The Green Zone? Really?

Back in the dark ages we actually watched football games with no yellow line on the screen to identify the line to gain for a first down. And, obviously, we will never go back. One simply does not choose to grind the gears of human progress and dim the light of enlightenment.

NBC Sports attempted to pull a Dr. John Hammond by debuting the “Green Zone” during tonight’s broadcast of the Cardinals-Cowboys. That is, standing on the shoulders of greatness to create something new. Much like Jurassic Park, the debut went over like a lead balloon, only with slightly less severe consequences.

Here’s the Green Zone in action. It, uh, shades in the area between the first-down marker and the line of scrimmage in a darker green. This is genius because before we only had these two lines and had to imagine with our the space between. And who wants to work that hard mentally when football is on?

Just kidding. It is quite silly.

Al Michaels’ tease made it seem as though the back end of the line would move with the ball-carrier as he approached the first-down mark, but that isn’t what happened. Even this innovation would be rather extraneous because we can see the guy already.

Predictably, people don’t like it and, more predictably, outlets are collecting tweets together to show this.

My take is a bit different. I’m not mad. I’m actually impressed the person who came up with this idea was able to sell it and get it through all the necessary layers. Almost feels like a dare someone took on to achieve the impossible.

Anyway, if you’re legitimately upset about the field being a slightly different shade of green on select third-down plays on one broadcast a week, it is possible that your priorities are misplaced.