NFL Week 10: If ratings don't improve this weekend Roger Goodell has a problem

There was much discussion recently over controversial officiating and reduced television ratings, but let's slow down for just a moment to point out what's really behind all the angst in the NFL these days: The league is in the midst of a transition, and that is always wrenching.

We may get a hint of just how wrenching this weekend.

The league and its apologists repeatedly have cited the interest in the presidential election for a drastic drop in television ratings, but the election now is over and, wouldn't you know it, the first post-election weekend features two true marquee matchups.

The afternoon doubleheader game is Dallas at Pittsburgh, matching America's Team against the franchise with the most Super Bowl victories. Both franchises have huge national followings.

The night game is Seattle at New England, matching the strongest NFC team of recent seasons (and coached by a former Patriots coach, making his first return to Foxbororough) against the league's most dominant team of the last decade and a half.

If the ratings for those games do not reverse the trend of the first half season, well, Roger Goodell, you have a problem.

In case you missed it, the ratings have been down - for virtually every time slot thus far this season compared with a year ago, and you can't blame that all on the retirement of Peyton Manning or the attention diverted to the campaign of Tom Brady's hero, Donald Trump. There are many issues, and a key one is that the league needs to develop new stars. One of them could be on display Sunday, Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott.

Brady will be in Sunday's other big game, of course.

The two key Sunday games will be a litmus test of where the league's television popularity might be right now, and where it is headed, but more than ratings are at stake.

Dallas and New England are the NFL's only one-loss teams at mid-season and, if the trend continues, we could be headed for a fourth consecutive Super Bowl that matches an aging but still standing star against the next big thing, a great story line.

The odds today favor a New England-Dallas match of Brady against Prescott in Houston in February.

Dallas' renewed spot atop the NFC, and its presence in a marquee game, is important because it is the constant infusion of young talent, like Prescott and his mate at running back, Ezekiel Elliott, that keeps the NFL going strong. Unfortunately for the NFL, which used to have the world's greatest PR machine, the league has spent far too much time on peripheral issues and not enough in recent years promoting its greatest assets.

That could be, probably is, one of the reasons for the decline in interest but the suits who inhabit the league office would hate to even consider that possibility.

It was the late, great Beano Cook, a witty and brilliant commentator who spent most of his life around college football, who once put that NFL spin in perspective.

"If Hitler had the NFL's PR department," Cook used to say, "we'd all be speaking German today."

Maybe, maybe not. We'll never know.

But we do know this much: Far too much time, energy and attention has been lost to things like Deflategate, the antics of a few players and severe punishment for niggling offenses and not enough time, energy and attention have been devoted by the league to promoting players like Prescott or other young, emerging quarterbacks like Derek Carr and Carson Wentz or running backs like Elliott, the league's leading rusher.

Goodell's predecessor as commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, used to be criticized because he was too cozy with Gene Upshaw, the head of the players union. Maybe he was. But that close relationship kept the league spinning ahead and kept the focus on the field, not on so many peripheral issues as is the case now.

The tandem of Prescott and Elliott is one of the best things that has happened to the NFL in years. Dallas, despite its mediocre record for the last two decades, remains one of the league's flagship franchises and one that gets fans everywhere interested, and having the Cowboys in the mix with bright, young talent is a bona fide plus for the entire league.

Dallas is not the only marquee team making a big breakthrough with a new, young quarterback.

The Oakland Raiders, whose last playoff appearance came in 2002 but, like Dallas, have a huge national following, lead the AFC West behind Carr, their third-year quarterback, whose ratio of 17 touchdown passes to three interceptions trails only Brady in the NFL. Philadelphia got off to a fast start, but is struggling lately yet still sticking with a rookie quarterback, Wentz. And Denver, which is 6-3, has a second-year quarterback, Trevor Siemian, who did not throw an NFL pass until this season.

And, while the prospect of a Brady-Prescott Super Bowl would match a 39-year-old sure Hall-of-Famer against a 23-year-old rookie, it would be a matchup that only slightly exaggerates what we have been seeing in recent seasons.

Last year, the Super Bowl matched Manning, in his final game, against Cam Newton, still a young, shining star (despite all his recent whining) then in his fifth NFL season.

Two years ago, the Super Bowl matched Brady, who was in his sixth Super Bowl, against Russell Wilson, who was in his third NFL season.

And three years ago, the quarterback matchup in the Super Bowl was Manning against Wilson, in his second NFL season.

These transitions are as old as the NFL itself. Hey, remember it was not that long ago the legend of Brady began on the Super Bowl stage against Kurt Warner, at the time a two-time league MVP and former Super Bowl MVP.

Brady won his first Super Bowl in his second NFL season. So did Ben Roethlisberger. So did Kurt Warner. So did Russell Wilson. So it may be only a matter of time before a rookie quarterback wins one, and there you have one of the prospective story lines for Super Bowl LI, if the Cowboys and Patriots continue on their collision course.

Meanwhile, let's just see how this weekend's two huge games are received by the television audience. Then you will know just how big the league's problem is.

--Ira Miller is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the National Football League for more than five decades and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He is a national columnist for The Sports Xchange.