"We're on the cusp of the NFL offseason, which portends a great many ruminations. We get our last wall-to-wall weekend of football for this divisional round and then POOF! The sport all but disappears after that. Chances are, your team's season ended weeks ago anyway, as mine did. Once the football ends, there is only thinking about football to subsist on. That usually means obsessing over free agency, the draft, and getting a new head coach for your team who isn't a complete boob."
"Most of all, the NFL offseason allows your mind to wander away from your team so that it can obsess over the league itself. As the number of games shrinks, you glean nits to pick with how this sport is played and, much more important, how it's officiated. This is why every spring brings endless discourse surrounding otherwise minor affairs: the overtime format, the ethics of the tush push, and so on and so forth."
"The fourth-down bluff. I hate it, and I want it destroyed. You know the ins and outs of the fourth-down bluff by now. Most teams in 2026 just go right for it on fourth down. But more than a few of them would rather bluff going for it, and then burn a timeout to either actually go for it, or to punt. Coward shit either way."
The NFL offseason greatly reduces live games, leaving fans to dwell on roster moves, the draft, and coaching changes. As games disappear, attention shifts from individual teams to league-wide quirks and officiating decisions. Fans find many minor grievances to debate each spring, such as overtime rules and the ethics of the tush push. End-of-quarter strategy often features theatrical maneuvers that frustrate viewers. One particularly aggravating practice is the fourth-down bluff, where teams burn a timeout to pretend to go for it and then punt or use the timeout to actually attempt it.
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