First (and long)

I love the NFL - it's the baseball of the gridiron. With the draft right around the corner it's the perfect time for me to warm up my frustrater and bitch about my favorite couple-o-horribly-obvious-changes-the-NFL-should-make-but-doesn't (possibly because it's too busy trying to pull its tongue out of Jerry Jones). This might become a regular topic here at the new Batfaces, if I'm not too busy posting about how Todd Collins is the next 5-year-older Tom Brady. Here we go:

1) Half-the-distance penalties against the offense are not cool. If the offense gets penalized half the distance to the goal, the defense should instead have the option of just moving the first down marker the original penalty-distance up the field. First and 10 on the 15 and get a 10 yard holding call? Move the sticks from the 25 to the 35 if the defense prefers. Simple, consistent, and sometimes makes sense.

2) The f-ing field is exactly 100 yards long. There is no - or at least there shouldn't be - a 108 yard kickoff or INT return. If I catch a kick-off in the back of the endzone and kneel down 1 inch before the goal line, it's a touchback. If I run to the back of the other endzone, the play is over at the goal line. The endzone is just that - a zone. I'm all for gratuitous records but if you are going to count that shit then paint stripes back there - it's not a damned field goal attempt. If I catch the ball in the middle of the endzone and run it out to the 20, is a 24 yard return? Uh hu. That's it for now, expect more rant in 2 weeks when the Skins draft another first round receiver/bust, or trade away their entire draft for Chad Johnson, Sedrick Shaw, and a WKRP poster.