faba Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Eric Winston: I won't let it happen Updated: March 20, 2014, 9:10 AM ET ESPN.com news services 209 337 72 EMAIL PRINT Eric Winston, the newly elected president of the NFL Players Association, has vowed not to let the NFL expand to an 18-game season on his watch. "I can tell you 16 to 18's dead in the water," Winston told USA Today Sports on Wednesday. "I won't let it happen. I don't think any of these other guys are going to let it happen. It's a safety issue." As for an expanded playoff field, Winston was less definitive in his response, saying there were many more questions that would need to be addressed. "How is that structured? How is that worked out? What are we talking about here? How's that other team getting in?" Winston told USA Today Sports. "I think it goes to a broad structure and it speaks differently than we're talking about having 32 teams play two more games apiece. "... That's something that will be looked at and looked at hard by the players because there are some guys that might want it. But if it's some broad stroke, then we're probably not going to go for it." The 30-year-old Winston, a free agent offensive tackle who played for the Arizona Cardinalslast season, succeeded Domonique Foxworth as president and will serve with executive director DeMaurice Smith. He also has played with the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs during his eight-year NFL career and has started 119 consecutive games, the second-longest streak for an active player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleedin Green Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Good. As much as I'd always be happy to see as much football as possible, it really doesn't make sense. The 32-team, 16-game setup they've got going now really is about clean and even as you could ask for. Obviously there's not much you can do about the possibility of some divisions or schedules ending up being easier in a given year than others, but that's a different story than moving back to uneven divisions and inconsistent scheduling throughout the league. This setup works well and I'm not sure it makes sense to mess with a good thing. Besides, the league has enough serious health issues going on and each year teams who can't keep anything close to the same roster together for a 16-game season, so I'm not sure more is a good idea. The same exact thing applies to an expanded playoff field, if not even more so for that. As it is over 1/3 of the league makes the playoffs in any given year, are we seriously talking about pushing that number up to 1/2? At what point do you start to make the regular season next to meaningless, and have teams locking up playoff spots with 1/4+ of the season still to play? These are both stupid ideas, but for them to be coming up at the same time is the most idiotic part of it all, considering one plan is built around the idea of decreasing the value of what the other plan wants to add more of. Of course with all of that said, I'm sure Goodell and the owners aren't too thrilled to be hearing this immediately coming out of Winston's mouth, but too bad for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Goodell: "we need to eliminate the extra point, it's a safety issue" Goodell: "we need to expand the season to 18 games, and make players fly to other countries on 8+ hour flights, then get off the plane and play football" Can a commissioner be impeached? Fired? How does the league rid itself of this red-headed menace? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurnleyJet Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Its about money, if they drop some of these meaningless pre-season games, tell the union with an expanded roster 65 men (more employment), and increased revenue and hence higher wages for the players I can see that stance changing. I think they may needs to expand the NFL first, with dare I say it Teams in London, Maybe Germany, Canada. Mexico even... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleedin Green Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Goodell: "we need to eliminate the extra point, it's a safety issue" Goodell: "we need to expand the season to 18 games, and make players fly to other countries on 8+ hour flights, then get off the plane and play football" Can a commissioner be impeached? Fired? How does the league rid itself of this red-headed menace? I'm pretty sure there are statistics out there that support the idea that, on average, more players get hurt on extra points than do in two full weeks of games (excluding extra points, obviously). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I'm pretty sure there are statistics out there that support the idea that, on average, more players get hurt on extra points than do in two full weeks of games (excluding extra points, obviously). Okay, Mr. Goodell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 It's not about whether extra points cause more injuries than 2 extra games, by the way. It's about one agenda saying, let's take steps towards making changes to the game that eliminate injuries. While the other agenda says, lets add games for more revenue. Removing PAT, removes injuries. Adding games, adds injuries. If Goodell truly wanted to reduce injuries, then the way he'd want to impact the amount of games played would be to reduce them. Not increase them. He'd also abandon the international agenda, because all of that travel and messed up sleep, puts the players on the field at less than 100% - thus increasing the likelihood of otherwise avoidable injuries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetlife33 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Thank god. We have enough trouble trying to get a winning record in 16 games, imagine 18. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Good. This isn't baseball. It's a rough sport and it's considered a positive if a guy can make it through even 16 games, not even counting the playoffs. You don't just add 2 games and expect the same results plus 2 more. By the time the playoffs come around, there are going to be a lot of would-be difference makers who miss the postseason because of those 2 extra games. Totally stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Thank god. We have enough trouble trying to get a winning record in 16 games, imagine 18. Yeah, it would really take the the "special" out of the occasional 9 win season we luck our way into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity28 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Good. This isn't baseball. It's a rough sport and it's considered a positive if a guy can make it through even 16 games, not even counting the playoffs. You don't just add 2 games and expect the same results plus 2 more. By the time the playoffs come around, there are going to be a lot of would-be difference makers who miss the postseason because of those 2 extra games. Totally stupid. Isn't that why he also wants to expand the playoff field and get more teams in their? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Isn't that why he also wants to expand the playoff field and get more teams in their? LOL Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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