close
close

What would a ‘bullfighting game’ look like in the NFL?

What would a ‘bullfighting game’ look like in the NFL?

The World Series begins Friday between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. Just like quarterbacking was the key to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, pitching will be the key to winning the Commissioner’s Trophy.

So what if NFL coaches handled quarterbacks the same way MLB managers do pitching staffs? Jeff Bell of football players Explained the scenario about X and we decided to dive a little deeper.

The obvious difference between the two sports is that there are multiple pitchers on the roster, compared to just two or three quarterbacks on an NFL roster. Therefore, a rule change needs to be implemented first.

Currently, NFL teams are allowed only two active passers. third “emergency” quarterback He should be listed as inactive until injury requires it. For example, Jameis Winston was the third inactive passer on Sunday in Cleveland until starter Deshaun Watson tore his Achilles and then backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson left with his own injury.

The league will need to adjust roster limits to allow for a greater number of passers (e.g., five at a time) to accommodate this scenario.

For the sake of argument, let’s pick five quarterbacks for a fictional team. Joe Flacco, Jameis Winston, Gardner Minshew, Andy Dalton and Joshua Dobbs.

The team would choose one of them as the “starter”, but he would be on a short leash. When cracks started to show in his game, the coach would pull him and put in another new setter to continue.

However, in baseball, when a manager pulls a starter and goes to his bullpen, that starter cannot return but in the NFL there are unlimited substitutions. So let’s follow the MLB rule in this scenario.

If Flacco starts but only gets 20 minutes of playing time, he cannot return after being withdrawn. This will make having more than one playable point guard a strategic decision for the coach to make.

The consequences of such a strategy are unpredictable, but it will certainly make defending much more difficult. It would be very interesting to see this used in a real game one day.