Regular Season Games

 

Back in the day, you could tell which weekend day it was by the football game that was being played: Friday night was high school, Saturday was college, and Sunday was the NFL. That was so long ago there were three major channels: ABC, CBS, and NBC.

First there was the innovation of Monday Night Football, in 1970, which was broadcast on ABC. The iconic trio of broadcasters for much of the 1970s and 1980s were Frank Gifford, Don Meredith, and Howard Cosell. My father couldn’t stand Howard Cosell, and would watch the games with the sound turned down.

In 1994, Fox began broadcasting pro football, winning the bid for the NFC games that used to be on CBS. Pat Summerall and John Madden moved from CBS to Fox, staying with the NFC.

In 1998, CBS won the bid to broadcast AFC games, taking them away from NBC.

2006 saw two innovations and one change: Sunday Night Football, broadcast on NBC; Thursday Night Football, broadcast on the NFL channel; and Monday Night Football being broadcast on ESPN.

In a new wrinkle, the 2012 regular season kicks off on Wednesday, September 5, as a special edition of Sunday Night Football. It will be shown on NBC.

In addition to football games being played on almost any day except Tuesday, the league plays 16 regular season games over 17 weeks. Every team gets one week off during the regular season, called a Bye week.

All teams play the first three weeks. Bye weeks run from week 4 through week 11. All teams play during weeks 12 through 17. With Bye weeks running during weeks 5 through 11, most teams have their week off roughly in the middle of the season.

Based on their first few weeks of play, teams use the Bye week to fine-tune their offense and defense, and rest injured players.

All teams play on Sunday, December 30, which is the final game day of the regular season.

The playoffs begin on Saturday, January 5, 2013.

 

Pre-Season Games

The 2012 NFL pre-season is almost over, and the regular season kicks off on September 5 with the New York Giants hosting the Dallas Cowboys.

The goal of pre-season is to work out new players, get players back in the rhythm of the game with new plays and teammates, and get the teams ready for the regular season.

Teams try out players at various positions, and have many more players at the beginning of pre-season (a maximum of 80). As the pre-season games progress, there are deadlines for the teams to get their roster sizes down to the regular season limit of 53 players.

Winning or losing in pre-season is no indicator of regular season performance. The pre-season game scores are not as relevant as the player stats.

Team starters typically don’t play the entire game, just long enough to get a workout and practice with new position players in a game situation.

Players hoping to make the team play long enough for coaches to make their decisions.

The four pre-season games don’t count in a team’s record; only regular season games do. Post-season games, should a team have any, are not included in a team’s record either.

 

 

The Replacements

There’s a line near the end of the movie “The Replacements” when Keanu Reeves says, “Glory fades. Chicks dig scars.” He’s reminding his fellow replacement players that the moment matters; it won’t last, but giving their all in that moment is a memory they’ll always have. They know their moment is ending – the lockout is over, and this will be their last game as replacement players in the big league.

This NFL season held so much promise. Last year was marred by the frenzy of trading and shortened pre-season caused by the player lockout, before settling into the regular season rhythm that saw a 9-7 New York Giants team (full disclosure: I’m a life-long Giants fan) win the Super Bowl over the 13-3 New England Patriots.

Today the National Football League said the 2012 season will begin with the replacement referees they’ve been using this pre-season while the lockout of the NFL Referees Association continues; an agreement with the NFL Referees Association doesn’t show signs of happening before the regular season starts next Wednesday (Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants, in their first division meeting).

Many complaints have been voiced about the lack of the replacement refs: their lack of experience at this level; the lack of good officiating; the lack of games ending in a timely fashion, with calls taking a long time.

I can’t remember which NFL rookie quarterback said he was overwhelmed by the speed of the NFL game when he first came into the league. I imagine the replacement refs have that same feeling, with the added pressure of getting the calls right.

They’re not perfect, even with the tools available to them. They’ll get better with practice. When the lockout ends, and the regular refs come back to the game, will the replacement refs feel that their moment in the sun was worth it? For better or worse, they are filling in with the training they’ve had so far in a system they didn’t create. This is a huge leap in their experience.

Glory fades, but they’ll always remember the games they officiated.