Patrick Mahomes has spoken, but will the NFL listen?
The Kansas City Chiefs signal caller gave his opinion on the league forcing four team to play 3 games in an 11-day span, and he's not happy.
While NFL fans may be pleased to have nearly constant action on the television for those days, the players are the ones paying the price.
Mahomes told reporters yesterday that he and his teammates are not looking forward to playing that many games so few days. The Chiefs aren't alone in having a tough stretch, as Baltimore, Houston and Pittsburgh also play 3 games in 11 days.
The NFL is a financial juggernaut, making money quicker than it can be counted. While football was once just a Sunday sport, it's now played on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, sometimes on Saturdays, and this season Wednesday and Friday games were also added.
While Mahomes said he has no issue playing on Christmas, that will be the third game in the stretch for the Chiefs. Kansas City travels to Cleveland on Sunday, then comes home to face Houston on the 21st, before finishing up the trek with a Christmas Day matchup with the Steelers.
"It is not a good feeling," he said, per ESPN's Adam Teicher. I'm excited to play on Christmas to hopefully get back from what we did last year [when the Chiefs lost on the holiday to the Las Vegas Raiders], but you never want to play this many games in this short of time. It's just not great for your body. But at the end of the day, it's your job, your profession. You have to come to work and do it."
Mahomes brings up a great point, a player's body can only take so much. It's been said that an NFL hit is similar to a car crash. Some players repeat that over and over for 3-plus hours in a game, only to have to get on a plane and travel home to get ready for another game just a couple days later.
I was once told by a well-known running back that he had to be helped out of bed the morning after a game because he was in so much pain. I can't imagine having to play a game on a Sunday and then be ready to go for a Thursday game, yet this is the new reality of the NFL.
By forcing teams to play multiple games in short time spans, the league is showing its true colors. The NFL doesn't give a damn about player safety. I am one of the biggest NFL fans that there is, but I have no issue calling out the league for ridiculousness.
As the league continues to grow in popularity, expanding more games overseas, it's time that the league gets serious about protecting players. I know that the league is doing more to protect head trauma, but this is about more than head trauma. A player's entire body needs time to recover. Traveling is also hard on the body. If you have to take a 10-hour flight to Germany, play a game, fly 10 hours back only to have to prepare for another game a few days later, that can be quite hard on the body. Yet, the NFL continues to add games in other countries.
Mahomes isn't alone in his criticism, he's just in the spotlight, as he is arguably the face of the NFL. I, for one, applaud him for using his platform to speak up against the league. Will it change anything? Likely not. As long as the league continues to own a day of the week, make money hand over fist, and sell out game after game, nothing will change. But the NFL can do the players and fans a solid by not saying it cares about the safety of the players. Mr. Roger Goodell and his merry band of owners can sit in their luxury boxes, counting their money, while the gladiators on the field literally destroy their bodies. Just today came word that Goodell is in discussions to add an 18th game to the regular season schedule. 17 already seems like more than necessary, but the almighty dollar rules all!
I know the players are paid quite well, but that's not the point. They shouldn't have to endure 3 games in 11 days while the league officials boast about promoting player safety. Just stop lying to us NFL. Like my grandfather told me when I was a kid and tried getting away with a lie; you can't bullshit a bullshitter. Maybe the NFL will wise up, but that's likely a pipe dream. My grandfather also told me that it's all about the money.
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