Annoying Little Things in the NFL

[Nick]

What little things in the NFL really get on your nerves?

By "little thing," I mean something that's relatively minor and unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but they just annoy you to no end. It could be a rule, it could be something about a network's broadcast, it could be jersey numbers, it could be anything. Just nothing really big.

I'll give you an example. It annoys me to no end that defenses are statistically ranked by total yards given up per game. Isn't the point of a defense to keep the opposition from scoring? IMO, the best defense in the league is the one who holds the opposition to the fewest # of points, not fewest # of yards.

By the same token, shouldn't offenses be ranked by the number of points they achieve per game rather than yards achieved per game? The ultimate goal of the offense is to score points. I've never heard of a team winning because they outgained their opponents in offensive yards.

Last year, the official best defense was Tampa Bay because they held their opponents to 277.8 yards per game. But in my opinion, the REAL best defense of 2005 was the Chicago Bears for holding opponents to only 12.6 points per game. The NFL's official best defense allowed 17.1 points per game, which ranks them eigth in my preferred category.

Similarly, the official best offense of 2005 was the Kansas City Chiefs for averaging a league-high 387 yards per game. However, the highest scoring offense - and thus my choice for best offense of 2005, as much as it pains me to say it - was the Seattle Seahawks at 28.3 ppg. The "official" Chiefs ranked sixth in ppg.

[rawkhrdr]

Ref mistakes...

[evil disco man]

When announcers on T.V. talk about what play should've been called after the play is over. Nothing annoys me more than people who try to look like geniuses off of 20/20 hindsight. There's a reason they're announcing the game in a booth and not calling the plays from the sidelines.

Also, punters. Punters just annoy me in general.

[RamsFanSam]

The Whiners. Steelers fans. And inconsistent penalty calling...either be fair to both teams, or find a different job.

[Bruce=GOAT]

When announcers say that a team has a verical passing game. This has been associated with the Raiders under Norv Turner. While I understand their point, What team doesn't want to pass the ball vertically?

[Goldenfleece]

Inconsistency in the rules. It drives me crazy when we're discussing whether a guy had possession of the ball or not based on whether he made "a football move" afterwards or whether the QB fumbled based on whether replays show his arm moving forward. Part of it is the refs, but part of it is the obscure definitions in the rules.

I also get annoyed by the over-repetition of whatever bizarre factoid the announcing team has dug up about the teams. Who cares what Bill Cowher's record is when his team is leading by at least 2 touchdowns and has possession of the ball with 10 seconds or less remaining on the clock? But as soon as someone mentions that stat, you can be sure they'll keep bringing it up.

[cowboyhater]

I hate the rules on offensive holding. There is holding on every play as a result of it, but only flagrant violations get called (and often not even those!). Offensive linemen should not be allowed to use their hands.

[general counsel]

#1 for sure for me is the delay in executing instant replay. I think the replay rule is great, but should be used to overule "incontrivertable evidence" of an error. To me, if they have to look at 60 angles for 5 minutes, how in the world can it be incontrivertable? Look at the replay, either the ref clearly blew it, or get on with the next play. Its not that tough.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[general counsel]

#2 for me. All the penalties on special teams. To me, along with offensive holding, its the most inconsistent the refs get all game. They call ticky tacky pushes in the side half the time and let clips go the other half the time

One other thing. The volume on the commercials is about 3x louder than during the game, it makes me nuts.

Ramming speed to all

general counsel

[ramsplaya16]

false starts mostly by Alex Barron on 3rd & 7

[bigredman]

1. Refs that jump the gun by blowing the whistle too soon.

2. Players that celebrate tackles.

3. A receiver who has clearly caught and controlled the ball, but the ball becomes dislodged upon hitting the ground is called an incomplete pass.

4. If 3 above is to remain, then make it a fumble when balls become dislodged when the runner hits the ground.

5. The NFL's rules against end zone celebrations after a touchdown are stupid. The only rule should be a time limit.

[Chiledog]

Terrell Owens, and all the others like him who seem to forget that football is a team sport.

[Bruce=GOAT]

5. The NFL's rules against end zone celebrations after a touchdown are stupid. The only rule should be a time limit.

I agree totally. And they should use the same time limit on team celebrations.

[Rampage39]

What annoys me the most is when a player pays thousands of dollars for a jersey number. The number has nothing to do with the player's performance yet many players must have "their" number.

[MOM]

Ref mistakes...

Now how in the world did I know you were gonna say that?

3. A receiver who has clearly caught and controlled the ball, but the ball becomes dislodged upon hitting the ground is called an incomplete pass.

4. If 3 above is to remain, then make it a fumble when balls become dislodged when the runner hits the ground.

Sorry to play the girl card here, but I thought that its only a fumble when the ball comes out beforethe runner hits the ground. It is definitely annoying to call it an incompletion, though, you're dead on the money there.



The annoying thing for me, as a MOM, is all the legal and drug issues with players nowadays. Kids used to be able to look up to their favorite athletes as heroes. I don't think I want mine to now, until things change in this department. Time to shape up or ship out and up the river. I mean seriously, do we want our sons to beat their wives just so he could be like his hero who did the same thing? Do we want them to use drugs, be caught up in sex scandals, or worse, just because he learned it from.....I better stop before I get any madder.