I’m going to admit to it. I have trouble following the NFL. It is not easy for me to care about all the games on Sunday afternoons, and there have been weekends where I have failed to watch a single football game. The NFL is easily this country’s most profitable league and it has countless diehard fans. I, however, am not one of them.

It isn’t that I don’t like football. Growing up, I was very easily drawn to the games on Sundays. I woke up early and watched all of ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown.” For several Halloweens, I dressed as Marshall Faulk, complete with a jersey, shoulder pads and a helmet that my parents helped paint gold. Madden NFL was the video game I most looked forward to every year.

However, I did not buy, nor have I even played, this year’s version of Madden. The NFL has just slowly lost me as a fan.

Don’t get me wrong, I still tune in and pay attention to the league. I had my TV on all day Sunday. But it isn’t easy to watch anymore. The Jets, led by rookie Geno Smith, played horribly in a loss to the Bills. The Giants weren’t much more entertaining either. Yes, they have somehow come back to life and won four straight games, but their victory over Packers third-string QB Scott Tolzien was predictable. Forgive me, but I wasn’t terribly impressed.

Some of my disconnect with the NFL likely stems from the fact that I do not have a favorite team. I spent my first few years rooting for the St. Louis Rams. They won the Super Bowl shortly after I turned seven, and their “Greatest Show on Turf” was amazing to young Max. Faulk, who quickly became my all-time favorite player, was on the cover of Madden NFL 2003. The Rams were easy to like for a time, but my connection with the club ultimately disappeared.

I also moved several times when I was young and never managed to identify with a local team. I’ve spent most of my life in New York but didn’t grow up with the Giants or Jets. I’ve never been able to call an NFL team my own.

It could just be my lack of a favorite team, but the NFL itself has only managed to aid my disillusionment. The league’s insistence on generating the largest profit, refusal to recognize the impact of concussions or take care of its players has only pushed me further away. Former stars like Tony Dorsett and Junior Seau have suffered greatly for the NFL. The league’s promise to aid CTE research while simultaneously pushing for a longer season strikes me as hypocritical and nothing else. I fear this will cause the league even more suffering.

I do not want to see football gone. I have, for example, always enjoyed Fordham football. The Rams have always been a team I can lay claim to, and this season has been more enjoyable than ever. I am anxiously awaiting a Fordham trip to the FCS playoffs and hoping like mad that the Rams are granted a home game. There are parts of football that still inspire me.

There was, for instance, an NFL game of great importance this past weekend. I watched most of Sunday night’s game between the Broncos and the Chiefs and was awed by Peyton Manning. Manning, 37 years old and playing with a bum ankle, absolutely picked apart a Chief’s defense that many thought was the best in the league. Manning’s precision and leadership abilities were very fun to watch.

I especially enjoyed the way Manning handled his postgame interview with NBC’s Michele Tafoya. He was honest about the status of his ankle and candidly discussed his team’s winning strategy. Watching it, I felt as if it could’ve been me interviewing him and Manning would have been just as cordial.

I am still impressed by the abilities of players like Manning, Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson. But guys like Dwayne Bowe, who was arrested for possession of marijuana earlier in the week but still played on Sunday, keep turning me off.

I’m worried that my struggles with the NFL will cause me to start missing great games like the one Peyton played on Sunday. The NFL must do more to protect its players and end the silliness perpetrated by guys like Bowe and Ndamukong Suh.

Peyton is one of the guys in the NFL that keeps me tuned in and hanging on. I’m just worried it’s not going to be enough for me to remain a fan.