NFL Offseason Thread

[Celtic Guardian 0]

Ravens qb Steve McNair to announce retirement today, hello Matt Ryan??

 

 

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

I'd be flabbergasted if Atlanta passed on him. Fucking stunned. There's a big step down after Ryan with QBs in this year's draft. Brohm? Woodson? Flacco? C'mon now. The Falcons have a fuckton of draft picks this year. They have to draft Ryan and fill needs later.

[Kinetic 0]

Except that you can't seem to find two scouts who actually agree that Ryan is the best QB of the bunch this year. It generally comes down to some combination of Ryan, Brohm, Henne, and Flacco. Atlanta obviously needs a QB, but Ryan is probably a reach at #3 when you consider that one of the two Longs, Dorsey, Gholston, etc. will still be available. I'd look for Atlanta to take a QB in the 2nd round and still be able to choose from at least two of those quarterbacks I named above.

[the pinjockey 0]

I agree and disagree with you. I am not a huge Ryan guy and am actually in line with Peter King (ewww, that felt dirty to type). What did Brohm really do that much worse this year to drop him from a top 5-10 pick last year to his status this year? It isn't his fault that his team apparently never heard of the concept of "defense".

 

The only problem I have with Brohm, is that he may not make it to them in the second round. Sure they have a bunch of ammo in round 2 to move up into round 1, but they need enough that I wouldn't do that if I were them. So Ryan makes sense to me.

 

So while I don't think the dropoff to Brohm is that big, I think it would hurt them to be forced to use the extra picks to go get him.

ex. I would rather have

Matt Ryan and then a group of say James Hardy/Malcolm Kelly, Sam Baker and Cliff Avril/Trevor Laws

instead of

Glenn Dorsey and then using the 3 2nds to move up and grab Brohm

 

I was actually looking at this earlier, about who was going to be around at the Eagles pick and thinking if Brohm picked up enough steam that Atlanta needed to use all 3 2nds that I would jump on that in a heartbeat instead of the mediocre group likely to be at 19.

[Kinetic 0]

But with McNair retiring, I would guess that Ryan probably wouldn't drop any further than Baltimore at #8. There's been some chatter that the Jets like him at #6, but that seems like bullshit to get other teams that want either him or possibly McFadden to trade up.

 

 

[the pinjockey 0]

I don't know if there was ever any doubt, even with McNair on board, that Baltimore jumps on Ryan if he slips that far.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Im still convinced the Ravens will for some stupid reason swing a trade for McNabb from Philly despite reports that the Eagles have told McNabb they wont trade him before the draft. Maybe he'll get traded durring the draft?

 

I actually wouldnt be against them going with Troy Smith but they still need another QB.

 

 

 

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I'd be flabbergasted if Atlanta passed on him. Fucking stunned. There's a big step down after Ryan with QBs in this year's draft. Brohm? Woodson? Flacco? C'mon now. The Falcons have a fuckton of draft picks this year. They have to draft Ryan and fill needs later.

 

Brohm is going to be a better pro then Matt Ryan, just watch.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I'd be flabbergasted if Atlanta passed on him. Fucking stunned. There's a big step down after Ryan with QBs in this year's draft. Brohm? Woodson? Flacco? C'mon now. The Falcons have a fuckton of draft picks this year. They have to draft Ryan and fill needs later.

 

Brohm is going to be a better pro then Matt Ryan, just watch.

 

That's not really saying much. There's a lot of QBs coming out, but nobody that really grabs at me as a "Wow I must have that guy." Andre Woodson maybe before his draft stock plummetted, would have been a possible guy like that.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

Steve McNair was as big a credit to the National Football League as your gonna find. One of the most admirable men your gonna find to. Hopefully he'll eventually get a spot in the Hall because he damn sure deserves it.

 

Happy retirement Mr. McNair.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I still can't believe Cris Carter isn't a 1st ballot HOFer... The HOF is a disgrace.

[Guest]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nfl17a...1,6367185.story

 

 

That is, um, pretty close by. Couldn't imagine having a team THAT close, so obviously, it's not going to happen. A 20-30 minute drive or I could take the train...damn, that would be great.

[Damaramu 0]

That's another reason I'd never get used to LA. 20-30 minutes is considered close by. Where I'm from that's a day trip. The traffic in OKC is not that hard to manage to say the least. That and the city's so spread out that everything you need is close by because there's 30 of the same store or restaurant everywhere.

 

Anyway, what team would they put in LA?

[Guest]

Anything within an hour drive is close by around here. It's standard procedure.

 

I don't know who they'd bring over here. Jacksonville or an expansion team?

[Guest Vitamin X]

Supposedly the Rams aren't happy with their stadium situation.

 

I don't know what to think of that stadium design. It does look nice for a Super Bowl, but its location (yuck, City of Industry?!) and the seating look pretty bland for a state of the art stadium.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Couldn't disagree more about McNair deserving a HOF spot. Never had even a 3500 yard season, constantly injured, never won a superbowl, got to one on a miracle/questionable call, only made 3 pro bowls. He was good on the ground, sure, until he got torn to pieces because of it.

 

That doesn't cut the mustard among recent QBs. Good QB? Of course. Great QB? I can argue both for or against that. HOF QB? I wouldn't vote for him.

 

Wrap your head around this one: Kerry fuckin' Collins has more passing yards and just as many TDs than Steve McNair.

[Kinetic 0]

I think he made four Pro Bowls, was co-MVP one year, and also had 3,000+ rushing yards in his career. I don't think he's a HOF guy, though. The overall picture with the numbers isn't great, and there was a very narrow (like 2-3 years, if that) window in his career where you could reasonably argue that he was one of the five best at his position in the league.

[Kinetic 0]

I don't know who they'd bring over here. Jacksonville or an expansion team?

 

Names currently being bandied about include Jacksonville, Minnesota, San Diego, Oakland, St. Louis, and Buffalo.

 

[JohnnyBlaze 0]

McNair's best shot at HOF was one of those longevity awards like palmeiro was trying for before the infamous b-12 shots...

 

I think i was listening to cowherd the other day and he was drinking the flacco koolaid....im gonna listen to mcshay (probably) tear that apart in a few mins.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I'd find it ironic if the Rams moved back to LA since they only left about 13 years ago. I could see the Raiders back in LA if Al Davis was promised a free arena and millions of dollars in tax breaks.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

You can count out San Diego.

 

Linky

[yankovic fan 0]

nfl.com

 

NFL Network filing complaint with FCC against Comcast

 

Associated Press

 

NEW YORK -- NFL Network is filing a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against cable TV giant Comcast in the latest legal wrangling between the two.

 

The network announced Thursday it had served Comcast with the required 10-day notice of its intent to file a complaint. NFL Network is accusing the nation's largest cable operator of discriminatory and anticompetitive treatment in violation of the Cable Act of 1992.

 

The two sides have been feuding over Comcast's decision to place NFL Network on a premium sports tier that customers must pay extra to receive. NFL Network sued Comcast in October 2006 over the move.

 

A judge initially ruled in Comcast's favor. In February, an appeals court reversed the ruling and sent the case back to the lower court, saying the language in the contracts between the two was too "ambiguous" to rule in favor of either side.

 

Comcast also filed a lawsuit against NFL Network in December, alleging that league officials' attempts to persuade customers to switch away from Comcast violated their contract.

 

NFL Network will contend in its FCC complaint that Comcast is engaging in discriminatory and anticompetitive conduct because it includes less-popular national sports channels it owns, Versus and Golf Channel, on a basic tier.

 

"Comcast has taken NFL Network away from millions of fans and placed it on a costly sports tier," NFL Network president and CEO Steve Bornstein said in a statement. "We don't believe that Comcast should charge consumers extra for our Network while making sports channels it owns available to all viewers on a less costly basis. After months of trying to get Comcast to negotiate fair treatment, we have been forced to turn to the FCC."

 

Sena Fitzmaurice, Comcast's senior director for corporate communications and government affairs, said in a statement, "Comcast makes the NFL Network available to all of our customers on a tier of service that the NFL agreed to by contract. The NFL has immense power in the marketplace, yet it keeps running to the federal and state governments to try to force changes in the deal it freely accepted in negotiations with Comcast. The agreement we have to carry the NFL Network is pro-consumer. It allows us to place this expensive channel on a tier of service for those who wish to pay for it, not on a tier where everyone must pay for it."

 

NFL Network's lack of availability has become an especially contentious issue because of the eight live regular-season games a year it started airing in 2006. Members of Congress got involved in December when it appeared that many fans would not be able to watch a potentially historic game between the New York Giants and undefeated New England Patriots.

 

At the last minute, the NFL decided to simulcast the game on CBS and NBC.

[Kinetic 0]

I guess that the best situation is for Jacksonville to move. They have very little fan support, they haven't been there long enough to establish any kind of tradition, and there are two other in-state teams to cushion the blow.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

If a team moved, would you want a re-working of the division alignments or just leave it as it is and have AFC South- Los Angeles (assuming Jacksonville is the one to move)?

[Kinetic 0]

No, it should stay the same. If you can have Miami in the AFC East and Dallas in the NFC East, I see no reason why L.A. couldn't be in the AFC South.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Miami in the East doesn't make sense to you? I know it's in the southern portion of the Atlantic coast, but it's as East as you can get. Dallas, I would agree. They should have moved Tampa to East and Dallas to South, but that would screw up the divisional rivalries they had going with Washington and etc. At least this current alignment is better than when we had Atlanta and Carolina in the NFC West and Arizona in the NFC East.

[teke184 0]

I'd find it ironic if the Rams moved back to LA since they only left about 13 years ago. I could see the Raiders back in LA if Al Davis was promised a free arena and millions of dollars in tax breaks.

I'd find it appropriate, as I'm pretty sure the bitch said something about the Rams going back to LA over her dead body.

 

/Didn't like the late Mrs. Georgia Rosenbloom / Frontierri / Whateveritisthisweek

[Kinetic 0]

At least this current alignment is better than when we had Atlanta and Carolina in the NFC West and Arizona in the NFC East.

 

Yeah, and I feel that the way the league is currently aligned is perfect, so I would be wary of any proposed changes. It becomes difficult to develop meaningful divisional rivlaries when you're moving teams around every 8-10 years.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I think it's hard to develop meaningful rivalries anyways, with how up and down the league's been in terms of teams being good or not. It says something when the most meaningful rivalry in the NFL, in terms of marketing and interest, is a non-divisional one (yeah they used to be in the same division, but the rivalry took off more when they were re-aligned out of each other's division) in Indianapolis-New England.

[Kinetic 0]

Well, I can say from being a fan of a team in the scrapheap division that is the NFC South that many of the rivalries that have sprung up post-realignment are fairly meaningful, just not on a national level. A Tampa-Carolina or Tampa-Atlanta game may not mean much to most fans, but is as bitter and contentious as a working-class Pennsylvanian to those with a vested interest in the outcome. So it's best not to fuck with these things now that the NFL finally has everything completely perfect.