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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Television Pundits Tackle Why NFL Has Lacked Excitement This Season

The issue of poor offensive play during the first two weeks of the NFL season was a main topic on the afternoon TV talk shows yesterday, with ESPN's Dan Le Batard calling it a "plague that is hurting football aesthetically." He said he is "turning away from football games -- and I never used to do that -- because I'm tired of this style of play” (“Highly Questionable,” ESPN, 9/19). FS1's Jason Whitlock said the NFL has "set up all the rules for you to score as many points as possible," but in the process, the league has "destroyed ... unpredictability." Whitlock: "You used to turn the ball over at the quarterback position. Now they're throwing 50 times a game and only throw seven, eight interceptions all year. The game used to be unpredictable and more exciting. They have exchanged exciting for efficiency" (“Speak for Yourself,” FS1, 9/19). ESPN’s Marcus Spears said he has been “bored to death with the NFL game” so far this year. However, he added, “Everybody just needs to pause a little bit. We know what this game is, we know what it’s going to get to, and at some point it’ll be there” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 9/19).

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT? Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio attributed the number of low-scoring games to the "reduced intensity of training camp practices." The reduced number of padded practices does not "get the body and the mind to where it needs to be to come out of the gates Week 1 and be ready to go." Florio: "It makes September the new preseason. They haven’t reduced the preseason, they’ve expanded it because the preseason games have been less meaningful." He added he does not know "what they do to fix this, because I don’t think the players are going to gladly assume more time at off-season workouts, more intense practices." Browns LT Joe Thomas said he could "make some parallels" between lack of practice time and early-season struggles, but he noted there were some "bigger issues" that he sees. Thomas: "Colleges aren’t running pro-style offenses anymore, so the vast majority of players getting drafted have no experience running pro-style techniques.” He added, "What you’re seeing right now is an imbalance in valuing older veteran offensive lineman versus younger players. Since the rookie salary cap was placed in the last CBA, you’re not seeing teams that value veteran players the way they used to" (“PFT,” NBCSN, 9/20).

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING: FS1's Colin Cowherd said the NFL "should be concerned about greed" more than bad play. He said, "You used to have a 1:00 window and a 4:00 window, and you got to prepare for a week. Then the NFL said, ‘We're going to put a couple teams on Thursday, and then a couple teams in London.’ You've got teams traveling overseas, teams on short weeks, teams beat up and not ready to play. What do you know, offenses struggle.” Cowherd: “This league has taken the 1:00 window and given it to London, one Monday night has two ‘Monday Night Football’ games and they put the games on Thursday. Play at 1:00, play at 4:00, play on Monday, teams are rested. This is about greed” ("Speak For Yourself," FS1, 9/19).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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