NFL owners on the spot

The National Football League is headed toward the precipice of a civil war, of sorts, as it methodically reopens for business in the wake of a global pandemic.

In the midst of that exercise, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stunningly reversed course with regard to his league’s stance on race relations in this country in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis policemen.

In what amounts to a watershed statement and moment, Goodell without warning told the nation, “We, the National Football League condemn racism and the systemic oppression of black people.

“We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe Black Lives Matter.

“We are listening, I am listening and I will be reaching out to players who have raised their voices and others on how we can improve and go forward for a better and more united NFL family.”

Turning a blind eye after all these years stopped just . . . like . . . that.

The jackpot question is whether Goodell’s message also reflects the feelings of the owners, those 32 billionaires who are his bosses. Right now, we don’t know what they think or where they stand. At least not publicly. And that’s where the civil war aspect lies.

Will there be a division among the owners? A division between owners and players?

Strongly attached to Goodell’s frank admission is a move initially exercised by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2017 when he kneeled during the national anthem before a regular-season game.

Interpreted as a slight against the American flag and the military, Kaepernick insisted it was not a slight, but a silent protest to the socially perceived mistreatment by law enforcement against African Americans.

That was the only way he believed he could bring attention to the matter. It became a cause célèbre when the president of the United States weighed in and took it as an insult.

It resulted in the president all but demanding the kneeling must stop and caused NFL owners to scramble in search of an equitable solution. During that season, the subject became a daily staple on not only sports talk radio, but cable television political programs.

The president admitted being emboldened by his stance on the subject to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who detailed a conversation he had with the him regarding the matter in a 2018 deposition.

Said the president, “This is a very winning, strong issue with me. Tell everybody you can’t win this one. This one lifts me.”

Television ratings for games suffered as a result as fans zealously argued. The brouhaha eventually simmered down the next couple of seasons with just a handful of players continuing to kneel as owners basically set the tone on an individual team basis

That brings us back to the now part of this drama. Will the owners deal with the situation differently than they did a few years ago? Bear in mind a significant number of influential owners contributed greatly to the president’s successful election in 2016.

How will they handle the situation now? How much of 2017 will be dragged back into the spotlight? Questions seeking answers with the 2020 season rapidly bearing down.

The owners must see the landscape changing rapidly with highly visible and extremely influential athletes in the three major professional sports joining in on the cause. The groundswell has ballooned to well over 1,000 voices.

Those voices are being heard. Among them is Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. His response to a recent Instagram plea by a fan to “please tell Browns fans you’re not going to be kneeling this season” was terse: “Pull you head out. I absolutely am (going to kneel). I’ve always spoken my mind. And that’s from the heart.”

Wonder what Jimmy Haslam III is thinking about the face of his franchise saying that. Wonder what stance the Browns owner and his wife take when the media finally asks him that very question.

And just how will Browns Nation react? The answer to that probably won’t be gleaned until after the Haslams share their thoughts publicly.  

Another important voice sides with Mayfield, as well as the myriad others who have remained silent for now. “If you still think it’s about disrespecting the flag or our military,” said Houston Texans star defensive end J. J. Watt, “you really haven’t been listening.”

Goodell works for the owners. Not the players; not the paying public. The owners. That’s why his historic pronouncement was so incredulously stunning.

One would think all his moves are made with full knowledge of the owners. Logical thinking then suggests they are in accord with this. But logic sometimes tends to swerve in unexpected directions.

It is entirely possible the president might not be a factor this time. He is currently in the middle of a reelection campaign. The NFL situation has obliquely caught his attention, but he has other more important concerns about which to be worried.

After learning the U. S. Soccer Board of Directors will now allow its players to kneel during the national anthem if they desire, he tweeted: “And it looks like the NFL is heading in that direction also, but not with me watching!”

The owners are on their own this time. Their commissioner has spoken. It’s time they did, too.

News & Views

News: The National Football League tables a possible solution to the onside kick problem.

Views: Now that it has defanged the onside kick by making it almost impossible to successfully convert one, the league has gone to great lengths to make a mockery of the game with a nonsensical proposal.

Onside kicks caused too many injuries, a league study found, so the rules were changed (in 2018) to the point where the success rate of converting this seldom-used tactical maneuver was reduced to roughly 10%. Took the drama right out of it.

League owners were then presented with a solution, a rule giving a losing team the option of converting a fourth-and-15 from its 25-yard line instead, rewarding success with control of the football. Fail and you turn the ball over.

Fortunately, the owners saw how ludicrous it was and tabled it for the second year in a row. Thankfully.

The NFL’s competition committee, which forwards crazy thoughts like these to the owners, appears to have taken leave of its senses in bringing this one up for a vote. It is nothing more than a gimmick and an embarrassing one at that. The NFL does not need gimmicks to improve its game.

The rules of football have changed over the years, mostly for the good. But every once in a while, common sense takes a holiday in the interest of bettering the game.

This is one of those times.

This is the result of reducing the possibility of recovering an onside kick to the point where desperate measures called for desperate actions. The only other possible solution would be to eliminate the maneuver entirely. The onside kick used to be an exciting staple of the game. It is just a few steps from becoming a football dinosaur.

Here’s a suggestion: Don’t try to ram it through a third time because a solution to the problem is so perplexing, it will never get solved. Leave it alone as is and learn to live with it. Stop trying to gimmick the game. It’s beneath the dignity of the league.

News: The league is also taking under consideration the appointment of an eighth game official, a sky judge located in the press box area to be the backup in the event of an egregious error by an on-field official. 

Views: This one has more potential to become a reality, although it is off to a rough start. Once it is eventually installed, it will make the product better. It will be a strong effort to conform to the notion the most import thing is to get the call right.

Through the widespread use of replay, that’s what this has all come down to. It’s okay for players to make mistakes. Game officials are held to a much, much higher standard. And that’s where another set of eyes comes into play. Give the fans  (bettors, too) as close to a perfect game as possible.

It never used to be that way. Up until about 25 years ago, football was arguably the best officiated sport – at least on the professional level – of all the major sports. Multitudinous rules changes in that time have made it almost impossible to operate as efficiently as in the old days.

Veteran Philadelphia sportswriter Les Bowen many years ago noted, “The real problem here isn’t with (referee) Tony Corrente or any other zebra. The bigger problem is either out of concern over concussions or just wanting to codify every little nuance of the game, the NFL has passed so many rules, the game has become impossible to officiate consistently.”

It has become even more difficult since then. To make it somewhat easier to officiate on the field, the side judge became the seventh man of the crew in the NFL in 1978..

The owners never placed the latest proposal on the table because it was not expected to pass. Speculation was they did not favor the addition of an eighth official because it would not justify the added expense. In other words, it would be cost prohibitive.

Imagine that. A multi-gazillion dollar enterprise worrying about doling out what would amount to chump change to add 17 more employees to the payroll, not to mention improve the product.

Additional speculation suggests the league eventually will try it experimentally, perhaps during the exhibition season. That would be a gigantic step forward. It worked in the defunct AAF and XFL. Why not the NFL?

Stay tuned on that one. The fourth-and-15 in place of an onside kick, on the other hand, should perish in peace and never be revisited.