NFL 2015 Season Thread

CinnamonGirl · Aug 28, 2015

I also remember there being some major backlash, at least at our school, somewhere around '94 or '95 I think. Anyone wearing any Cowboys stuff at all was immediately accused of being a bandwagon fan, regardless of how long they liked the team. Part of the reason I stopped wearing my Cowboys shirts.

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I have a lot to do this weekend, and I really shouldn't watch the game against Da Bears tomorrow....but I probably will anyway.

Chris Noyb · Aug 28, 2015

One thing I really like is Texans fans in Houston wear their Texans gear regardless of wins and losses; I do. The same can't be said for cowgirls fans in Houston. And I've noticed that Saints fans here are also fickle.

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Hoyer was named the starter.

Yesterday Mallet wasn't at practice.

Per Coach OB, who rightfully wouldn't provide any details, Mallet had something personal he needed to attend to.

The local sports media is making a big deal out of it.

ZombieSquirrel · Aug 31, 2015

The preseason has mirrored the Bengals I know and love.

They can win at home, but not away. Nor can the win during prime time.

I am looking forward to the playoffs this year. The Bengals will make it, and totally bomb. (I am still totally pissed about the '13 playoff loss to the Chargers.)

Chris Noyb · Sep 1, 2015

I was impressed with the Texans against the Saints. Yes, it was just a preseason game. Yes, the Saints went for it on 4th down a couple of time which helped the Texans.

Hoyer showed a nice touch on his passes, and his experience avoiding a sack showed on several plays.

Mallet started by missing several passes. Not sure if it was him (he appeared to throw a couple of passes too soon), or the receivers (wrong routes?). Once he got in the groove he threw some nice bullets into what would've been good coverage for a QB with a lesser arm.

Savage and the offensive line had some problems. He looked pretty good once he settled down. The chances of Savage starting, barring injuries to Hoyer & Mallet, are slim.

As I previously posted & predicted, Randy Bullock was a major factor in the game. The Texans need to learn to work the short field. Three points instead of 6, 7, or 8 will hurt them during the regular season.

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I like Arian Foster, but he could turn out to be an example of running backs having relatively short careers in the NFL.

When do we get to see if Clowney is ready and able to play NFL football? Unless the offense really ups its game (see Bullock comments), the Texans will yet again have to rely on a strong defense.

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Last, but certainly not least, I hope that the Texans stomp the shit out of the cowgirls on Thu night .

fflowley · Sep 1, 2015

It's a sad day for Bills fans with Fred Jackson getting cut.
He has been the heart and soul of that team for a decade.

Borla · Sep 4, 2015

This is a great read for those who aren't super biased, if you want a break down of how we got to where we ended up yesterday.

The arrogance of Roger Goodell - Yahoo Sports

Deflate-gate was a case born of ignorance and lost through arrogance.

There was so much arrogance that Roger Goodell was sitting there in April – after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft conceded defeat, two draft picks, a million bucks and incalculable prestige – and the commissioner still couldn't resist pushing for more.

A pound of Patriots flesh wasn't enough. He had to get one from Tom Brady too, and, now, after getting slapped around Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman, it's Goodell who is the one walking out of here wounded and Brady gliding into the season as some kind of unsuspended martyr.
Oh, Roger had it all in his hands back in May. Kraft magnanimously/foolishly dropped the threat of litigation for the good of the NFL. He accepted the Wells report as fact, indefinitely suspended two locker room attendants and was just going to hope time heals all reputations. It was a terrible move; one Kraft himself has admitted was a mistake and even apologized for.

All Goodell had to do was the gentlemanly thing, the thing Kraft expected, and that was make a global settlement offer that included dropping Brady's conclusion of guilt and four-game suspension. It would have quickly and effectively ended the quarterback's appeal and further discovery into the NFL's conduct in the case.

The NFL machine had won, beaten even the mighty Patriots in a battle that was more about public relations than the actual facts around whether the footballs were tampered with during the AFC championship game. Public perception had been flooded by false, yet highly prejudicial stories that the NFL refused to correct, a narrative that made it almost impossible for the Patriots to fight back.

The Wells report was still believed to be "independent" because at that point no one knew that the NFL's general counsel had actually edited it, meaning it wasn't independent at all. Rival owners, fans and players were united.

Goodell was going down in history as the victor, refusing to play favorites even with his favorite owner. All those that were screaming about the flaws in the Wells report would have been dismissed with Pat the Patriot logoed tin foil hats.

Goodell's NFL, however, has the tact of a falling safe, a strange cowboy culture where it must push for every last drop of blood, no matter how imprudent it is to continue the battle.

This is how the whole thing started, after all.

____________________

Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, didn't know anything about Ideal Gas Law back on Jan. 19. As such, the investigation into how footballs became deflated during the AFC championship game in January between the Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts began with the belief that any football measured that night below 12.5 PSI was a sign of purposeful cheating, rather than natural deflation. And any number that was well below 12.5 – say in the 11s – must therefore be the result of a big, grand conspiracy.

That belief framed everything else. New England was running a scheme and the NFL gumshoes would prove it.

Only once they learned otherwise, once they found out that a ball can, quite naturally, be measured at 11.5, or that protocol after that game had two pumps with varying measurements that made the entire experiment worthless, or noted that no one ever cared about ball inflation levels before this and the rulebook was indifferent, or thought hard after none of the equipment guys cracked, or when no firm evidence was uncovered, or when there was nothing tying Brady to the possible deflations that night, they should've backed down.

A smart league office would have acted like a smart district attorney and expressed frustration at the lousy facts and poor police work and simply declined to prosecute because the case was weak. It happens.

There are plenty of suspicious things about the footballs that night, enough to look, enough to wonder, even still. There wasn't enough to prove guilt though.

And that's the big difference.

Instead the league tried to bulldoze along. It was enough to get Kraft to quit. It was time for Goodell to take a knee.

Instead he went after Brady, and forever and ever Roger Goodell is going to regret picking that fight.

____________________

Misread the tailored suits and furry Uggs and styled haircuts at your own peril. The guy is tough.

Tom Brady wouldn't quit, wouldn't rattle, wouldn't back down.

Tom Brady wouldn't concede an inch and thus, by bringing in the lawyers, by bringing in the brilliant Jeffrey Kessler, he was able to get the whole ball of nonsense into Richard M. Berman's court of law, a place that lives far from riotous cable television debate shows and Internet message boards.

Brady's appeal hearing with the NFL had been a complete farce, so outrageous that Goodell himself misrepresented Brady's own testimony in his decision, finding him guilty of something he never even said. Comparative punishments were invented, levels of guilt shifted, basic fairness was trampled upon.

By taking on Brady, Goodell allowed Kessler to begin shooting holes not just in the Wells report, but in the kangaroo court that the NFL calls a disciplinary process. With Berman involved, the NFL was no longer able to seal testimony or control the narrative. From that point forward, not a single good thing happened for the league, as suddenly it was Goodell and the NFL on trial.
From the start, almost anyone who was paying attention, anyone who was reading through all the documents and considering all the actions of the league, saw the duplicity involved here was astounding.

You could always keep going back to Square One: Forget about reports of 11 of 12 footballs, the truth was and always has been that the league has no idea if the footballs were even unnaturally deflated in a scandal about unnaturally deflated footballs. Even the Wells report – buried deep, but still – essentially says as much.

The league first decided there was a scandal when there may not have been, then determined there was guilt in said scandal when there may not have been and then worked backward by any means necessary until that work caused a judge to call out the league.

Judge Berman didn't declare Brady innocent on Thursday; he declared the NFL guilty of violating federal law in trying to declare Brady guilty.

For instance, there is no written notice, or precedent of any kind, that a player can be suspended for being "generally aware" of someone else's actions. And Goodell couldn't just arbitrarily make up the corollary that being generally aware of someone else's equipment violation was akin to getting busted for performance-enhancing drugs.

Per NFL rules, even if Brady was guilty he should have only faced a $5,512 fine, the judge said, not a quarter-season suspension.

It was further wrong of Goodell to prohibit Brady from asking questions of NFL counsel Jeff Pash simply because Goodell himself pre-determined Pash's testimony would be "cumulative." How would Goodell know what Pash was going to say? And how arrogant is the NFL that it thinks it can just suppress a witness?

"[Due to Pash's] designation as co-lead investigator with Ted Wells, it is logical that he could have valuable insight into the course and outcome of the Investigation …," Berman aptly noted.

How about that the NFL was obligated to share evidence, a concept so basic and intrinsic and obvious that it was an actual punch line in "My Cousin Vinny."

"It's called disclosure," Mona Lisa Vito, Bill Belichick's favorite character, says, mocking Vinny's legal education.

"Fundamentally unfair," is how Berman put it in his decision.

(Let's a take a second here to note that the NFL lost a case in which it was outraged over Brady's supposed lack of cooperation and unwillingness to hand over evidence, in part because it was uncooperative and unwilling to hand over evidence. Seriously.)

Berman decided that Goodell also couldn't, during an appeals hearing, re-rule on the league's own original decision and determine new levels of guilt for Brady just because he felt like it. Gee, you think?

There was so much here that showed how the NFL, because it went after a speeding ticket like a homicide case, kept acting progressively more desperate as everything crumbled around it.

Yet none of it reaches the cool, considered environs of a federal courtroom if Goodell had just let Brady walk.

And then, even when it does get to Judge Berman, and he is so confrontational with the league that he sounds like a co-defense counsel, the NFL still refused to make any meaningful movement on a deal with Brady. It was the league's final failure to comprehend the cliff it was driving off.

__________________

The league is living in a bubble in which it doesn't matter what's real, it's all about what it can get people to believe is real, including its owners.

Just this week a smart guy named Bob McNair, who happens to own the Houston Texans, sounded stupid when he publicly carried Goodell's water for him in a radio interview. How long do these billionaires want to keep doing that? That's the $44 million-per-year question.

What will it take for the league to revamp its disciplinary process into one that is more equitable and transparent and credible? When does it realize what even the NCAA has realized: Being the bully isn't good for business.

If you paid close enough attention, deflate-gate was a giant circle of nonsense. The NFL banked on almost no one paying close attention.

Yet Goodell, by taking on Brady, all but assured it would wind up on the desk of someone paying extremely close attention: a learned, intelligent, federal judge.

It was ignorance of Ideal Gas Law that got this started. It was arrogance about how a fair mind would rule that ended it.

So Tom Brady plays in Foxborough next Thursday. And a rattled and embattled Roger Goodell has to stay home and watch on TV.
Click to expand...

ralphie250 · Sep 4, 2015

personally all the overturning of bradys suspension did was open the door for every other player that has suspensions pending for the start of the season

Borla · Sep 4, 2015

ralphie250 said: ↑

personally all the overturning of bradys suspension did was open the door for every other player that has suspensions pending for the start of the season
Click to expand...

IMO that ship sailed the last four times players appealed suspensions, EVERY one of which got reduced or overturned.

Goodell learns to need how to be consistent, or have someone else who is decide on the discipline.

Chris Noyb · Sep 4, 2015

I wasn't impressed with the Texans last night, but I keep telling myself that while the defense looked porous, they pretty much held the 'girls to one "earned" touchdown. It was the Texans' offense that helped Dallas get 14 points. Apparently it's too early for any reports on Savage's injury.

One thing I learned last night, only because I hadn't looked up the Texans 2015 schedule, is they have a soft schedule (well, on paper) for the first three games.

ralphie250 · Sep 4, 2015

Borla said: ↑

IMO that ship sailed the last four times players appealed suspensions, EVERY one of which got reduced or overturned.

Goodell learns to need how to be consistent, or have someone else who is decide on the discipline.
Click to expand...

true, but i dont think he ever will learn that

Lish · Sep 7, 2015

Anyone notice a rookie aussie playing for the 49ers by the name of Jarryd Hayne. Ex rugby league star from Sydney who decided to try his hand at the NFL. And just made the 53.

Headline news in Oz.

Chris Noyb · Sep 14, 2015

Lish said: ↑

Anyone notice a rookie aussie playing for the 49ers by the name of Jarryd Hayne. Ex rugby league star from Sydney who decided to try his hand at the NFL. And just made the 53.

Headline news in Oz.
Click to expand...

Caught a couple of comments about & brief clips of him during some preseason games. I don't think he's a novelty, the NFL requires real talent, and the 49ers are under the microscope because of their fall during the 2014 season.

EDIT--I'm sure that there have been detailed stories about him on some of the Pay TV sports programs, and on the 'net.
--- merged: Sep 7, 2015 at 1:29 PM ---

Borla said: ↑

IMO that ship sailed the last four times players appealed suspensions, EVERY one of which got reduced or overturned.

Goodell learns to need how to be consistent, or have someone else who is decide on the discipline.
Click to expand...

@Borla, how much control do the NFL owners have over the commissioner? If enough, I could see Goodell getting the boot.

Edit--Added "much."

Borla · Sep 7, 2015

Chris Noyb said: ↑

@Borla, how control do the NFL owners have over the commissioner? If enough, I could see Goodell getting the boot.
Click to expand...

They have complete control. He is a contracted employee (current contract through 2019 I believe?) of the owners as a group.

But I'm not so sure this will do much or anything to cause him to be fired before his contract is up. The owners are printing money, and he helps facilitate that. He is supposedly a good negotiator with their sponsors and partners. Having him be the 'bad guy' to the public and the players also takes the direct heat off of them.

I think it'll take much more to get him out, though I definitely wouldn't miss him if I'm wrong.

POPEYE · Sep 7, 2015

I like football but don't dig too deep, just a fan of the sport. I catch up about mid season. Some guys I work with live it. Some it's hunting or fishing, others it's their job skills. Guess I enjoy a little of a lot of things. GO COWBOYS! BOO YAH!!

Borla · Sep 8, 2015

Long, but fascinating, read.

From Spygate to Deflategate: Inside what split the NFL and New England Patriots apart

ralphie250 · Sep 8, 2015

Borla said: ↑

Long, but fascinating, read.

From Spygate to Deflategate: Inside what split the NFL and New England Patriots apart
Click to expand...

they will never live it down

ZombieSquirrel · Sep 8, 2015

Lish said: ↑

Anyone notice a rookie aussie playing for the 49ers by the name of Jarryd Hayne. Ex rugby league star from Sydney who decided to try his hand at the NFL. And just made the 53.

Headline news in Oz.
Click to expand...

YES!

POPEYE · Sep 17, 2015

HERE WE GO!
--- merged: Sep 10, 2015 at 8:15 PM ---
Hey there y'all I just went to my picks and they were gone! Did I pick too early? So I re picked. Might wanna check yours.

Chris Noyb · Sep 13, 2015

The Texans look like shit so far. What the hell was Hoyer thinking on that first pass? OB was throwing a fit just before the first half ended, with good reason. I know that all teams suffer from bad calls and non-calls, it balances out, etc., but that pass interference was blatant.

It seems that the Chiefs know what exactly what Crennel, their former DC, is going to attempt. OTOH the two easy TDs the Texans' offense handed the Chiefs certainly helps them be more creative on offense.

We'll see if Hoyer calms down and does some positive things in the second half.

ralphie250 · Sep 13, 2015

Ryan beat the Colts. That sucks

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NFL 2015 Season Thread

CinnamonGirl The Cheat is GROUNDED!

Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

ZombieSquirrel Brrrrrrrains

Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

fflowley Don't just do something, stand there!

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Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

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Lish Very Tilted

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NFL 2015 Season Thread

CinnamonGirl The Cheat is GROUNDED!

Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

ZombieSquirrel Brrrrrrrains

Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

fflowley Don't just do something, stand there!

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Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

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