The Current State of the NBA vs the NFL

This could potentially be the last Jakestake of 2023 and I want to start off by thanking everyone who has supported and read the blogs. A lot more to come in 2024. Today I want to talk about the difference in the NBA vs the NFL and the way the product is moving for both sports. On Christmas Day, I went to the 76ers-Heat game in Miami and even with no Jimmy Butler or Joel Embiid, it was a great game. I told my family going into the game I am so excited to watch Jaime Jaquez Jr play and he did not disappoint putting on a scoring clinic, dropping a career high 31 points on 11-15 shooting. Next week I will break down the generational 2023 draft class but today let’s look at the NBA as a whole.

The NBA and the NFL are in very different places in terms of both the current skill level of the players and teams, and the overall product of each sport. The NBA is as exciting as it has been in as long as I can remember. There are truly 8-10 teams that can win it all and another 8-10 teams that are a piece or two away from being legitimate Championship contenders. There has not been a repeat champion since the Warriors in 2017-18. The skill level of the players has continued to rise and the stars are shining way past their prime.

For Lebron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant to still dominate the league at 35+ is amazing to see. Mix in the three other MVP winners with Jokic, Giannis, and Embiid and these are six of the best players of all time. On top of that you round out the top players in the league with Luka, Tatum, and SGA and you have a superstar player on a third of the teams in the league. That is not counting the other perennial all-stars like Jimmy, AD, Kawhi or the young guards that put up huge stats every night like Trae Young, Ja, Haliburton, Brunson, Booker, Spida, and Fox. The league is filled with talent and you can really see it when guys get their opportunity to play extended minutes like Andre Drummond putting up 24 and 25 in his first start of the season or Mo Bamba putting up 18 and 6 without Embiid.

I can go on for days talking about the skill-level of both star players and role players in the NBA but the point is that there is more skill than ever in the NBA. The regular season games are exciting and there has been minimal resting for the stars this year. The defense and intensity has seem to gone up this season. At Christmas Day, I have no idea who is going to win this year. The Celtics look unbeatable when their starting 5 is healthy but they never seem to be able to shake the Heat in the playoffs. There are only 3 teams (Pistons, Wizards, and Spurs when Wemby doesn’t play) that are hard to watch and one of those teams just set a record for most consecutive losses in a season. Every Pistons game from here on out is like a playoff game because no one wants to be the one to lose to that team. I truly think that the NBA and its product will continue to get better, like the addition of the In-Season Tournament, and the expansion in a few years into Vegas and hopefully Seattle will make the Association that much more fun to watch.

Now let’s talk about the NFL. While the NBA is thriving based off talent of their star-players, the NFL this season has had their most important position in the sport be maybe at its worst. Was I spoiled for growing up in the golden era of QBs with Brady, Mannings, Brees, Big Ben, Philip Rivers? Maybe so but the Quarterback play in the NFL has been abysmal this year. The star QBs that have stayed healthy have all had down years like Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Jalen Hurts. The other healthy QBs like Cam Newton said are game managers like Purdy, Dak, Tua, and Goff. I, unlike the rest of the world, understood what Cam Newton was saying. Those four QBs manage the game well and are really good and smart Quarterbacks but they aren’t going to elevate a team with no playmakers around them like Mahomes or Cam Newton did. The rest of the franchise Quarterbacks besides Lamar are all hurt.

Injuries are obviously a part of the game but it seems each year more and more injuries are piling on the Quarterbacks. For whatever reason, the backup QBs in the NFL have come into these games and seem like they have not been playing football at the highest level their whole lives. The skill-level is not there and these back-up Quarterbacks make for a really bad product to watch. The only backup who has looked elite is somehow Joe Flacco who has a chance to lead the Browns to a first-round bye this season. I think Flacco will come back down to earth tonight against the Jets but for a 38 year old QB to come in week 13 and already lead the team in passing touchdowns is pretty amazing. But for the week 17 Thursday Night Football game to have the starting QBs be Trevor Seimian and Joe Flacco, that is not something that needs to be broadcasted on primetime.

Contrary to the NBA, there are maybe 4 teams that have a chance of winning a Super Bowl this year. Even the top teams in the league do not look as good as they should and have question marks on if they are good enough to win it all. The running back position is pretty much obsolete as the RBs play for 4 years and no one wants to sign them anymore unless their name is Christian McCaffery. As Tom Brady said “I don’t think the development of young players is as good as it was. The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game. So I just think the product, in my opinion, is less than what it’s been.” You can really see this in each game you watch. On top of that, the NFL has still refused to hire refs full-time. Every game seems to be determined by a bad call or bad no call in the NFL and the refs have way too much influence on the game.

In the United States, the NFL is king and always will be. I will also continue to watch every single game and block out my Sundays from August until February to watch football. But, the play of the NFL this year has been very disappointing and it is hard to stay as invested with more than half the teams playing a backup QB who is significantly worse than the starter. The NBA is in such a better state than the NFL current day and I think will only continue to get better while the NFL product has declined over the past few years.