The NFL is no longer the same league that it was before, and the mainstream media is to blame for making the league that fans loved to be the “soft” one that people love to criticize today—at least, according to sports journalist Jason Whitlock, who shared his insight on the state of the NFL and how it might be similar to that of the NBA.
In one of the recent episodes of his show “Fearless,” Whitlock criticized both the NFL and the NBA for the issues they are facing but chose to remain unsolved. Among other issues, WWhitclok highlighted the long-running concern about the NFL officiating.
“So you’ll hear a little chirping from time to time, but you never hear the full-blown conversation,” Whitlock said. “People will hint at it but trust me—Troy Aikman, Tom Brady, any of these guys calling games and talking about the games know that the NFL isn’t the same league that it once was.”
Per Whitlock, the mainstream media is to blame for not painting the whole picture of the issue.
“They know officiating is a problem and it’s undermining the credibility of the game and that conversation is happening over social media every NFL [game],” he continued. “And just because the mainstream media won’t dive into it full-blown doesn’t mean that conversation isn’t going on. It’s the number one conversation going on and the league partners are trying their best to ignore it.
He added: “There is a crisis and just like most people everybody ignores a problem until it becomes too big of a problem and you can’t ignore it rather than addressing the problems that everybody sees early on.
NFL Official Gives Anonymous Take on League Issues
In an anonymous interview with Sports Illustrated earlier this year, an official from inside the NFL expressed concern over problems with the league’s officiating that is a reflection of a “lack of competent leadership.”
“I think the biggest issue is a lack of competent leadership with our officials, which leads to incompetent officiating,” they said. “We need new leadership at the department, a position that is expected to open up after the season, I think. But there is no consistency at all. It’s not even from group to group. It’s the same group within games.”
At the very least, the NFL has taken steps in the past to address officiating issues by distributing weekly videos to teams for coaches to see how officials are trained on their jobs.
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