We still plan to defer our own opinions regarding the league’s decision to leave the video board at Cowboys Stadium in its current location to this afternoon’s round of PFTV segments.
But that doesn’t mean we won’t be sharing the opinions we obtain from league sources who see fit to express their opinions to us.
“It’s laughable,” one source said regarding the decision to apply the “do over” approach if/when punts strike the monstrous, four-sided structure that hovers 90 feet over the playing surface and extends from one 20 to the other. “It’s absolute bullshit.”
The source then rattled off the various problems that can and will arise from an approach that requires a team to punt multiple times.
As we’ve previously pointed out, the gunners will be gassed. The punt returner, however, likely will be fresh.
Also, the chess match regarding punt protection and punt rush will have been compromised by the scuttled play, with each head coach having to decide whether to change things up or go with the same plan on the second try.
Gaffes on the “do over” effort -- such as bad snaps and missed blocks leading to a blocked punt -- will be magnified by the fact that they didn’t happen the first time around. So if the second kick is blocked and returned for a touchdown when the first punt got off cleanly (until it was blocked by the mother ship), how will that not be perceived as an event that helps to determine the outcome of a game?
The source also pointed out that, apart from the competitive consequences, no one has taken responsibility for the situation.
“Who screwed up?” the source said. “There needs to be public accountability for this mistake. . . . The league and the Cowboys are sweeping the whole thing under the rug.”
The source went on to explain that this case is a prime example of the reason for the animosity that often exists between “football people” (who are criticized openly and harshly for blunders made in selecting or coaching players) and front-office/league office types who never face public scrutiny for their mistakes.
And, as mistakes go, the source said this is a huge one.
Our own views are coming later today, video style.