NFL Thread

[Fukui San]

They don't kick? What do they do instead?

[mojoween]

They don’t do kickoffs, just start on the 25 yard line.  They kick field goals but PAT’s are always two point conversion tries.

[merylinkid]

The televised game reminded of the Super Bowl.  And not in a good way.  Should have gone with the Atlanta and Orlando game.

[mojoween]

Yeah there were SO many dropped passes in San Antonio.  If I wanted to see that I would just re-watch a Giants game.

Twitter seemed to be more interested in the Orlando game, too.  Except for the one hit on the San Diego QB when his head fell off.  That clip was everywhere.

[merylinkid]

Two games today.   Let's see how they do.   I remember watching the original XFL then losing interest.   So it's not just how this weekend does, but how is it doing in a month?

The teams have only been practicing for a month so I can see a lot of errors.   But I guess they told the refs to be stingy with the yellow fflags.   That was one thing I REALLY liked.   It wasn't a laundry fest of penalty flags.

[Sounder]

The AAF coverage on CBS got 2.9 million viewers.....not bad..... not NFL numbers but do you expect that?  It did better than the NBA game in the same timeslot.   It now all goes to the sub outlets until the championship.  Pro Football can use a division ll  type league and I kinda like this one.

[Sounder]

I had been led to believe the play clock would be 30 seconds..... but I guess they must've bumped it to 35 thinking there'd be too many delay of game calls.  It promoted a quicker pace..... but the Commanders/ Fleet game dragged.  The play was predictably sloppy..... but you expect that early on..... like the NFL preseason.   It'll get better.

[Sounder]

One thing it already has in common with the NFL..... the officials got too much face time...... that accounted for a lot of the sluggish pace..... DAMMIT LET THEM PLAY!!

[TVbitch]

I found this helpful:

Some major rules differences from the NFL include:

♦ No kickoffs or extra point attempts. Teams must attempt two-point conversions. Possessions will start at the 25-yard line. There also are no onside kicks; instead, a team can attempt a play from scrimmage from their own 28-yard line and need to gain at least 12 yards.
♦ No television timeouts.
♦ A 35-second play clock (the NFL employs a 40-second play clock).
♦ Coaches get two challenges; no challenges, however, in final two minutes of each half.
♦ Overtime will be one possession for each team from their opponent's 10-yard line. No field goal attempts can be made

Oh, crap, I see all of the games are on CBS Sports Network and NFL Network. I don't have those, so I guess I won't be a fan. 

[roamyn]

Jeff Fisher has is one of the honchos for the AAF, so I have no faith in its future.

[Fukui San]

1 hour ago, roamyn said:

Jeff Fisher has is one of the honchos for the AAF, so I have no faith in its future.

Can a whole league go 7-9?

[ae2]

16 hours ago, TVbitch said:

I found this helpful:

Some major rules differences from the NFL include:

♦ No kickoffs or extra point attempts. Teams must attempt two-point conversions. Possessions will start at the 25-yard line. There also are no onside kicks; instead, a team can attempt a play from scrimmage from their own 28-yard line and need to gain at least 12 yards.
♦ No television timeouts.
♦ A 35-second play clock (the NFL employs a 40-second play clock).
♦ Coaches get two challenges; no challenges, however, in final two minutes of each half.
♦ Overtime will be one possession for each team from their opponent's 10-yard line. No field goal attempts can be made

Oh, crap, I see all of the games are on CBS Sports Network and NFL Network. I don't have those, so I guess I won't be a fan. 

I believe they're also streaming live on YouTube and on the AAF website, if you're into that sort of thing. Hopefully if they remain popular we'll get some more major network broadcasts.

One more major rule change:

• Teams can only rush 5 defenders max

This was a smart, prescient rule, but the defenses still played significantly better than offenses this first week. Dropped passes abound! Everyone was saying that offenses takes longer to gel than defenses, and that played out exactly as predicted.

I loved all the games. If the AAF can keep the game more fun than the NFL than they'll have a winning product. (Not saying they'll ever compete 1 for 1 with the NFL, that's not the goal.)

In my mind, more fun = faster pace, fewer penalties, fewer injuries, fewer commercials, lots of creative and dynamic play making. Since all players are on the same contract, there's much less drama over super stars and a lot more focus on the game itself.

And the lack of a million commercial breaks is already a HUGE boon!

I noticed the NFL Network broadcast would simply not let go of the "they're trying to get a second chance at the NFL" narrative. I reckon they said "NFL" 10 times as often as they did "AAF." It's fine if some players are there for that reason, but like college ball, I also want to see a good product in and of itself, with players being proud to play THIS game and competing for THIS championship. The first CBS broadcast mentioned it a few times but it wasn't a constant tirade like the NFLN game.

All in all, I was happy with what I saw and I'll be here each week. Haven't decided who to cheer for yet!

[crimsongrl]

The Cleveland Browns signed troubled running back Kareem Hunt on Monday

[Bastet]

There's now a thread for AAF discussion.

[mojoween]

Of all the teams in all the world, since Dallas has Zeke, I would have bet cash money that Cleveland would be the one to sign Hunt.

Only because I would hold out hope that Washington learned its lesson. 

And on a related note, can we let the Redskins name go now?

[ebk57]

3 hours ago, mojoween said:

Of all the teams in all the world, since Dallas has Zeke, I would have bet cash money that Cleveland would be the one to sign Hunt.

Only because I would hold out hope that Washington learned its lesson. 

And on a related note, can we let the Redskins name go now?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Sigh....  

It was a rough day at work - thanks for the laugh. 

[roamyn]

On 2/11/2019 at 5:31 PM, mojoween said:

Of all the teams in all the world, since Dallas has Zeke, I would have bet cash money that Cleveland would be the one to sign Hunt.

Only because I would hold out hope that Washington learned its lesson. 

And on a related note, can we let the Redskins name go now?

Other than the whole kicking & shoving that woman, aside, The Browns are probably a bad place for Kareem.  He's from the Cleveland area and it will be harder for him to extricate himself from old people & haunts, which does not bode well for his reformation.

[Crs97]

Husband watched the press conference announcing Hunt’s signing.  It did not go well.  It was unbelievable how ill prepared the GM was to answer questions and how unwilling the reporters (well, one female reporter in particular, but the others pretty much let her ask almost all the questions) were to accept his platitudes.  My favorite question was her asking (I am paraphrasing here) if he really thought Hunt would say it was cool that he beat up women.  Not a good day for the Browns.

ETA: I wrote this while tired last night and want to clarify a little today.  The female reporter was awesome; she was not letting the GM get away with any of his vague comments and cliches.  My favorite question cited above came after the GM assured everyone that after talking with Hunt, he knows Hunt feels really bad about what happened. The GM kept repeating that he did “extensive research” before making the decision.  She drilled him on what exactly he did (spoiler alert-not much).  She was my super hero yesterday.

Edited February 13, 2019 by Crs97

[mojoween]

I was going to say that I am going to be real tired of hearing about Kyler Murray by the draft but ya know what?  I’m already there.

Not his fault, but here I am.

Honestly I wish that TODAY he would put out a video where he is standing on one of those scales like they have in the doctor’s office with the stick that measures height so that particular nugget can be put to bed forever.

[ae2]

32 minutes ago, mojoween said:

I was going to say that I am going to be real tired of hearing about Kyler Murray by the draft but ya know what?  I’m already there.

Not his fault, but here I am.

Honestly I wish that TODAY he would put out a video where he is standing on one of those scales like they have in the doctor’s office with the stick that measures height so that particular nugget can be put to bed forever.

There's always one or two people during the draft season that the sports media latches onto and shakes for all it's worth. None of the other QBs are all that interesting this draft, there don't seem to be any super star RBs or WRs, and while the defensive class is deep, well, I guess they're not as exciting as a 5'10" - no wait, more like 5'9" - no way, could he possibly be only 5'8"? - quarterback prospect.

The only interesting thing about KM to me is that he doesn't seem to have the injury history that most running QBs have. At least, based on my 5 minutes of research into him, I didn't find anything. 

[BitterApple]

I have to say, it will be interesting to see what Kyler measures at the combine. I know it's not unusual for teams to inflate a player's height and weight, but that dude looks like he's barely 5'9" in cleats. I know QB's like Drew Brees and Russell Wilson have found success despite being undersized, but Murray seems small even in comparison to them.

[mojoween]

Schefty reported that Joe Flacco has been traded to the Broncos...but it can’t be finalized for a month and neither team can talk about it.  Okay then!

[roamyn]

12 hours ago, ae2 said:

There's always one or two people during the draft season that the sports media latches onto and shakes for all it's worth. None of the other QBs are all that interesting this draft, there don't seem to be any super star RBs or WRs, and while the defensive class is deep, well, I guess they're not as exciting as a 5'10" - no wait, more like 5'9" - no way, could he possibly be only 5'8"? - quarterback prospect.

I disagree.  Dwayne Haskins broke Drew Brees’ College records by miles.  He’s the prototypical NFL QB.  

I like Kyler, but he’s so tiny for a QB.  Not just height, but physique.  I hope he succeeds, tho, he seems like a great kid.

[xaxat]

Why is Kyler Murray being covered so much? He's the Heisman winning QB of  a playoff team who is already a millionaire in another sport. And people question his ability to compete in the NFL despite his collegiate success. That's a pretty compelling narrative. (And that doesn't even include the conspiracy theory about him, his agent and Kliff Kingsbury.)

I read the Broncos might be looking  at QB in the upcoming draft. Did the see how he handled sitting on the bench behind Lamar Jackson? This is not a "mentor" guy.

[ae2]

10 hours ago, roamyn said:

I disagree.  Dwayne Haskins broke Drew Brees’ College records by miles.  He’s the prototypical NFL QB.  

Right, I'm not saying Haskins is a bad QB. I don't watch nearly enough college football for that. I'm just saying he's not very interesting to the media. He's a pocket passer (unless for some reason you listen to Stephen A. Smith), he doesn't have historic football ties, he hasn't been hyped for years as the next Elway (Luck), he wasn't a college sensation (Tebow, Manziel), he hasn't been embroiled in controversy (Winston), and there's not even a looming question over which QB will get picked #1 and which #2 like there is many years (Mayfield vs Goff, Winston vs Mariota, Luck vs RGIII, etc.)

Even watching his highlight reel - it's mostly him throwing from a clean pocket, or to open receivers.

As a Giants fan, I wouldn't hate taking him at #6. (Although I think there are better options and greater needs.)

Then again, the Giants thrive on boring, uncontroversial pocket passers.

[roamyn]

@xaxat  you’re reading too much into Flacco not talking to Lamar on the bench.  Flacco is the epitome of classs.  He went to Lamar at the end of the Ravens/Chargers game and offered him some advice & positive thoughts.  He’s given interviews stating that he knew this season was the beginn8ng of the end of his time w/the Ravens and he has been all abt the team most of his career.

Flacco strikes me as a quiet guy who doesn’t normally talk to guys on the sidelines.   (I’m no Flacco-as-QB fan, either, but he is a good person)

[ganesh]

People think 'football player' is only one thing and get railed on if they don't exactly fit that mold. 

[caracas1914]

I’m not feeling the Elway/Denver trading for Flacco.   His post Super Bowl career has been underwhelming to say the least.

[Fukui San]

5 hours ago, caracas1914 said:

I’m not feeling the Elway/Denver trading for Flacco.   His post Super Bowl career has been underwhelming to say the least.

Flacco’s or Elway’s?

[Court]

Kyler should be a second round pick, imo. But he'll go first round to the Dolphins. 

The Flacco trade makes zero sense for Denver. There's no way he's their franchise QB and they're still on the hook for 10M of Keenum's salary when they cut him.

[merylinkid]

7 hours ago, Court said:

Kyler should be a second round pick, imo. But he'll go first round to the Dolphins. 

The Flacco trade makes zero sense for Denver. There's no way he's their franchise QB and they're still on the hook for 10M of Keenum's salary when they cut him.

Denver needs to stick with Case Keenum and find a future franchise QB.    Elway keeps trading for a QB.  That rarely works long term, unless you get one early in his career who turns out to be really good.   Elway keeps going with FAs who are older and are FAs for a REASON.

[ae2]

21 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

Denver needs to stick with Case Keenum and find a future franchise QB.    Elway keeps trading for a QB.  That rarely works long term, unless you get one early in his career who turns out to be really good.   Elway keeps going with FAs who are older and are FAs for a REASON.

Obviously Flacco is no Peyton Manning, but if Elway's strategy is basically to build the rest of the team up, then bring in an aging but once successful QB who is being run out of his home town, to be the final piece of the puzzle and make a run at the Super Bowl... At least that's a unique approach.

Drafting a QB is always a crapshoot, and the cost of getting the 1 or 2 "sure things" at the top of the draft each year is enormous. You either have to be terrible, in which case, the chances of that QB prospect living up to his potential is not good. Or you need to mortgage future drafts to trade up and get the QB, in which case you won't be able to as effectively build around him for a few seasons.

Other than that you can pick a guy in the mid to late rounds and hope to find a Brady or a Wilson. Elway has been taking shots at that by drafting Osweiler and Siemian, and while they didn't pan out, he's certainly not ignoring the position.

I'm not a Broncos fan or a Flacco fan, but I hope he's successful there and wins a SB, because it might upset the status quo for how teams are handling QBs right now, which is something that desperately needs to happen.

[ganesh]

He should sign Kap.

[mojoween]

Kap is getting PAID.  As Chris Kluwe put it, the NFL most likely settled because there was information they did not want to come out in discovery.

[xaxat]

15 minutes ago, mojoween said:

 As Chris Kluwe put it, the NFL most likely settled because there was information they did not want to come out in discovery.

I'm kind of disappointed because I really wanted Dan Snyder have to testify under oath. But I suppose Kaep decided he has to move on with his life at some point. I am glad he turned down an offer from the AAF because all of the upside was for them with none for him. Surprised they contacted him because there is no way ex USFL owner, friend of the new XFL founder Vince McMahon, Donald Trump wouldn't have tried to destroy them.

(Eric Reid also settled. I wonder if that means he won't get drug tested every week next year.)

[merylinkid]

Normally settlement means nothing other than the parties looked at the numbers, realized what it would cost to go to trial, you never know what a judge or jury would do and decided it made more sense to settle.   Only 2% of all cases go to trial.

In the collusion case, there HAS to be something the NFL didn't want seen.   No way does "Sheriff" Goodell settle solely on a business decision.   

[Minneapple]

I'm glad this whole thing is over. I was done with Kaepernick after he said he didn't vote in the 2016 election, and Goodell and the owners are Goodell and the owners. 

I don't know if it's a case of the NFL hiding something, but my feeling is that the NFL was just like, "OK let's throw cash at this and make it go away," and basically that's how they solve all their problems.

I maintain that the owners are scummier than Goodell. They all bitch and moan about him, but in the end they keep him around because they like that he takes all the heat for their stupid decisions, like the Browns recently signing Kareem Hunt. No one is going to go after the Haslems for that one.

[Court]

In regards to Kap, let's not forget Denver offered a contract to him early on but he turned them down. I think both the NFL and Kap were wrong which is why both agreed to the settlement. 

[xaxat]

45 minutes ago, Court said:

In regards to Kap, let's not forget Denver offered a contract to him early on but he turned them down. I think both the NFL and Kap were wrong which is why both agreed to the settlement. 

The circumstance were very different then. Kaepernick wasn't a free agent, Elway was exploring a trade with the Niners and he wanted Kaepernick to take a fifty percent pay cut. Kaepernick said no and stayed with the Niners. All of this happened before Kaepernick started his protests, so it's not like Elway was doing him a favor.

I would have said no too. Elway wanted to pick him up on the cheap.

Edited February 17, 2019 by xaxat

[ganesh]

It's my understanding that Denver's offer was way below Kap's market value at the time. I don't see an NFL player being 'wrong' for wanting to negotiate what they are worth since contracts aren't guaranteed. One may argue that market value dollar figure, and that's fair. No player in any sport is obligated to just take what is offered. 

I would like to know the circumstances surrounding this settlement because it seems to me that the NFL did not want this trial, given there is audio from the owners' meeting that is very damaging to them. I don't think Kap did anything wrong. The issues he wanted to raise awareness for are still problems now. 

Edited February 17, 2019 by ganesh

[Court]

4 hours ago, ganesh said:

It's my understanding that Denver's offer was way below Kap's market value at the time. I don't see an NFL player being 'wrong' for wanting to negotiate what they are worth since contracts aren't guaranteed. One may argue that market value dollar figure, and that's fair. No player in any sport is obligated to just take what is offered. 

I would like to know the circumstances surrounding this settlement because it seems to me that the NFL did not want this trial, given there is audio from the owners' meeting that is very damaging to them. I don't think Kap did anything wrong. The issues he wanted to raise awareness for are still problems now. 

I don't think he needed to take a pay cut either nor do I think his kneeling was wrong. However, the fact is that he was offered a contract elsewhere and teams did work him out.  Wrong may have been the incorrect term to use. For Kap to agree to the settlement also means to me that perhaps his case isn't as strong as some might think.  Do I think he could start for an NFL team? Absolutely but he hasn't played now in what 2 seasons and there are simply teams that his style doesn't fit. I am surprised no one signed him last season for many reasons.  That would have been an easy way to have the lawsuit dismissed. 

I'm guessing we won't know all the terms because of "confidentiality".

[ganesh]

I wasn't aware any teams worked him out. And it was pointed out that the Denver offer was a 50% pay cut, so it's hard to fault Kap for turning that down. 

I certainly would have liked Kap to continue the case against the NFL and drag them through the mud. I don't necessarily think because Kap settled that his case wasn't strong. Say the case goes to trial and he wins. He might get the same money. None of this results in him getting a QB job in the NFL. He never was going to. We all know the owners shut him out. There's documented audio. He got his pound of flesh. 

[merylinkid]

5 hours ago, Court said:

teams did work him out.

No teams worked him out.    In fact, they preferred to keep trading Osweiler around and signed Jack Johnson who had last played in the League longer ago than Kaepernick than even bring him in for a tryout.   Mostly because if they gave him a tryout it would have shown the claim that he couldn't play anymore was a lie.   Or that he wanted too much money.  Or that he wouldn't accept being a back up.    

[Court]

I'm actually not disagreeing with either of you. I just can understand why some teams may not have signed him or needed him. Other teams should have signed him and did need him. I hope he does still get to play somewhere but I think his lawyer is crazy to suggest he sees the Patriots signing him. 

[ganesh]

Everything is a distraction unless it isn't. It's amazing how they can manage to get on the field every week with everything being such a distraction. That was the point of the lawsuitm

The NFL isn't a place is employment. Employees are contracted. Comparing it to other jobs is a false equivalency. And I can protest at my job, so there's at least one. 

Out of all the protests in the history of sports, this was arguably the most benign. The NFL doesn't have the copyright on patriotism or the definitive model on what it means to be an American citizen despite all the trucks of money they take from the military. 

[xaxat]

42 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

If teams don't want to deal with the distraction they shouldn't have to.  They are under no obligation to sign Kaepernick.

But they can't collectively decide to keep him out of the league, collusion. And the league must have thought he had at least a chance to prove his case or they wouldn't have settled.

[ganesh]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

But they can't collectively decide to keep him out of the league, collusion. And the league must have thought he had at least a chance to prove his case or they wouldn't have settled.

Teams could also say, "hey, Kap, you made your point. We want to sign you, we'll support your actions off the field. Can you either please not kneel or stay in the locker room?" They can't all get together and say, "let's not sign him so we can get that sweet DOD money" which was *caught on audio*. 

The thing about Kap being a "distraction" is disingenuous at best when you have players who have beat their spouses, obstructed murder investigations, shooting up strip clubs, etc., vs some guy that kneels, that no one even knew he was doing for a couple of weeks. 

I would have liked them to go to court because the NFL needs a stiff shot to the gut. But, it might have been too costly. He definitely wouldn't get a job after that, so maybe the settlement admits negligence on the NFL's part, collusion itself is very hard to prove.

[stealinghome]

7 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

If you say so.   I would think that most places of employment have a line that can't be crossed, perhaps yours doesn't.

It is their business, they can run it as they see fit.

I agree that NFL owners can run their business as they see fit (to a degree, obviously). Yet iirc, despite a lot of chest-beating and woofing about it, the owners haven't actually instituted any rules prohibiting anthem protests. In fact, they backed off of doing so before the start of this season because they know it would be incredibly unpopular and a terrible look for the league. It's pretty disingenuous to blacklist Kaepernick for anthem protests when the owners have actively chosen not to have any policies against anthem protests.

Quote

The thing about Kap being a "distraction" is disingenuous at best when you have players who have beat their spouses, obstructed murder investigations, shooting up strip clubs, etc., vs some guy that kneels, that no one even knew he was doing for a couple of weeks. 

Exactly. Somehow "distractions" don't matter when a player is talented enough and a team wants him. It's like domestic violence. The NFL/owners care OH SO MUCH, REALLY...until it's a player they really like and want to keep around, and then they look the other way and mouth a bunch of platitudes and let the guy who beat a woman keep playing.

[ganesh]

Denver thinks Joe Flacco is a better option. Really. 

[merylinkid]

Suuuuure, he's a distraction.     But the Tebow circus didn't keep teams from signing him.   

Kareem Hunt is a HUGE distraction for the Browns right now.   They totally did not expect the press conference they got.    Didn't stop them from signing him.

Yes, each team individually can make a decision not to sign him.    But the teams cannot come together and say "Don't sign this guy."

Underwear olympics soon.   We finally get the "real" stats on Kyler Murray.