Houston Texans RT Eric Winston took over Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback column for SI.com this morning. Winston weighed in on 5 ways he would change the game and boy do I agree with Winston on several of them.
Winston starts off with his first idea of playing the Super Bowl on a Saturday. To be honest, I never thought of that as an idea, but he provides a strong case for why it makes sense. Why not have the country’s largest sporting event in the middle of the weekend? The game already starts late in the evening on the East Coast, and doesn’t end until usually after 11pm. Young kids watching have to go to school the next day and the adults have to head off to work. Saturday makes sense to me.
The MMQB guest writer then suggested how he would change the schedule which would basically do away with the conference division as they stand today. Winston wrote that a team would play every team in it’s conference and then one against the opposing conference. He states the cross-conference games could be those which would create geographical rivalries, ie-Texans-Cowboys, Eagles-Steelers, and Jets-Giants etc. The top 6 teams in each conference would then advance to the playoffs. I’m not sure if I totally buy into the idea but it is an interesting concept.
Winston’s third idea was to expand the roster and create a minor league. I agree that the rosters should be expanded, and if the league adopts a 18 games schedule, that should be a given. The idea of the minor league has been floated before. I believe that with some proper management the UFL could become such a league.
His fourth idea is something I agree with wholeheartedly, a rookie wage scale. Winston does not address the issue I have the most problem with, signing bonuses and guaranteed money for rookies. This year Sam Bradford will ink a deal which will give him about 50 million in guaranteed money without ever playing a down of professional football. Will he be the next Ryan Leaf or Dan Marino? Nobody knows, but that is crazy money for a player who has yet to prove himself in the NFL.
Lastly, Winston floats out his plan to modify the overtime rules. I did not agree with the league changing the rules months ago and I disagree with Winston on his ideas on changing what we have now. If a coin flip is good enough to determine who gets the ball first at the start of a game, it’s good enough to determine the same in overtime.
All in all, it was a very good column and I believe Winston has a future in writing waiting for him when he decides to retire.
Original Story:
http://www.texanspost.com/2010/06/tex...
