NFL, it’s time to show viewers the whole play already

The NFL simply must start giving us the All-22 angle at all times.

Have you ever watched an NFL game on television and thought “What’s going on with the coverage downfield? I can’t see it. Were the receivers open or covered on that play? What is the quarterback seeing and is he finding the open receiver?”

If you are anything like me, you like seeing everything going on in a play, not just what is happening near the line of scrimmage and where the ball goes. This is the primary change needed to better the experience for fans.

Decades ago, televisions were smaller, more square, and had lower resolution. This isn’t ideal for seeing the whole field on your 25-32 inch low-resolution screen. Teams ran the ball more back then where the action is near the line of scrimmage.

In this day and age, most televisions have higher resolution, are widescreen, and are usually at least 40-50 inches.  Offenses throw the ball down the field now more than ever before. This is now an ideal situation to actually see what is going on downfield every play of the game.

If your hometown team was the Jets, who had one of the greatest cornerbacks in history in Darrelle Revis, you probably only saw his amazing level of play a handful of times per game. He was truly a shutdown corner who just wasn’t thrown at very often. If you weren’t at the game (perhaps the reason behind showing only half of the action) and watching it on television, you didn’t get many opportunities to see his greatness.

As a fan of football, I honestly can’t tell you much about the defensive schemes of the coaches, and coverage ability of the players on my hometown team. I only see when the ball is thrown their direction.

I don’t see the chess match between coaches, and the full game battle between great receivers and defensive backs. It wouldn’t be difficult to broadcast all of the receivers and defensive backs on every play, rather than seeing only half of what is going on most plays.

If you like seeing what your favorite offensive linemen do every play but not your favorite receivers, you’re in luck.  What football fan wants to see Odell Beckham every play in 2019 when you can see pro bowl guard Joel Bitonio blocking? The NFL broadcasts taking this action would increase viewership and thus revenue, a symbiotic win-win for fans and for the league.