[Seven]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

As a rabid Buffalo Bills fan (Go Buff!!!!!!!!), I miss the mud bowls, the snow bowls and all of that deliciousness. The weather being an extreme factor was a beautifully entertaining thing, but now they employ a thousand people (snow archaeologists?) and machines to dig down and find the turf, until all you see is a field of green. Gimme the white and brown again!!!!!!!!!!!

Back to the OP's point, the way Andre Reed fearlessly covered the middle of the field, getting absolutely hammered whether or not he caught the ball, is something that is gone with the (lake effect) wind. For safety's sake, that's obviously a very good, necessary thing, but for smash mouth football it's a bit of a shame.

The biggest problem I see these days are the roughing the passer penalties (yes, contrarians, I know you're going to state something to the effect of, "RTP penalties are actually down this year"). There has got to be a lot more leeway on what constitutes a foul. Protecting the QB is one thing, but the examples have to be more blatantly penalty worthy. It's a risky job, so if you stay in the pocket, you have to expect the hammer to come down. If an LB gets to you right after you release the ball, come on now!! That's NOT a penalty. If you toss the ball and a DE takes a few steps and then clobbers you, that IS a penalty. There's got to be a better balance. Those free 15 yards and a first down on a ridiculous call can decide games.

I've seen some of the old school, terrible weather games, and what a site those were to see. Different levels of toughness in the game back in its day. Slightly off topic but the toughness that the football players had back in the day is rarely seen today.

I agree the penalties are definitely a source of these inflated numbers as well.