivers (IMO). The contact after 5 yard rule is the most outrageous (again, IMO).
• Knocking someone out today is going to cost you $20,000 and possibly a game(s) suspension.

I understand many of the new rules but, in providing all this extra player protection, they’ve taken away from the original game – that which made it America’s #1 favorite sport. Players know football is a violent game. That’s why they make the big bucks. Nobody is being forced to play in the NFL. They get well rewarded financially. If they continue to remove the violence from the game all that will be left is a sport with the excitement of Baseball (Yawn). I just hope they don’t continue on with this trend otherwise real football will be a thing of the past – a distant memory.

Great post! Also, the equipment has changed considerably. Lighter, stronger and better protection. Probably the helmets have improved more than any other piece.

That improvement lets players go a lot harder with less fear of injuries. On the other hand, they say that’s also why they’ve implemented so many more of the protection rules, specifically around using the head as a weapon. With the old helmets, nobody would ever dream of leading with their skull wrapped in a piece of plastic with crappy rubber padding inside.

The safety rules are obnoxious, but necessary. The NFL has two main concerns:

1) Older players becoming physically and mentally broken down. Johnny Unitas couldn’t grip a football by the end of his life. Lyle Alzado died of cancer brought on (in his opinion) by megadoses of HGH during his attempted comeback. Mike Webster died living under bridges and in bus stops. Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest because he couldn’t handle the dementia. Earl Campbell can barely walk. Dave Pear is in near-constant agony. The NFL hates seeing these stories in the news and is trying stop them from occurring to this generation.

2) Players are bigger and faster than ever every year. Goodell is terrified of a marquee player such as Manning or Brady get killed on the field. If that ever DID happen, Congress would clamp down in about 30 seconds and make our favorite sport unrecognizable.

If you go back and look at the great QB’s of yesteryear, Marino, Namath, Bradshaw etc. You’ll notice none of them have the Passer rating numbers of today’s QB’s, even the average ones.

Totally different game, different rules. Back then, for example, DBs absolutely man-handled WR’s. They’d be arrested today for some of those plays.

Don’t forget to add to that picture Freddy B sitting on his helmet smoking a cigarette. Times have changed.

Back in the day we didn’t have Internet, smart phones, Satellite TV, Wikipedia, Google, etc. All there was reporting on what’s happening with the local teams was the local paper. Kind of like living in the dark ages compared to today’s capabilities & instant gratification. How did we ever survive? No cell phones, no answering machines, no voicemail, no e-mail, 4 channels on TV – the horror! LOL

Back then a beer, 3 hot dogs & a bag of peanuts was less than $10 at a stadium. Today that combination is about $40. Parking was around $3.50 while today it’s $35. I don’t recall what my season tickets cost then but today it’s $3,000. I guess someone has to fund those big buck salaries.

 

[Exe Gesis]

I'm always on Goodell's back about everything, but here's a good initiative from him...

NFL examines how the stadium can compete with the couch

If you’re a football fan who likes to monitor multiple games at once, look up stats while the game is going on, talk to other fans online or otherwise take advantage of modern technology on autumn Sundays, the couch is a better option than the stadium. And the NFL is concerned about that.

If the stadium experience can’t match the home experience, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to sell tickets, and so the NFL is hoping to enhance the stadium experience. NFL executive V.P. Eric Grubman told Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com that giving the fans in the stadium more information during breaks in the action on the field is an important priority for the league.

“When there are gaps [in action], if you think back 10 or 15 years ago, the tradition was to put relatively simple things on a relatively simple JumboTron,” Grubman said. “What we’re asking clubs is to think about a world-class programming mindset. Don’t depend on the exact flow of what’s going on on the field to provide a three-and-a-half-hour entertainment experience for the fan. There’s only a certain amount of time when there’s action on the field.”

Grubman said NFL teams need to think about how they can make the stadium a place where fans are connected to the rest of the league, just as they are at home.

“It’s the perfect match in a stadium to increase the connectivity and let them do the things on their social network that they want to do around football whether that’s fantasy, stats, texting, sending a picture, Facebook or Twitter,” he said.

If the fans in the stadium aren’t as connected as they are at home, they may stay home.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Here's an interesting article speculating on the end of football.

Football Apocalypse?

What Would the End of Football Look Like?
An economic perspective on CTE and the concussion crisis
By Tyler Cowen and Kevin Grier on February 9, 2012

The NFL is done for the year, but it is not pure fantasy to suggest that it may be done for good in the not-too-distant future. How might such a doomsday scenario play out and what would be the economic and social consequences?

By now we're all familiar with the growing phenomenon of head injuries and cognitive problems among football players, even at the high school level. In 2009, Malcolm Gladwell asked whether football might someday come to an end, a concern seconded recently by Jonah Lehrer.

Before you say that football is far too big to ever disappear, consider the history: If you look at the stocks in the Fortune 500 from 1983, for example, 40 percent of those companies no longer exist. The original version of Napster no longer exists, largely because of lawsuits. No matter how well a business matches economic conditions at one point in time, it's not a lock to be a leader in the future, and that is true for the NFL too. Sports are not immune to these pressures. In the first half of the 20th century, the three big sports were baseball, boxing, and horse racing, and today only one of those is still a marquee attraction.

Click to read on

.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Bernard Pollard questions long-term future of NFL

Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard will play in his first Super Bowl in just a week as the Ravens take on the San Francisco 49ers.

Yet Pollard is wondering just how many Super Bowls will be played in the future.

According to Clark Judge of CBSSports.com, Pollard doesn’t paint a very promising picture for the long-term future of the league.

Pollard sees a conundrum coming between the league losing fans by over-legislating the physicality of the sport in the name of player safety and the players continuing to get bigger, faster and stronger.

“Thirty years from now,” Pollard said, “I don’t think it will be in existence. I could be wrong. It’s just my opinion, but I think with the direction things are going — where they [NFL rules makers] want to lighten up, and they’re throwing flags and everything else — there’s going to come a point where fans are going to get fed up with it.

“The league is trying to move in the right direction [with player safety],” he added, “but, at the same time, [coaches] want bigger, stronger and faster year in and year out. And that means you’re going to keep getting big hits and concussions and blown-out knees. The only thing I’m waiting for … and, Lord, I hope it doesn’t happen … is a guy dying on the field. We’ve had everything else happen there except for a death. We understand what we signed up for, and it sucks.”

Pollard has a reputation as a big-hitter and has earned his fair share of fines from the league due to illegal hits so he’s felt the effects of the league’s rule changes more than most. He knows fans cheer big hits while the league is trying to limit them.

While Pollard may be overly pessimistic over the future of the league, it’s an intriguing perspective.

 

[Woodson]

Surely suspensions have to kick in with unruly unsportsmanship 'dirty' play.