In regard to “the downfield scrums” to assist the runner, oftentimes, the runner is “stood up” by the defense while they try to force the ball out to get a turnover. Could the downfield scrum partially be compensation for that defensive motive? If they take the assisting the runner away (which I believe they should), should the refs be ready to blow the play dead sooner? Is the defense standing up the runner also not considered a football move?

I could live with that, though I have less problem with a player getting the ball stripped by “the second guy” than all the extra yards gained by pushing the pile downfield. No one is helpless when it comes to protecting the football. The defense is a bit helpless in those movable piles.

Not to beat a tush push conversation to death, but I just want to say how odd it is that the league requires 75% of teams to approve rule changes. In this case, only 10 teams wanted to keep it (versus 22, representing more than two out of every three teams), so those 10 teams get what they want. I understand that the high threshold is intended to limit rule changes, but in this case, it feels like they’re rewarding the overwhelming minority.

When I was a kid, I always complained to my dad when something wasn’t fair. His response was always, “Who said life was fair?”

Old-school perspective here, but contrast an 18-game schedule with the 12-, 14- or 16-game schedules factoring the amount of contact that used to take place during training camp and regular-season practices. Does this even things out to some degree? Seems like the Lombardi practices were extremely brutal.

Apples and orangutans. Back then there was no formal offseason workout program, players held other offseason jobs to make ends meet, and the extensive two-a-days in training camp were used to get players in shape for the season, as well as weed out those who weren’t up to it. A long haul then as now, but in very different forms and fashions.

With a possible 18-game schedule, I’d like to see a return to the AFL/NFL program. Teams would play the three teams in their division twice, and every other team in the conference once. Then the playoffs would stay in their conference until the top AFC and NFC teams would meet in the Super Bowl.

So nobody from the NFC would play anybody from the AFC, ever, except in the Super Bowl? Baseball figured out a while ago that type of scheduling only deprives fans and players.

Nathan from Williamstown, MA

At the risk of bringing math into Inbox, does anyone care to explain how an eight-team playoff bracket with two teams getting first-round byes would work? Whom would the remaining wild-card winner even play?

I wondered the same thing when I read that.

Paul from South Yorkshire, UK

I have an idea to ease your concerns over an 18-game season and expanded playoffs. Add an extra week but make it the playoffs’ first round. In each conference, four wild-card teams play each other and the losers go out, four divisional champs play each other with winners gaining a bye, and the losers play the wild-card winners in the second round. This way two wild-card teams must go out in Round 1 and all the divisional champs will make it to at least Round 2. The league gets an extra meaningful week. Yes?

No. I don’t want to see the NFL playing postseason games that aren’t one-and-done/do-or-die for every team involved. Hard pass.

Yohay from Kfar Saba, Israel

Hey guys, great job as always keeping us entertained through the dead season. Scheduling question – is there a chance the Packers-Ravens game will be flexed to Monday? My brother (Ravens fan) and I (Packers fan) are considering coming to the game, but it being so far away, we need to know what are the possible dates for the game. If I recall, I initially saw it could be only Saturday or Sunday, but I just wanted to confirm. Go Pack Go!

As of now, the Week 17 game vs. the Ravens is listed as Saturday or Sunday, but my reading of the flex scheduling guidelines indicates it would also be in play for Monday night if the league decided to move Rams at Falcons – currently slated for Monday, Dec. 29 – back to Sunday.