It has been hard to turn on a pre-season football game without hearing about how the NFL has made calling illegal contact and defensive pass interference a point of emphasis this year. With the league seemingly clamping down on defensive physicality in the backfield, NBC’s Josh Elliot asked Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman if he thought the league was specifically targeting the Seahawks with their more stringent rulings on what constitutes defensive play by members of the secondary.
And while Sherman didn’t rise to the bait, he did pontificate on what he thinks the rules were changed, erhm, emphasized for – fantasy football.
While Sherman may be getting at the reason behind the NFL’s general push towards increasingly tough rules on defense (higher scoring games are generally more appealing to a casual audience), blaming fantasy football specifically doesn’t make a whole lot of sense because it’s benefiting all offenses which will still keep things fairly level as far as fantasy goes.
Have to give Sherman props though. The man knows how to craft a soundbite.
