That sucks. This season just keeps getting less and less watchable.

And to go ahead an beat a dead horse, LOL @ how fast Houston swooped up Matt McGloin so they could avoid ever having to answer a single, "Will you consider signing Kap?" question. At least they can use the old we'd have to change our entire offense argument.

Not to mention the Patriots and Packers allegedly fighting to get Hoyer as soon as he was cut just weeks after McCarthy yelled at reporters for even thinking the Packers might need to sign a QB after Rodgers went down.

I had Rodgers and Watson on my fantasy team. FML.

meanwhile Colin Kaepernick is sitting at home watching Dolemite waiting for the phone to ring

suuuuure.... he's not getting black balled

Yeah. Because Matt McGloin is better than Kapernick

Man I'm happy for Todd Bowles. He's a hell of a football coach and he's proving it.

A guy in one of my leagues traded Matty Ice, Blount, & the Carolina D for Watson this past Monday.

Welp... that's why I'll never trade big on a QB. I'm winning that league and streaming QBs.

i think blackballed is the wrong term if not the sexy term people are using

blackballed to me is the owners meeting together and saying we cannot hire this guy he is bad for business

i do believe most owners came to their own conclusion that it would be too much of a headache to bring him in with the media attention and fan reaction

I've come to the conclusion that owners are too much of a headache to take seriously.


Between Bob Mcnair and Irsay..... I mean... are these guys serious? Now the problem is that no one took him. I seriously doubt they got together and said... yeah no one sign the guy but individually...of course. Any sensible fan though is going to say oh we're starting Tom Savage now or Dan Orlovsky? Yes of course bring in Kaep.

If there ever was a more clear case that intelligence and wealth have no real clear ties it's NFL ownership and leadership.

It blows me away that this much attention was ever devoted to a guy kneeling on the ground and asking people to take note of a particular issue. (yes his girlfriend and him are insufferable not entirely wrong... vastly misguided but not without merit) I only care about whether he can play or not and he can play enough.

Clark Hunt said he would love to have Kaep on the team but they weren't gonna do that to Alex Smith again. Was he lying? Was he just in the best situation to make that kind of statement? We'll never know.

Too much noise for a backup to begin the season. If Smith got hurt and they don't want to start the rookie, that's the only time it makes sense.

It makes sense in Miami, possibly Seattle, possibly Houston, definitely Cleveland, Baltimore, hell Indianapolis, Minnesota, Denver.....etc.

The idea that people aren't watching because of politics is patently absurd. They aren't watching this year because the football sucks and the NFL offices are run by petty idiots.

Exactly.

Saying that the idea that people aren't watching because of politics is patently absurd is actually absurd. I am aware of several people that have quite watching because of politics. One being a 10+ years season ticket holder. And I admit that my interest in the NFL has definitely decreased due to the political stuff, although I'm still watching Vikings games when I can.

I guess a better question would be how many people have stopped watching solely because of the political stuff? It seems like a convenient reason to publicly declare you are done with it when there are probably several factors that lead to your decision.

That's a fair question. I do know for some that it's very much based on politics. My personal interest is waning based on a couple factors. Politics is one, injuries/CTE is another. I don't particularly enjoy seeing people get their brains scrambled, and severe non head related injuries seem to be more rampant than ever (which admittedly is based solely on my perception, I have no idea if stats back that up). It's hard to have unwavering interest in teams and a league that is filled with star players that have season ending injuries. That said, the political shit is tiresome and annoying. I blame that as much on ESPN (and other sports media) focusing more time on talking about protests and politics than they do the actual games. If I want to watch political TV programming, there are networks designed for that. So as of now I still watch Vikings games, and I'll maybe see parts of other games from time to time, but I probably watch half as much football as I did even a couple of years ago. And you know what? I don't miss what I'm not seeing one bit.

The NFL has a lot of problems. It could have easily addressed many of them but since they only care about money, they've let them fester.

The 24/7 sports TV/radio doesn't help either.

the quality of play has declined

there are barely any experienced, competent pocket QBs left in the game

and the scrambling QBs don’t have that razzle-dazzle like mike vick had

there’s a lot of brute force physicality, and a lot less cerebral strategy

the league “storylines” are dominated by players’ legal troubles and pissy-pants twitter complaints du jour

there are constant injuries and player turnover

the commissioner is way too in the public sphere. the disciplinary stuff seems to always be mismanaged; and an endless distraction. he has served well past his shelf life

tickets are too expensive

people don’t like watching TV with commercials anymore

Thursday night game quality is poor

millenial football players have attitudes like millenials that god paid a million dollars but have a 6th grade education

add it all up

and you get a lot less fun and a lot more ‘blah’

Spoiler: show

but i will still continue to watch

What gets me is how completely in denial they are about the political aspect. Of course, there are other factors, but it's surprising how often politics is dismissed. Articles about ratings continuously offer up excuse after excuse. Why? Do they think if they ignore it, it won't spread?

Goodell has got to go, right? I kinda doubt he will. It's not in the personality of owners to demand change.

i think with ezekiel elliot thing he lost j jones; and he had already lost bob kraft w deflategate; and maybe the ravens ownership too w ray (fry) rice... how many times should a guy slink by making $40MM a year when he spends most of the year embroiling star players in court battles? just gotta move on at a certain point. with the flag stuff, which isnt really his fault, and declining ratings; on top of all the disciplinary drama - i think his days might finally be numbered

Holy shit. You guys think about politics when you watch football? Some guy kneeling gets in the way of rooting for your favorite helmet decal? You sound like a bunch of grandpas.

I guess the saints hate him too for banning the coach that year. Maybe he'll be gone.