As a commenter pointed out, NFL rules mandate a large, rock-hard football that is hard to hold, hard to throw, hard to catch, easy to fumble, easy to kick, and easy to punt. For the last two weeks, there have been allegations (the factuality of which I won’t get into) that the cleverest franchise of the century, the New England Patriots, has systematically let some air out of the balls they use on offense (but not the ball used for kicking, which is kept by the refs), and that this helps them complete more passes and fumble less.

If so, the NFL should follow the Patriots’ lead and reduce the air pressure for all footballs, including the kicking and punting balls, because this would make the NFL more entertaining. There would be more one-handed and fingertip catches, better passes (especially in the second half of the season when the weather turns bad), fewer fumbles, and more interceptions (defensive players seldom have soft hands like receivers do, so seemingly easy interceptions frequently clang off their hands at present). Field goal kicking and punting would both become harder, which would encourage coaches to go for first downs more on fourth down, which is more exciting than kicking or punting.