NFL drops the ball

The NFL has dropped the ball this season more times than Colts receivers did in their first quarter last week.

This NFL season has been in shambles and none of it has to do with the players.

Fines have turned the game soft, officials have made wrong calls and Vegas is suffering because of it all.

This past Sunday, the second big officiating botch of the season (the first being Ed Hochuli’s forward pass mistake in Week 2) caused hundreds of thousands of dollars to change hands.

At the end of the Steelers/Chargers game last weekend, the refs called back a touchdown on the last play due to an illegal forward pass. If an illegal forward pass hits the ground, it is immediately ruled dead and the play is over.

On Monday, the NFL admitted the refs called it incorrectly, misinterpreted the rule and were confused beyond belief. The Steelers won 11-10. The Vegas line was 4.5 to 5, depending on place or time.

One miscue, hundreds of thousands of dollars lost.

The NFL is contemplating giving the Steelers the points, but it’s too little, too late. The NFL can’t unbreak my kneecaps.

But what makes this mistake even crazier is the fact that Steelers safety Troy Polamalu was the one who scored the touchdown.

Cue awesome segue.

Polamalu has also been the vocal leader of the other big problem from the NFL this year: fines.

The NFL has fined any player who has made a big hit, but players are getting fined for any and every hit. It’s getting to the point where players are afraid to tackle each other. Financially, players can’t afford to take these fines week after week. I mean, they have to feed their kids.

“I think regarding the evolution of football, it’s becoming more and more flag football, two-hand touch,” Polamalu said. “We’ve really lost the essence of what real American football is about. I think it’s probably all about money. They’re not really concerned about safety.”

And he’s right.

The NFL is all about the Benjamins.

Without the clean image of its players, the NFL can’t hit up the corporate sponsors. Without the corporate sponsors, the NFL doesn’t make nearly as much money.

But here’s the problem with that. The NFL already makes plenty of money. Besides the NBA, no other American sport even comes close to profiting as much as the NFL does.

So, let the players play. Big hits are part of the game. No player is going out there to intentionally hurt someone. Quit fining players for doing their job.

The NFL has dropped the ball this season and it’s time to pick it up. Unless of course it is an illegal forward pass. Then the play is immediately dead.