18 games

There is going to be a lot of talk amongst the NFL Owners at the next owner's meeting about lengthening the regular football season to 18 games and cutting the pre-season to 2 contests. The players union(NFLPA)will lobby for more money in the paycheck and this may be well deserved. They will lobby for an increase in the rosters and this should probably happen and the numbers of players may increase from 53 to 59 maybe 60. But I think the one huge item that the NFLPA will lobby for if the season is increased to 18 regular season games is a shorter training camp. Some teams are in camp for 4 weeks. That is a long time for 2 a days in the heat and humidity. The way to solve this problem is to lengthen the OTA's in the late Spring and make them mandatory. OTA's are Organized Team Activities that occur basically in late May and run through the middle of June. Shoulder pads, helmets, skill work, coaching, no live scrimmaging. The players come out of the OTA's and they are ready to go in terms of skill work and mental preparation. With mandatory OTA's, the potential exists to shorten training camp. Believe me, the coaches are intelligent evaluators of talent. They know who is good and who can make the roster in a short period of time. 2 pre-season games is more than enough. College football jumps right into a regular season game with only banging heads against their own players. Like I said about a month ago, the Super Bowl played in New York City may be played in early March with an 18 game regular season. I can hear the lawn mowers humming all the way from Latrobe here in the South Hills in preparation for the arrival of the Steeler's and their nation on July 30.