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HOT TAKES: Is The NFL Fixed?

Tuesday, January 28, 2025 9:33
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NFL is fixed

I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist. Perhaps that stems from my desire to believe in the sanctity and goodness of people, the purity of institutions and in the integrity of the truth. I hear it all the time, and perhaps you do too, that the NFL is fixed, that it is rigged. I have close friends who remind me that the NFL is entertainment and they’ll add that just because it’s entertainment it doesn’t mean that it’s on the up-and-up.

I’m told that the NFL will do all that it can to drive TV ratings, to nickel and dime fans to death by forcing us to buy apps to watch games; that Roger Goodell and his merry band of unscrupulous opportunists will due everything in their power to squeeze another nickel from a rock.

We hear Goodell talk about things like, “the fan experience”, “the integrity of the game” and “player safety”. He uses these expressions as the league’s backbone of alleged compassion and empathy for the fans and the players. But Goodell’s see-through suit regularly reveals a highly disingenuous puppet of the NFL owners, a transparent snake oil salesman whose authenticity is as real as Milli Vanilli.

But does this mean the NFL is fixed?

And if the NFL is fixed, how can they, in this world of free flowing information and leaks, that are shared as quickly as a hooker who shares her attributes to inbound sailors after months at sea, keep the fix under wraps? There are at 69 players on each team, and that doesn’t include players on injured reserve. There are 32 teams in the league, so that’s a minimum of 2,208 players attached to the NFL. And then there are the coaches.

The Ravens have 24 coaches on staff and if they represent the average number of coaches per team, that’s another 768 people directly involved with the outcome on the field. And then of course, there are the game officials. The NFL employs 17 officiating crews and each crew has 7 officials plus two alternates. That’s another 153 people. So just with players, coaches and officials, we’re talking about 3,129 people with direct involvement in each week’s games.

So, if the NFL is fixed, do you think that the fix could be kept under wraps when it involves so many?

And this total doesn’t even include all of the front office and support people that the teams employee. It doesn’t include player agents. It doesn’t include former players. It doesn’t include insiders and the media, each with team and league sources. How could the league possibly contain the fix with so many potential leak sources?

The answer of course, is that they can’t contain all the potential leaks. So, if it was true that the NFL is fixed, we would all know. It would be as obvious as the fix in WWE, which is wildly popular entertainment (not for me), but widely understood to be fake and scripted.

That said, there is undoubtedly something going on with the Kansas City Chiefs. I don’t know exactly what and maybe I really don’t want to know because it would undermine an institution that I’ve spent a lifetime following and for 20+ years, attached my livelihood to.

I loathe the way Jim Nantz and Tony Romo fawn all over the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in the manner of two school girls from the 60’s who fawned all over John, Paul, George and Ringo. I wonder why mainstream sports media doesn’t call out the league for its rather obvious treatment of the Chiefs as favored sons; that no one calls out Andy Reid for willingly employing criminals if said convicts can help his football team; that Goodell can talk about the integrity of the game when there’s no integrity in officiating a Chiefs game.

I saw this clip of Nate Burleson, who I’ve genuinely admired, tell us all that we should be glad to be alive to witness the greatness of the Chiefs. Hey Nate, screw you, screw the Chiefs, screw Taylor Swift, screw the officials and screw Roger Goodell.

X has been blowing up with conspiracy theories, fans who have now sworn off the NFL as haters of the Chiefs. And in a way, who can blame them?

Let’s go through a few of the gripes…

“The Catch”

The Chiefs, leading 14-10, faced a third-and-5 from the Buffalo 29 with 3:13 left in the second quarter. Flushed out of the pocket Patrick Mahomes heaved a desperation pass into traffic. His target was Xavier Worthy. The ruling on the field was a catch. The Bills challenged the completion and the call on the field was upheld.

Worthy braced himself from the fall by extending his left arm to the ground. His right hand along with the left arm of Cole Bishop simultaneously cradle the ball for a split second just before the ball makes contact with the ground, after which there was ball movement. And all of this is in slow motion. How is this catch possibly upheld?

Welcome to the world of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Taunt

Two plays after “The Catch” was ruled complete, the Chiefs faced a third-and-goal from the Bills’ 1-yard line at the 2:00 mark of Q2. Mahomes ran around the right edge and into the end zone for the score. Following the play, Travis Kelce did what he often does and taunts an opponent, this time Damar Hamlin, for an extended period of time. Bills DT Jordan Phillips wasn’t having it and aggressively got in Kelce’s face and you can guess the rest.

After the Chiefs accepted the unnecessary roughness call on the field against Phillips, Harrison Butker‘s PAT was moved 8 yards closer and if it wasn’t, that PAT is likely to doink off the left upright. But naturally, it didn’t. Chiefs up 21-10.

Welcome to the world of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Spot

Leading 22-21, the Bills took over from their own 30 with 1:56 remaining in the third quarter. By the 13:21 mark of Q4, the Bills faced a third-and-3 from the Chiefs 43. Dalton Kincaid caught a short pass from Josh Allen and seemed to have enough for the first down. But the officials marked it short leaving the Bills with a fourth-and-1 at the Chiefs 41.

And then this happened…

The replay assistant upheld the call on the field.

Of course he did.

Welcome to the world of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Drop

Last week Ravens TE Mark Andrews was ferociously vilified throughout the country for his performance against the Bills in Buffalo during the Divisional Round. Fast forward one week and the Bills own TE Dalton Kincaid can relate to the utter despair felt by his tight end brethren one week earlier.

It remains to be seen how Kincaid will respond and if his status in Bills history will be in the neighborhood of Scott Norwood and his legendary missed FGA in Super Bowl XXV. But I have no doubt that a few bowling alley expletives were and are still be hurled Kincaid’s way by the table crashing knuckleheads in Buffalo.

Maybe they should just break trophy cases. Aren’t trophy cases in Buffalo empty anyway?

McDirty

Hey #BillsMafia, if you’re looking for a culprit for the Bills loss in Kansas City, look no further than your head coach.

During critical moments in the game, James Cook, the best offensive weapon on the field for Buffalo, was standing along the sidelines. When the Bills needed a play or a short gain or both, Cook, who had 16 touches for 134 yards and 2 scores, watched as Ty Johnson struggled to get anything going. This game represented the final step in the season-long quest to earn a Super Bowl berth and your best offensive player is a helpless observer?

And let’s talk about all those sneaks from Allen.

How does McDermott continually sign off on the same failed play. Nantz and Romo in the booth talked redundantly about their meetings with the Chiefs who let it be known that they uncovered a tendency in Allen’s sneaks – he usually goes to his left. And Allen did exactly that – redundantly!

And then, there’s this issue with chasing points…

McDermott watched John Harbaugh do it unnecessarily the week before in the Divisional Round. Tying the score with two quarters to play made no sense and later it came back to bite him when they failed on another two-point conversion. Had they simply kicked the PAT both times, the score would have been 24-21 instead of 22-21.

Lastly, clearly the most despicable thing McDermott signed off on was his handling of DB Christian Benford.

McDermott and the Bills should suffer the consequences for placing the career of a player in jeopardy because of their ruthlessly self-serving ways. What if Benford is never the same and can’t perform the way he once did, dramatically impacting his livelihood and financial future? How shameful of McDermott and the Bills. A steep fine and even a suspension are in order here to send a message to coaches league-wide.

But I doubt that Goodell and the NFL really care.

After all, he’s championing an 18-game season and basking in the glow of record TV ratings from this past weekend.

“I’m just lookin’ for some tush”

I haven’t been a proponent of doing away with the “Tush Push”. I’ve looked at it similarly to the way I looked at MLB’s infield shifts to combat dead pull hitters. Why outlaw it? Just beat it.

Of course baseball in their infinite wisdom did outlaw the shift and now there are some who want to do away with the Tush Push. Here’s a simple compromise. Just allow a single back to line up behind the quarterback. And while we’re at it, offensive linemen running downfield to push a ball carrier forward after his momentum has been stopped, needs to be put to sleep. Allowing this is a huge advantage to the offense whose players are already going in the direction of forward progress. Some defenders who might help prevent more forward progress, have already gone past offensive players as they attack the line of scrimmage, leaving the defense vulnerable.

This is football, not rugby.

Or is it as my friends suggested, “entertainment”?

Hey, do you think the NFL is fixed?

Asking for another friend…

[Related Article: A Sliver of Good News]

The post HOT TAKES: Is The NFL Fixed? appeared first on Russell Street Report.


Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/01/28/tltakes/nfl-is-fixed/


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