Heads rolled when news broke that NFL owners were pushing to add two more games to the existing regular season schedule. Were the league's owners, despite years of mounting evidence about the health risks associated with football, really so craven as to fight for a means of extra revenue if at came at the expense of player safety? Not all of them, apparently.
Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown forcefully pushed back against the idea of an 18-game season on Wednesday, alluding to both the physical and mental tolls the current schedule already takes on players as justification behind his stance.
“These seasons are long and they take a toll on you mentally, they take a toll on players physically,” Brown said at the team's annual media luncheon, per Joe Kay of the AP. “Maybe we should just step back and accept the 16 number and go with it.”
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that NFL owners have again began calling for an 18-game regular season, a change they've championed in the past that has been quickly shot down by players. But this time owners have included in their argument a wrinkle meant to erase any chance of additional bodily harm on players, suggesting that players would only be permitted to play in 16 of their team's 18 games.
Brown doesn't like that idea, either.
“Different owners have different thoughts and they're welcome to express them, to argue them,” Brown said. “I just don't think we want to play Boston unless (Tom) Brady isn't playing.
“Everyone knows the discussion on this. It isn't the way football has been played. Baseball is played that way, different pitchers and all. In our game, you get the best team out there, and I think that's the way it ought to be.”
Cincinnati opens training camp on Saturday.
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