NFL Thread

[roamyn]

Why couldn't Ol Grimsby have cheated when he was the Brown's head coach?

[DrSpaceman]

He probably did, just hadn't perfected it yet

[nowandlater]

[Mean Machine]

Imagine if Super Bowl week was getting underway in the northeast right now.  They got lucky as hell last year. 

[Moose135]

That would have been awesome!

[urusai]

"I'm here so I won't get fined."   lol

Deion is such a dickhead.

Edited January 27, 2015 by urusai

[xaxat]

I'm kind of disappointed that none of the players at media day answered questions by repeating "I am Groot."

[merylinkid]

Reading Al Michaels' book You Can't Make This Up because ... Super Bowl week.   I just started it but skipped to the OJ Simpson story.   I did not know he was friends with OJ before the murders.   He lived a few blocks away, he and his wife had dinner with OJ and Nicole on a regular basis.   He played tennis with OJ and Al Cowlings.    In the days after the murders, he gave a lot of background information for the news ABC was putting out (he worked for them at the time).   Most interesting part, he doesn't flat out say it, but he came to believe OJ did it.   He hasn't spoken to OJ since.   Oh and he clearly has little respect for Bawbawa Wawa.

 

Get the book.   It's a great read.    

[xaxat]

Is Roger Goodell really going to hide for the entirety of Super Bowl week?

[mojoween]

He used to do an interview on Super Bowl morning on Mike & Mike but I don't know if they still do a show on Sunday any more.

Maybe he's hiding in Robert Kraft's suite.

[Danny Franks]

He's lying in wait near the Pats' allocated equipment room in Arizona. He's gonna catch that damned ball tamperer, if it's the last thing he does!

 

In unsurprising news, Marshawn Lynch was a tool at media day. I just roll my eyes at this clown. 'I won't speak to the media because I value my privacy.... Gimme money for promoting Skittles!' He claims he's "not comfortable making it about [him]" yet ensures it's all about him, through his refusal to say even the passing nothings that most media-shy football players employ.

 

I've seen plenty of players who don't like talking to the media, who don't have much to say and struggle to find the words to say it. But you know what? They sack it up and do it, because it's part of the job.

[Ohwell]

I saw Marshawn Lynch in a Progressive Auto Insurance commercial yesterday and I was shocked that they would reward this dickhead by paying him to be in a commercial for them.  I'm not in the market for insurance but if I were, it most definitely wouldn't be Progressive, for that reason alone.   

[Dejana]

Just saw the "stat" on ESPN that only four bearded quarterbacks have won the Super Bowl, the last being Roethlisberger. Russell Wilson is sporting a beard this year, but was clean-shaven last year. I guess it's something to talk about besides Deflate-gate...

[BabyVegas]

Honestly, at this point I'd be willing to bet that the media keeps wanting to talk to Lynch specifically because he won't talk to them and Lynch won't talk to them because at this point he feels like he'd be giving. I'm not saying anyone has the moral high ground, but it wouldn't shock me at all if this was the case.

[xaxat]

I don't know why Lynch started this behavior, but he's managed to turn it into a pretty viable brand. Adam Schefter speculated that he's making more money than he is fined, so it may well be profitable.

 

It's a trend that's larger than Lynch though. Everyone knows about brand management, and the proliferation of media sources now makes it easier than ever for individuals to control it. Sometimes it's within the traditional media structure, like the softball profile television projects featuring athletes like Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant or Snoop Dog and his son. Sometimes it's around it. Lynch, Kaepernick and Beats guerrilla marketing, Derek Jeter's Players Tribune.

 

It's not just athletes either. The President rarely gives formal press conferences any more, preferring alternatives where he can set the terms, like Reddit AMAs and his recent YouTube interviews.  

[DrSpaceman]

I don't really have a problem with Lynch not wanting to talk to the media.  Is it much different than BB and his constant 'We are just focusing on this week's game and getting better in all 3 phases' type remarks to many questions, or the similar non-answers he basically gives many time?  The unerlying tone is the same as what Lynch is actually saying "I don't want to talk to you but I know I have to be here". 

 

And its different than the president.  The president works for the public, ultimately and runs the country.  Lynch plays a game and nothing he has to say is critical to anything anyway. 

 

Don't really care about whatever he promotes either. 

[Ohwell]

The main reason I don't like Lynch is not so much the not-talking.  It's the crotch-grabbing crap which I find most offensive, and which is why I'm surprised that Progressive would use him. 

[Rick Kitchen]

The players' union signed a contract that they would agree to the league's rule concerning talking to the press.  If players like Lynch don't want to talk to the press, they need to get their players' rep to get the contract changed.  Otherwise, Lynch can Fuck Off.

[DrSpaceman]

Well for the first time in 24 years, I won't be watching the Superbowl.  It was more due to a different scheduling snafu than anything, but I am not all that upset to miss it, to be honest.  I could have avoided missing it, but chose to do so. 

 

Its a number of things all coming to together really, not any one thing, but I am just not all that interested in this upcoming game.  I am not saying I won't be counting the days until the season starts again in AUguest/September, but still, it does make me question if the NFLs dominance, over the long haul, due to such arrogance coming from commissioner, players, coaches, on many different teams, plus just bad calls and missed calls by refs game after game, may be finally taking a toll. 

 

its one person, they don't care, the game will still pull in huge numbers.  But I consider myself a diehard NFL fan, much more so than any other pro or college sport.  This superbowl though, I won't be watching.  I will be with my daughter seeing a magic show.  And I am not that upset about it. 

[nowandlater]

[emma675]

 

The players' union signed a contract that they would agree to the league's rule concerning talking to the press.  If players like Lynch don't want to talk to the press, they need to get their players' rep to get the contract changed.  Otherwise, Lynch can Fuck Off.

So agree with this. Lynch is being a major asshole because his team is in the freaking Super Bowl and has more press requirements now?! Give me a break. There are hundreds of players who would love to be in his situation.

 

Press is part of every NFLer's job, he needs to suck it up and do his job. 99% of us in the real world don't like every single part of our jobs, but we manage to get it done. It's how we stay employed.

Edited January 30, 2015 by emma675d

[nowandlater]

Getting concussions is part of every NFL-ers job, too.

 

That doesn't mean there shouldn't be a better way to deal with them or avoid them altogether.

 

Marshawn isn't anti-media. He gave one-on-one interviews this week to a few outlets, including Sports Illustrated,

 

He did the same last year, too.
 

He just isn't into having 200 cameras and their spotlights shining in his face, and asking him to detail his crazy upbringing in Oakland for the umpteenth time. He just isn't into the cattle call. He isn't in to the NY Post columnist calling him "jerk mode," or USA Today asking about his father who's in prison in Mississippi. Does anything really insightful come out of those press scrums? Nope. Just a lot of stupid open-ended questions, which result in stupid answers.

 

I personally work in the media, where I'd deal with other people's questions. But recently, the tables were turned, and I had to answer personal questions about myself for somebody else's story. And holy shit, that was hard.

 

 

The irony of it all is that last year and this year's Super Bowl week, Marshawn had the most memorable lines. Nobody remembers what boring platitudes Bill Belilchick, Russell Wilson, Tom Brady or Pete Carroll said.

 

Yet Marshawn's comment at last year's Super Bowl media day that "I'm All About that action, boss" got so much attention that the NFL made a song about it.

 

This year, he said "I'm Just Here So I won't got fined," and the NFL made yet another song about it.

 

And David Letterman repeated it:

 

And so did Katy Perry:

 

And so did Jon Stewart:

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/gudld8/psi--new-england---pounds-per-square-inch---silly-finings-playbook

 

And so did Tiger Woods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn1ZO4iFV58

 

And Seth Meyers says he plans to repeat the line to at NFL Honors.

 

Seriously: Marshawn provided so much media content this week that he deserves some kind of media award.

 

Without him, we would be stuck on the umpteenth day of deflategate coverage, or some boring story about the teams that's been delved into numerous times.

 

This week would've been so dull without him.

 

Marshawn more than fulfilled his media obligations.

Edited January 31, 2015 by nowandlater

[King of Birds]

Ya know all I was hoping from Katy was a possible NippleGate issue again (we need one about every dozen years, right? OMG it would probably kill the deflated ball issue as "what we remember about SB49) but she already won me over with that "Just here so I don't get fined" bit.  Bravo.

[MarkHB]

We have a confession in DeflateGate. Actually, more than one:

 

[BabyVegas]

Some New York lawmakers are challenging the NFL's tax-exempt status. It's been explained to me multiple times how the NFL can justify being a nonprofit (technically it's just the NFL League Office), but it still seems shady as Hell to me. The logic, as I understand it, is that the NFL is basically run as a pass through corporation and the revenue goes to the teams who then pay taxes on it so taxing the NFL would effectively be double taxation. I doubt it'll pass, but I'll be interested to see what happens.

[merylinkid]

They would have to remove the tax exemption for the entire class that the NFL is part of.   The NFL does not qualify under section c of the tax exemption 5013  You can't just take one entity that qualifies under the critieria already established and say "Nope, you don't qualify because we think you make too much money."   Otherwise they could do it with any organization that gets under their skin.   Then it becomes political and a huge mess.

[xaxat]

From what I've read, they would be removing the tax exempt status for all professional sports leagues. The NHL would also be affected.

 

ETA: I think it's a grandstanding move that has almost no chance of passing, so the question is moot.

Edited January 31, 2015 by xaxat

[P2C2E]

When it comes to Lynch, I don't really care. Even as a football fan, I've never cared about press conferences because they never say anything interesting. It's always the same phrases, the same sentiments, and it's boring. I did enjoy reading this article though. 

 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annehelenpetersen/beast-mode

[Carey]

Yeah I couldn't care less about Beast Mode either. Besides, as mentioned, several don't really care what the stars do (to an extent); just perform and perform for victory.  That's all that matters.  Though I also can't fault the NFL if they never change the rules.  Fortunately it is working to his advantage and it looks like he wasn't "scared" of the media (not a fan of much of those folks).

[mojoween]

ESPN tossed up a stat on their Facebook page that Brady's 20 playoff wins are more than 21 NFL franchises. That means that only 11 franchises have won more than 20 playoff games.

They didn't indicate if that was Super Bowl era or history but still. I think that's a crazy stat.

[MarkHB]

ESPN tossed up a stat on their Facebook page that Brady's 20 playoff wins are more than 21 NFL franchises. That means that only 11 franchises have won more than 20 playoff games.

They didn't indicate if that was Super Bowl era or history but still. I think that's a crazy stat.

It's definitely more than the total number of playoff games the Pats have won without him!

[mojoween]

Hall of Fame announced - Junior Seau, Will Shields, Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, Charles Haley.

I think, of the finalists who didn't make it, only Orlando Pace really surprised me.

Edited February 1, 2015 by mojoween

[Mountainair]

Watching the NFL honors right now, tuned in late. Forgive my ignorance but is this recorded ahead of time? How much so?

Tomorrows game, eh? I long ago stopped hosting or attending Super Bowl parties because I was tired of all the work that went into it just to end up missing the entire game chatting or filling up the food table. Lucky me, pre game hours my in laws want to have the 5 year old over for a while and DH has to work which leaves me and the two year old home all day to hang out. I've got my munchies all lined up but the downside is that these are two teams I could care less about. If the Seahawks hadn't just won last year maybe although I would like to see them win two years in a row. The biggest advantage the Hawks have going for them is that they aren't the friggin Patriots. That and I'm from North Carolina. I grew up 30 minutes from NC State and currently reside in Asheville, home of the Tourists, both teams that Wilson played for.

I will watch, sort of, which makes me wish I was hosting a party this year. Between the two teams and the half time entertainment (though, I gotta say, the Missy Eliott rumor has me intrigued, I will always vote for a great marching band performance over anything else) tomorrow is just another excuse to eat food and watch football.

[xaxat]

(though, I gotta say, the Missy Eliott rumor has me intrigued, I will always vote for a great marching band performance over anything else)

 

Who says you can't have both!

 

 

[merylinkid]

The NFL awards are not pretaped.   In fact, this is the first year they announced the winners during the show only.   For the last couple of years, they announced all the winners right before the red carpet kicked off.   Then wondered why no one watched the show.   They clearly finally figured it out.    I also like them announcing the HOF during the show rather than just every sports writer in America racing to their typewriters (yes, I am dating myself) to get the story out.

[nowandlater]

The great thing about the NFL is that everything is live. I was able to watch Super Bowl media day live, as well as Katy Perry's press conference, Roger Goodell's press conference.

 

The live-ness of it all goes hand in hand with Twitter.

 

But one event is not live, and it really annoys me: NFL Honors.

 

Here's how it used to be in the old days (I believe 2 years ago):

 

Around 5 pm ET, the NFL Network would show a live press conference of the Hall of Fame announcement.

 

Then you'd get the Hall of Famers who are on site giving their raw emotions to just hearing the news, in a press conference or over the phone.

 

It was so great.

 

Now, here's how the Hall of Fame announcement is made, at least from my West Coast perspective:

 

7:34 pm ET: Jerome Bettis announces he's in on Twitter.

 

7:53 pm ET: It's revealed that Ron Wolf got in, again on Twitter.

 

8:07 pm ET: Charles Haley is revealed to have gotten in, on Twitter.

 

8:37 pm ET: Junior Seau and Will Shields are also announced, on Twitter.

 

8:50 pm ET: The entire class is revealed, on Twitter.

 

10:07 pm ET: The Hall of Fame class is revealed on the pre-taped NFL Honors show on NBC.

 

1:07 am ET: The Hall of Fame class is revealed on NFL Honors to West Coast viewers.

 

(I'm sure the NFL Network probably had interviews with the Hall of Famers tonight, but man I miss the old way.)

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Here's Seth Meyers' opening monologue for those who missed it...It's great to have Meyers after 3 years of Alec Baldwin. (This is the 4th year of the NFL Honors, by the way.)

 

But next year, when the Super Bowl is on CBS and the NFL Honors is also on CBS, will Meyers be invited back to host?

 

[yourpointis]

No Orlando Pace or Terrell Davis? Boooo. Warner is going to have a hard time next year since Brett Favre will be eligible in 2016. Congratulations Bus. 

[Snowprince]

New York Giants owner and matriarch Ann Mara has passed away this Super Bowl Sunday morning. She was 85.

 

RIP

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000466774/article/new-york-giants-coowner-ann-mara-dies-at-85?campaigFacebook_writers_battista

[mojoween]

Aww that's so sad, she must not have recovered from her fall.

I know it's my team but the Mara's are such class and run such a good organization. It's always nice to still have the old history represented.

[Bastet]

Yeah, I certainly don't like everything John Mara has done or said, but on the whole I find the Maras a respectable NFL family.  And Ann Mara's passion for the game, and the Giants, was always a treat.  Such as when she wouldn't let Terry Bradshaw interview Victor Cruz in the locker room after the '12 NFC championship victory until she finished giving Bradshaw crap for never picking the Giants.  She was smiling, and she kept it quite brief, but he was trying to ignore her and she was just not having it -- he would not get past her without hearing it.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Bastet

[Snowprince]

Super Bowl Useless Trivia Game:

 

True or False - No player named SB MVP played for the team that lost.

True or False - There has never been a punt returned for a touchdown in a Super Bowl.

True or False - All of the 10 original AFL teams have played in a SB.

True or False - There has never been a SB where 1 of the teams failed to score a touchdown.

True or False - The first SB to be officially called the Super Bowl was SB III

 

Winner gets an all expense paid trip to the couch to watch the game.   :)

[King of Birds]

No player named SB MVP played for the team that lost. -- I'll say false

There has never been a punt returned for a touchdown in a Super Bowl.- true!

All of the 10 original AFL teams have played in a SB. - True, if we count franchise moving

There has never been a SB where 1 of the teams failed to score a touchdown. - True. I think the Vikings?

The first SB to be officially called the Super Bowl was SB III - true!

[Snowprince]

2 incorrect, but half credit for # 3......

[nowandlater]

Roger Goodell pulls a Marshawn, refuses to talk to NBC. Ha!

 

I've watched/fast-forwarded through NBC's entire pregame show, at least the first four hours.

 

And there's a lot of crap. i mean, it's totally boring.

 

I recall Fox's and CBS' being at least somewhat interesting.

 

But with NBC's pregame, you get a lot of skiing(!), Olympic talk, soccer talk and even a little hockey.

Edited February 1, 2015 by nowandlater

[photo fox]

I just wanted to point out that we've created a "live chat" topic that encompasses the entire Super Bowl experience (game, commercials, half-time, etc.), that will be open from 6pm EST today until 1am EST early tomorrow morning, for those who are so inclined. :)

[Fukui San]

I can't believe that ending. Miracle catch followed by thunderstrike INT.  Holy shit.  About time one of these went the Patriots' way again. The Brady/Belichick Patriots have played in almost half of the very competitive Super Bowls in history, those which end in 4 points or less. 

 

Now if someone bashes Goodell's head in with the Lombardi, it'll be the perfect night.

[DrSpaceman]

"ABout time one of these went the Patriots way".......

are you kidding? The tuck rule game, the Baltimore game two years ago where Ravens dropped a TD and missed a chip shot FG, the Chargers in 2007 they turn it over late in the 4th quarter and get it right back on the same play when SD turns it over. Plenty of these games have gone the Pats way in the past. Just bringing up the giants games and the two big plays ignore all the other times where breaks have gone for the Patriots.

[Danny Franks]

I'm decidedly unmoved by the result of the Super Bowl. I thought I'd be annoyed at Brady and Belichick winning another one, but it turns out I don't care. I guess it's better to let people blather on about Brady being GOAT (which he isn't, because Joe Montana is) than listening to endless chatter about Plucky Little Russell winning it all again (which he probably would have if the Seahawks had run the ball at the end, rather than trying to get Wilson the MVP by passing for a TD).

 

Next up, the Combine in two weeks, which is strangely compulsive viewing. I love the in-depth analysis of every aspect of these kids and the way they play. And of course, then we get the ramp up to the draft. Time to obsess over who the Ravens could/should/would draft.

[Magog]

 

Next up, the Combine in two weeks, which is strangely compulsive viewing. I love the in-depth analysis of every aspect of these kids and the way they play. And of course, then we get the ramp up to the draft. Time to obsess over who the Ravens could/should/would draft.

 

About the only reason to even watch the Combine is to see Rich Eisen run the 40. That was fun to watch. Otherwise, I'm basically on an NFL hiatus till Labor Day. Having to hear about ESPN telling us their NFL Power Rankings or their QB Power rankings in May & making it newsworthy is not interesting to me. Its bad enough that they do that on First Take pretty much every day. 

 

Does anyone know what Free Agents the Seahawks have in the offseason? I know that they have a few & its going to make it even more difficult for them to get back to the Super Bowl next season. 

Edited February 2, 2015 by Magog

[Haleth]

Their Offensive Coordinator may be up for grabs.

 

It's fun to hang out in the bars in downtown Indy during the Combine.  You never know who will pop in.