Column Includes Insights from 25 People, In and Around Football, About One Thing They Would Change to Improve the Sport
“There are too few times when smart people brainstorm about improving a product.” – King
FMIA Also Features the Lessons Two-Time Super Bowl Champ Chris Long Takes into Retirement, a Look at the Consistency of the New England Patriots Organization and Why King Feels Peyton Manning Shouldn’t Want to Become GM of the Jets
STAMFORD, Conn. – May 20, 2019 – Peter King’s latest edition of Football Morning in America, available now exclusively on NBCSports.com, asks some of the brightest and most experienced minds in football what they would change about the game to improve the sport of professional football.
The column also features a passage from recently retired two-time Super Bowl champion and 2018 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Chris Long about the lessons he learned from his 11-year NFL career and his social justice and charitable work.
FMIA includes a look at how the New England Patriots use organizational consistency to gain an advantage over the rest of the AFC East and why King believes the Jets’ newly-vacant front office job is not the best landing spot for Peyton Manning.
The following are highlights from this week’s edition of Football Morning in America:
25 SMART PEOPLE IN THE FOOTBALL WORLD SHARE IDEAS TO IMPROVE THE GAME
Dean Blandino: Make Every Play Replay-Reviewable
“I have come full circle on this since I worked in the league, but I now think coaches should be able to challenge anything they want… This would simplify the rule because you wouldn’t have to wonder what’s reviewable and what isn’t.”
Pete Carroll: Kill Instant Replay
“Get rid of – or at least decrease the use of – instant replay. I get all the reasons why we have instant replay, and technology has opened up a new world for us to get to this point. But I miss the human element of trusting the officials to make the calls in the moment and then the rest of us having to live with what they called.”
Mark Leibovich: Put Bad Ownership Up For a Public Vote
“I would put in a rule that owners need to stand for re-election every five years. Anyone who lived in the jurisdiction where the team plays, or who purchased a ticket to a home game in the last calendar year, would be eligible to vote, either ‘approve’ or ‘disapprove,’ on the owners’ performance.”
Eric Winston: Seed the Playoffs By Record, Not Division Title
“Ever since you were a small kid and you played games and they kept score, the team with the best record at the end of the season, before the playoffs, got the advantage in the playoffs. Then I get to the NFL, and it’s not that way at all. You get a massive advantage by being one of the top four seeds in each conference. You get at least one home game.”
Mike Florio: Adopt the XFL’s OT Rule
“Why not implement a truly fair solution? The XFL, inspired by soccer and hockey using penalty kicks and shots to break ties, will try a two-point conversion shootout, with both offenses and both defenses on the field at the same time, alternating attempts to score from either end of the field.”
The takes from the 25 panelists:
| Ron Wolf: Cut Down On Flags |
| Rick Gosselin: Help Defenses By Extending The Bump Zone |
| Dean Blandino: Make Every Play Replay-Reviewable |
| Brandon Carr: Take Away Some Protection of the Quarterbacks |
| Scott Hanson: Make the Onside Kick a Real Play Again I |
| Booger McFarland: Make the Onside Kick a Real Play Again II |
| Pete Carroll: Kill Instant Replay |
| Mark Leibovich: Put Bad Ownership Up For a Public Vote |
| Hunter Henry: Ensure That Each Team Gets a Possession in Overtime |
| Lindsay Jones: Be More Progressive About Players Using Marijuana |
| Chris Nowinski: Eliminate Tackle Football Until High School |
| Richard Deitsch: Give Fans a Beckham Cam |
| Sam Farmer: Adios, Chain Gangs |
| Eric Winston: Seed the Playoffs By Record, Not Division Title |
| Amy Trask: Increase Roster Size |
| Calais Campbell: Make Every Healthy Player Active on Game Day |
| Sal Paolantonio: Send Replay Review Into Our Living Rooms |
| Les Snead: Reinvent the Preseason |
| Rich Eisen: Give the Ball Back to the Offense on Fumbles Through the End Zone |
| Terez Paylor: The NFL Must Loosen Its Vise-Grip on Highlights |
| Neil Hornsby: Shorten the Game |
| Harry Carson: Bring Pre-1993 Retirees’ Pensions In Line With Other Sports … |
| Joe Horrigan: … And Do The Same For Pre-1993 Player Benefits |
| Bart Scott: Liberalize Rules to Bring Back the Excitement of the Kickoff |
| Mike Florio: Adopt the XFL’s OT Rule |
CHRIS LONG: WHAT I LEARNED
Long: “I learned to never make a decision based on just one thing. The decision to retire was complicated. It was based on health, which is still very good, and family, we have two small children, and football fit, which includes a chance to win and my role and geography.”
Long: “Tom Brady blew me away… A lot of people want to hate him for all the success, and I understand how you can dislike the Patriots, but I cannot understand how you can dislike Tom.”
Long: “NFL Man of the Year… I never felt deserving of it. I am not the best person in the NFL. I never want to get up there promoting myself as some infallible person. I was very honored. But I was also conflicted that people saw me as this community service guy, not a player… But I do appreciate the fact that people saw that I played for free for one year, that I was part of a group that built 61 wells for people to get fresh water in Africa, and that we’ve got 220,000 people drinking from our wells.”
Long: “Retirement is interesting. It is something I feared for a long time. It is an existential crisis. I’ve been doing something since high school, working toward a goal. I fantasize about crossing the threshold, but at the same time it’s something you can be deathly afraid of.”
NEW ENGLAND COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE AFC EAST: 44-3
King: “New England coaches/personnel chiefs since Bill Belichick was hired in 2000:
New England’s total coaches/personnel czars since 2000: 3
Coaches/personnel czars for the other 3 AFC East teams since 2000: 44
That’s 44-3 — 44-3!”
King: “Think about it: New England probably has the three biggest advantages over the teams in its division of any team in the NFL: Belichick is one, Brady is two, and 20 seasons of continuity (this is year 20 for Belichick in Foxboro) is three.”
PEYTON MANNING AND THE JETS
King: “I think the Jets architecture job is not the one to take if you want to run a franchise, Peyton Manning. To be charitable, the Jets are not close to contention.”
King: “Adam Gase is going to have a major say on who becomes the next GM of the Jets. Gase was 23-26 in his three-year stint coaching the Dolphins, and, though the quarterback position was plagued by injuries while he was there, he’s supposed to be a quarterback guru, and the Dolphins, again, are starting from scratch at the position after firing Gase four-and-a-half months ago.”
Read the rest of the column here.
A new “Football Morning in America” posts every Monday morning exclusively on NBCSports.com through the NFL season. It was announced in May that King signed an exclusive agreement with NBC Sports Group that included writing a weekly Monday morning NFL column for NBCSports.com; making regular appearances on NBCSN’s and NBC Sports Radio’s PFT Live with Mike Florio; and continuing to contribute to Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.
—FOOTBALL MORNING IN AMERICA—
