Would the NFLl benefit from a bonus point system?

I don't follow rugby, how one-sided are the games?  NFL is pretty good parity-wise, yes you have games like Jaguars-Broncos which was the biggest handicap ever but even that was only a 2pt game at half time.  I just don't think dead rubbers are that much of an issue, you get so many wild comebacks that very few games are properly dead before the 4th quarter.

if it aint broke don't fix makes a lot of sense but, for instance, the kneel down situation is often an unpleasant end to a game and as mentioned even if you are out of a win chance it gives a team something to play for.
just a thought, works well in rugby.
nfl pretty good as it is so not too concerned.

The kneel down is ridiculous and should e abolished. How many sports have the opposing teams already shaken hands with the coaches being interviewed by the media in the middle of the pitch with the clock still counting down? Great game, but some facets of it are plain stupid, kneel down at the top of the list.

A close second, that monstrosity of a measuring stick they don't need to measure whether it's a first down or not. The man that dreamed that up must have been smoking some Walter White made meth at the time, those that agreed have no excuse whatsoever

Your comment regarding the kneel down shows a lack of understanding of the game

The markers used to show measures are exactly that and as a spectator it gives you the opportunity to follow the measure with ease

Fan communication is fantastic in NFL long may it continue and maybe soccerball might one day treat its fans to the same level of communication

Not a lack of understanding, just a lack of appreciation for certain aspects of it. I love many sports, yank football included, doesn't mean it couldn't be improved. 3.5-4 hours for a 60 minute game is too much, the measuring stick doesn't help and could be easily done without. The constant delays for the refs to get on the microphone don't help either, stadium announcers can do this while the game rolls on. And finishing a game with a kneel will just never wash with me, a sport should be played until the end, a kneel down nothing more than a delay of game that is legal imo...

let me tell you there is nothing better from a betting perspective when you see a kneel down, particularly when your handicap is winning

Why do we need bonus points? how would that work with a W-L scoring system? This isn't Rugby, it's the NFL. It doesn't need bonus points.

How could the yard marker be done without? - how else are they going to measure it?

There's nothing wrong with the kneel-down, a team has earned the right to do that.

The replays are there to assure the right calls are made, if you had any real history with the NFL you'd understand why the NFL chose Instant Replay over the constant gaffes that occurred every week because the game is too fast to officiate accurately enough of the time.

I don't think you know what you're talking about to be honest.

Dirk, How could you do without the stick you mean? They're guessing anyway, the chain is 10 yards, but where are they spotting the ball? Where they THINK it should be spotted. If the spot is an estimated guess, so is the measurement. To say it's precise is not correct, so do away with the stupid ceremony of pulling out the stick and chain.

You are correct in that the team has earned the kneel down as it is in the rules. I just disagree with that rule, I think a game should be played to the end. It's a gladiator sport, and gladiators don't kneel... except in the NFL. My opinion on it is I don't like it, not sure how having an opinion means you don't know what you're talking about.

I would like to see the kneel down gone from the game. All they have to do is stop the clock at the end of every play after the 2-min warning where the team in the lead has the ball. It's a 60-min game, not a 58-min game. Problem solved.

Don't really have a problem with the stick though, although it is ridiculous as there must be a better way to measure whether they went 10 yards or not. There was a scenario a couple of weeks ago where a runner ran to the sideline and was stooped around the first down marker but right beside the guys with the chains. The refs then spotted the ball on the sideline, estimated where that would be in the middle of the filed and then brought the chains into the middle of the field to measure. I mean FFS, why not just measure at the sideline where the guys actually are.

If you want to ban the knee down you may as well ban teams running the ball and staying in bounds late in the game,what is the difference.  Perhaps they should introduce more time outs in the final 2 minutes then,only way you are going to stop teams just playing out the final minutes etc.

I already said how to stop it - you stop the clock after every play after the 2-min warning when the team in the lead is on offence

I already said how to stop it - you stop the clock after every play after the 2-min warning when the team in the lead is on offence



>>>Why? So we can artificially extend the games even further? Teams have 3 timeouts and the 2 min warning, if they can't get the ball back, tough sh*t. If you're losing after 58 minutes, and you've used 3 timeouts and had the 2 minute warning then the game is over, that's it.

Also why should being ahead in the final 2 minutes be a disadvantage?

Also if you look at the game inside 2 minutes, the losing team and also the winning team doesn't have all it's TO's left anyway, because they wasted them faffing about getting plays in, and trying to draw people offside on 4th and short, and icing the kicker...

Why give more time to teams who are inept at time management?

How many times have you seen a  losing team inside 2 minutes only  have 1 timeout left because they wasted the other two through their own ineptitude and stupidity?

Look at how many teams have 40 seconds or so left before they half and instead of trying to make a play they decide not to do any more damage or play it safe and go in with the lead they have, why?? they have a possession,shouldn't they use that to put more pts up.

elway and 'the drive' against cleveland,montana stealing the s/b from the bengals and eli bushwacking the unbeatable pats a couple of years ago. one mistake and the game was gone ! not one mistake and you ave got another 40 plays to win !! i am with the diggler . doubt the nfl could learn anything from rugby in the way of excitement unless you want both teams to send their kickers on for 60 minutes

fark me but some people seriously overreact to a simple question.
"no i don't believe so" would have sufficed

I think it's because your ideas came from Rugby, a game that is a bona fide cure for insomnia. For a game that is supposed to flow in the same way 'soccer' does, rather than a game that is broken up into set plays like NFL, it is nothing but stop/start/stop/start/stop/start...it can take 4-5 attempts to set a scrum up!

It's ring a ring of roses - all fall down!


I like the Six Nations, but the rest of it is drivel.

No Rugby games will ever match the excitement of a close NFL game where a team goes for the two minute drive to win the game

i love rugby & the american code of football as well, soccer bores me rigid btw.
i just posed the question because i had just watched 2 rugby matches that were done & dusted as a result at half time but the bonus point kept them alive and made them fascinating and very entertaining in the 2nd half.
i don't really think the nfl needs the bonus point either but it was just a thought.

I have seen some very good grand finals in both super league and nrl that are fairly exciting late on in tight games.