Add sliding quarterbacks as cause for NFL’s excitement reduction
Maybe diving isn’t always a good idea.
Did you see the hit that Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco took to the head Thursday night? Flacco was running in the open field and just as he slid, Miami Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso launched himself and blasted him in the head with his shoulder.
Flacco’s helmet was knocked off and he left the game immediately, looking like he had no idea where he was. He also needed stitches for a bleeding ear. He’s in concussion protocol now and there’s no timetable for his return.
Flacco’s teammates were incensed and called Alonso’s hit a cheap shot. Alonso said it was a bang-bang play and he couldn’t prevent the hit because Flacco slid too late.
Before we get into the art of quarterback sliding, let’s not kid ourselves. In the NFL, when a defensive back or a linebacker spots a quarterback running in the open field – especially a slow one – he is hoping he can put a vicious hit on him before he takes a dive.
And the defensive player wants to hurt the quarterback. Maybe not injure him. Definitely not permanently injure him, but he would like to hurt him enough to knock him out of the game.
They are frustrated by having to restrain themselves when the quarterback is in the pocket and when he gets out of the pocket, the quarterback is always throwing the ball away just before they can lay a hit on him.
Beyond the line of scrimmage the quarterback is just like a running back – fair game.
There was quite a bit of discussion after the game about whether Flacco was to blame for sliding too late.
My question, after watching the play several times, was why did Flacco slide?
He is 6-6, 230 pounds.
How about lowering the shoulder? Make Alonso pay a little for the collision. Now that all quarterbacks, including elusive ones like Russell Wilson, slide all the time, defenders don’t have to worry about bracing for a hit or about getting juked out.
They just go into high gear and get ready to launch, hoping to get lucky and inflict some pain before the quarterback bails out.
Quarterbacks sliding is a relatively new concept.
Terry Bradshaw was a maniac when he got beyond the line of scrimmage. He was looking to juke or lower his shoulder and it usually took multiple players to bring him down.
It may have happened but I don’t recall him ever being injured during a run. I know for sure that he never slid.
Kordell Stewart is the best running quarterback in Steelers history and one of the best in NFL history. He ran like a running back and he missed one start in his career because of an injury.
Randall Cunningham once rushed for 940 yards as a quarterback. He ran for almost 3,000 yards over a six-year period and missed four games. Never slid.
My guess is that slow-footed Johnny Unitas never slid in his high-topped shoes.
Along with too many touchbacks and field goals and too much dinking and dunking, sliding quarterbacks is another reason for the ongoing excitement reduction in NFL games. It’s tackle football. If a player is too fragile to be tackled, then maybe he shouldn’t be playing.
There’s definitely something wrong when a 6-6, 230-pound guy’s first move in the open field is to slide and hide. Flacco found out that it not only didn’t prevent an injury, it caused one.
- Alonso doesn’t launch himself the way he did if he’s not wearing a huge facemask. Serious injuries would be reduced if helmets were eliminated or reduced to one bar.
- NFL TV ratings continue tank. They’re seven percent below this point last season and 18 percent below this point in 2015.
The worst news for the NFL is that the biggest drop across the board is 11 percent in the 18-34 demographic. That’s the generation that grew up with fantasy football. They don’t have a favorite team. They have favorite players – the ones on their fantasy team and they have no reason to or interest in investing three hours in watching any one game.
The information they need is all on their phone.
Not the way for a league to cultivate new fans.
So, it’s about a lot more than national anthem protests.
It’s the arrogance of a league that, because of its monopoly, thinks it can give fans touchbacks instead of exciting kickoff returns, fewer plays per game because of a running clock after out of bounds plays, interminable delays to discuss video replays that 90 percent of the viewers could rule on in 20 seconds and not lose viewers.
Why would anybody believe the ratings are going to go up?