Don't believe the hype it's finally 2014-15 NFL Week 1

I guess Johnny Football and Dallas updates will finally move to #2 or #3 on Sportscenter.

Green Bay @ Seattle
Buffalo @ Chicaqgo
Cincy @ B-more
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh
Washington @ Houston
J-ville @ Philly
Tennessee @ KC
NE @ Miami
Minnesota @ St. Louis
New Orleans @ Atlanta
Oakland @ NYJ
Carolina @ Tampa
SF @ Dallas
Indy @ Denver
NYG @ Detroit
San Diego @ Arizona

@JoeBanner13: We got a lot more for colt McCoy than Pats got for Mallet. A lot of hype about nothing.

@JoeBanner13: Mcoy comment not a shot. 2 years of media coverage of the issue, "experts" saying it could get pats a 3rd rd pick. Didn't match with reality

^^^ real talk

all browns fans should follow joe banner

i predict that steelers/browns game is gonna be brutal

lol Schaub

why is michael sam going to be on RAW next monday?

Green Bay
Chicago
Cincy
Pitt
Texans
Eagles
Kc
Pats
Rams
Falcons
Jets
Panthers
Niners
Colts
Lions
Chargers

I don't care what anyone says, the "Johnny Jamboogie" commercial is awesome

joe banner is angry because under his leadership the browns turned a 3rd round pick and a 6th round pick into a 5th and a 7th and he hasn't got the respect he is due from the media. someone give him his job back already.

happy week 1!

http://screenburn.kotaku.com/madden-tiny-glitch-1629348088

BREAKING: toby gerhart's first name is tobinbo

that's beautiful xp

at my fantasy draft last night i spent a full five minutes staggering in disbelief that 1) toby gerhart is #1 on the jags' rb depth chart, and 2) toby gerhart is actually a running back, not a fullback.

this tobinbo thing just adds a whole new layer

there are teams where you feel uncomfortable drafting a good RB high because they have 3 decent guys that will all see play time, and then there are teams who have tobinbo

haha

TOBINBOOOOOO, thoughts arrive like butterflies

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BwkPN2JIQAAsSus.jpg

loooool

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/09/02/michael_sam_cowboys_defensive_end_will_sign_to_team_s_practice_squad.html

lol welker

Are you ready for some TOBINBO

i have paid zero attention to preseason as usual so this first week will be a delightful mystery unravelling before my eyes

oh wait: i know that raiders got a shiny new rookie quarterback. ok on 3 let's ride him hard & put him away wet
:D

apparently Carr doesn't like the blitz so I'm worried about what Rexy will cook up

ugh really

the o-line hoist him up rudy-style

i'll note here that i grabbed carr as a $1 backup in a 2-qb fantasy league solely based on matt armstrong's enthusiasm

luckily the bar is nice & low for him

hommes et femmes

ILNFL™ Belated 2014-5 Survival/Pick'em Leagues thread

starting week 2 because we were slow off the mark

Green Bay @ Seattle - Got to figure Seattle is still better. GB seems to play better early than late season though.
Buffalo @ Chicago - Bills are hard to figure, they have some talent. Bears D is still kinda unknown at this point, it was terrible last year. I'll take Chicago at this point.
Cincy @ B-more - I hope Cincy wins, but I just don't trust them and figure the Ravens win.
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh - These games are often pretty grinding but I have to think Pittsburgh is at least a field goal better.
Washington @ Houston - I'm going Houston in a slight upset.
J-ville @ Philly - Philly
Tennessee @ KC - KC
NE @ Miami - NE has used the AFC East for doormats for over a decade, don't think it changes today.
Minnesota @ St. Louis - Rams probably better even with a backup QB.
New Orleans @ Atlanta - Saints, ATL was a mess last year.
Oakland @ NYJ- Jets but this will probably be a fugly game.
Carolina @ Tampa - I'm going Panthers but I don't trust them at all.
SF @ Dallas - SF with Dallas perhaps making it interesting.
Indy @ Denver - I hope Indy wins but I will take Denver at home.
NYG @ Detroit - I'm going Giants in a slight upset.
San Diego @ Arizona- I'm going AZ at home.

http://gawker.com/the-huffington-post-s-latest-hire-a-9-11-truther-1630499072

Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington announced that her company had hired 33-year-old Donté Stallworth, the former NFL wide receiver, to cover national security as a paid editorial fellow. One problem: Stallworth apparently believes that the September 11, 2001 attacks were an inside job.

Ohmygosh there is football tnite

:D

:D

!!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S FINALLY HERE

i am on record as being on board with donte stallworth he seems like a good dude. this huffpo thing tho, i mean, great for him he is a smart guy who cares about that stuff but yeah idk. since the announcement he has unsurprisingly had to weather a shitstorm about yknow killing someone and the 9/11 truther thing but imo he handled the former about as well as he could've short of not actually killing a dude in the first place and he has recanted the truther stuff since. i think the heat is more about kicking huffpo tho, including contributions from from part time ilxor "max", which i am cool with in general. i don't know what my point is here except huffpo is terrible anyway so who really cares but i like donte.

more importantly tho

football

breaking: josh gordon has a found a job with a car dealership

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bwo3CljCUAAD5EB.png

lol

cris collinsworth turned into mr. burns over the summer

FOOTBALL!!!!

so happy you guys

packers still on vacation

it's here it's here :D

It's 20 past 2 in the morning. Humming and hawing whether to stay up for this game

i say yes bc ITS FOOTBALL TIME

Sold

Thomas has to learn that he's allowed to fair catch the ball

Thomas III

regarding stallworth, i feel like if you are sort of just figuring out your way around politics (particularly if you are doing this by yourself) and navigating the ridiculous number of news sources out there on the internets, and getting caught up in arguing on twitter, it's easy to get caught up in giving more credibility to conspiracies and such. things are so different now but it's hard to exaggerate the level of mistrust from some on the left of just about everything communicated by the government and the mainstream media from, say, bush v gore up until 2006 at least, especially because claiming 9/11 was a reason to invade iraq seems totally insane except that happened

anyway i think '9-11 truther' as a label you can stick on a person to discredit them seems fair for elected officials and candidates and for people who devote a lot of their time and energy to promoting 9-11 truthiness. but for someone whose full time job was football not journalism and who has like a handful of wacky tweets out of tens of thousands, it doesn't tell me a lot about the level of thought put into it or whether they believe that today.

kind of surprised the patriots didn't make sure he scrubbed his twitter feed in 2012 though!

anyway SEAHAWKS i guess. i like both these teams a lot!

feeling the seahawks slightly more, but yeah, dig both teams

zack miller former raider *tear of pride* fly little bird fly

i was going to say, i remembered seeing him play on another team.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/5a6a06089a29394c7000e7e095d1ff85/tumblr_nbaa77hgP21tsozubo1_500.jpg

rookie center lols

heinz ward is, to quote samuel l. jackson in jackie brown, "country as a chicken coop"

yeah what's that accent it sounds like alabama

I see on twitter than Hines Ward called Emmanuel Sanders a rookie

whoops, ward grew up in georgia but anyway, he still seems kinda awkward on camera - i remember rodney harrison was awkward the start of the first season he was on, but got better pretty quick

http://simmqb.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/final-the-mmqb-extravaganza-story-image-9601.jpg

i looked at this and thought, where are flying dawkins, hatcat, and crying romo

in our hearts

i would really like it if we could stop 'legion of boom' from being a thing

so dumb

i just wikipedia'd it and found out the name originated on a sports talk show and is a reference to dc comics legion of doom. i'm disappointed now because i was hoping it was a reference to 80s wrestling :(

oh man that was a weird defense

amoeba defense <3 love it

haha clinton dix

idk i just like saying it

whoops, ward grew up in georgia but anyway, he still seems kinda awkward on camera - i remember rodney harrison was awkward the start of the first season he was on, but got better pretty quick

― seriously, THIS GUY (daria-g), Thursday, September 4, 2014 10:18 PM (32 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wards been there for three years at least. And he is as bad today as he was day 1.

haha clinton dix

idk i just like saying it

― SEEMS TO ME (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, September 4, 2014 10:44 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha Ha is learning that he's not playing vandy and ole miss anymore. Welcome to the big leagues, son.

Lacey vs Chancellor was fun

lol @ vandy always

this game was not as exciting as i hoped but yaaaaay football

seahawks are just too good

crazy good

i wish i could still lol at them like i used to. rip seachickens

harvin is so strong and runs so hard that he throws himself outta whack when he jukes

I feel like you should keep Harvin on ice until the playoffs

packers were real sloppy. hawks played like there was no off season

feel like i would tell my players that if you ever so much as touch the opp punter you get cut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPmObvuOMYA&feature=youtu.be

that michael strahan one was superlol

It's just still odd to me how Pete Carroll is a really incredible coach

i was thinking last night, man I really hope there's a team that can beat the Seahawks this year because I do NOT want to see Pete Carroll celebrate again. it was unpleasant.

some things irritate me about him but I do like his coaching style, and I'm glad we're moving past this "well-coached = less penalties" thing. Carroll and the Seahawks staff know what they're doing.

hard to get a good read on GB from that game, they were sloppy on defense and again look to have OL problems but given how well Seattle played it's tough to say much about them. Rodgers just couldn't throw at all vs. those safetys and seems to have been coached to avoid hits given what happened last year. He's a bit more timid than usual. McCarthy still does that thing where he goes for it on 4th with a dumb playcall which annoys me to no end.

it's totally lame of me to even be thinking about this (cf "the boy who beeps") but was that hans and franz discount doublefuck ad meant explicitly for gen xer nfl fans? did anyone under the age of thirty even recognize those characters?

I kinda love that Carroll has succeeded after getting dissed for years by simmons et al.

Ugh that boy who beeps ad was so awful and have companies always pulled out new superlong superexpensive ads for the first NFL game of the season?

Round of applause for the Hanz & Franz ad, because I can't remember what product it was for at all. Millions of dollars flushed down a toilet.

Oh wait, it was a discount double-check ad. Those are my own State Farm insurance premiums being flushed down a toilet!!

that boy who beeps ad was dire.

Also, does anybody under 35 know who Icky Woods is? I was shocked to see him in an ad last nite.

I forgot about icky woods within a year of his prime shuffling days tbh

33 and do the icky shuffle at least once a month.

If you're using Icky Woods' marketing power to sell your product, you're probably fucked.

http://www.clickhole.com/article/new-nfl-rules-and-regulations-2014-944

are you guys talking about the madden gifs on another thread?

https://33.media.tumblr.com/7e47415ef6cc7eb9f6b17fd369e92316/tumblr_nbfwpx2Voe1qclld6o1_400.gif
https://38.media.tumblr.com/e6e08303739f9b00eadab8748428e82b/tumblr_nbftofolqa1qz700qo1_250.gif
http://38.media.tumblr.com/c31970e12ce26eadac52183941180aa9/tumblr_nbfwuyr7k61qb6825o1_400.gif
https://38.media.tumblr.com/a6f900c9f17da235a171b7bcd88aa991/tumblr_nbfs63vLQH1qgp17oo1_400.gif

omg

those are amazing

troy aikman just said re: the cowboys defense "they were historically bad last season and lost their 4 best players"

http://i.imgur.com/caSXynw.gif
http://i.imgur.com/wvV9wNg.gif
http://i.imgur.com/ZtCry53.gif
http://i.imgur.com/GUHFuQF.gif

http://prod-mr-user.storage.googleapis.com/assets/user_jets_gsmith7_spike_1409951839.941149/400x286/jets_gsmith7_spike.gif

http://goo.gl/HYFQ17

[Removed Illegal Image]_borakpo98_kickofffield_1409952699.360976/400x286/http://images.chron.com/blogs/askacat/hatcat.JPG_borakpo98_kickofffield.gif%3Fv%3D5f92b2a49e[/img]

lol, well there you go

http://goo.gl/HYFQ17

haha

[Removed Illegal Image]_borakpo98_kickofffield_1409952699.360976/400x286/http://images.chron.com/blogs/askacat/hatcat.JPG_borakpo98_kickofffield.gif[/img]

okay, what am i doing wrong with posting these
http://goo.gl/U1PcsW

oh, i see
http://oi57.tinypic.com/2ak9su8.jpg

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

http://oi61.tinypic.com/34oc5zd.jpg
okay, stopping now

lolololol

Curiously, Ray Rice is unavailable for gif making. I wonder why.

lol @ iggles. jax winning that game would decimate a lot of suicide pools

Haha! I picked Jax to win, but the ilx doesn't count until week 2 because we got a late start.

ilx *league

rip eifert

week 2 start, sign up

ILNFL™ Belated 2014-5 Survival/Pick'em Leagues thread

what is happening in loladelphia???

missing logan mankins already and where has aaron dobson been

still holding breath every time ridley touches the ball

Gronked!

oh iggles

http://ossurworld.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/gronky.jpg

this guy

sorry about your iggles mordy

washington department of football finally scores TD / extra point BLOCKED
only washington

Those dolphins sure hate holding on to the ball

didn't even throw at revis island and he came up with the ball anyway

"brady steps up, throws.. to no one in particular in the middle"

derek carr looks p good

wish raider defense would get in gino smith's face, playin kinda soft

lol nvm

I don't trust Cleveland very much, but I think I'll be starting Crowell next week in fantasy.

iggles weeks-old new kicker hits a 51y for the tie!

pats out of gas or something. depressing right now

raiders! last minute td!!!!!

stil a kinda crappy game tho :/

it's truly incredible how incompetent the people who do the gamecast updates are. how hard can it be?

i was so excited about football why

that was a pretty huge collapse, giving up 100 yards in penalties didn't exactly help

Antonio brown stomping the browns punter on a return was pretty WAT

yea that was some kung fu shit, hes gonna get fined i bet

fjax!!

FRED JACKSON

NO/ATL 34-34, going to overtime

wau falcons

wauwauwau eagles

no idea what happened in the pats game but brady seemed to have all day to throw in the first half and then the blockers were totally dominated every drive in the second.

jacksonville absolutely determined that no one was going to line up across from them and be more terrible

ok this is why i love football thank u cowboys

first play -> false start
third play -> fumble, sf touchdown

at the cowboy terrordome. hooray

Masterful offensive display by the falcons today. Fucking surgical. I think everybody eligible either caught or carried the ball. Amazing win.

dolphins beat the patriots <3 <3 <3

iggles!!!!!

Haven't been this pissed off after a Browns game in a long time.

9ers are going to put up like 70 on dallas

Great win for the Vikings against some ratty qbs!

go matt cassel

ROMOCEPTION <3

"this is one of those plays that tony romo's going to look at and he's going to kick himself"

Aikman really say that Jason written is a sure fire first ballot ball of famer? Sounds like bullshit to me

Fox needs to learn not to show Dallas in their marquee game. They are terrible.

Matt Ryan was so fucking good today

ROMO

lol

mo romo mo problems

dat dallas d

dunno if you all got that mcconaughey lincoln ad just now, but i wish he were doing commentary on this game

the field is a flat circle, tony

dunno if you all got that mcconaughey lincoln ad just now, but i wish he were doing commentary on this game

― seriously, THIS GUY (daria-g), Sunday, September 7, 2014 5:20 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Happy to be red zoning so I'm ad-free. Bucs panthers a better game anyway

i like monte ball, but i really wanted broncos to keep knowshon. rbs are not that costly and he's v good with the block, the catch, and a serviceable but not special runner. will always root for him afaict. poll on broncos fansite- are you happy with knowshon's success today? 98% yes of 170 votes. how often does that happen i wonder?

otoh, he helped beat patritos, so ... who here doesn't LOVE that

Tony is just rusty from a lack of preseason reps and will rally the Cowboys to their traditional 8-8 finish

Aikman really say that Jason written is a sure fire first ballot ball of famer? Sounds like bullshit to me

― Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Sunday, September 7, 2014 9:02 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

probably some ballot tho

"The Hall of Pretty Good"

Lol of Fame

Witten has 9799 receiving yards for his career and 52 TDs. If he packs on some more stats I think he should probably get in.

this game is like post-season level lols

meanwhile in josh mccown news

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s---8OjAEa6--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/rsnzo4wlpyxrwvazwbtz.gif

this game is defining "romo-esque"

new levels of romosity yet to be explored

brandon lloyd is still in the nfl???

McCown did a couple of total boneheaded plays in that Carolina game. It was under duress, but just dumb throws.

I obviously have no idea who is going to be any good this year, it's looking pretty backwards this week to me.

Romo's entire career is just so satisfying, I remember when he first came into the spotlight and I was so sick of him after a month, he was such a cocky prick esp after that one 6 TD game and now he's just a broken man, like jesse pinkman after a few months in nazi Todd's ice cream torture pit.

That Saints and Falcons game was like CFL level of no defense. Unless they got a sack, they were moving the ball. ATL did a good job getting Devin Hester the ball. The Bears pretty much abandoned, I think wrongly, using him on offense his last couple of years. I know he is small but I still can't figure why they don't use that guy some more in the running game, running sweeps. Oh well, so much for strategy.

'no one would've thought, offensively, the cowboys would do the kind of things they've done in this ballgame'

i dunno, i feel like multiple INTs are not all that unexpected?

Romo's entire career is just so satisfying, I remember when he first came into the spotlight and I was so sick of him after a month, he was such a cocky prick esp after that one 6 TD game and now he's just a broken man, like jesse pinkman after a few months in nazi Todd's ice cream torture pit.

― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Sunday, September 7, 2014 4:11 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

is jerry jones nazi Todd or walter white or both in this scenario

jason garrett is todd, jerry is uncle jack

Dude, I am so looking forward to Romo going to another club. That will make for good NFL soap opera. ESPN will pick up "who will be the next QB of the Dallas Cowboys" as a reality show. Jon Gruden will host a thunderdome style battle show, 2 men enter 1 man leaves with the winner getting a chance to play for the Cowboys in the Jerrydome.

I was thinking garrett would be todd and jones is uncle jack. Witten as Lydia obv.

CAD otm

I'm not saying, i'm just saying.

http://lastangryfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/brad_childress.jpg

http://www.fanaru.com/breaking-bad/image/17569/heisenberg-drawing-wallpaper/

lol to witten as lydia

time to revive SHUT UP BOB COSTAS

Clowney torn meniscus and sprained MCL. The smoke was there for him to be injury prone but everyone dismissed it...

http://giant.gfycat.com/GentleCreamyBorderterrier.gif

<3 <3 <3

Patterson is so sick, glad Spielman took a flier on him

crazy

clowney out 4-6 weeks, yikes
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/9/7/6119479/jadeveon-clowney-injury-knee-meniscus-texans

oh man i forgot about omaha

https://twitter.com/TrustInChip/status/508730904588857344/photo/1

that cordarelle gif needs the super mario invincible music

so... I just watched that Antonio Brown thing and omglol

i'm kind of amazed it doesn't happen more often

oh man i forgot about omaha

― my friend, Gater (Clay), Sunday, September 7, 2014 8:45 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Great thing about it is that it expires like a bad gallon of milk every January 31sf.

derek anderson 24/34 230 yds 2 tds qbr 108.7

can you think of any more misguided strategy in american history than the cardinals throwing the ball 75 PERCENT OF THE TIME w/ derek anderson as quarterback?

― gimme schefter (J0rdan S.), Sunday, December 5, 2010 4:17 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is m/l what carolina did AND IT WORKED

derek anderson 24/34 230 yds 2 tds qbr 108.7

― johnny crunch, Sunday, September 7, 2014 8:11 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Leslie Frazier, so much to answer for.

Good old Tampa 2

sunday mvp: man at panthers bucs game eating cereal from the box, wearing cereal t-shirt

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bw92VszIgAAvsqB.jpg

after stomaching as much of that ray rice footage as i could, wtf goodell.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/quitting-football

after stomaching as much of that ray rice footage as i could, wtf goodell.

― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, September 8, 2014 12:30 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

NFL is denying they had that video. Which is complete and utter Bs

Harbaugh presser tonight at 8pm. I imagine he'll be saying Rice will be deactivated for the remainder of the season. It's the right thing to do and it's also the only good PR move the Ravens have to make. If Rice were to take the field, his legs would get broken on the first play.

(*the ACTUAL right thing to do would be a lifetime NFL ban and an investigation of the judge that let him plea out of jail time, but y'know.)

cribbed from jason lacanfora -
Article 46 of CBA, One Penalty: "Commish and Club will not both discipline player for same act or conduct. Commish disciplinary action will preclude or supersede disciplinary action by any Club for the same act or conduct.”

so ravens can't put it right

Yeah, the Mike Freeman piece at Bleacher Report supposes that game-to-game deactivation is probably the only workaround.

or, you know, sock full of dimes

Baltimore Ravens ✔ @Ravens

Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.

Per SportsCenter app notification, Ravens have terminated Rice's contract.

Still don't get why none of this happened until the video actually came out instead (I mean, I do get it, but it's stupid)

that'll do it.

now...

who's going to pick up the shitty stick?

Who picked up Incognito?

yeah obv this was all about plausible deniability for the ravens, unless people actually saw him punch her they felt they could get away with keeping him around

I don't expect much from Bisciotti or Harbaugh, but Ozzie Newsome needs to waive Rice plain and simple. No other team will touch him. Dude will be done.

isn't incognito still unemployed? i saw iggles fans begging for him on comments this morning (since two of our OLine went down yesterday)

incognito still a free agent but he will eventually get a team i think. i feel like rice is totally done tho.

ravens already cut him

if this was one year ago, and not coming off a mediocre year, some team would've waited just as long as they felt they had to and then signed him

one comment i read was like we rehabilitated the dog killer. why not the vulgar linesman?

i think for a lot of nfl teams you have to actually be incarcerated for murder for them to steeple their fingers and furrow their brows and express concern.

If Alfred Morris goes down, Dan Snyder would go out and get him yes.

Ray Rice: "I won't call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down. It's not getting up."

oh my god did he really say that?

so whens the ravens jersey trade-in?

raiders should sign him

to clarify, that was a deleted tweet from....

Ray Rice: "I won't call myself a failure. Failure is not getting knocked down. It's not getting up."
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) May 23, 2014

I know he is small but I still can't figure why they don't use that guy some more in the running game, running sweeps. Oh well, so much for strategy.

I think the strategy there was "let's try to avoid losing our game-breaker for the season on a seven yard sweep"

you can argue it either way but there's nothing crazy about that

oh balls - saved that post in Zing last nite

Anyhoo...

rice out, Gordon maybe coming back... feels like maybe some things are turning for the better

better break out the pink outfits this month instead of next, eh roger?

lol i meant goodell, not mexico

the ravens probably buried ray lewis' white suit too.

what a bunch of duplicitous cowards.

i gotta hope rice is done here. too late in his career to rehabilitate. good riddance.

suspended indefinitely by the nfl, boldly waiting to make their move

goodell should suspend himself and then jump out the highest window of the league office

and yeah, the nfl and the ravens MUST have seen that prior to arbitration; how fucking cynical can you get

peter king and chris mortensen literally wrote as much earlier this summer

there's no doubt they figured they could keep the tarp pulled over this one and sneak by

such a bullshit fucking organization. maryland and dc just have the worst teams.

god bless tmz

hows the league indefinitely suspend someone whos released

i really do wonder why i don't quit with this fucking league

hows the league indefinitely suspend someone whos released

― johnny crunch, Monday, September 8, 2014 2:58 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well not that any of the other 31 teams would go near him but this just makes that concrete

I blame all of you for reigniting my interest in football btw

it feels like it gets a little harder to justify every year

do u guys feel like NFL is more ethically odious than boxing, or you quit the latter a long time ago?

I had stopped watching boxing by the time Tyson bit Holyafield's ear off

never engaged with pro boxing beyond the tyson era. both wba and nfl are ethically dodgy but nfl has way greater reach/impact/is more fun and easier to watch and understand in depth/nobody does fantasy boxing leagues

Have now read a couple places that the hit his fiancee game him only came after he spat in her face, and that after she struck him is when he went fucking nuts (I haven't watched the video and never will).

*gave

i guess the nfl is a force for some bad in my life? i will cop to checking the ravens depth charts not so long after i heard about this to see if forsett was still available in my money league and that's not a good response to this.

this needs some updating - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_player_conduct_controversy

idk this probably sounds dumb but i'm not particularly ready to "quit football" because i think it has the potential to get better, like there will never be a benevolent pro sports league but why couldn't football have genuine progressive moments occasionally like the nba? i guess we're close to one if sam plays.

it's a popular prediction that if ppl turn away from football it will become a niche sport with a bad rep like boxing, right? why can't popular interest be used to direct it someplace more productive?

because popular interest tends towards the lowest common denominator

in more prosaic news, shaun hill may be out sunday #rams #casekeenum

Raymell Mourice "Ray" Rice (born January 22, 1987) was a professional American football running back for the National Football League (NFL).

When I told Bisciotti at the end of our conversation yesterday that "I think I am going to write that blog about Ray," Steve smiled and said: "Is it a flaw for us that we support our players in tough times? If it is, I'm OK with that."

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Byrne-Identity-I-Like-Ray-Rice/f618f957-e03f-4fc6-919e-638552b14c2b

really should reinvent himself as Mel Rice

this particular bit of "hey it's just like that time when...." is amazing

When we found out about Ray's punishment during yesterday morning's practice, I told Steve that I wanted to write about Ray Rice and how much respect I have for him. I wasn't sure it was my place or the team's to talk more about Ray right now. I thought the subject was so sensitive to the franchise that I should check with the owner, a man with great insights.

"That's your call," Bisciotti told me. "I don't think Ray needs it, and I don't think you'll change the minds of those who don't want to have anything to do with Ray. ...How sad we all are that he tarnished his image. No one outside, I've learned, can understand how we look at these guys as our sons and close friends as opposed to just employees.

"I saw that clearly when we lost the AFC championship at New England (at the end of the 2011 season)," the owner continued. "I had friends tell me, 'You must hate Lee Evans or Billy Cundiff. They cost you a trip to the Super Bowl.' It was the opposite – we felt for Lee and Billy. I wished that they'd get another chance. I felt the need to protect them like I would one of my sons. It's not like that in my other businesses.

"Don't we all have days or moments or periods in our life we regret? Ray showed great character for the six years I've known him. He has shown remorse after a bad incident. It was out of character. I don't think now is the time to abandon him. You say we are a Ravens' family. I've come to believe that."

ravens couldn't have fucked this whole thing up worse short of giving him a world's greatest husband mug

that press conference will remain one of the most utterly unbelievable things i have witnessed

I'm just so disgusted by the way this all went down. The league and the Ravens have confirmed that they are complicit in whatever their players are doing off the field, so long as they continue to produce on it. At least the result looks to be the correct one, but fuck if it didn't takeACTUAL VIDEO FOOTAGE of a woman getting knocked the fuck out by a trained gladiator for the powers that be to actually sack up and lay something real on the douchebag.

You know who I feel really bad for, besides this man's poor wife? The children of the fans who heard their parents give Ray Rice the loudest cheers at the final home pre-season game. I mean, what the fuck do you do with that?

http://deadspin.com/someone-is-lying-about-whether-the-nfl-saw-the-ray-rice-1631901404

Back in July, Ravens PR told us this in an email:

Only thing we know for sure is that police who arrested Ray and Janay and then let them leave together that night saw the video.

But outwardly, and possibly for reasons having to do with both the legal elements of the case and with public relations, the NFL itself was opaque on whether it had seen the video.

Privately, top reporters were told in no uncertain terms that the video existed, that the NFL had seen it, that it showed Janay Palmer acting violently toward Rice, and that, if released, it would go some way toward mitigating the anger against him. One of the league's most devoted mouthpieces described the video for us on an off-the-record basis, going off what his sources had told him. The implication was clear: If you saw this video, you'd know why Rice only got two games.

The third is that the NFL is lying now about not having seen the video—that league officials saw what everyone has now seen, for whatever reason actually found it exculpatory, and are now making false claims to protect the league's image. This interpretation is supported by an employee of the Revel, the Atlantic City casino where the fight took place. He tells TMZ that the NFL saw the footage before disciplining Rice.

they don't need to have necessarily found it exculpatory (and i don't know how they could have), just expedient to lie about what they saw (maybe assuming the video would never come to light)

I'm still back on the "I like Ray Rice" column:

Team Owner Steve Bisciotti, our President Dick Cass, General Manager Ozzie Newsome and I all have sons. (Dick and I also each have a daughter.) We know what it is to be a parent. We know what it is to support a child after a mistake. We know the importance of turning the situation around and becoming better. We know turning your back on a loved one in a time of need is not what families do.

... so is Ray Rice a child now?

okay I got to the anti-bullying section and I cannot stifle horrified chuckles and I'm scared that my face may be permanently frozen like this O_O

that deadspin line is what made me think there MUST be mitigating factors at play that hadn't been shown in the video released to the public
how naive i am to trust the nfl with basically anything

waiting for the 'i like ray rice' column to disappear

I don't doubt that some other video came out today, but g-dam don't they have ESPN in the freaking commish office? It seems I was seeing partial clips of that azzwipe dragging his fiancee/wife out of the elevator even on that afternoon when the Ravens did that dumb "oh Ray is a good guy" press conference this summer.

yeah this really should be saved for posterity:

On May 22, Ravens Director Of Player Development Harry Swayne had an expert on bullying, Paul Coughlin, speak to our rookies as part of our continuing education for all of our first-year players. Some of you may be familiar with Coughlin, who regularly is interviewed on national news as a foremost authority on the bullying issue. (In fact, when I talked with Coughlin this morning, he was lecturing to schools in Tanzania – the country – about bullying.)

Coughlin asked Swayne if Rice was in the building on that May day. He was, and the two spent some time together. "I wanted to encourage Ray to continue his campaign against bullying," Coughlin said. "Ray is one of the most prominent and active voices in the anti-bullying movement. I told him that from what I understood about his incident with his wife that it was not a form of bullying. Bullying harms and diminishes life itself. A bully intends to harm and continues to do that. It seemed Ray had a conflict with his wife that he regretted, and when he told me about the counseling he was receiving, I sensed a person who knew he made a mistake and was determined to bounce back."

Swayne remembers the conversation. "When Paul told Ray that he could still and should continue his anti-bullying campaign, tears came to Ray's eyes."

I mean come the fuck on

If you enjoy Olbermann's laser targeted rage against wrongdoers, then here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=9594536

I know I'm a total Luddite about podcasts but wtf is wrong with reading

paul coughlin is the nick riviera of bullying experts apparently.

via ravens facebook: loving the "we'll miss you, ray" subtext of the chosen RR pic, complete with pensive gaze as he looks to an uncertain future

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/ScreenShot2014-09-08at115241AM_zps1631f8bc.png

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/ScreenShot2014-09-08at115241AM_zps1631f8bc.png

whitlock: "I wrongly and naively thought that she was the aggressor in the attack, that Rice reflexively shoved her to fend her off and she slipped, fell and hit her head. I did not think a man could sucker-punch a woman on tape and have the police, a prosecutor, the victim and the image-conscious NFL all work to treat the assaulter in a sympathetic fashion."

i'm really not sure which is more damning - that the NFL is so insanely misogynistic that they thought this video was exculpatory, or that they're so insanely profit-driven that they reflexively lied when confronted w/ such horrific evidence. since the insinuation all along was pretty much what whitlock had believed, surely it's the second possibility. which is a pretty banal kind of evil.

yeah it is pretty unbelievable in general, you'd think it wouldn't be what it is...

i don't even want to really talk about this

but i have to just word vomit

it makes me roll my eyes so far back into my head that "oh NOW that i've seen the VIDEO, yeah it's totally fucked up imagine my surprise etc we had NO idea"

that line if it's said as a genuine statement, or if it's used as a way to cover your tracks, it's fucking BULLSHIT and it's everything that's wrong with domestic abuse situations

everything about this is fucked up AND if anyone is even remotely surprised by how it played out or what's on the video then I don't even know what to tell you

this guy is an NFL star. of course every single person in his sphere of influence is going to fall over themselves to diminish what he did because he is a walking paycheck for all of them

not that I'm telling anyone anything they don't already know I just needed to vent and FUCK ALL OF THIS

I'm not so sure that Olbermann's assertions on that podcast that there was some type of cover up on this is that crazy. I think this kind of crap has been happening among pro and college players for years (and the rich and powerful) and it's just now that the world is under surveillance, they got caught. Any major college town over the decades has tales of crazy shit players did and somehow didn't get arrested, some up to in and including some pretty nasty things. I wouldn't want to be the cops that investigated this as there is probably going to be some questions to them and the DA of that municipality on why the heck this went down this way. It's kind of sad proof that the privileged get a different form of justice and also if you do some type of lunatic thing, probably a good chance it's on video these days. It's a very 2014 situation.

yeah, that's the most shocking thing to me - that the NFL would lie so brazenly knowing that video existed of this. just total failure to anticipate the inevitable leak.

it's not like it seems that they thought there was no video so they could just be like "oh well we'll never really know," and then got shocked when it turned out there are video cameras in elevator.

"It seemed Ray had a conflict with his wife that he regretted, and when he told me about the counseling he was receiving, I sensed a person who knew he made a mistake and was determined to bounce back."

-- Paul Coughlin speaking about Ray Rice

“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.”

-- George W. Bush speaking about Vladimir Putin

wait the ravens were all about supporting their players in tough times but now when times are toughest they cut the guy. so weird.

yeah and after all the resilience ray rice showed in facing down the haters after he punched his fiancee in the face and knocked her out.

"I don't know Ray at all," Ditka said before, for some reason, feeling the need to continue. "I'm sure he's not a bad guy, but he made a bad mistake.

"Hey, two lives, are ruined," Ditka said. "These two lives are ruined. His earning power is destroyed. That's an important thing."

fire everyone

it feels ghoulish to derail this conversation at all but i wanted to just say that i hope calvin johnson scores a million points against the giants

it seems p likely. honestly dont recall the nyg/det game from wk 16 last yr but it seems categorically impossible that the giants held megatron to 3 catches/43 yds

detroit were so bad by that point tho

well he's got 2 TDs so far

so is ditka trying to get canned or

"Hey, two lives, are ruined," Ditka said. "These two lives are ruined. His earning power is destroyed. That's an important thing."

Had this been me at my job I would have been fired 8 months ago when I first got arrested. Why does Ditka think Rice deserves better treatment than anybody else does?

schefter's "i got no strings on me" act is just...

wish he still posted here

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Eli+Manning+Philadelphia+Eagles+v+New+York+YKJfX7iAJ_pl.jpg

two amazing eli gif opps from that pick. him throwing his hands up like charlie brown immediately after the play, and then after they confirmed the call on the field the camera lingered on him as he mouthed "fuck fuck fuck fuck"

<3 eli. looking for gifs now

i have tate on my money fantasy team. i can't stop hearing the announcers call him golden taint.

woowoo

mistake-free Stafford is something to see

http://giant.gfycat.com/SecretVerifiableKoalabear.gif

eli looks so bad

i love this one

http://usatthebiglead.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/eli-manning-cursing-after-interception-against-detroit.gif?w=1000

The Giants just looked bad in general

Cardinals O-Line looks good

eric weddles beard looks incredibly dumb in a helmet/chinstrap

it's such a pubey looking beard

One thing I have kind of admired a bit about Bruce Arians in the past couple years as a coach is that he seems to go more with what his players can do more than trying to push some 'system'.

i know he was a bust for the raiders but i can't help kinda liking carson palmer

i'm pro-carson/arians, just old dudes trying to make things happen.

Carson is a guy you can win the Super Bowl with imo

if honey badger comes back full strength I really think the Cards can make some noise

xpost he's no Trent Dilfer

their revamped defense is looking better than i expected. shame they're in the sf/sea division.

man Verrett looks like a pro bowler

the cardinals really love ex-raiders

palmer is so spry tonight!

haha the elusive Carson Palmer

0 targets for Fitz

this game is fucking terrible

9 different receivers for the Cardinals, none are Fitz, wtf

i am only watching cos i'm in a tense fantasy football match that I've just taken the lead on thanks to Fitzie's blanking

worst thing about this game tho was Berman's fucking public address announcement praising the NFL and Ravens for their actions today

man Verrett looks like a pro bowler

― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, September 9, 2014 3:12 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

God San Diego looks like dogshit

has Rivers never seen a blitz before

oh my God the Chargers just morphed into the Keystone Kops

i just turned it back on looool

i love seeing rivers lose

that was his Sistine Chapel of shit quarterbacking

A day after a new video surfaced showing Ray Rice hitting his then-fiancée in the face in a hotel elevator, prompting the Baltimore Ravens to release the running back and the NFL to increase his suspension from two games to indefinite, Janay Rice defended her husband and criticized the media.

"I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of my closest friend," she wrote in an Instagram post. "But to have to accept the fact that it's reality is a nightmare itself. No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret everyday is a horrible thing.

"To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass off for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! What don't you all get. If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you've succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is! Ravensnation we love you!"

the cardinals really love ex-raiders

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, September 8, 2014 11:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Raiders love ex-Philadelphia/Pittsburgh Steagles, Chicago Cardinals and Los Angeles Chargers.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/nfl-announces-new-zerotolerance-policy-on-videotap,36885/

NEW YORK—Following public outcry over his mishandling of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s aggravated assault of his then-fiancée, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Tuesday that the league has adopted a new zero-tolerance policy toward all videotaped domestic abuse. “We hold our players to the highest standards both as professional athletes and as people, so any violence toward women that is recorded, authenticated, and then publicly distributed will be met with an automatic suspension and fine,” said Goodell, adding that the new, stricter guidelines reflect the league’s hard-line stance against any spousal abuse that is clearly and irrefutably captured on film. “I can assure you that any member of this league who strikes a woman in front of a live camera will face swift and heavy consequences. I also want to stress that this utterly reprehensible behavior is something we will in no way tolerate as long as the footage is completely uninterrupted and the entirety of the assault takes place within frame.” Goodell went on to clarify that in such cases, the NFL will cooperate fully with local authorities as soon as the league can no longer prevent incriminating evidence from being leaked to the media.

lol missed the Onion URL, was getting incensed

Justice in this case works out pretty badly for the victim imo. I agree that Rice should be out of football and possibly in jail, but suddenly Janay Rice is married to a guy who is basically unemployable due to support in her name that she never asked for.

what is the satisfactory alternative?

someone punches Richie Incognito in the balls

There's not one. What happened to Ray Rice is (part of) what needed to happen to Ray Rice, and even if she loves him and they're working through this, it's a problem HE created.

the responsibility to try to protect anyone else who may or may not get beaten up in an elevator at least equals any responsibility 'justice' has to janay rice right?

Ray Rice spoke with ESPN's Josina Anderson on Tuesday, making his first comments to the media since the release Monday of a new video showing him striking his then-fiancée, Janay Palmer.

"I have to be strong for my wife," Rice said. "She is so strong. We are in good spirits. We have a lot of people praying for us and we'll continue to support each other. I have to be there for (Janay) and my family right now and work through this."

In the last 24 hours I've spoken with friends about this—friends who have been in abusive relationships and friends who've worked in advocacy groups for abused people and friends who have experience with both sides of it—and what I've learned is that there's no solution we can cook up in 24 hours if there's not been a good solution in generations upon generations of humanity.

It's fucking depressing.

This piece is good:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/what-does-it-take-to-get-roger-goodell-fired-2/

Why do Greg Hardy and Terrell Suggs still get to play football?

killer ending as well

it really is pathetic that people's opinions of things completely change if it's on video but it's probably never going to change.

to be fair, most people (not Goodell) were pretty outraged about the first video.

That was a great article.

Im firmly in the Goodell's gotta go camp. But ive hated him ever since he nuked the Saints over something pretty much every team did. and i hate the Saints.

Oh please, Goodell's not going anywhere. The owners are making shitloads! That's all they care about.

they're not making shitloads because of goodell though

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter 11m

Cardinals LB John Abraham is suffering from memory loss and has been for well over a year, per sources. Could be end of his NFL career.

B-b-b-but he protected the shield(tm)!

The Associated Press @AP
BREAKING: AP Source: Law enforcement official sent copy of Ray Rice tape to NFL executive in April

what the hell

cynical, pained lol

this is a deeply stupid controversy imo but if it leads to goodell being disgraced and fired then terrific

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive three months ago, while league officers have insisted they didn't see the violent images until this week.

The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: ''You're right. It's terrible.''

The official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, says the NFL never followed up. The person can't confirm if anyone at the NFL watched the video.

The person said he shared the video - which he was unauthorized to release - because he wanted the NFL to have it before deciding on Rice's punishment.

just like others have said upthread, the NFL and Ravens banked on nobody ever seeing the video because of plausible deniability. It led people to assume that since the NFL ruled so leniently that "obviously there was more to it than we the general public knew about". Folks and colleagues I knew were saying they heard she hit him first. Or that he pushed her off of him, and she accidentally hit her head. As long as the video never surfaced, the NFL and Ravens could continue on with their mutually beneficial arrangement that he did get *suspended*, but not long enough to hurt them (or him) significantly.

The existence of the second video was common knowledge back in April. I was honestly surprised it never surfaced back then, but police were pretty candid about what was on it. Goodell's done. He will not be able to escape this controversy, not this time.

(also cad otm, there's this guy named Tagliabue that had much more to do with the league's current financial state).

i dunno. he's not the kind of guy who's just going to resign. he works for the owners, who are collectively a) the biggest assholes on earth, and b) exactly the kind of people who will refuse to do something simply because the media/common riffraff want it.

it's not a question of legality. it's not like the players are going to stop playing over this. the only way goodell's done is if the owners perceive that his continued presence will cost them money, and i don't really see why it would just yet.

I would never resign from a job that pays me 50m

my prediction is resignation, but that assumes continued 100% media saturation and some kind of social and popular media boycott threat. Agree that it's not legality, it has to be most of the owners going "welp, here's another lackey right...here."