The same reason that caused this writer to quit watching the NFL may force him back in 2023

Some people won't believe me when I tell them it's really been more than 20 years since I sat down regularly on Sundays to watch the National Football League.

OK, I'll admit it hasn't been a complete boycott but that's mainly because I've spent holidays with relatives or friends who rightfully get to control what they want to watch on their television. I'm being totally honest when I say I've spent way more time watching PBA bowling or Hallmark movies on Sundays than I have NFL games for years. Don't ask about Monday nights, Thursday nights, Saturdays or any other days the NFL plays. I haven't been interested.

At first glance, people who know me think it's because I'm a New York Jets fan and that there's been little reason to watch the team play since the GREATEST quarterback in team history (Joe Willie Namath) led the Jets to a victory in Super Bowl III on Jan. 12, 1969.

What you need know about that date is that it was around the midway point of my kindergarten school year and I jumped on the J-E-T-S bandwagon right then and there. A few months later the New York Mets (The Amazins') won the 1969 World Series and a few months after that, the New York Knicks won the NBA title in 1970. I also jumped on the M-E-T-S and K-N-I-C-K-S bandwagons.

That's 50-plus years ago and there's been far more agony than thrills for all three of those teams. The life-long South Dakotan with no East Coast ties, but a fan of those three New York sports teams. The pain, at times, has been unbearable.

I quit watching the NFL for good around the turn of the century when the game morphed into a version of football we played as kids — "Hike the ball and go out for a pass."

The QBs are front and center in this modern NFL, even more so than they were previously. I'm OK with that if it was about guys 25-30 in their prime taking over. Instead, we've seen QBs keep going and going. The clock is winding down, the game is on the line and these so-called legendary QBs get to do their thing.

You know what I say, I could have stopped every one of the comebacks by these so-called legendary QBs just by calling a penalty, and not made up penalties. They say there's a penalty on every play. Apparently not, especially when a legendary QB has the ball in his hands. It's almost rarer than a foul call against LeBron James in the NBA.

How does a game with 53 guys on a roster be controlled by one guy? And not necessarily one guy in his prime. Twelve times in 19 years (2002-2021), the Super Bowl was played with Tom Brady or one of the Mannings (Peyton and Eli) and sometimes a combination of those three. Archie Manning never came close to the Super Bowl when he played but he seemingly had annual season tickets to the event much of these past two decades.

People don't like baseball because the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers spend a gazillion dollars and have a great unfair advantage, yet the Yankees have won one World Series since 2000 and that came in 2009. The Dodgers have won one World Series since 1988. It's an unfair system, but yet 14 different baseball teams have won World Series titles in the last 21 years.

In football, there's a salary cap that's been in place for years and is supposed to make it even for everybody, yet only 13 teams have won Super Bowls in the last 21 years and it's even less if you combine the teams that had Brady and Peyton Manning. For some teams it's about the team, for others it's all about the quarterback. I argue that if you have a quarterback who does commercials, you have good shot. It's not so easy for the others.

Now I get it. It takes a good quarterback to win, but the playoffs come down one game not a best-of-seven series. Isn't there more than three or four guys who can be a good quarterback on a given day (playoff game)? Yet we witnessed the same guys over and over and most of them were past their prime. Playing this big fast-paced, physical game and the guys kept going into the late 30s through their mid-40s.

I played amateur baseball into my 40s and just let me tell you, my prime wasn't at 39, 40 or 41. No, my prime was somewhere between 25 and 30. And having my own personal trainer wouldn't have changed that.

Now for the second time in some 15 years, the New York Jets have traded for a legendary QB from the Green Bay Packers. First it was Bret Favre, who got off to a great start in 2008 and fizzled down the stretch to cost a Jets a sure playoff berth. We finally had the QB who did commercials and he finished with 22 interceptions and 22 TD passes. Apparently he got hurt, but I don't remember that being so much the discussion back then although perhaps that was because the Jets were trying to hide the injury from opponents.

Now after a season in which Jets displayed a new-found stellar defense and actually handled Aaron Rodgers and the Packers before inadequate play at QB (first Zach Wilson, then others) cost them a sure playoff berth, they apparently had no choice but to trade for Rodgers.

It just seems strange to me that the best way an NFL team can get better is by trading the farm for a 39-year-old quarterback? Heck, if you listen to the national media they went from a non-playoff team to almost a Super Bowl contender. Sort of what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did when they traded for Brady a few years back from the New England Patriots.

Rodgers is one guy? A 39-year-old guy? At least it's a 39-year-old guy who does commercials. But wait, that's the same age Favre was when he went to the Jets. One guy? A 39-year-old guy?

Even if we do win, it's going to be all about the quarterback. It's the reason I quit watching the NFL in the first place. It might turn out to be the reason I have to break down and start watching it again.

There's another reason I may start following the NFL a little more and that's because Watertown High School graduate Spencer Waege signed a post-draft deal with the San Francisco 49ers after a college career as a defensive end for North Dakota State University. No WHS grad has played in the NFL and not one that I've covered and interviewed as many times I have Spencer.

When I attended NDSU's Pro Day in late March, I jokingly told Spencer that I envisioned the Jets having a joint press conference announcing the trade for Rodgers (which took way too long to finalize) and the drafting or signing of Waege. It didn't work out that way, but he's still getting a chance to realize his NFL dream.

Let me wish Spencer the best of luck. I hope he makes it. At least he's not a quarterback who does commercials. Or a quarterback who is "technically" past his prime.

Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on Twitter @PO_Sports.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: The Jets have another Hall of Fame QB and a Watertown grad may play on Sundays