Which current NFL product do you enjoy more?

After yesterdays game it's pretty evident now how much the game has changed and continues to change. Especially on the play where Dahl just gave the Cowboys WR a little nudge (something you've been seeing in football since its invention) and it was called a penalty...

This new era of above average QBs that can pass for 5,000+ yards, the castration of the defense, and all these damn flags...

The past several years I've been personally watching less and less football games of teams not named the 49ers because of how much the game has changed.

I like when they call all games the same. If Sea gets to hold, so does the rest of the league.

Originally posted by jreff22:

I like when they call all games the same. If Sea gets to hold, so does the rest of the league.

This is my biggest complaint about the way the game has changed......There is no consistency in the calls from play to play or game to game.

I'd love a return to at least 1999-2003 football. To go all the way back is not necessary.

I believe it was Bill Polian who complained to the league about the way the Patriots mugged the Colts receivers in those early Peyton/Brady battles in 2002, 2003, etc. that helped soften up the league for more passing. And this was pre-Goodell too.

Kinda funny how Peyton is yet again the reason for another set of rule changes.

Originally posted by JTsBiggestFan:
I'd love a return to at least 1999-2003 football. To go all the way back is not necessary.

I believe it was Bill Polian who complained to the league about the way the Patriots mugged the Colts receivers in those early Peyton/Brady battles in 2002, 2003, etc. that helped soften up the league for more passing. And this was pre-Goodell too.

Kinda funny how Peyton is yet again the reason for another set of rule changes.

I loved football from 1999 to 2003, but I would even go back to the ball of the 80s and 90s when only the elite talents regularly eclipsed 4,000 yards and 30 TDs. I'm all in favor of rule changes that protect the safety of the players (not leading with the head when you tackle, eliminating the cut blocks, etc), but we don't need rules at this point to help the offense move the ball. Ball movement isn't a problem and neither is scoring. People would like to say fantasy football is driving this, but it all cancels itself out when multiple players are putting up big numbers.

Define "Old School" as the game really has changed a little at a time to favor offense, ever since the head slap was outlawed in 1977. So give us a cut off year, some of you youngsters might call 2007 old school. Of course I go old school, at least I got to play two years of High School football while the head slap was still legal. Nothing like being a defensive player and being able to beat a big ugly o-lineman in the head while it is illegal for him to extend his arms, ha,ha.

Originally posted by BobS:
Define "Old School" as the game really has changed a little at a time to favor offense, ever since the head slap was outlawed in 1977. So give us a cut off year, some of you youngsters might call 2007 old school. Of course I go old school, at least I got to play two years of High School football while the head slap was still legal. Nothing like being a defensive player and being able to beat a big ugly o-lineman in the head while it is illegal for him to extend his arms, ha,ha.

I mean the game really didn't noticeably change up until 5-7 years ago. I actually enjoyed that little battle that Peyton and Brady had when they were breaking each others records, but once all these other QBs started throwing for near 5000 yards, even Matt Schuab was pretty much one game away from 5,000, that's where my cut off line would be.

Last night's game was another embarrassment, especially after seeing Kap get that penalty just for talking trash, same penalty Peyton was hit with it (during the preseason I believe) for the first time in his career. After the first quarter or so I was getting really irritated with all the penalties, even the ones against the Bears...Honestly, I didn't not have any fun watching football last night, even if we would've won.

Of course much of you youngsters were either in diapers or not born yet but honestly the biggest changes to favor offense happened between the late 70's to the early 80's. Just look at what Dan Fouts did in that period his numbers shot way up. Look at what Marino did in 1984. Of course things shot up again 5-7 years ago, but the jump was nothing compared to what happened 35+ years ago.

Originally posted by BobS:
Of course much of you youngsters were either in diapers or not born yet but honestly the biggest changes to favor offense happened between the late 70's to the early 80's. Just look at what Dan Fouts did in that period his numbers shot way up. Look at what Marino did in 1984. Of course things shot up again 5-7 years ago, but the jump was nothing compared to what happened 35+ years ago.

And it probably made the game more enjoyable to watch for the average fan, or for a somebody tuning in for the first time. I'm not a fan of every game finishing 10-7 either, but i don't think a person that is watching football games every now and then, or a person tuning into football for the first time is enjoying it as much now, especially with all these flags.

But even if you take the flags out of the picture, it looks like a version of arena football now, minus the big hits. Who watching a football games goes crazy over a nice wrap up tackle? If you're gonna get me to watch Rugby for the first time, I would like to think I know what to expect, and it wouldn't be some version of flag football game either.

The game has just changed way too much now, it's never going to be perfect, but during those 80s and 90s, the game was just how it should be. f**k Fantasy Football and f**k Goodell.

Originally posted by TexasGuero49:
This is my biggest complaint about the way the game has changed......There is no consistency in the calls from play to play or game to game.

that's normal across ref-teams. the referee sets the edge at the beginning of the game and usually stays there. Some refs will call everything, others let the game going.

I agree with some of the other guys, I loved the NFL from 1999-2003. Despite the dynasty ending from 1998-1999, I enjoyed the NFL from 99-03

This breed of football will not last. The over reffing will be the back breaker of the league.

Originally posted by TheG0RE49er:

Originally posted by BobS:
Of course much of you youngsters were either in diapers or not born yet but honestly the biggest changes to favor offense happened between the late 70's to the early 80's. Just look at what Dan Fouts did in that period his numbers shot way up. Look at what Marino did in 1984. Of course things shot up again 5-7 years ago, but the jump was nothing compared to what happened 35+ years ago.

And it probably made the game more enjoyable to watch for the average fan, or for a somebody tuning in for the first time. I'm not a fan of every game finishing 10-7 either, but i don't think a person that is watching football games every now and then, or a person tuning into football for the first time is enjoying it as much now, especially with all these flags.

But even if you take the flags out of the picture, it looks like a version of arena football now, minus the big hits. Who watching a football games goes crazy over a nice wrap up tackle? If you're gonna get me to watch Rugby for the first time, I would like to think I know what to expect, and it wouldn't be some version of flag football game either.

The game has just changed way too much now, it's never going to be perfect, but during those 80s and 90s, the game was just how it should be. f**k Fantasy Football and f**k Goodell.

Is there a website for football fans over 50 that have been watching the NFL since the age of 5? Ha,ha. You really can't totally understand the evolution of the game from watching old school highlights, and listening to the older announcers, like you could from playing and watching the game back in the old days. Oddly enough one of the strongest memories I have of a regular season game in 40 years+ of following the 49ers was the Monday night game we won 7-3 against the New York Giants in 1991. I remember whose house I was at what we drank and the fact we had pizza delivered. That was a great game to me. The 40-8 beating at the hands of the Eagles that was 1994's wake up call was the only other regular season game I can remember so vividly, I can still see Young yelling at Seifert like it was yesterday, not 20 years ago.

Originally posted by susweel:
This breed of football will not last. The over reffing will be the back breaker of the league.

I believe the same thing. Even though that's probably been echoed for years and the league keeps growing. Young generations will not know better and older fans wont quit.

Originally posted by TexasGuero49:
This is my biggest complaint about the way the game has changed......There is no consistency in the calls from play to play or game to game.

As much as everyone other than me rips on the refs, too many rules these days are open to subjective interpretation, making it impossible to have consistency between officials, kind of like asking 20 guys if a girl is pretty, they all aren't going to agree. Back in the 70's an offensive lineman or any blocker was not allowed to extend his arms away from his body, that is easy to see and call. There are no questions about holding or illegal hands to the face, illegal use of hands covers all of that. Plain black and white, once the arms go outside of your shoulders or your elbows bend over 90 degrees flags fly and 10 yards get marched off, you can call that one from the top row of the stadium. Now of course a blocker can extend his arms and even grab as long as he does the grabbing when engaged, doesn't use his grip to pull a guy down to the ground and doesn't grab after the defender breaks engagement. That one is really open to interpretation and since blockers can get away with so much crap to properly call offensive holding in 2014 a ref has to be looking directly at the person committing the foul, and last I checked there weren't enough officials for each one to only cover one engagement between blocker and defender.