Monday Night Football

[razazteca 0]

This week its the St Louis Rams vs Kansas City Cheifs in a game that can go one or two ways, either the score will be 54-49 or nothing but fieldgoals. Can Mark Bulger prove that he is worth the money and is better then the overhyped gloryboy Kurt Warner? Is Mike Martz dumb enough to let his injuried players play in the rain with no offensive line at all? Can the Cheifs defense keep the score low?

[Guest Vitamin X]

Can Mark Bulger prove that he is worth the money and is better then the overhyped gloryboy Kurt Warner?

Not yet, it's just preseason. But maybe he'll get injured ala Trent Green and give another Kurt Warneresque chance to someone...

 

Is Mike Martz dumb enough to let his injuried players play in the rain with no offensive line at all?

 

Of course! It's not raining though, so this question is null and void.

Can the Cheifs defense keep the score low?

 

I think so. The Chiefs are probably the best team in the AFC, not counting the Patriots. With a defense, they're unstoppable.

 

On an off-note, ABC looks to have a hell of a TV lineup this fall.

[razazteca 0]

The pregame show said there was some light drizzle. I feel sorry for Faulk since both Pace and Turley are not playing tonight. Now I can understand playing Faulk since KC has a weak defense but the Rams do not have thier top 2 best O-linemen playing so how is this suppose to boost Faulk's confidence?

[razazteca 0]

24-0 damn the Rams suck.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Glad to see I've proved my point.

[razazteca 0]

Dick Vermiel > Mike Martz

[2GOLD 0]

Martz drinks his own kool-aid too much.

 

But it's only pre-season and the Rams have a new defensive coach so, plenty of time to get in line.

[Guest Vitamin X]

The Rams are not beating out the Seahawks for the division title, and with a loaded NFC South, tough NFC East, and what I think could be a surprising NFC North this year, they'd be lucky to make the wildcard.

[razazteca 0]

The Rams will not make the playoffs this season. The Seahawks win the West, Packers win the North, Panthers win the South, Eagles win the East, Vikings & Cowboys win the Wildcard.

[Art Sandusky 0]

The Rams are not beating out the Seahawks for the division title, and with a loaded NFC South, tough NFC East, and what I think could be a surprising NFC North this year, they'd be lucky to make the wildcard.

Think? The NFC North will produce two playoff teams (Pack and Vikes) and one team that will come excruciatingly close (Lions) and probably fuck up another team's chance of getting into the postseason. I feel the same about the Texans. It's their year to break out and become players in the league.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I thought we were going to talk about the MNF theme. Bastard...

[Swift Terror 0]

FYI:

 

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/business/9477550.htm

 

ABC may decide to punt 'Monday Night Football'

 

The prime-time games are popular but expensive, losing $150 million a year for the network's owner, Disney.

 

BY MEG JAMES

 

Los Angeles Times

 

 

Is Walt Disney Co. running out the clock on "Monday Night Football" on ABC? The 34-year-old sports classic is ABC's most popular and longest-running prime-time program -- a tradition that began in 1970 when ABC's legendary sports producer Roone Arledge put Howard Cosell, Don Meredith and Keith Jackson in the broadcast booth.

 

In recent years, though, the struggling Disney-owned network has been losing about $150 million annually on "Monday Night Football." ABC pays the National Football League $550 million a year for the rights to air the Monday matchups, but advertising revenue doesn't come close to covering the costs.

 

Now, with Disney executives under pressure to prove to Wall Street that they can reverse the network's fortunes and turn a profit by next year, they must decide whether the benefits of "Monday Night Football" outweigh the financial losses.

 

"ABC is between a rock and a hard place," said Brad Adgate, research director for the advertising buying firm Horizon Media. "It's been ABC's highest-rated show, but at some point they have to ask: How much is too much?"

 

The NFL has been meeting with network executives in recent weeks to start hammering out a new TV rights package that probably will exceed its current $17.6 billion, eight-year pact, which expires at the end of the 2005 football season. NFL executives had wanted to negotiate new agreements this fall, before they begin contract talks with the players union and because the network advertising market has been strong.

 

But Disney told the league it was not ready to deal. Instead, Disney executives want to wait until next year -- closer to the October 2005 deadline -- to renegotiate NFL contracts for ABC and sister network ESPN.

 

Disney also pays the NFL $600 million a year so ESPN can air Sunday night games, the Pro Bowl and other NFL-related events. Unlike ABC, Disney's cable sports empire doesn't lose money on football because ESPN is hugely profitable, collecting cable subscriber fees in addition to ad revenue.

 

"We do not expect formal talks to begin until the end of this upcoming season," said ABC Sports spokesman Mark Mandel. He declined to say whether Disney executives have reached a decision on whether to renew ABC's deal for "Monday Night Football."

 

Privately, Disney sources concede that the decision could "go either way." Despite being a marquee program with plenty of sentimental value, football has tripped up ABC's prime-time programmers, who struggle each year to come up with shows that will work on Monday nights once the regular NFL season ends in late December.

 

NFL executives won't say how much of an annual increase they are seeking from the networks. Estimates range from as low as 5 percent to as high as 20 percent.

 

ABC, which analysts say is losing about $250 million a year, $150 million of that from "Monday Night Football," might be hard-pressed to swallow another gargantuan NFL fee increase.

 

Ratings for "Monday Night Football" have slipped over the past decade, although viewership has stabilized since 2002 with the hiring of John Madden to join play-by-play announcer Al Michaels.

 

"I don't think (ABC will) continue to absorb the kind of financial losses that 'Monday Night Football' has sustained," said sports marketing consultant Neal Pilson, a former head of CBS Sports.

 

"The economics of the television marketplace are not strong enough to support the cost of the NFL contract, and it doesn't look like it's going to get any better," Pilson said.

 

The NFL's two other broadcast partners -- Viacom Inc.' s CBS and News Corp.' s Fox Broadcasting Co. --are happy to have football and willing to renew their rights packages, network sources say, despite the sometimes lopsided economics of football.

 

There are several scenarios for how the NFL might divvy up its next TV rights package, according to sources close to the negotiations.

 

Disney might move "Monday Night Football" to ESPN and give up the cable channel's Sunday-night package. That could create an opportunity for another cable channel, such as Time Warner Inc.' s TNT.

 

The NFL might schedule fewer Sunday night games. That way the league could re-introduce prime-time games on Thursday nights, when advertisers are willing to pay higher rates to reach viewers before the weekend.

 

One wild card is whether NBC Universal, which lost football in 1998, would be willing to get back into the game if "Monday Night Football" or another NFL package became available. Top executives at the General Electric Co.-owned network have met with NFL officials, although network executives stress that they're not willing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars just to have football.

[Guest Vitamin X]

The Rams are not beating out the Seahawks for the division title, and with a loaded NFC South, tough NFC East, and what I think could be a surprising NFC North this year, they'd be lucky to make the wildcard.

Think? The NFC North will produce two playoff teams (Pack and Vikes) and one team that will come excruciatingly close (Lions) and probably fuck up another team's chance of getting into the postseason. I feel the same about the Texans. It's their year to break out and become players in the league.

Don't forget about the Bears, who went 7-9 last season WITHOUT Lovie Smith, and they've got a hell of an easy schedule.

 

And the Texans won't be any good until they've got linemen that are worth a damn, but I can see them making a bit of noise to the tune of 7-9 wins.

[razazteca 0]

Da Bears are at the bottom of the list of possible dark horse teams that could breakout this season. That's right da bearz are below the Cardinals, Lions, Texans, Jags, Jets, Browns.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Lions and Bears > Texans and Cardinals, possibly Browns

[razazteca 0]

Da Bears have no offense at all. Who is Rex Grossman suppose to give the ball to?

[The Niggardly King 0]

Da Bears have no offense at all. Who is Rex Grossman suppose to give the ball to?

Marty Booker, and... um

[sfaJack 0]

Marty Booker got traded to the Dolphins dude.

[The Niggardly King 0]

Oh, well it will be fun to watch the Bears than this year

[Guest Vitamin X]

Da Bears have no offense at all. Who is Rex Grossman suppose to give the ball to?

They've got a running game (Anthony Thomas and the guy they got from Arizona, I forget his name now) and a good defense. In today's NFL, that's good enough for at least 6-8 wins.

 

Especially with a coach who's defense-oriented. Look at the Bengals their first season under Marvin Lewis.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

But Justin Gage and David Terrell are their top receivers. These guys couldn't even hold a roster spot on others teams and now their supposed to suddenly help carry an offense? Sure they have Thomas and Jones but what good are they when there's going to be no passing game whatsoever?

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The then Bungles had Jon Kitna, Chad Johnson, Peter Warrick, Corey Dillion. Da Bears have.......Thomas Jones, Anthony Thomas, David Terrel, Desmond Clark, who are these people?

[Guest Vitamin X]

And guess what..up until last season, Warrick, Johnson, and Kitna all meant absolutely nothing. In fact they were WORSE off because they had a very unhappy Corey Dillon then and got lucky with Rudi Johnson.

 

Terrell had a hell of a rookie year and has been relatively consistent, and two capable running backs should be able to will them to winnning. It all falls on Rex Grossman's shoulders for the offense, but don't forget defense wins championships, folks...

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Kitna, Johnson and Warrick were still a better group than Grossman, Terrell and Gage. Johnson had 1166 yds receiving and Warrick had around 700.

[Guest Vitamin X]

What did Johnson and Warrick have *BEFORE* Lewis came into town is what I'm saying? Nothing. And Kitna was run out of Seattle for how mediocre he played.

[razazteca 0]

Lovie Smith was the defensive coordinator for the Rams right? The Rams defense was never that good.

[Guest Vitamin X]

He also built the Bucs defense, and yes the Rams defense was amazing. Just ask anyone they faced in 2001, the year Lovie Smith came on board.

 

He's was one of the best in the business, probably right behind Marvin Lewis, and up there with Monte Kiffin and to an extent Ray Rhodes.

[Prime Time Andrew Doyle 0]

I thought Lovie just built the LB Core for the Bucs . And it wasn't as if he needed to do much when you have Hardy Nickerson & Derrick Brooks. His job with the Rams was good last year though, they lead the leauge in takeaways. The receiver siuation is not good though. Justin Gage and David Terrell aren't going to scare anybody.

 

On Terrel, He has been a bust with just 86 Catches, 903 yds, 10.3 per catch, 8 TD's in 3 years. Last year 9 players had that amount of catches, 19 players had that many yards and 16 players had that many TD Catches. Chad Johnson has had over the same time period 187 catches, 2850 yds, 15.2 per catch and 16 TD's. He had 69 catches and 1100 odd yards the year BEFORE Lewis came to town. One of them was taken with the 8th overall pick and the the 36th overall. Also, there is only a 7 game difference in games played between the two.

 

Therefore, with Gage also in his 2 year, it will have to be the Bears D to carry them, but their lack of quality at receiver will hurt them. Relying on a 2nd year Quaterback, a former 6th overall pick on his 3rd team in 5 years and a former 2nd rounder who hasn't been able to live up to his form since his rookie season at running back, and Terrel & Gage, not to mention the fact they will have a rookie head coach shows that it may be another long season for the Bears.