Roger Goodell Wants Your Opinion So He Can Do What He Wants to Do Anyway

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants your opinion. Yes, you. Even you guys who leave really profane comments in all capital letters with extra exclamation marks.

He had a live chat last Wednesday, and wants to show that he hearts the internets and is all Web 2.0. He asks you to give him feedback on his proposal to decrease the preseason by two games and increase the regular season to 18.

Personally, I worry that it will decrease the quality of play on the field. Do I like paying full price to go to preseason games? Nope. I think that this season's preseason was particularly awful because, with the limited training camp roster sizes, teams were particularly afraid of injuries.

But look already at all the injuries that there have been to key players all over the league. The Super Bowl already is an endurance test to see whose team survived the season most intact.

Will two more games make this any better? Does this demonstrate much concern for player health to add two more play-all-your-starter games? Or will this result in more regular season games that just don't matter because a team is so far ahead in the standings that they rest their starters?

And you can't count on this as being one more home game to tailgate at. It will end up being another game for baffled international fans, or American cities who don't particularly root for that team but don't have a team of their own.

Forget all the records that have been accomplished since the 16-game seasons began. Bygones and do-overs.

I agree with the comments that John Madden made on the radio regarding a shortened preseason and longer regular season:

I think you need four preseason games. You always have to say, `For who?' You say you don't need them. Well, who doesn't need them? Maybe a running back doesn't need [four preseason games]. But a quarterback does, or a rookie does, a young defensive back, an offensive lineman obviously needs them. If you look at football the first couple of weeks, I would say the teams weren't in shape and they weren't ready to play pro tackle football for four quarters.

If you take two of those preseason games out and add two more regular-season games at high four-quarter play level, I think you're going to have a heck of a lot more injuries, and I think they're going to be less ready to play.

Goodell disagreed with this, saying that scrimmages could help with preparedness, but I don't know how it is going to be any easier to keep key players healthy for 18 games that matter.

I know that Goodell says he is analyzing it and wants our feedback, but I don't think it matters any. He is going to do whatever he wants to do whether it is good for the game or not. And point to some of the feedback and say, "See, the fans want this."

Certainly it doesn't make the upcoming labor negotiations any easier.