6 Quick Fixes the NFL Should Make

There is no greater sport than professional football. With that said, there are some quick fixes that the NFL could make to provide fans with an even better viewing experience.

These aren't drastic changes, like getting rid of the extra point (thanks, Bill Belichick) or allowing players to "foul" out (I'm not really sure how that would work, but I guarantee it would be a drastic change). Rather, these are simple fixes that would improve the game of football.

So, here are six quick fixes that the NFL should make. 

Retirement

Quick Fix: When a player retires, he isn't allowed to come back to the NFL. Ever.

This rule could be called the Brett Favre Rule or the Tiki Barber Rule. If a player has made the decision to retire from football, he should be forced to stick to that decision.

Just look at how Barry Sanders retired. Even though I think he should have played a few more years, he retired in a great way. He didn't attempt multiple comebacks or decide three years later that he made a poor decision. No matter what other people were saying, he made the decision to retire and stuck to it.

I don't care if I never get to see Randy Moss or Carson Palmer play again. They decided to retire and the NFL should make them stay retired.

Overtime

Quick Fix: Change overtime rules to match those in college football.

The reason this rule needs to change is because it is ridiculous to basically decide the winner of a football game based on a coin toss. Now, I know that the team that wins the coin toss in overtime doesn't win the game 100 percent of the time, but I guarantee it is well over 50 percent, which just doesn't seem right to me.

College football has the ideal overtime situation; each team has the opportunity to play both offense and defense to win the game. Anyone that doesn't think this overtime system would be exciting just needs to watch the 2007 Fiesta Bowl between Boise State and Oklahoma to see how great overtime could become.

Just imagine Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the AFC Championship Game gunning it out in triple overtime. Sounds fantastic.

Pass Interference

Quick Fix: Allow only 15 yards as a maximum penalty for a pass-interference call.

First, pass interference can be an iffy subject. There are times when you will watch a replay over and over and never be able to see what the referee saw when he threw the yellow flag.

Secondly, I hate the fact that if pass interference is called on a 60-yard pass play, you get to move the ball 60 yards up the field. How do you know that the receiver would have caught that ball? Have we not seen plenty of receivers drop wide-open passes?

Just put a 15-yard penalty maximum on pass interference and let the teams play.

Instant Replay

Quick Fix: Allow instant replay to be used on penalties.

Building on the last slide, coaches should have the option to throw the reg flag to get penalties reviewed. Too many times have referees missed calls or made incorrect calls that have cost a team in a big way.

With this new rule, a coach would be able to challenge a penalty to see if the call was correct or not. This challenge would be like any other challenge, so if the coach was wrong, he would lose a timeout.

This would just be another way to improve the quality of the game and take away from wrong calls costing a team the game.

Thursday Night Football

Quick Fix: Get rid of Thursday Night Football on the NFL Network.

I don't care if the NFL wants to throw a game on Thursday night. That's fine.

I do care that the game is on the NFL Network, which means I have to pay money to watch it by either subscribing to the NFL Network or going to a bar. This wouldn't be a huge problem if they just played the worst games of the week, but the NFL Network has some pretty interesting games this year, especially at the end of the season, with the Dallas Cowboys playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Houston Texans squaring off against the Indianapolis Colts.

I'm a big fan of putting NFL games on throughout the week. Heck, I wouldn't mind if there was a game on Monday through Friday. However, please don't force me to spend money just to watch the game.

Playoffs

Quick Fix: Never allow a losing team in the playoffs.

I know this is probably going to make some people angry, but teams with losing records should not be allowed in the playoffs. It just isn't right for a team to go 10-6 and not make the playoffs because a 7-9 team plays in a subpar division.

Here is how this rule could work: If a team wins their division with a record worse than 8-8, they won't make the playoffs. The playoff spot will go to the team with the next best record. Pretty simple, right?

Of course, this rule would take away from seeing a complete underdog defeat the defending Super Bowl champions, but do you really think that Seattle beating New Orleans was the norm?

When watching the playoffs, we want to see the best of the best go at it to determine who takes home the Lombardi Trophy. There is no way that a team with a losing record is the best of the best.