nfl offseason transactions, fired coaches, general nonsense 2012

i just wanted someplace to post that both norv turner and aj smith will be returning to the san diego charges!

jerry angelo fired, miracle of miracles

lol @ the Chargers if they don't can Norv. I've never seen a coach who "wants it less"

oh hai, I'd like to introduce you to a portly fellow named Andy Reid.

God I have to endure another year of you clowns talking shit about these dudes? fuck me

tell them to do a better job and i'll shut up!

Wish they'd gotten rid of AJ and kept Norv but I can't have everything I want I guess.

yeah Andy Reid is pretty inept but Norv seems inept in just about every way

oh yeah; that's a bad sentence. make no mistake

I also think Andy Reid is a good coach! Crazy old polyphonic.

andy reid is a good coach.

andy reid gets a lot out of his teams but he is horrific during the game.

Yeah, in Reid's case it's probably that the public doesn't see all the good work he's doing during the practices and only the 200+ times he's mishandled things during the actual games.

I guess Norv and the GM were both on the line for 2 more years on their contract, so I figure the Spanos didn't want to have to pay them and their replacements. Finishing 8-8 gave them an out.

I didn't figure Reid would get fired by Philly, especially since they rallied in the second half. I think the short camp and those early injuries kind of caught them up. Then again the Giants lost almost everyone but their D-line on defense and still made the playoffs.

Doesn't look like that many jobs are going to be open, especially when early on it looked like some marquee jobs like the Giants, Eagles (and even the Chargers) might be available.

Bucs
Rams
Dolphins
Jags
Chiefs (I got a feeling they might just give Romeo Crennel the job.)

I'd say the jewel of the lot is the Dolphins, even though their ownership seems pretty inept thusfar.

Bucs are in a rough division and I doubt that is going to change overnight. I don't think they or the Rams have that much talent wise that will allow them to flip quick.

Jags have some talent on defense, o-line and running back. I don't see Blaine Gabbert being an answer though.

Chiefs have some pieces, but need some offensive firepower. The division is pretty much up for grabs, so I could believe they could be a playoff team quick depending on schedule and luck - not sure they would be easy to turn into a year after year good club.

I think Lovie Smith is a solid coach and you fire him, he's just going to go someplace else and make their defense good. Biggest problem with the Bears is their ownership and until they get smart and quit hiring friends of the family or trying to run it from the backroom, it's not going to work. Bad thing is that with Cutler you are going to have the third offensive system in his short time with the Bears. I'd almost would have just like to see them keep going with Martz, as I think they were close to being good. The o-line needs work and they are going to have to bring in some fresh legs in the defensive back field, as they are looking slow.

C'mon Bears show a bit of originality, Mike Tice as offensive coordinator?

I know he was the o-line coach, but we know how good that unit was the past couple years.

F'ing McCaskeys...

i liked when the bears brought in martz b/c it seemed indicative that they were going to open up the offense, and it kinda seemed to work! there must have been some issues going on, iirc martz wasn't seeing eye to eye with smith and co towards the end. i dunno, i liked him. the bears have had some rinky-dink offensives since erik kramer's epic season in '95. maybe it was ron turner's offense running through orton, but for awhile there it seemed like the bears were content to pass up big plays and instead toss the ball underhanded and softly off the back of an offensive lineman's helmet and hope for the best.

http://funkatron.com/content/im-goin-deep-fan-club.jpg

RINKY-DINK?

belichick calls his boy home, tells him "job well done."

http://i39.tinypic.com/347a0py.png

re schef reporting nick caserio declining colts GM position. why in the world does irsay think having a twitter acct is a good idea?

megalol @ the idea of the colts of all people trying to gank nick cesario of all people

"why in the world does ANYONE think having a twitter acct is a good idea?"

I guess it's good for exposing the ID of quite a few idiots (including congressmen, movie stars, rappers and now appearantly NFL owners).

I keep hearing reports that the Bucs are talking with Brad Childress. If they hire him, I'll never watch another Bucs game again.

In three moves, they'll have gone from Dungy to Chilly and they'll deserve whatever fate they meet.

i liked Chilly in Minnesota. just a perfect team/HC combo, a hapless team that always fucks up in the end with a coach that the players don't like who constantly sets his team up to fail. this just doesn't seem right :(

brett favre and childress were magic together : /

http://assets.sheetmusicplus.com/product/Look-Inside/covers/19420784.jpg

spagnuolo return to philly to be confirmed this week. 2012 already looking much better for eagles.

never, ever, ever, ever, ever change oakland

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter 1m

Raiders fired Hue Jackson. More on ESPN.

prelude to bringing in a gm?

They already brought in a gm.

MOTHERFUUUUUUUU

And he's going to hire his own guy.

basically what needs to happen here is oakland needs to release every qb on their roster besides terrelle pryor, they need to hire chip kelly and draft lamichael james

my work here is done

What the Raiders need to do is pretty simple:

1. Fire John Herrera
2. Profit

I'm so fucking tired of this bullshit. I give up.

i mean yeah, it's a pain in the ass, but is hue really a big loss?

didn't jackson go off the deep and say something about how now that al is dead he runs the raiders? tbh, everyone tainted by signing off on that carson palmer trade needs to be dropped in the shark tank

hue seemed like a pretty solid coach to me

He was a total clown

gruuuuuuuuuuden

if gruden goes back there i'm moving to the bay

I had no problem with him as head coach. Raiders under Hue were the closest thing to a team they've been in 10 years & the fact that there was even playoff *talk* was partly due to him.

the carson trade was batty but that team is going in the right direction imo

i mean they certainly could hire a better coach, but they also could not

Just curious: Did you guys watch the last half of the season at all?

Yep. But can we have a fucking coach for more than 2 seasons, just to SEE what that's like? Breznahan was a bigger problem than Jackson, surely.

The bit at the end of the season where he said that he could finally admit that his players played like shit was very telling. The dude is kind of Singletary-esque.

The penalties this season were out of control. The talent was getting better, not the culture.

He was not even close to Singletaryesqueness, imo

hue's a solid coach but he seemed to be going mad with power. better to start fresh, the new GM seems to have a good background and im sure they can find someone

Breznahan was a bigger problem than Jackson, surely.

And he's also gone. McKenzie is going to get this right if Mark Davis and Herrera don't undermine him.

hue's a solid coach but he seemed to be going mad with power.

otm

they're both black, bald and probably mean guys, but singletary was a straight up clown

^^^

ugh at all of this

http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/writers/don_banks/01/14/snap.judgments.divisional/p1.Schottenheimer.getty.jpg

who knows the division better, huh? SWOOP BEFORE THE BUCS GET HIM!!

unless hue turned into kim jong-il behind the scenes i would've given him next season to prove that things were permanently going the right way. this cycle can't be good for the franchise.

they're both black, bald and probably mean guys, but singletary was a straight up clown

Their blackness is irrelevant to me. Tom Cable was also a clown. Singletary did some very good things with the 49ers and so did Jackson with the Raiders. But neither are head coaches imo

tom cable was a wife-beating clown iirc

The 49ers defense is what it is today because of Singletary. Similarly Jackson did a good job of modernizing the Raiders offense.

Their blackness is irrelevant to me. Tom Cable was also a clown. Singletary did some very good things with the 49ers and so did Jackson with the Raiders. But neither are head coaches imo

― polyphonic, Tuesday, January 10, 2012 2:06 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

but on the subject of baldness...

Bald guys can't coach, it's known.

Unless they wear a wig:

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2009-10-30-bradchildressphotos1.jpg

Now I am curious to decide who the best bald coach of all time is.

sorry veg

xp dungy perhaps

I demand Gruden. YOU OWE ME THIS MUCH, OAKLAN RAIDERS

lol OAKLAND

may end up w/ jay gruden for yr troubles

tom landry was a cue-ball

Chuck Knox was smart enough to start wearing a hat when he was going bald. Possibly added a decade to his career.

Landry also was wise enough to wear a hat to maintain respect of team.

Spiralli, imma cockpunch you for that Schottenheimer suggestion

many xposts

http://www4.images.coolspotters.com/photos/83105/don-shula-profile.jpg

Great hair

i'd love to see marty coachin up the mighty raiders. way moreso than the bucs

i can't decide if i want chilly back in my life or if he's just too fucking weird for comfort.

Hue's last presser was kinda yeeeesh, this doesn't really surprise me at all

they definitely can be a playoff team....with Campbell

Marty to the Raiders would be great based on their needs, but obviously he is an enemy to the Raiders so it might be a bad fit.

That would almost be enough to turn me into a Packers fan. Fuckin hire Shannahan too, make a party out of it.

i really don't want to have to look at brad childress sunday afternoons

Hue Jackson said he's lost for words. He said "He's going to gut this place".

^__^

oh joy

If the next head coach is Winston Moss as some are predicting, I predict failure due to baldness:

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slideshows/458/slideshow_45859/display_image.jpg?x=806632

He looks like a Bowflex dude

alright i'm already way into the winston moss era

He seems kinda badass & handsome. I'm in!

#shallow

haha oh Veg you speak for me

DING

http://prod.static.packers.clubs.nfl.com/assets/images/imported/GB/photos/persons/coach-cards/Moss_Winston.jpg

'sup

That's why I'm lobbying for Gruden! I demand a handsome coach.

hell of a neck on that guy

Moss played on the Raiders from '91-'94, during the original Art Shell era.

I just saw that on wiki

hmmm

he is VERY handsome

winston moss is one hell of a good name too

means business imo

I dont think the "rule of bald coaches" applies to black guys

I was mostly joking frog bullshit

For all the talk that the Raiders had the most penalties in 2011, Baltimore and Detroit (and Washington) had more penalty yards.

well I was 100% serious. look at Tony Dungy for CHRISTS SAKE

Tony Dungy is bald, right? I can never tell whats going on on that head

He's bald, yeah. He was already starting to go when the Bucs hired him.

Dungy was another bald guy who was smart enough to wear a hat though.

http://cbssports.com/images/blogs/peyton-dungy-colts-090611.jpg

Not this guy, though:

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/images/photos/001/100/201/120510-raidersATchargers75--nfl_medium_540_360_crop_340x234.jpg?1293774994

i do like the idea of the raiders gm firing hue out of spite for not allowing him to draft anyone in the first three rounds

Belichick is developing quite a bald spot of his own, thus making the Patriots seem overall less dominant.

Art Shell wore that tiny baseball cap, dude shoulda rocked the bald look

Hue wasn't actually bald though was he? He's "bald by choice", right?

No one with a lustrous head of hair would go bald by choice, come on.

Gardening accident iirc

Art Shell wore that tiny baseball cap, dude shoulda rocked the bald look

I have a secondary theory/caveat that fat people shouldn't wear hats.

That is a good theory/caveat

Proof 1: I look terrible in hats.

For all the talk that the Raiders had the most penalties in 2011, Baltimore and Detroit (and Washington) had more penalty yards.

― polyphonic, Tuesday, January 10, 2012 3:00 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That's probably because so many of the Raiders' penalties were probably declined, which is much worse.

I don't know why you'd assume that the Raiders had more penalties declined than those other teams. I mean, it wouldn't surprise me but it seems unsupportable.

prob just means that the raiders had lots of pre-snap penalties than those other two teams -- not sure if that's better or worse or if it doesn't matter

its definitely worse if they had a lot of declined penalties, it means that they fucked the play up they got penalized on.

sucks that individual penalties aren't tracked except for offensive line penalties

dude, this is the internet. Somebody somewhere is keeping track.

let me know if you find it!

it's not in nfl game books so it could only be tracked by watching every game.

I mean, shit, some Pearl Jam fan tracked every concert and made a statistical analysis of how many times each song in their catalog has been played live. If that dude's doing THAT, someone is tracking NFL penalties. They HAVE to be. Too many shut-ins in the world for it not to be happening.

though a cursory google check doesn't show anything immediate
now i'm curious about this.

The rise and fall of Hue Jackson is so fascinating to me. He goes from OC to head coach, and then in the wake of Davis' death he decides to assume complete control of the franchise by making a crazy-ass trade for a retired QB.

Then when things spun out of control the guy lost his fucking mind.

There was literally 10 days of a power vacuum for Jackson to make trades with no GM in place before the trade deadline and the guy decides to go all in with the wackiest and ballsiest trade in years.

He's a great play caller though; the Dolphins should hire him for OC.

He might even be a good head coach! But he is not a GM, that's for sure.

sooooooo

schottenheimer jr out, sparano in? does it seem like every decision the jets make under rexy is geared towards making that franchise more of a carnival? next thru the door: favre at qb and one of tiki barber, curtis martin or oj at rb

no one tops the jets at eating their own:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/ny-jets-players-bash-mark-sanchez-peyton-manning-gm-mike-tannenbaum-trade-young-quarterback-article-1.1004395

hee hee

If Peyton were to go to the Jets, NYC would be Manningville!

But as much as I'd love that, I'd hate it. I never NEVER want to see the Jets do well as long as Rex is coaching.

the jets hiring sporano is so incredibly baffling to me

i mean i like the guy and think he was actually a half-decent head coach, but the dolphins offenses were never particularly good. idk seems incredibly hasty.

have we already had the conversation about how Hue Jackson's first name is spelled

like, in mark sanchez's make or break year as a new york jet, who hasn't been an offensive coordinator since 1993 when he was calling plays for fucking BU

you a hire guy who hasn't been etc etc**

everything seems to suggest that theyre going to hire someone else for the passing game. because what they really need is MORE coaches.

Sanchez completed a league-worst two passes of 40-plus yards this season. By comparison, Tim Tebow completed three passes of at least 40 yards in the second quarter of the Broncos’ wild-card overtime win against the Steelers Sunday.

man, just when you thought they couldn't be any harder on Sanchez BAM, that's below the belt

tbh I always liked Sanchez, how can you not like a QB who wipes his boogers on his backup, eats hot dogs on the sidelines, then goes out and plays like shit

everything seems to suggest that theyre going to hire someone else for the passing game. because what they really need is MORE coaches.

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, January 11, 2012 10:49 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

the bears are doing the same thing, but i can't tell if the passing game/running game coordinator thing is an okay idea or a terrible idea

tbh I always liked Sanchez, how can you not like a QB who wipes his boogers on his backup, eats hot dogs on the sidelines, then goes out and plays like shit

― frogbs, Wednesday, January 11, 2012 10:50 AM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol

Falx lose O and D coordinators. shake up maybe not such a bad thing for a team that needs to do something different to get to the next level. altho seems like problems might be more personnel related than anything else.

wait what happened to their d coordinator?

van gorder left to DC for auburn

oh ok

really excited for the jags to have hired an o coordinator that is fresh off of being shut out by the new york giants in the first round of the playoffs

i guess their d coordinator really wants to be a college HC

lol @ wanting someone who might be able to turn blaine gabbert into.....matt ryan

that would probably be an achievement. i don't know if blaine gabbert projects quite to matt ryan's level.

yeah true it is just reflective of uh not aiming very high

Gabbert is the new Quinn.

are they actually sticking with Gabbert? like, is he above average in any single skill?

he's not as bad as brady quinn

Was Jimmy Clausen employed this year?

2010 	Carolina Panthers 	13 	10 	157 	299 	1,558 	3 	9 	23 	57 	0 	9 	2 	58.4
2011 	Carolina Panthers 	0 	0 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	- 	-

jimmy clausen was prob the worst rookie qb i've ever seen play

jeff fisher leaning toward dolphins, apparently

reggie bush is set for a monster 2012 if so

Mike Silver's article about Mark Davis today is like ... unfair.

has anybody ever asked Mark why he sports the haircut of an 80s tennis player

Falx lose O and D coordinators. shake up maybe not such a bad thing for a team that needs to do something different to get to the next level. altho seems like problems might be more personnel related than anything else.

― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, January 11, 2012 12:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

O-line

It sounds like the Falx want to speak to Billick about OC and the Bucs want to speak to him about HC. TAKE THE BUCS, MANG!

jimmy clausen was so bad, dude still looked like a high schooler out there (literally)

I've been getting that feeling from Christian Ponder lately

ponder was drafted too high but he's not clausen level bad

i also wouldn't feel that great about having him locked in as my franchise qb

hes definitely looked clausen-level bad starting with that game at Lambeau. just no awareness whatsoever. though I guess part of that may have to do with his injury (or injuries?)

kind of a hilarious subplot brewing in Minnesota now because Joe Webb looks way better than Ponder does now and could potentially fit really well with their gameplan

I'll take Ponder over Gabbert or Clausen.

what about andy dalton

Dalton is the best of that bunch but I wouldn't feel superconfident if he was my QB. They could use a better RB and more line help.

exactly. having A.J. Green (who looks destined to be in the megaelite class with Fitz and Megatron) certainly doesn't hurt but IMO Dalton's ceiling is Chad Pennington, and in you could probably win a lot of games with him as long as you don't expect him to be like Rodgers and Brady.

no way would i lump dalton in with the rest of those jokers. he had a pretty damn good rookie season.

naw, with those jokers is exactly where dalton belongs. he was bad at least as often as he was good, he just had an unbelievable rookie wr to hurl the ball in the general vicinity of, an underrated tight end safety valve, and a generous early season schedule.

right, I think A.J. Green makes him look better than he actually is. Dalton's deep ball tends to be pretty terrible

dalton's showed more arm strength this year than i ever would've guessed when he came out. he's got potential, to be sure

Not every rookie who is thrust into a starting role from game 1 is Cam Newton, you know? I see a lot of positive things, and maybe after a full training camp the dude can be pretty good. Pennington seems like a fair comparison.

But Gabbert and Clausen, I mean... Gabbert looks terrified out there, and Clausen was such a disaster.

The fact that Gabbert got drafted ahead of Dalton shows that the art of drafting QBs is still a total crapshoot.

yeah check out the QB comedy draft of 2007:

JaMarcus Russell Raiders Louisiana State
Brady Quinn Browns Notre Dame
Kevin Kolb Eagles Houston
John Beck Dolphins Brigham Young
Drew Stanton Lions Michigan State
Trent Edwards Bills Stanford
Isaiah Stanback Cowboys Washington
Jeff Rowe Bengals Nevada
Troy Smith Ravens Ohio State
Jordan Palmer Redskins Texas-El Paso
Tyler Thigpen Vikings Coastal Carolina

wooah

Whitlock on the Mike Silver column:

My takeaway is that within the Raiders organization there are a lot of beaten-down, worthless Al Davis flunkies who are scared McKenzie has been given the autonomy to scrub the place clean of beaten-down, worthless Al Davis flunkies. The Al Davis-Oakland gravy train has run out of gravy and starving, beaten-down, worthless Al Davis flunkies are crying on the laptop of the media member Al Davis despised the most, Mike Silver.

Yep, Silver established his reputation as arguably the best NFL writer in the country (Silver is far superior to Peter the King) by repeatedly going toe-to-toe with Al Davis. It’s comical watching Hue-bris feign undying loyalty and respect for Al Davis while collaborating with Davis’ top media enemy on stories that paint Al’s son as inept.

Which leads me back to my main point: The city of Oakland should throw a parade for whoever — Mark Davis or Reggie McKenzie — was responsible for kicking Hue-bris Jackson to the curb.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/hue-jackson-hubris-not-racism-got-him-fired-by-oakland-raiders-011211

uhhhh

as ever, jason whitlock makes a salient point while still managing to be an ass

rmde @ "Hue-bris"

mike sliver (intentionally misspelled) of talent

if you're an editor and you let someone make a "Hue-bris" joke over 20 times in a column you should be fired immediately

The Hue-bris thing is genius.

fisher to the rams apparently

lol @ brian schottenheimer 2 rams

im just glad the falcons dodged that bullet

Alabama, too.

gregg williams leaves saints, joins rams as DC. pushed or jumped?

there were rumors from a few weeks ago saying he was gonna follow fisher wherever

colts keeping caldwell. also: http://www.theonion.com/articles/bucs-to-talk-with-marty-schottenheimer-about-how-l,27031/

fuck are the colts doing

judging by the state of the roster, irsay made the right decision saying 'bye to the polians first and foremost. i'm 99% sure caldwell is no good but i guess the colts figured they would give him a chance to coach a team with players on it. one less team to worry about in the afc next year imo.

really wonder if this is a prelude to bringing peyton back

cuz otherwise it makes zero sense

unless for some reason they just feel like there will be better HC candidates available after next season

wow so weird

I think they wisely realize that they will not be any good next year either, so give Peyton a victory lap with his coach before they cut the cord completely.

lol if peyton is actually that invested in keeping caldwell around they should fire one and trade the other

yeah i didn't realize caldwell was "peyton's coach"?

Not sure they can trade him until he demonstrates that he can play. His contract is enormous.

Caldwell is the closest thing to continuity that Peyton has now that Polian, Moore, and Dungy are all gone.

but there is something they can do this very second, and that is fire jim caldwell

i think it's less that caldwell is peyton's coach and more that if caldwell is there peyton is the coach

i think it would be very hard to bring someone from the outside into "peyton's colts" -- the entire offense is basically "peyton walks to the line of scrimmage and decides what everyone is going to do"

yeah i still don't totally get that--it would be so hard to find someone who could coach up the defense and had the ability to speak while the game was taking place?

so i guess caldwell has just been fired? colts must have been reading this thread

what in the world is going on over there.

they prob intended to get rid of him all along and there were just erroneous reports out there?

the problem is exacerbated by ppl posting on this thread with unverified shit that they saw on twitter

xp i know i just enjoy imagining that the entire colts org. is in total chaos rn

yeah the idea of Caldwell not getting fired would have blown my mind too

the more bizarre thing is how irsay seems to be insistent on releasing peyton instead of trading him if they do indeed decide to get rid of him

Manning's contract is front-loaded fwiw: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/sports/football/manning-agrees-to-90-million-contract-with-colts.html

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that former Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo interviewed for the Colts defensive coordinator position, and Caldwell was one of the people Spagnuolo interviewed with, along with other team officials.

mike nolan joins atlanta as DC, his fourth team in four years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgGKSjiw0HQ

Umm, these emails:

http://deadspin.com/5855433/am-i-sick-are-we-all-sick-overwrought-things-the-media-wrote-to-auburns-pr-guy-during-cam-newtons-wild-2010-season

This whole Rob Lowe/Peyton Manning retirement hullaballoo on twitter and, subsequently, on various news outlets is my favorite thing ever.

Guy in my office said, "if Peyton and Rob are besties, does that mean Eli and Chad hang out together by default?"

what was Chad's helmet catch

AdamSchefter Adam Schefter
Only two of the 11 NFL head coaches hired in 2009 remain: Jim Schwartz and Rex Ryan. Other nine -- nine! -- each now fired.

Jim Irsay: “My sources tell me Rob will star in an epic remake of ‘Deep Throat’ with aging porn stars and 4 finger circus clowns!”

lol stay classy, ladainian

I dont think LaDanian did anything wrong here. He's a leader on the team, he wants to see changes made so he went public. THeir season is over. Ed Reed on the other hand. Ed: you are playing in the AFC Championship this weekend. You are probably the greatest safety of all time, Joe Flacco isnt fit to wash your jock. But you need him to get you to the Super Bowl, so shut the fuck up

as much as i'd love to shit on LDT, he's approximately the eighth jet to publicly speak about the santonio thing, so i don't have much of a problem w/ it

plus it seems like all these dudes feel like their only recourse is to talk publicly about it? idk

anyway LOL jets, you signed santonio holmes to a long term deal

at least you'll always have that TD celebration

yeah it's not a big deal but ldt is a free agent so this feels distinctly like taking some shots on your way out (which he also did to the bolts iirc).

yeah idk

As a fan, i'd rather have err on the side of more transparency into the locker room than less. So the more we hear from the LT's and Greg McElroy's the better.

OMG Falcons coach Mike Smith said that Gronkowski and Hernandez are a coupla queens! http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AnQSfONb3iqjlqgPAUjhlGg5nYcB?slug=jc-cole_patriots_tight_ends_gronkowski_hernandez_011812

http://tinyurl.com/6p8hytu grr.

surely a pair of aces would be a better metaphor?

it's a chess metaphor though

it's a chess metaphor though

then two knights makes way more sense

LT's stock has really slid over the past few years. He really fell from about one of the highest regarded players in the game, kind of starting with the Chargers collapse with Marty against the Pats and the fallout. It has not really been right since.

He's an RB. Unless you are some sort of superhuman like Walter Payton, you have a very short lifespan as an RB. It's like a boxer, once you are shot you are shot. There are no comebacks at that position.

the fact that he had a good year with the Jets was pretty amazing in itself. but yeah RBs are not like QBs or safeties or WRs that can potentially gain new skills as they age, every important RB skill is the sort of thing that starts to decline once you hit 27-28 (and arguably much earlier)

tbf, the jets running game was fucked regardless; don't think LDT detracted from them this year

It's not really that LT's production fell off as much as respect thing. He went from being the coolest player in the league to kind of a choad in some ways at least to me.

yeah it's not too cool to go talking about locker room shit to the press

on the other hand, he's not wrong. bringing in santonio (and plaxico!) guaranteed this kind of shit, and for whatever else sanchez is or isn't, he certainly doesn't have the stature to tell his wrs to stfu.

and if rex let it fester/was clueless ('i didn't know santonio had been benched') then that's on him. apparently everyone -- on defense, anyway -- loves playing for the guy, and i understand his ott media pronouncements are meant to assume the pressure for himself rather than the team. but he's such a blowhard that when things go awry, he seems to have no other ideas but to double down.

He went from being the coolest player in the league to kind of a choad in some ways at least to me.

Me too. I was not at all sad to see him go. Was much more upset about losing Sproles and Turner.

well duh; those two guys are at their productive peaks!

fins hiring joe philbin apparently

Bury son in Green Bay, move to Miami. That's gotta hurt like a motherfucker.

well duh; those two guys are at their productive peaks!

Yeah but I also just miss them as dudes. They are quality fellas.

Was much more upset about losing Sproles and Turner.

but . . . you still have norval!

I like Norv!

well he seems like a nice guy

otoh i'm curious about how many guys have been the head coach of three different teams with such middling results

(he kind of got shafted in washington and i can't blame the raiders' performance on him, but he's been wholly underwhelming with the chargers)

i mean what separates him from dave wannstedt, except luck

I'd like to go on record as saying Darren Sproles is the guy in the NFL I'd most like to hang out with.
Honestly the Saints might be the coolest team to go to a bar with .

Roman Harper would open all your beers with his neck

chip kelly might coach tampa. crazy..

this is insane + i am so pissed the dolphins let him go to tampa

Is his steez too gimmicky for the nfl? Seems like all his qbs are the types who never stand a chance in the nfl.

well chip backed out, happy for college football

if he really wants to coach nfl he should wait for a better job than the bucs job

everyone wants to hate peyton manning, it's only natural, but how can you hate a guy that calls rob lowe 'sodapop'?
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120124/SPORTS15/120124015/Kravitz-Manning-says-Irsay-not-Grigson-will-decide-his-future-Colts?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com

huh

http://tracking.si.com/2012/01/24/report-dennis-allen-is-the-favorite-to-be-next-raiders-head-coach/?sct=hp_t2_a5&eref=sihp

Maybe the Bucs should just try going a season w/o a head coach.

BUT I DONT WANT A BRONCOS COACH.

*grump*

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8265203d/article/colts-hire-ravens-dc-pagano-to-replace-caldwell-as-coach?module=HP11_headline_stack

greg schiano, tampa bay hc

woah

Chilly is the new o-coordinator for the Browns

Sorry brownie

oh no

My condolences.

http://gickr.com/results2/anim_7c275206-c26c-a654-854b-d376d0fd5df0.gif

so good/terrifying to see that again

I had hoped to never see it again (hides)

Absolutely love this hire. Good to see the Browns front office finally all be on the same page (Heckert is totally the best G.M. we've had since coming back). I predict Chilly will be the next Wade Phillips, where a disgraced former coach who should have never been a coach in the first place gets re-hired as a coordinator and the rest is history. Happy to see Shurmur realizing you're not doing a good job at playcalling when the other team knows what play is going to be run 95% of the time. Chilly failed in Minnesota because he lost the locker room, and as an O.C. being in control of the players is obviously not his responsibility. He'll be fine. 10-6 and 12-4 in his last two full seasons + a trip to the NFC Championship game? I'd take that anyday.

chilly's whole "dressed to kill" method of motivation (mixing fear and sexual confusion) worked on brett favre that one year, i guess.

http://i44.tinypic.com/6nxzx1.png

arian foster best dressed guy in the league

Childress will make an excellent offensive coordinator if they can get Andy Reid to call the plays for him again.

http://www.panthers.com/news/article-2/Panthers-introduce-refined-logo/22b44075-6ab5-477d-ac6d-7d29733deea0

panthers FINALLY got a new font

not great but better than the old one?

the panther got spruced up a bit too, that's nice for them.

before:

http://images.pictureshunt.com/pics/c/carolina_panthers_logo-9058.gif

after:

http://www.panthers.com/assets/clubimages/News/2012/01-January/120129_refined_inside.gif

god that looks sooooooo much better

i was talking w/ my friend the other day about how shitty it was that the god cam newton had to wear such mickey mouse 90s uniforms

i'm trying to figure out what happened to the new panthers right whiskers which seems to have migrated quite a ways from his nose

lol, that is technically better i guess, but "slightly less terrible" would be more accurate

well as long as the colors are black and screaming electric blue they've kind of painted themselves into a corner

is it some kind of optical illusion that makes it look like the font and logo are no longer the same shade of blue?

someone should do a fonts poll for nfl teams.
say what you will about washington we do have a good font

lol, that is technically better i guess, but "slightly less terrible" would be more accurate
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, January 30, 2012 3:29 AM

Is there a particular reason why the A in "Panthers" needed to have two extra scratch marks? Also, I can't locate the new panther's nose: is it the blue "triangle" above the teeth? Is it the black space to the right? Or is it the blue "hook" to the right of that?

imagine if they had a pro bowl and no one noticed

ryan matthews was apparently in the pro bowl this year

so was brandon marshall

also cam newton went 9/27 and threw three picks

in the pro bowl

do you remember the pro bowl where there were 100 points scored and andy dalton finished with close to a perfect qb rating?

i thought it was actually entertaining! that play where Newton nearly got sacked twice, then escaped and threw a godawful pick (like, no one from his team was in the area), which was then fumbled , then recovered, then ran for a touchdown through a bunch of defenders - that was pretty cool and the kind of thing that would have like 7 flags thrown on it if it were a 'real' game

http://theclassical.org/sites/default/files/nfl.com%202012-1-30%200%3A51%3A49.png

Experimental Literacy at NFL.com

poor eric widdle

BreakingNews Breaking News
Sports: Peyton Manning likely will never play football again, sources say - http://lat.ms/zuxF0j
3 minutes ago

rip

big loss for the nfl if true. there's no doubt he will do down in history as one of the top two quarterbacks in his family. i miss him already tbh.

yeah he's got to be subconsciously rooting against Eli right now

gdamn, you really can find a picture of calvin peeing on anything. the internet

http://oi37.tinypic.com/2vl3amq.jpg

not surprised at all about this... i'm not sure how you can have "spinal fusion surgery" and then play nfl football again. just doesn't seem possible.

cant we just sacrifice eli and put him in peytons pyramid or w/e

so... was there a certain play where peyton fucked himself up or was it some sort of degenerative thing?

you mean, inbreeding?

i am genuinely sad abt this :/

peyton deserved to ride out the rivalry w/brady til the end

also eli should be murdered asap

time for ryan leaf to make a comeback

also i am worried re superbowl

"That boy is our last hope."
"No, there is another..."

tbh, i can't believe eli is thinking about playing football at a time like this

Is spinal stenosis something that runs in families?

Cooper Manning, Archie's oldest son, was born in 1974. At 6'4", he was once an All-State High School wide receiver, and he was considered a hot prospect for the University of Mississippi. At 18, after extensive testing, he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis (a narrowing of the spinal canal), which brought his playing days to an end.[15]

tbh, i can't believe eli is thinking about playing football at a time like this

― Roberto Spiralli, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 1:18 PM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

he should prob suicide himself

the line has always been that cooper was the best athlete of all of em, tho that is prob exaggerated imo

ya surely that is just a thing people say

also i do wonder how/why this story got out now, on media day nonetheless!

that is certainly a thing that ppl say when your brothers are peyton and eli manning and you were forced to stop playing football after high school

you get the impression that archie and mrs manning got a little bit better at making spines with each try, so hopefully eli will be good thru his nfl craeer at least

aw, i was the last person to draft him on a fantasy team

T.O. appearantly broke and "in hell".

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2012/01/terrell-owens-no-money-no-job-and-in-hell.html

The money problems came from a series of bad investments and, as Owens describes it, trusting the wrong people.

"I hate myself for letting this happen," Owens said. "I believed that they had my back when they said, 'You take care of the football, and we'll do the rest.' And in the end, they just basically stole from me."

always its like this! v sad

It's hard not to have some shadenfreude at the situation though, as if the guy wasn't such a total dick, he probably would have a gig on an NFL club.

it's such a weird cliche and it seems to keep happening.

aw man, you guys

watched peyton interview on sports center last nite and he was all oh im coming back everything is on schedule didnt seem that convincing tho

def seemed like he was leaving indy

right now i'm feeling it's like 99% he leaves indy 55% he never plays again

sounds abt right

i just can't imagine him calling it a day without even trying tho

itll be so sad if he comes back for one year throw 30ints and retires

if hes hearing 'u could be paralyzed from a hit' or w/e i would hope hes smart/mature enough to say welp & walk away

i heard part of an interview w/ ray lucas who i guess has recently had a similar spinal fusion surgery who was told in his playing days that a hit could paralyze him and he told his doctors 'so what'

yeah the peyton manning i have made up in my head would not risk that.

so sad, you guys.

theyre saying he has no heightened risk of injury at this point its just that theres nerve damage in his arm thats hindering his velocity/accuracy or w/e but its slowly healing - obvs that could all be total lies

but you're right it would be sad if he came back for a season and played badly also i feel like his head might explode from frustration<---heightened risk of injury

he should suicide bomb eli w/his exploding head

i think eventually you're going to find yourself with a sneaking fondness for eli just like for peyton

ha no way eli is so lame

i have to admit i like eli. he has a forrest gump quality. i am glad that he eventually turned out to be a decent qb

important on this topic: http://espn.go.com/espnw/commentary/7525385/espnw-how-eli-manning-turned-aw-shucks-art-form

Eli's one of the all time dorks.

Couldnt give a shit about Terrell Owens, he's an idiot.

Re: Ray Lucas above. I believe he graduated from a pain-pill popper to a heroin addict.

you guys, eli is the cutest. brady is a bigger dork than eli.

there's been talk of peyton to washington.. NOOOOOOOO....

I heard that too. It's too weird to think about.

Peyton needs to go to sf NEEDS TO

TITIANS

If he can play, I want to see him be a Niner more than anything in the world!

if he went to either the vikings or redskins, those divisions would be insane

assuming hes somewhere close 2 "peyty" status

i would be for it if peyton was like 'i will win one (1) super bowl for your team but first you have to change your racist name'

that would be v interesting

i would be for it if peyton was like 'i will win one (1) super bowl for your team but first you have to change your racist name'

― seriously, THIS GUY (daria-g), Wednesday, February 1, 2012 10:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

okay this needs to happen

not sure peyton cares about the redskins' racist name. but he should!

i will write him a letter

what if they just changed their name to the whiteskins and turned the guy on helmets skin to pink how would everyone feel

peyton is from the deep south; he doesn't care

it's a nice thought tho

has a player ever come out and say he doesn't want to play for them because of the name? I like to think that I'd have the balls to do it, but obviously it's a tough situation w/r/t the draft.

I thought it would've been awesome if Sam Bradford had been drafted by Washington and refused to play until they changed their name. Unfortunately, the Rams sucked harder than the Skins that year.

the washington palefaces

What about P. Manning to Seattle.

peyton manning to the glue factory right everyone i mean come on

Dark horse is the Texans.

It would be very weird to see Peyton Manning end up on another AFC South club and having to play the Colts twice a year.

I think the way this is going to playout, there won't be a way for the Colts to not stop this from potentially happening as a trade of somekind seems unlikely.

It seems like it might be a very Washington/Snyder thing to do to trade for rights/contract to Peyton Manning and just pay the bonus. I suppose that is a possibility. Heck I'd imagine a low round draft pick would make that happen. It would also be a very Washington thing for them to trade for him, pay the bonus and probably a raise and then have it turn out "oh yeah, I guess I can't play cause my neck is fxxxed" ala what happened with Deon a few years back.

i am really surprised that the steelers are actually going to (supposedly) hire todd haley as OC.

i took a break from hating football today to enjoy the thought of ben rofflesburger having to take coaching from todd_haley.gif

Ricky Williams has gone to the great headshop in the sky.

dude fucking earned it

I'd like to know what a world would have been like if Ricky Williams would have been drafted instead of Edge by the Colts in 1999.

That would be one damn interesting NFL What If...

he would've been rubbing peyton's neck every year with his big holistic medicine mitts and keeping harrison high and mellow and they would be winning their tenth consecutive superbowl this past weekend.

wow this is amazing

http://daveartlocker.blogspot.com/2012/02/manning-face.html

omg brownie

(the mascot, not the ilx poster, tho he should definitely check this out)

omg guys i laughed so hard

WOW

OMG the dolphin

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NfPGip5CKH0/TzRb0JZ_STI/AAAAAAAABYs/sw2dCPGEk2c/s320/Dolmann.jpg

lolololol

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j9rEmmtmL8M/TzRt9mMGmaI/AAAAAAAABcQ/aDW6dVW-SBU/s320/Beariing.jpg

the saddest eyes

poor da Bearz

R Mendenhall probably out for next season. :/

RIP you were barely any good in the first place

The Jaws/Gruden dream team is no more! Jaws is out from MNF. ;_;

maracas.jpg

what!!! no!

I bet Jaws feels 50 lbs. lighter today.

jaws hated gruden, clearly

that said i'm so ready for gruden unfiltered

i may or may not be plotting to poison mike tirico to force espn to go with the first ever one man booth

otm, jaws is a buffoon and gruden clearly hated him. i will miss the cold dead lucky in chucky's eyes whenever jaws talked tho.

lol lucky=look

so who's taking the third spot? please say shannon sharpe

nah it's a two man booth

without jaws to take one side, chucky will be forced to split his personality into making a case for both teams at hand to win

2Live Crew

i genuinely don't think i can deal with that much chucky

they need a third. I love Chucky, but cmon.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/7577700/awww-new-york-jets-mark-sanchez-asks-santonio-holmes-valentine

Jaws' and Gruden's voices sound similar enough that I often imagined the booth was Tirico and one really messed-up guy who liked to argue with himself, like Steve Martin in All of Me.

I would love it if Rodney Harrison went free agent and did SNF in the studio for NBC and then MNF on location with Tirico/Chucky for ESPN.

JF that would be a dream come true

Can ILNFL exert enough influence to make this happen?

p. sure we have adam schefter on our side

:D

RIP chucky & jaws' monday night football school

:,(

and yes, the only thing that would make this OK is bringing in rodney harrison

why do they always try to ruin everything for us

SI.com also reported Wednesday that Manning wanted to try to play in the Colts' home finale against the Houston Texans in Week 16, even going through a scripted 30-play practice in the week before Indianapolis' Week 15 game against the Tennessee Titans. Then-team president Bill Polian, former coach Jim Caldwell and ex-offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen were at the practice.

Manning had hopes to at least play in red zone situations, where his weakened arm strength wouldn't be a hindrance.

Sources who were at the practice told SI.com that Manning's passes to running back Joseph Addai and practice-squad receivers were accurate at the practice session but that he couldn't throw anything longer than 22 yards. His passes also sometimes wobbled, according to the sources, who estimated that his velocity on the passes was around 80 percent of his normal throwing speed.

The practice session was moot, however, as team physician Hank Feuer wouldn't clear Manning to return to action.

"He wanted to go on the field and try to dump red-zone passes against Houston,'' a league source told SI.com. "Even though his neck muscles hadn't even been strengthened yet. Can you imagine anyone putting him on the field in that situation? Just to throw a string of red-zone passes? But that's where things were going at that time, and it kind of speaks to the insanity of the situation.''

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7579168/indianapolis-colts-peyton-manning-reportedly-had-4th-neck-procedure-11

looooooooooool

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/398747_132768703511899_100003363096802_132174_1453128935_n.jpg
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/398747_132768703511899_100003363096802_132174_1453128935_n.jpg

that is unreal huh

hahah

So weird that basically no one thinks he's not playing.

it's a conspiracy mayne

This is my first offseason with access to NFL Network on a regular basis (cable in FL didn't carry it). I watched about six hours of TOP 10 shows this afternoon. So much Favre!

Were you subdued into buying Wranglers & havin' fun?

The last time I owned a pair of Wranglers was in 7th grade, but I was havin' fun fo sho.

:D

ben roffles and todd_haley.gif will be so entertaining

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_782687.html

"He still hasn't called yet," Roethlisberger said with a discouraged tone Monday.

this should prob go in the skins thread but i want everyone to see it

this is what laron landry look like now

http://i.imgur.com/WumKs.jpg

wut

truly that cannot be healthy

he looks like he's moments away from exploding

laron landry would def be in the top 10% of nfl players i would expect to spontaneously combust into a smoking pile of muscle and creatine

maybe you could just pull on one of his arms like Stretch Armstrong and that weird red plastic jello goop comes out

by which i presume you mean blaine gabbert

lol

Iggles have signed Trent Edwards as a backup QB. Vince Young RIP.

finally

combine weekend is my fav time of year

http://i.imgur.com/FHbwe.png

http://i.imgur.com/hkmWe.gif

I noticed something cross the NFLN ticker once this weekend, but only once. I hope someone at the network was just being a wiseguy.

Jeff Fisher may be entertaining the idea of bringing in Albert Haynesworth.

to clean the arena?

to eat the rest of his giant hoagie

If Peyton can play, dropping him and Reggie Wayne into another location might be a cool thing to see.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/28/peyton-manning-reggie-wayne-could-be-a-package-deal/

damn i so want them with the titans

I'd love to see them in SF, but I think Alex Smith did enough in the one playoff game vs. the Saints to keep him a starter for another season.

I think Alex Smith is fine, they need some real wide recievers bad in SF. They are terrible.

75% peytey with hasslebeck backing up and locker learning
kenny britt and reggie wayne with chris johnson completely rested and paid
seriously, this would do fine as a birthday present if anyone could make it happen

we'll get right on it

ILNFL, TO THE BATMOBILE

what is it with forks and the tightans

I'm from Tn, dude

I only lived in Nashville for 4 years (during McNair's up years and down years) but I've got a little love for them too.

ugh bill polian is joining espn

I'd love to see them in SF, but I think Alex Smith did enough in the one playoff game vs. the Saints to keep him a starter for another season.

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, February 28, 2012 4:16 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Was your cable out for the Giants game?

The one the 49ers would've won if Kyle Williams could catch a punt?

The one where he had 196 yards, 2td 0int despite his receivers being unable to separate from coverage or catch the ball?

The one against the Super Bowl champs? His first NFC championship game? That one?

xp Yeah, I saw that one. It was a close loss, and none of it was Alex Smith's fault.

Also, what polyphonic just said.

The one where Alex Smith bears just as much blame as Williams. He sucked in that game. If they hadnt gone three and out countless times at the end of the game they would have won. You guys obviously dont watch the games.

And if I remember correctly they had decent field position in OT and Smith went three and out. He sucked.

bill, his receivers were horrible in that game!

bill magill stop being a retard for one second

Impossible

bill magill stop being a retard for one second

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, February 29, 2012 2:52 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Impossible

― polyphonic, Wednesday, February 29, 2012 3:08 PM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Fuck you both

1-13 on third down is good quarterbacking, i stand corrected. well done

On that very same day Tom Brady threw for 239 yards with 0 TDs and 2 INTs. Clearly time for the Patriots to get a new QB, right?!

Ladies and gentlemen, someone has just compared Tom Brady with Alex Smith.

Well played, sir.

Maybe they should bring in Peyton Manning, whose last playoff game was a 17-16 loss against the mighty Mark Sanchez.

Ladies and gentlemen, someone has just compared Tom Brady with Alex Smith.

Oh, you mean the guy on the team the Giants defeated after they beat the 49ers?

yes, that guy.

Maybe they should bring in Peyton Manning, whose last playoff game was a 17-16 loss against the mighty Mark Sanchez.

― polyphonic, Wednesday, February 29, 2012 4:09 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^agreed, i think they should

last night i dreamt that the steelers were playing the browns in the super bowl, which of course is impossible for both logistical and lolbrowns reasons.

they were playing outdoors on a muddy field (another impossibility). late in the fourth the steelers led 7-6 and were driving. i don't know what the down was, but they were on about the brownies' 10.

rapey ben dropped back and . . . threw the ball directly into the crowd beyond the end zone, where it was caught by that tall dude who was the janitor on scrubs. he, in turn, pumped, then fired it to mike wallace in the corner of the end zone for the score.

everyone was aghast -- dierdorf was in the booth going on about how he'd heard the play talked about but never seen it in an actual game, let alone the super bowl. apparently it was some weird extraneous rule, like in basketball where you can pass the ball to a teammate out of bounds on the baseline, or maybe like castling in chess.

the steelers went on to win their seventh super bowl and everyone, particularly me, was happy except for brownie and mr snrub.

lol

threw the ball directly into the crowd beyond the end zone, where it was caught by that tall dude who was the janitor on scrubs. he, in turn, pumped, then fired it to mike wallace in the corner of the end zone for the score

I would like for this to become a legal play!

lol that the steelers were already leading 7-6 anyway, browns cant even be ahead in the dream

haha i know!

only legal if it's the guy from scrubs who catches it

that is amazing

http://mcnabborkolb.com/post/18573365009/pessimism-be-damned-desean-tagged-will-sign

browns will not franchise hillis, will become an ufa, wtf?

that seems smart to me?

he had one good season and seemed like a total d bag last year

Yeah, Hillis was the Browns equivalent of a Samkon Gado.

madden curse strikes again

I know, I know. It probably is the right move. I'm just pissed. It'll be sad when fantasy football comes around and you'll see all these lists of player after player and not a single Brown will represent. RIP my Peyton Hillis "White Rhino" shirt.

Browns would be wise to make a run at Michael Bush or Mike Tolbert

Jason La Canfora ‏ @JasonLaCanfora
NFL announces a comprehensive investigation find Saints defense and coaches guilty of violating NFL rules by having bounties on opponents...

Jason La Canfora ‏ @JasonLaCanfora
According to the NFL, the bounty pool totaled upwards of $50K at times w/ payments for "knock-out hits" w/ players and coaches contributing

Jason La Canfora ‏ @JasonLaCanfora
League has yet to decide discipline on Saints or any individuals for the bounty violations. It will be discussed at the March league meeting

that's not good

Jason La Canfora ‏ @JasonLaCanfora
NFL investigation says Saints coaches and GM Mickey Loomis did not intervene to stop bounties when owner Tom Benson instructed them to

this is pretty grizzly

they better go down harder than the pats did for spygate

best believe d'benson

as gregg williams was DC, st louis should be banned from fielding a defense this season

i find this wing-clipping p strange

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8275448d/article/saints-gm-reportedly-calls-brees-very-good-but-not-great?module=HP11_headline_stack

as gregg williams was DC, st louis should be banned from fielding a defense this season

― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, March 2, 2012 3:24 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

eh who would really notice the difference

boom!

they better go down harder than the pats did for spygate

― call all destroyer, Friday, March 2, 2012 8:22 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark

well hopefully the nfl won't take away their 1st round pick...

hines ward released apparently

farrior too

old steelers are old

that very good not great article is insane
he just had arguably among the top three seasons by a pro quarterback ever!

just playing a little contract hardball, nbd

it's just demonstrably untrue!

doesnt it alienate their fans for him to be subtly demeaning local hero etc brees

i mean omelettes etc but still

nah everyone forgets abt this stuff once the contract is done

anyway, the saints had a good run as a likable franchise, onto the panthers bandwagon imo.

odds that dan snyder texted brees when that GM comment came out?

i would!

Peter King ‏ @SI_PeterKing
In my opinion, the penalties on this will be worse, and maybe significantly worse, than Spygate.

probably not a good idea to institutionalize the idea of pay to maim in a professional sport, huh

oh so *that* is where the nfl draws the line

well they won't allow shotguns so

Adam Schefter ‏ @AdamSchefter Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Investigation reviewed 18.000 documents totaling more than 50,000 pages. Commissioner Goodell will determine the discipline.

how could there possibly be 50000 pages? just like a billion printed out text msg exchanges & emails or.. i honestly cant think of one thing anyone involved would put in written form

"Dear Diary..."

my guess would be email printouts where the entire email thread gets copied on every new message.

also transcribed interviews

phil simms just said in an interview he thinks peyty goes to washington

not that he knows anything im sure

he's headed to politics already?

Peyty could definitely be a Senator from Indiana.

it does seem like he could slot into any job in america, football or non-football. there was some rumor i heard that espn took jaws out of the mnf booth so they could easily get him in there if he retires. if i had 2 go in 4 some medical procedure next week and peyty was the head surgeon would i be surprised?

just saw the clip of the maybe cheap shot-ish hit? on kurt warner from the '10 playoff game after an int

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC1T1tAbA4s

be very interested in what comes down on sean payton...goodell specifically said he wasn't "directly" involved but that he knew and did nothing to stop it...and my feeling is that, as a head coach, that's pretty much a meaningless distinction in my mind

also, i feel like the league is pretty much petrified behind the scenes about possible class action lawsuits by former players regarding concussions and how does that factor into the nfl's response?

well they won't allow shotguns so

― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl)

billy cole went around this by using a .45 iirc

so which sportswriter is the first to take the time to go through all the film of the season and see how many guys got injured vs the saints defense and which ones were cheap shots...

http://mike-freeman.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6264363/35066335

Funds for the Saints bounty system, the memo states, weren't solely contributed by players. People close to the Saints team contributed as well. One was a felon: Michael Ornstein.
[..] The NFL memo to teams state that then Ornstein pledged $10,000 towards the quarterback bounty in 2009.

Then, on at least two occasions in 2011, Ornstein again contributed to a bounty fund on an opposing quarterback.

The NFL memo also states there was a bounty paper trail. Ornstein put details of the bounty system in an e-mail to Payton, according to the NFL memo. In that e-mail, Ornstein committed $5,000 towards yet another bounty.

holy shit seriously?

also whoever on the saints talked to NFL during the first investigation (before evidence turned up) lied about it. per bedard @ boston globe who is a solid reporter so..

i wonder about those years when williams was DC on the redskins.

fuuuuucking hell

a-ha. well, here you go:

Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints had bounty systems that paid for big hits

the next thing i thought after "did williams do this with the redskins?" was "sean taylor (rip) would definitely hit somebody"

what the fuck

this is crazy

ban gregg williams from the league

christ on a cracker

this saints thing is getting ott, but the nfl needn't wring its hands so hard. the money is next to nothing compared to what most players make and totally nothing compared to what the nfl rakes in.

these players have been told since they were 10 years old to deliver hits that knock ppl out. you ask butkus or whomever and you're goddamn right they ordered the code red. i remember hearing an opposing coach say that while he couldn't stop earl campbell, he figured that if you got four helmets on him on each carry, he wouldn't be in the league too long. which was more than otm.

james harrison is a convenient scapegoat for shit because he's black and scary, but his play is a perfect response to every incentive the nfl creates. the league is built on this shit -- ppl want big hits and the league is more than willing to profit on the danger.

that a saints lb who has been trained to fucking pulverize his opponents since he was a child got paid an extra $1500 for doing so doesn't obviate everything else the league stands for.

:( stories like this make me think i should stop watching football :(

noooooooooooo

DON'T EVER SAY THAT

mookie i have no idea what point youre trying to make there?

<3 <3 <3 saints <3 <3 <3 fuck a feigned indignation sports media machine

lol yeah this is all "sports media" at work

that the kind of mindset to target the best opposing players and try to take them out of the game is basically a fundamental part of playing defense? but institutionalizing it as a coach and leaving a paper trail is REALLY DUMB

i figured stuff like that was why lolbelichick revealed as little information as possible about injuries, wouldn't let his players ever talk about them, and did stuff like putting 'brady - questionable - shoulder' on the injury report for like an entire season

my point is that the game itself incentivizes (sorry) the behavior of injuring one's opponents, with or without a 'bounty.' and that the league has profited from this behavior for decades.

thus i find it rich that everyone is up in arms because gregg williams made explicit, with entirely insignificant financial bonuses, what everyone in the league has been trying to do for years.

wouldn't it sometimes be counterproductive if you are coached to intentionally go for the big hit/INT & take a greater risk of missing the tackle and giving up a big play

i'm just saying having unfortunately watched a lot of washington football you would def see lolron landry/d hall do that.. ?

(in the nhl teams are required to list a portion of the body that is injured, e.g. left knee. so the injury reports are full of listings that are totally opposite of the truth, lest opponents try to go after the injured areas. there's no bounty, but that's hockey.)

my two problems with that are 1) "ability to injure opposing players" is probably not a real skill and probably doesn't have a whole lot to do with a given players overall effectiveness, and 2) in a league where an amazingly high # of players grew up poor and end up broke i think it's crazy to call the financial incentives insignificant.

actually there's a third problem--the league does not benefit from quarterback injuries. far from it. i think defensive play will slowly come around to this fact.

let me be clear: at the end of the day i expect that this probably had minimal impact on the field, during the games. the saints defense kind of sucked for this whole period anyway. but there is some value in doing things (playing, coaching) in good faith and this violates that idea about as much as anything could.

xxp obv

'ability to injure opposing players' is probably not a repeatable skill, true. but football prizes batshit players who are willing to run through walls, as evidenced in that don bosco high school story in the new yorker.

the average nfl salary is $1.9m and the median is $770,000. an extra grand for a headshot to brett favre is not particularly motivating unless you are a guy who has been groomed for this all your life.

i am not trying to portray the players as savages, although that is what their coaches would like to make of them. they are responding rationally to what the league values, which is savagery.

well isn't it another myth that fans/sports media/leagues like to maintain, that the motivation for guys is above all winning/love of the game/teamwork/pure competitiveness but for many it is $$$$$$ first so..

and if you have a guy esp at lower than the median salary looking at an extra $1-$5K tax free, seems like that is motivating all right. responding v rationally to the possibility of making more money while you can in a league where you career could be over the next day. that's not crazy at all.

i think the extra $ pales beside the worry that your teammates will think you're a pussy, so to speak.

even in the military, it is not so much patriotism that drives ppl to heroism as looking out for/being one of the bros.

mooks otm

the line between this kinda incentivized violence and the incentivized violence that is 'just playing football' is very, very thin

the financial incentive is really secondary to the way that this practice of manipulating players to intentionally try to injure other players was not just sanctioned but systematized. also, looking at that warner hit, they clearly crossed the line from taking an opportunity to deliver the biggest hit you can legally - which is lamentably or otherwise pretty standard football practice - and cynically taking someone out away from the ball with the single intent of injuring them. there are shades of violence here and the line between is not "very thin" at all.

The thing about this that bothers me is mostly just the way Gregg Williams is lying about it in his apology. He said: "It was a terrible mistake, and we knew it was wrong while we were doing it ... Instead of getting caught up in it, I should have stopped it. I take full responsibility for my role. I am truly sorry. I have learned a hard lesson and I guarantee that I will never participate in or allow this kind of activity to happen again." But he also did this shit when he was with the Redskins, so how exactly did things get out of control so much that it followed him to his next gig?

looking forward to easterbrook's continued mention of him as 'tastefully named'

I'm withmookie on this, but it is still likely going to change the league

But he also did this shit when he was with the Redskins, so how exactly did things get out of control so much that it followed him to his next gig?

He'll be fired by the Rams within the week and suspended by the NFL for no less than a full season.

i think the extra $ pales beside the worry that your teammates will think you're a pussy, so to speak.

yeah this is true but that concern exists regardless of there being a bounty system?

the line between this kinda incentivized violence and the incentivized violence that is 'just playing football' is very, very thin

i suppose i agree but it's not so thin that ppl should act like it's hard to figure out.

I mean honestly I guess mookie raises some points but at the end of the day it's meaningless. The league cannot and will not and should not tolerate that a bounty system

the financial incentive is really secondary to the way that this practice of manipulating players to intentionally try to injure other players was not just sanctioned but systematized. also, looking at that warner hit, they clearly crossed the line from taking an opportunity to deliver the biggest hit you can legally - which is lamentably or otherwise pretty standard football practice - and cynically taking someone out away from the ball with the single intent of injuring them. there are shades of violence here and the line between is not "very thin" at all.

― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, March 2, 2012 11:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

again, the systemized practice of manipulating players to intentionally try to injure other players = the game of football as it is played today

if we want to seriously get real on this, blame espn, blame replay culture. the league benefits from stuff like this - they love to divide things into 'injuries that we wanted to happen' and 'injuries that we didn't want to happen'. when really they all fall under the same category: 'injuries we were willing to let happen'

I mean we're willing to celebrate violent sacks, willing to celebrate teams that play physical - but only when that sack leads to a disabiling injury does it turn into 'a bad thing'. as long as football is a game that involves delivering the biggest hit you can legally, as long as people celebrate that act, as long as people are getting paid millions of dollars but only when they do exactly that, I find it p hard to blame players for 'crossing the line' and not pretending like the things they do every day do not inevitably lead to disabiling injuries. and that people don't enjoy that.

I mean I don't think financial incentives for injuries are a good thing or should be allowed but I think this whole thing needs to be looked at as a symptom not a cause.

as long as football is a game that involves delivering the biggest hit you can legally

i don't agree that this is equivalent to "intent to injure" at all. it's not really possible to injure other players with legal tackles except by random chance.

the thing about the saints hit on warner and about james harrison's variety of hits is that they were not legal.

again, the systemized practice of manipulating players to intentionally try to injure other players = the game of football as it is played today

yeah i just don't agree with this at all.

Will new Raiders coach Dennis Allen be suspended, I wonder...

Saints will be forced to retroactively forfeit all games in which "hard, open field tackles" were made.

i gotta say that i totally agree with iatee and mookie

heaven forbid players be monetarily rewarded for kill shots! what kind of terrible world are we living in!?

like was it not basically one month ago that everyone was falling all over themselves to praise the niners for knocking out like three saints players? but oh god, make sure dashon goldson doesn't get an extra 10k under the table

yeah i think mookie is basically otm :(

it just seems like a ridiculous place to try and draw a line, especially considering there's no evidence of the saints injuring opponents at a higher rate than anyone else in the league

everyone was falling all over themselves to praise the niners for knocking out like three saints players?

lol everyone was falling all over themselves in praise of this?

ridiculous place to draw the line - gtfo, you do realize that if we all agreed this is "ok" we would be saying that there is no longer such a thing as an illegal hit in football?

lol everyone was falling all over themselves in praise of this?

yes! i mean maybe not on ilnfl specifically, but certainly in the press the niners were being praised for their "legal" helmet to helmet hits

alright but i don't really feel that we need to use the sports media lens to figure out whether or not having a bounty system is ok?

i don't know, i think the uproar is overstated

i'm not saying that a bounty system is okay, but many worse things happen in the nfl

if a study comes out next week that shows beyond a reasonable doubt that opponents were getting injured more vs the saints than other teams, i'd change my mind, but i can't get up in arms over their players getting paid under the table to do what every nfl team wants its players to do

xp i'm sure they do but i find jadedness to be a not-super-great position on this topic. like, saying "wow that is bad, that should be stopped" isn't the same as pulling a full skip bayless.

this is not jadedness, this is being open and honest about what these people are paid to do

they are showing the 07 colts/pats playoff game on nfln

just saw the reche O_O - so classic

love that game. miss u, peyty.

oh no that game

at the time it was the worst loss ever

http://www.bostonsbettah.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Bugeyes.jpg

You can knock the snot out of someone without having to break the rules, whether or not they buy you a steak dinner or an X-box after the game.

I think the thing that is kind of telling is a bunch of these injuries they keep pointing towards (like Dungy with Manning and the whole deal with Favre) there was NO PENALTY called in the game.

^

The hit by the Saints on Warner was completely legal. Even Warner has been saying that the past couple days.

One of my favorite things in all of sports is ex-quarterbacks puffing up and acting tough about taking hits. Almost all of them pretend to hate the enhanced qb safety rules that have been implemented in recent years.

They're jealous. Dudes like Marino would have passed for 10k a season with these rules.

it's also important to note that they all have dementia

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7647468/the-new-orleans-saints-nfl-concussions

could be a little more explicit but: what the Saints will truly be punished for is the unpardonable crime of ripping aside the veil.

We may well be reaching something of a tipping point in our relationship with our true national pastime. Football was always a deal we made with ourselves. We adopted it for its brutality, which was embedded in a context that happened to be perfectly suited to television and to gambling, but which we could convince ourselves was only incidental to our enjoyment because it was only incidental to the game itself. But the players got bigger, and even the unsolicited hits got louder, and the damage to the athletes soon became too obvious to ignore.

My theory on some of this is that the emphasis on protecting the quarterback and getting rid of the contact within 5 yards on WR has in some ways led more to the big bang hit.

A running back going full out is prepared to take a hit and sometimes even gives out more than he gets. In the classic running game, you also used to see more pulls where a lineman or fullback leads the way.

A wide out running some short 5 yard timing pattern to a zone on the field that some safety or linebacker has seen over and over and over in film is just lying in wait to take someone's head off. And the sheer fact that when you go to catch a pass you are not in a position to defend yourself until after you have caught the ball, planted and then start to move forward.

I could also hypothesize that in someways going for the tiny slot reciever (like say Wes Welker) or vice versa going for the huge TE in some pass sets like say Antonio Gates is in someway trying to find a player in those kind of passing games that can either be hard to hit or can take the hit in those situations.

I'm not sure that letting the run come back into the game 'might' fix some of these kinds of issues.

It should also be taken into account that aside from maybe the Favre/Warner playoff bounties (which, should also be mentioned that both those injuries were aggravations of injuries the qbs were already playing with), most of the $$ for these wouldn't offset possible personal foul fines (which the saints got a lot of last season) incurred by a too-vicious hit.
It was kind of interesting last season to watch the conflict between just how cavalier Greg Williams was publicly about how little he cared about all of the personal foul penalties and the saints d's rep as being "dirty" vs. the NFL really starting to get serious about protecting players for once.

tbf, i would've paid five bucks to see those guys laid out myself

ryan fitz shaves swastika into hair to celebrate signing of stevie j:

https://p.twimg.com/AnO0u6xCMAA4_m5.jpg

I'm not surprised because i always saw the saints for the dirty scumbags that they are. Nothing less than forfeiture of the next decade of draft picks and a permanent post-season ban will suffice for punishment.

^^^i've been waiting for that post since this story broke <3

pvmic etc

I'm not surprised because i always saw the saints for the dirty scumbags that they are. Nothing less than forfeiture of the next decade of draft picks and a permanent post-season ban will suffice for punishment.

― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Tuesday, March 6, 2012 11:29 AM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Overreact much?

Team hatred is a beautiful thing, Bill

If this were the Broncos I'd be saying the same thing, lol

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/03/saints_bounties_in_a_game_where_everyone_gets_hurt_does_it_matter_why_everyone_gets_hurt_.html

I find it unlikely that a player would focus on injuring an opponent in defiance of the referees on the field, the league office that reviews every hit, and his peers to whom he must answer every day and who don’t take kindly to cheap shots. No matter what cash they dispensed, the Saints didn’t play the game differently than any other team once they hit the field. These peripheral reward systems are pebbles around a boulder, and that boulder is rolling downhill.

Besides, in a game where 100 percent of the players get injured, why does it matter to us how they’re injured? The real outrage here isn't the bounties and the cart-off hits and knockout blows; it's the league office's need to sanctify all the bloodshed and ugliness with well-drawn rules and regulations. The NFL wants us to buy the myth that football would be safe so long as the guys on the field played with a little integrity. But bounties or no bounties, there isn’t much integrity in a game that maims everyone who plays it.

lol such rhetorical bullshit. painful to read.

peyton's a free agent

FINSFINSFINS

i think peyton's got a real shot at the nomination if they get to a brokered convention

ochocinco
@MittRomney Excuse Mr. Romney i'd like to have a 30 minute sit down with u. If u're available I'd love for my followers to hear ur thoughts.

peyton in another jersey is gonna be fukked up

honestly i can't pretend like i won't be jacked if peyton comes to miami, even if he's one hit away from paralyzation

Did you guys read the Peter King article on the bounties? Very good I think:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1195695/1/index.htm

Barnwell is a treat sometimes

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/19546/free-agent-countdown-teams-that-cant-spend

Carolina Panthers
Why they can't spend money: They spent wildly to keep a 2-14 team together last year.

a real treat... on opposite planet, in the clown dimension.

Ohhhh snap

http://cbssports.com/images/blogs/Peyton_Manning_John_Elway_Denver_Broncos_Tebowmania_Meeting_John_Fox.jpg

undead john elway seeks to drain remaining force from peyton manning

when asked for a comment on acquisition talks, elway responded "BRAINS!"

i heard mort talkin about it on the radio today, saying that if houston made it known that they wanted him, peyton would sign in an instant. but they're stayin out of it for now. all the other teams seem like mixed bags to me - you can see the advantages & disadvantages w/each one. hope he finds the right fit...

Anywhere but Denver, Peyton. Please. For me.

Gary Brackett, Dallas Clark, Joseph Addai and Melvin Bullitt cut; Freeney probably being traded.

welcome to the rebuild

wau that is a disturbing pic of elway

can someone explain the 'restructuring of contracts' to me? are cap hits merely being put off until later or is it basically a loophole?

that is far from a disturbing pic of elway, that's like a glamor pic of 2012 elway

http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/john-elway-tim-tebow.jpg

why is he wearing foundation

Because his head is a giant tooth

makes sense

It's for our own protection

damn... skins are getting RG3

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/gbhvr8

holy shit

what a haul

i just put on the local news and they're listing all the draft picks we gave up

RGIII should be like, not signing that contract until you change the name

everyone here been freaking out that snyder would find a way to give up all that for peyton so

The Cleveland Browns had stepped up their efforts to try to acquire the No. 2 pick in recent days, going so far as to offer at least three No. 1 picks to the Rams and possibly even the second-round pick, according to one source familiar with the deal. Cleveland sensed it was going to get the deal done, only to be informed that St. Louis planned to deal the coveted No. 2 pick to the Redskins.

wau

holy

sanchez got a 5 year extension

bedard @ boston globe: 'high fiving in foxboro'

lollllll

i shall have to ask what they think of this at the pork store tomorrow

Hahaahah J E T S

mike tannenbaum should be put in jail

mark sanchez's agent might've actually fainted when he got that call

RG3 could end up being the best qb in the league for the next 15 seasons and he's still not worth 3 years of 1st round picks and a 2nd round this year.

yeah that's not even remotely true at all

I dunno...I'd question any owner who made a trade like that for Aaron Rogers or whatever, and Rogers is already a proven commodity. RG3 is still a hunch.

yeah every team except like 5 would trade those picks in one second for aaron rodgers

quarterback is by far the most important position in sports, giving up three first round picks and a second for the best one would be a no brainer

i won't fault the redskins for taking this chance... you have little hope if you don't have an elite QB

god i hope dude turns into ryan leaf and buries the redskins for a generation

Nah, he'll be a fine NFL qb, but he's at the mercy of Snyder and Shanahan and an organization who seems to be allergic to the postseason.

i wish it wasn't impossible to root against RG3

Yeah, I love the guy.

<i>RGIII should be like, not signing that contract until you change the name</i>

^ this, though

Elway looks Al Davis-esque up there

Horseface WISHES he was that scary-looking.

i wish it wasn't impossible to root against RG3

no such burdens here. i would've rooted for him over luck if one of the other main contenders eg browns had got him, but no i want 2 ryan leafs in '12. 2 LEAFS IN 12. 2 LEAFS IN 12. 2 LEAFS IN 12

http://blog.chron.com/texanschick/files/legacy/RedskinsOffseasonChamps.jpg

Haha

;_; i can't see the browns going after flynn, so it looks like McCoy again ftw

<i>RGIII should be like, not signing that contract until you change the name</i>

^ this, though

― Johnny Fever, Saturday, March 10, 2012 12:22 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

are u laughing with them or at them?

I'm laughing at the idea that he would do that. Would never happen in a million years.

im not sure the suggestion that a newly drafted qb could ethically blackmail a team into a name change was entirely serious

leave it nakh... its bill magill