The NFL Thread

But surely you can steal the same truck from someone who isn't the size of a human Abrams tank.

don't be ridiculous

I'm not being ridiculous. I dont' rob people, cause robbing people ain't my scene, but IF I was going to rob somebody, I'm not going to look for the most physically imposing specimen I can find.

Jamarcus Russell is apparently getting a tryout with the Bears on Friday.

Now, in the end it doesn't really mean anything, since most teams do this practice, and the Bears I think are pretty set on Q Bs right now. Still a pretty big deal that Russell is getting tryouts and Tebow is not getting anything.

He weighed 267 pounds at his Bears workout Friday, and he was supposedly 311 pounds when his comeback began, so that at least shows that Russell is serious about his comeback attempt.

For a while.

The Eagles have announced a "Stadium Revitalization" project for the Linc (the nickname fans have given Lincoln Financial Field). According to the website; "Upon completion prior to the start of the 2014 season, the stadium will have improved amenities for all fans including new HD video boards, Wi-Fi installation, and bridges that will connect both sides of the upper concourse. In addition, the stadium will expand by 1,600 seats to accommodate nearly 70,000 fans."

edited 9th Jun '13 6:49:56 AM by EagleFan

Pats sign Tebow...

so how long you think he'll last

WHAT!?!?!

I wish I was kidding but it's everywhere. ESPN.com, Rotoworld, NFL.com, NFL Network, CBS, CNN...

edited 10th Jun '13 3:06:51 PM by NoChorus

I lol'd

I think I will watch First Take tomorrow just to see if Skip will say to start Tebow over Brady

It'll be the first time I watched it since the "cornball brother" incident.

In non-Tebow news, Bills release Tarvaris Jackson

Jackson never even played a game with Bills.

The Patriots are powered by hatred, and plan to use people's hatred of Tim Tebow to drive them to another Superbowl victory.

More non-Tebow news: Harbaugh takes more digs at Pete Carroll.

Justin Smith signed for two more years

Yeeeeeeeeeeeea

I don't see the Jags going anywhere anytime soon. The city of Jacksonville and the Jags have agreed to a $63 million upgrade plan for Everbank Field.

Highlights include:

» New video scoreboards in each end zone, each measuring 55 by 301 feet, making them the largest of their kind in the world

» Major enhancements to Ever Bank Field's video capabilities

» New LED fascia board displays

» A new scoreboard control room equipped with state-of-the-art software

» A new platform area in the north end zone with pools, unique food and beverage offerings and interactive activities.

This comes after the completion of some of the $10 miilion in stadium upgrades funded by Khan including locker room upgrades, a new weight room, new training room and a renovation of the Jaguars' administrative offices.

Link to article most of this info was taken directly from: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000213537/article/jacksonville-jaguars-agree-on-63-million-stadium-upgrade-plan

Khan is really the owner that Jacksonville needs right now. He's not afraid to spend money to improve his team, he's more than willing to upgrade his stadium to keep the team where it has been, and he seems to genuinely care for his players and fans. I liked Khan after learning about him when he purchased the Jags, and every positive thing he's doing to help improve his team really convinces me he's seriously invested in the future success of the Jags franchise (which he has to be, otherwise why did he buy them?).

So Aaron Hernandez is being arrested in connection with a murder and Gronk is starting on the PUP list. I kinda feel bad for the Pats now. And they still have Tebow.

UK based NFL (Packer) fan checking in here.

Now, I don't want to set the cat among the pigeons, but seeing that list of stadium improvements does put the kibosh on the rumours that the Jags were eyeing up a UK home. This won't however put a stop to the attempts of the NFL in general to push for more UK based games, and eventually a possible team to be based there. I'm curious, what are your thoughts about these moves?

For my own opinion, I think that it is a good idea, but the strategy is completely wrong. My feeling is that they want to airdrop a team into the UK and hope that there will be a wellspring of support for that team upon arrival. That won't happen. I can tell you I won't renounce my team loyalty because a team has been parachuted in to London, and I think most fans feel the same way.

The NFL needs to realise that the sell-out stadiums for the international series is because we like American Football in general, not necessarily the teams in question. If you watch the first London game this year you might see some severe cognitive dissonance taking place in the stands; you might see me, proudly wearing my fading #12 Green Bay Packers shirt, cheering madly for the Minnesota Vikings. I certainly don't support the Vikings, so why will I be supporting them on this occasion? Because I have decided to go to a NFL game, the game I am going to see is Steelers @ Vikings. Personally I don't think you can ever truly watch sport from a neutral perspective, so you have to pick a side. Since the Vikings are the home team, they should get my support for that reason alone. If it were any other situation, I couldn't care less.

I think the NFL needs to really reconsider any UK / European expansion plans full stop. They have made a good start, for example identifying why NFL Europe failed (needs connection to the main 'product' in the US to maintain people's interest). But I get the feeling that they are focussing too much on these past problems and not seeing the clear and apparent problems that will result from this proposed model of transplanting a team wholesale.

Now for how I think it should go down. My sincere belief about any European expansion can be summed up as follows; Go big or go home. We shouldn't have a team. We should have a division. A new four team division, all based in Europe. Call it NFC Atlantic. This way there will be at least 11-12 games that are manageable in terms of travel times. And this way you can actually create that critical thing needed for a strong fan base: local rivalries. At the same time, you could solve that perennial LA question when you create four more teams to balance up in the AFC: call it AFC Pacific.

Such a scheme as written would be hugely ambitious. There would obviously be a huge number of niggles to sort out. But like I said, go big or go home; and personally I think this structure has a lot more chance of long term success then a token team dropped on us from a great height.

I like that idea of creating an entirely new division, though it's not without its own problems. it solves the fan issue, but it exacerbates the player issue. From what I understand, if a new team wants to join the NFL, every existing team basically makes a list of current players that they're willing to part with, and the new team picks from there. So multiply that by four, and you're shuffling around 12.5% of players, and that's not a trivial number.

This gets alleviated by draft picks (I think new teams get first dibs?) and getting local players, but I'm not sure if that's enough to be competitive for a few years. Watching some European football games, it looks like a pass first, low contact league, so I'm not sure how well they'd transition to NFL play—as much as everyone says that the NFL is now a pass first league, games still come down to how well your lines play and how well your non-ball-carriers block downfield.

The low-contact issue is because the leagues are non-professional. This means that an injury could have much more serious repercussions outside of the game, so to mitigate that risk the game itself is depowered. As to why it is pass-first, one assumes that is because the forward pass is the defining feature of American Football that distinguishes it from Rugby.

I think the player issue is more complicated due to the fundamental differences in UK sporting traditions. I can't speak for European traditions, it's out of my experience. Your suggestion of local players is good, but it might fall foul of the extremely laudable requirement that the NFL imposes that a player must be two years past graduation from high school before a team can approach them. (I think this is the case, please call me out if I am wrong.) The UK tradition is to recruit aspiring young players into the team's academy/youth team, where upon they will learn the game alongside their studies. For professional rugby teams nearly all teams will have a squad where all the players are under the age of eighteen, who are being trained to eventually graduate to the senior squad.

If this is not allowed, then the UK teams will struggle as we won't have a thriving college league to train young players beforehand, meaning most UK players would have to be converted from other sports, most likely rugby. (The lateral passing game would be fantastic though). However, if it is allowed that the UK teams can have a youth programme, I could imagine the fury that would erupt on the US side. Most NFL teams would kill to be able to recruit young and develop a player to fit their system right from the start, rather than having to draft players and then need to 'reprogram' a player from their college system to a new system.

I've watched Superbowls from a neutral perspective.

Unless you count watching mostly for the commercials as 'picking a side'.

welp, he's going up the river.

edited 26th Jun '13 9:32:48 AM by NoChorus

I'm not going to sugarcoat this at all.

Aaron Hernandez is a fucking idiot.

http://www.nfl.com/player/aaronhernandez/497244/careerstats

Aaron Whonandez?