Wisch: 18-Game Schedule Puts NFL Postseason In Jeopardy
By Dave Wischnowsky--
OK, pencils up. It's Pop Quiz time.
Question: What's more compelling, the NFL regular season or the NFL postseason?
Answer: Dumb question.
There's no arguing – not if you watched the wildness of Saturday's Wild Card games – that the NFL's postseason is far superior to its regular one in terms of drama, meaning and excitement.
So, why would Roger Goodell & Co. want to jeopardize it?
Because, make no mistake, that's exactly what the NFL commish and the league's owners are doing with their all-out blitz in favor an 18-game regular-season schedule. For the sake of a few bucks (granted, a few million), they're putting the breadth of the NFL regular season ahead of the health its postseason.
And here's how: By guaranteeing more injuries.
Professional football, in case you got hit in the head and didn't notice, is a brutal sport. Guys don't just seem to get hurt all the time, they actually do get hurt all time. In fact, according to the NFL, an average of nearly three players per team are injured (i.e., added to the official injury report) during any given Sunday game.
So, that would mean by the NFL's own count, that by adding two more games to the regular season slate we could see as many as 190 more players injured per season than what we're seeing right now.
And, I'm sorry, but I don't see that as a good thing.
Not only would many of those players – and surely a good number of them would be stars – miss the playoffs altogether, but the so-called "healthy" ones still competing would not be able to compete as well as we expect them to in the postseason. They'd be much that more worn down having had to fight through two additional regular season games just to reach the playoffs.
Heck, by the time the Super Bowl rolled around – potentially the 22nd game of the season for some teams – who knows what the condition of the players would be.
The real problem, of course, is the NFL's four preseason games. No one likes the league having that many – except perhaps the unproven players scrapping to make a roster. And what I hate about the NFL preseason is that season-ticket holders are forced to pay full price for those boring exhibitions as part of their ticket package. Financially, the NFL treats those games just like one that actually mean something – even if the players don't.
That's a joke, but nevertheless the money from those preseason games is also something owners count on for their operating budget. And the only way the league can really resolve that poor situation without reducing the money coming into the owner's coffers is by adding two more regular season games.
I might not like that, but I understand it. The NFL is a business, after all.
However, if sitting through four boring preseason games and shelling out too much money for them can ensure that the NFL's postseason retains its health and excitement, I'd vote for maintaining the status quo.
Unfortunately, I don't have a vote and an 18-game regular season almost surely is coming.
Just don't be surprised if a watered-down postseason isn't far behind.
Do you agree with Dave? Post your comments below.
If nothing else, Dave Wischnowsky is an Illinois boy. Raised in Bourbonnais, educated at the University of Illinois and bred on sports in the Land of Lincoln, he now resides on Chicago's North Side, just blocks from Wrigley Field. Formerly a reporter and blogger for the Chicago Tribune, Dave currently writes a syndicated column, The Wisch List, which you can check out via his blog at http://www.wischlist.com.
