Bill Polian: 18 game season is "Fait accompli"

[DraftBoy]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5623441&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines


NDIANAPOLIS -- Bill Polian says the 18-game NFL season is a done deal.

During Monday night's weekly radio show, the Indianapolis Colts team president called it a "fait accompli" and said the debate is over. Polian is a member of the league's competition committee and has worked in the league office.

[YardRat]

Buffalo Bills 21-0 in 2013. Book it.

[Scumbag College]

Buffalo Bills 21-0 in 2013. Book it.

Will Ralph get to sell two of our home games to Canada if this happens?

[Mad Max]

Excellent, the more NFL Football the better.

[SquishDaFish]

Hell Yes!! I hope it really does happen. Love FOOTBALL!

[better days]

Will Ralph get to sell two of our home games to Canada if this happens?

Yes

[psubills62]

I'm not very happy about this. The 3rd and 4th preseason games both had important roles, and our team needs the practice.

One thing I'm wondering - what will happen to the Hall of Fame game? When there were 4 preseason games, one extra didn't really give a competitive advantage. With only 2, are they going to give those two teams 50% more time to practice their plays than the rest of the league? Doesn't seem very fair to me.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

Yea!!! 2 more games to suck in! Yippieeeee!

[Mike13]

No one is going 21-0, thats impossible.

I also expect to see more records get broken easily and the bar for great play will be raised.

[Slim]

I think this is ******ed. Shorter careers, records mean less. It's all about the $.

[Hogwasher]

I think we will see the level of play reduced. I hope they allow more players on the roster to account for attrition. The truth is that after week four most of the players are mailing it in unless it is an important game.

[Akhippo]

I dont think the fans necessarily want more games, just less offseason.

They should play every other week. Half the teams play one week, the other half the next. That would increase the season 100%. More rest in between games means more players on the field for more of the season.

Throw in a weekly Thursday game and we dont have to wait 8 months for football. Just four, and draft talk will take care of that.

More spotlight will hit the small teams. The networks wont have Dalllas or NE to talk about every week.

I would so prefer this scenario over just two more games and less star players playing.

[Oaf]

I dont think the fans necessarily want more games, just less offseason.

They should play every other week. Half the teams play one week, the other half the next. That would increase the season 100%. More rest in between games means more players on the field for more of the season.

Throw in a weekly Thursday game and we dont have to wait 8 months for football. Just four, and draft talk will take care of that.

More spotlight will hit the small teams. The networks wont have Dalllas or NE to talk about every week.

I would so prefer this scenario over just two more games and less star players playing.
hmm!

[TacklingDummy]

No one is going 21-0, thats impossible.

I also expect to see more records get broken easily and the bar for great play will be raised.
1000 yards a season doesn't mean much now, won't mean anything with 18 games.

[jamze132]

They also need to make the Pro Bowl the halfway point of the season and give every team the week off.

[ddaryl]

This is just going to shorten many NFL careers.

I don't think its an intelligent idea, it's just an idea so the owners can make more money...

[k-oneputt]

They will definitely need to expand the roster size, and I'm sure that will be part of the agreement.

[psubills62]

1000 yards a season doesn't mean much now, won't mean anything with 18 games.

Yeah, I'm betting they'll start talking about 1500 yards as the benchmark for great WR's and RB's.

[Static]

I think the NFL is getting a bit greedy here.

[Night Train]

Look at the injuries now and adding games is better ?

[Pinkerton Security]

Im not a fan of his at all, mainly because the players themselves arent fans of it either. I dont understand how the NFL doesnt see that the increasing size and strength of these players is leading to more and more injuries, and an 18 game season is only going to make that trend worse.

The only thing I see as making this OK in that regard is that they plan on removing 2 preseason games, which basically means the players are playing the same amount of games ( even though starters rarely play much in PS games). I just worry that it wont stop at 18 games...it used to be a 12 game season, then a 14 game season, then 16...where does this end? I dont want watered down football because half the team is on IR is all.

[superbills]

They also need to make the Pro Bowl the halfway point of the season and give every team the week off.

They should just move the Pro-Bowl to the Summer. Give us a taste of football in the off-season. Not to mention, it doesn't screw with scheduling and players in the Super-Bowl will actually get to play!

[Pinkerton Security]

They should just move the Pro-Bowl to the Summer. Give us a taste of football in the off-season. Not to mention, it doesn't screw with scheduling and players in the Super-Bowl will actually get to play!

it does screw with scheduling...teams are doing minicamps and OTAs in the summer.

[better days]

Im not a fan of his at all, mainly because the players themselves arent fans of it either. I dont understand how the NFL doesnt see that the increasing size and strength of these players is leading to more and more injuries, and an 18 game season is only going to make that trend worse.

The only thing I see as making this OK in that regard is that they plan on removing 2 preseason games, which basically means the players are playing the same amount of games ( even though starters rarely play much in PS games). I just worry that it wont stop at 18 games...it used to be a 12 game season, then a 14 game season, then 16...where does this end? I dont want watered down football because half the team is on IR is all.

With an 18 game season, I think you will also see an increase in the roster size & probably an extra bye week.

[HHURRICANE]

Will Ralph get to sell two of our home games to Canada if this happens?

Los Angeles

[Mike13]

If thats true there must be a second bye or a lockout is a guaranteed.

[Mski]

i would rather see an expansion instead of two more games

[ticatfan]

I think this is ******ed. Shorter careers, records mean less. It's all about the $.The CFL did this along time ago and it never changed anything . Less preseason the better.

[DraftBoy]

If thats true there must be a second bye or a lockout is a guaranteed.

All proposals I have seen include a 2nd bye and increased roster and practice squad sizes. May even see the draft expanded, maybe not back to 12 rounds but it could go to 8 or 9.

[psubills62]

All proposals I have seen include a 2nd bye and increased roster and practice squad sizes. May even see the draft expanded, maybe not back to 12 rounds but it could go to 8 or 9.

And in only 3-4 years, the NFL will have stretched it out to a week-long event.

Jokes aside, the draft is one of my favorite times of year. I wouldn't mind another couple rounds.

[RockStar36]

I have mixed feelings on this, however I don't have mixed feelings on shortening the preseason. With that in mind, I guess I'm good with this.

[Michael82]

Don't the teams use the pre-seasons to give the young guys (rookies, FAs and undrafted FAs) a chance to show what they got? If you take away two of those games, the special gems will get less chances and less time to develop into a good player.

[psubills62]

Don't the teams use the pre-seasons to give the young guys (rookies, FAs and undrafted FAs) a chance to show what they got? If you take away two of those games, the special gems will guess less chances and less time to develop into a good player.

One of the main reasons I don't like this. I understand season ticket holders' gripes and whatnot, but I still don't like this.

[imbondz]

The CFL did this along time ago and it never changed anything . Less preseason the better.

yeah but that wasn't a real league. :ill:

[imbondz]

Don't the teams use the pre-seasons to give the young guys (rookies, FAs and undrafted FAs) a chance to show what they got? If you take away two of those games, the special gems will guess less chances and less time to develop into a good player.

yeah and coaches won't be able to evaluate starting quarterbacks as much, which could lead to more QBs being yanked after 2 games.

[Michael82]

yeah and coaches won't be able to evaluate starting quarterbacks as much, which could lead to more QBs being yanked after 2 games.

:rofl: