NFL talk? Questions about American football?

Original post by Wattsy

That works!

Can I change my name until the draft or do I have to get a good one the first time?

No idea

just hold off joining until you think of a good one if you want :biggrin:

I had to rush so went with last seasons.

Reply 8841

Original post by ..DT..

No idea

just hold off joining until you think of a good one if you want :biggrin:

I had to rush so went with last seasons.

You can change it (in My Team --> Edit Settings) so get thinking

I have a new name with reference to a way too hipster song but I like it and can't think of anything better at the minute

Does anyone actually use their own draft board from scratch? I can't make a head and a tail of the NFL mechanism for picks which is based on predicted points totals mixed with position rather than ADP. Me being a rook doesn't care about who scored how many points last season or how many they're predicted to score, I care about what order I'm supposed to pick people in because Manning doesn't come off the board at #1 despite scoring by far the most points!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8842

cant_think_of_name

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Original post by Malevolent

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Original post by Wattsy

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Original post by IMakeSenseToNone

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Original post by ..DT..

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Original post by Scott129

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Original post by jimbles

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Everyone, my other draft (real life friends on ESPN) has 9 teams in a ten team league so we need one more player - only problem is the draft is 6pm today (British time), ie 45 minutes from now. So basically, if anyone wants to be the last team in the league (it's standard rules, snake draft etc.) it would be much appreciated!!! I already made the account and team stuff so I'd just give you the password and username

Reply 8843

..DT..

Original post by cant_think_of_name

Everyone, my other draft (real life friends on ESPN) has 9 teams in a ten team league so we need one more player - only problem is the draft is 6pm today (British time), ie 45 minutes from now. So basically, if anyone wants to be the last team in the league (it's standard rules, snake draft etc.) it would be much appreciated!!! I already made the account and team stuff so I'd just give you the password and username

Ill play. Hit me up either the details or add me in as a second owner. I'll PM you my email.

Reply 8844

If anyone wanted to know, Gabbert is seeing ghosts and sailing the ball regularly, I feel good that the Jags got Luke Bo****o, (I think he'll eventually be the starting centre) for him respectively.

49ers commentator on Gabbert - 'I hope he never has to play'

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8845

All these flags, wonder why the NFL are making the game even more soft. Reminds me of a certain 2004 team that Peyton couldn't handle :rolleyes:

Reply 8846

Original post by Malevolent

All these flags, wonder why the NFL are making the game even more soft. Reminds me of a certain 2004 team that Peyton couldn't handle :rolleyes:

The 1st quarter of Browns @ Redskins was unbearable with the flags. ESPN commentator said 'we are pleased to report that there are no flags on the play' once. I get the hands to the face penalty; smacking someone about the helmet should not be a legitimate tactic to beat your block (and the concussion risk) but some of the calls are so borderline. It's not even just that penalty actually, so many borderline calls and even no calls are drawing flags, I hope it eases up by week 1 or this season will start as horribly as replacement ref season.

Has anyone been watching Hard Knocks? I normally skipped Falcons games on Sky depending on the opponent because Matt Ryan was just boring to watch but Hard Knocks has endeared me to some of their players. Roddy White and Steven Jackson come across really well and Harry Douglas is just really really cool. I wish I could watch the whole thing but my GamePass free trial is coming to an end!

I'm watching the Jags @ Lions game; Jordan Todman actually makes my eyes bleed, he's just rubbish at everything he's supposed to do. To think he's RB2 on the depth chart is ridiculous, I think you could put my little brother in and he'd make more plays.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8847

10 days to go before real football again. The preseason flag-fest is almost over and a new season where every team starts with great optimism (except the Rams, the Rams are screwed) begins!

Reply 8848

Man Sam Bradford torn ACL again. That's his Rams career done with.

Reply 8849

Anyone keeping up with the 'Why your team sucks' articles this year? I thought they were pretty decent last time but it's mostly fairly lazy now :s-smilie:

49ers one had some amazing emails though and now I desperately want to try some garlic fries.

Also random fact for the day courtesy of Brian McIntyre 'Only one team has not been flagged for a defensive holding penalty: The Seattle Seahawks, the team many blame for “point of emphasis” flags'.

Reply 8850

I've read a few of them, the 49ers one is really funny but the user submissions are always better than the article itself. As for the PoE flags, I think that's on Rodger and the Refs Association isn't it? Commish knows that most people like Offense so you skew the rules to favour the offense, particularly the pass game. Me personally, I like seeing a fair fight between offense and defense; I don't care if the score is 43-48 or 10-7 and the league continues to move away from that. The Seahawks D redressed that balance by operating firmly in the grey, I'd rather see everyone do that than have flags flying everywhere for infractions which may or may not have been there. My favourite player of last season was Bam-Bam Kam Chancellor because he didn't get the wrap-up memo, he was going to run you over if you gave him the angle, if you didn't he was technically sound enough to attempt to strip the ball. That kind of defense is just as good as chunk yardage passing plays.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8851

Odd how the Seahawks haven't been flagged for it yet :lol:

Reply 8852

One of my favourite emails from on the chargers with 'I'm actually feeling good about the team this year, which means that a meaningless 7-9 season is on the horizon'. :console:

I understand the feeling well.

The funny thing is a lot of Seahawks fans weren't too happy with Kam's contract when it was announced as it was for so long. Can't say there's much in the way of complaints now. Just a shame Lockette can't get so lucky with the flags.

*dreamy sigh* He brings the murder to the team :flutter:

Looks like he just made it as a lock too.

It's going to be good this year for us, with Lynch/Wilson/Harvin being such threats and having such a solid receiver core outside that then we can start winning the numbers game and have someone unblocked or one-to-one match ups. Main issue will be health though, a few injuries on defense has limited the depth and with Farewell going in for groin surgery the current guys really need to keep going. As good as the front seven are we don't have much in the way of guys to replace them (fingers crossed we can maybe trade one of our QBs for someone a bit better).

.. Gyah this just makes me realise how little I know about other teams compared to the Hawks. As dumb an idea as this probably is, anyone fancy doing a team Q & A for their guys before the season starts? Sorta like the SBnation Know Your Enemy articles.

Reply 8853

Original post by IMakeSenseToNone

.. Gyah this just makes me realise how little I know about other teams compared to the Hawks. As dumb an idea as this probably is, anyone fancy doing a team Q & A for their guys before the season starts? Sorta like the SBnation Know Your Enemy articles.

I could do a Jags one if you fancied, I've been swotting up in the offseason. I don't know anything about half of the teams in the NFL either. I used to forget that the Titans existed. Hard Knocks meant I learned more players than Matt Ryan, Roddy White and Julio Jones on the Falcons but they were previously another team I knew bugger all about. The ones which don't cause a media frenzy can sort of slip under your radar for years.

Reply 8854

Original post by Wattsy

I could do a Jags one if you fancied, I've been swotting up in the offseason. I don't know anything about half of the teams in the NFL either. I used to forget that the Titans existed. Hard Knocks meant I learned more players than Matt Ryan, Roddy White and Julio Jones on the Falcons but they were previously another team I knew bugger all about. The ones which don't cause a media frenzy can sort of slip under your radar for years.

Jags would be awesome! :biggrin:

Be nice to see how Gus Bradley is doing there and they've been pretty fun to watch this preseason even if the running game is pretty poor.

Obviously I can do le Seahawks and bore everyone silly with short essays on all our underappreciated players but my Mum is a Vikings fan, Dad a Titan and my friend is a Panther so I keep up to date with analysis on them and watch most of their games so that's always a possibility is no one else supports them.

Reply 8855

Original post by IMakeSenseToNone

Jags would be awesome! :biggrin:

Be nice to see how Gus Bradley is doing there and they've been pretty fun to watch this preseason even if the running game is pretty poor.

Obviously I can do le Seahawks and bore everyone silly with short essays on all our underappreciated players but my Mum is a Vikings fan, Dad a Titan and my friend is a Panther so I keep up to date with analysis on them and watch most of their games so that's always a possibility is no one else supports them.

I've hastily volunteered myself for this and realised that I have no idea what an SBNation Know Your Enemy Q&A looks like. Do people want to just shoot me questions via PM and I'll just store them up until we have a decent selection?

Reply 8856

Original post by Wattsy

I've hastily volunteered myself for this and realised that I have no idea what an SBNation Know Your Enemy Q&A looks like. Do people want to just shoot me questions via PM and I'll just store them up until we have a decent selection?

It's just dirt simple Q&As based on trying to explain a team to those who don't know. Go ahead and do it however you like, either all in one go or bit by bit. So for the Jags I would ask like:

How has Gus Bradley been received at Jacksonville? Has there been any obvious improvements to the team since he's come about?

What were the main areas for improvement going into the off season?

How do you feel the off season went? Drafts, trading and free agency.

Any steals in the draft that you feel are particularly worth looking out for this year?

How has Bortles been doing, is he living up to expectations?

What are the team's main concerns heading into this last of the preseason?

People keep talking as if the Jags are still setting the ground work for what could be a strong team, do you think the young players you have now are the sort to start leading the franchise in the future?

And finally, what are your predictions for the team this year?

Reply 8857

How has Gus Bradley been received at Jacksonville?

Gus is like Pete Carroll Jnr minus the 9/11 truther aspects, he's all about competing and being better every day. He's also one of the most placid guys you'll ever see on the sideline; he's not up to Louis Van Gaal's (Manchester United) phlegmatic levels though, he will get happy, just not angry. Him and Dave Caldwell (GM) have a Stalin-esque cult of personality kind of vibe going, most of the fanbase have bought in to a degree and the players are all-in too. They want players who fit their philosophy hence a lot of recruitment in the later rounds of the draft came from guys they got to see at the Senior Bowl this year. Free Agency wise Toby Gerhart came to Jacksonville after talking to some of the players who said 'He made football fun again.' Old hats should probably think of him as the antidote to Tom Coughlin's era in Jacksonville. He's certainly not going to fine you for being early but he wants you to want to be on time. His brand of respect is fairly new-age, he's not going to rule by fear or anger, he wants respect to come from human nature and positive mental attitude. Therefore he's been very well recieved, after Gene Smith and Jack Del Rio era where punters got drafted in the 3rd round, (he (Bryan Anger) is a good punter but seriously) the stadium had 10,000 tarped seats and television blackouts were the norm, anyone (actually Mike Mularkey really didn't work) would have been better. The change of ownership to Shahid Khan, then the recruitment of Caldwell from the Falcons who then recruited Bradley was the real turning point of the franchise.

Has there been any obvious improvements to the team since he's come about?

Gus Bradley is first and foremost a defensive kind of guy so the defense has got a lot better personnel wise. Red Bryant and Chris Clemons came from Seattle in FA this offseason but the defensive rebuild began in Dave and Gus' first draft together in 2013. Jonathan Cyprien and Dwayne Gratz are the biggest defensive impacts coming straight in as starters from that draft. Sen'Derrick Marks was another addition signed as an UDFA from the Titans in 2013. These players were some of the first to begin restocking a talent starved roster. The best indicator of how talent starved roster was is that Caldwell and Bradley began with, is that only 5 players drafted in the Gene Smith era remain on the roster as of now. These are Tyson Alualu (LE), Andre Branch (RE), Chris Prosinski (FS), Cecil Shorts III (WR) and Marcedes Lewis (TE) and with Prosinski firmly on the bubble this could well be down to 3 by Week 1. The 2014 draft was then to revitalise an offense with a quarterback crisis, a suspended Justin Blackmon (WR) and only 1 franchise player on the OL in Luke Joeckel (LT) who was the 2nd overall pick of the 2013 draft. They hope they've resolved the QB issue with the drafting of Blake Bortles with the 3rd pick of the 2014 draft, assisted their WR core with the additions of Marquise Lee and Allen Robinson in the 2nd round and filled some holes on a poor OL with Brandon Linder (RG) in the 3rd and Luke Bo****o (C) in the 6th, Zane Beadles was acquired in FA to play (LG). Linder and Bo****o are not expected to start yet but are likely to see playing time at some point in 2014. Toby Gerhart was also brought in to replace franchise stalwart MJD who departed for the Oakland Raiders, at HB. Bortles is expected to sit for some time in 2014 with a view to starting in 2015 or potentially earlier if the coaching staff consider him ready.

What were the main areas for improvement going into the off season?

This has sort of been covered in the previous question. Team needs on offense were certainly QB, WR, G, C, HB going into the offeseason and Free Agency. The team basically only had locks at LT, LCB, Sam LB, DT and FS, every other position was up for debate, none of them had real depth The Jags are not 1 player from a Superbowl, it's a roster in rebuilding mode and it needed to get better on both sides of the ball.

How do you feel the off season went? Drafts, trading and free agency.

I have to like the offseason. We'll save Bortles for lower down and begin with FA. Ziggy Hood filled second DT depth chart hole, Red Bryant replaced indifferent Tyson Alualu at LE and Chris Clemons replaced slightly better Andre Branch at RE. Actually replaced may be the wrong word, rotation is a key word for the defense this year and so these are depth pickups in a roundabout way because they will allow for interchanges on the defensive side of the ball with much less impact on performance. The idea is to prevent fatigue and therefore play better defense, a simple enough concept which really can't fail to work.

Moving on to the draft, the first non-QB pick was second round Marquise Lee, he has been injured for much of camp but did see some game time in preseason game 2 where he looked good. Allen Robinson, another wideout soon followed in the draft, he's looked good too but also got injured at the beginning of August. Robinson looked the more solid of the 2 selections in the early part of training camp but injuries make it difficult to evaluate further. In the 3rd round came Brandon Linder at RG, he's seen time with the 1st team in preseason which is clearly a good sign for his development. Aaron Colvin was drafted next, he tore his ACL at the Senior Bowl where Gus Bradley famously said that he was coming to get him in the draft. He did, and he's now on the NFI list. Telvin Smith came next at nickel linebacker, he's a depth pick who'll likely see playing time on interchanges with Geno Hayes as well as nickel looks. He already made a play in the preseason hurrying Josh McCown into making a bad throw which Winston Guy duly returned to the house for a pick six. Bradley likes his football IQ too, getting all of that from a 5th rounder can only be a good thing. Chris Smith was next off the board, also in the 5th round, he's a RE and is likely to see some playing time from 3 on the depth chart in a league where you can never have too many pass rushers. Luke Bo w a n k o was drafted in the 6th as a long term replacement for retired Brad Meester (Remember the camo blazer at the draft? That's the guy he's replacing) and thanks to Mike Brewster and Jacques McClendon being horrible and below par at the Center position respectively he may well start week 1. Snapping the football properly is kind of the most important part of the Center job at he's doing that the best of anyone on the roster at the moment. He also came from the pick received in the Blaine Gabbert trade making this an even bigger bonus. Storm Johnson was the last Jags rookie acquired by the draft. He's a HB and was a teammate of Blake Bortles at UCF, he's not been remarkable in games but is a good contrast to the power of Toby Gerhart and he's been good enough that I can see him replacing Jordan Todman (because he has been awful) on the depth chart meaning that the RB depth chart would probably look like 1. Toby Gerhart 2. Denard Robinson 3. Storm Johnson which is an interesting and fairly strong lineup.

Any steals in the draft that you feel are particularly worth looking out for this year?

I don't know if you can call Bortles a steal at 3 but if he plays I think it would be prudent to watch, I'm unwilling to stick the franchise label on a player after 4 preseason games but he's been showing all the right signs; he's calling audibles at the line, not throwing picks and finding his guys with regularity and that fake spike incompletion to Mike Brown is one of the best incompletions I've ever seen based on pure confusion value.

I like Telvin Smith as a steal kind of guy, he's got highlight reel potential and rolls the dice on aggressive plays. He's a little rough but what 4th round guy isn't. The real steal though wasn't drafted, he comes in the form of Allen Hurns WR and has been Bortles most targeted receiver through preseason, has scored a touchdown and has seen time with the 1's, he's a lock for WR4 on the roster.

How has Bortles been doing, is he living up to expectations?

He's living up to expectations that's for sure. The QB starter crisis remains unsolved because Bortles has played so well in the preseason that there is a real clamour for him to start Week 1, Gus said from Day 1 that Henne was the starter and that remains the case but Chad Henne isn't the future, that is for sure and if QB's worked in total isolation I'm sure Gus would put Blake in, anyone would. But they don't, I look at that O-Line with it's 2nd year LT, 3rd year RT and potentially 2 rookies and wonder if Ben Roethlisberger has a better one in Pittsburgh, his is certainly more established and he's still having to run around like an idiot every other play. For me, let Chad bed this O-Line in, let it get used to the NFL, then let it get used to Bortles it may take longer that way but I wouldn't want my farm stood behind that glass house which people are paid to throw stones at until it's a little more world weary and weather worn.

What are the team's main concerns heading into this last of the preseason?

For the last game of preseason the main concern is 'STAY HEALTHY,' especially if you're a wide receiver. The Center battle is still ongoing too so that will have to be decided in Game 4. Otherwise I guess it's just practicing vanilla defense and getting the rookies and new additions prepared for Week 1 against the Eagles which will be a different test to any offense they've seen so far. It is at Lincoln Financial though and the stats say that the Eagles are horrible at home. I'm still anticipating a loss though, it's the Eagles, they're simply better than us.

People keep talking as if the Jags are still setting the ground work for what could be a strong team, do you think the young players you have now are the sort to start leading the franchise in the future?

I've been babbling on for hours about the rebuilding and the groundwork for a strong team, literally this has taken me hours to write so I'd have to say yes. It's too early to say how it will all pan out but the initial signs are good. There are still big roster gaps to fill and it will be probably 3-5 years before there is real depth. It takes years to restock a barren cupboard as some NFL pundit once said but I have to believe that the Jags are doing their best to do just that. With Shahid Khan at the helm it really is a franchise on the up and will likely remain in Jacksonville for decades to come.

And finally, what are your predictions for the team this year?

Bortles in by Week 8 and a 6-10 record with a win against the Cowboys at Wembley in week 10 for me to cheer about. Jonathan Cyprien to make the Pro Bowl and the defense to be top 10 in sacks from T31 last year

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8858

Original post by IMakeSenseToNone

Jags would be awesome! :biggrin:

Be nice to see how Gus Bradley is doing there and they've been pretty fun to watch this preseason even if the running game is pretty poor.

Obviously I can do le Seahawks and bore everyone silly with short essays on all our underappreciated players but my Mum is a Vikings fan, Dad a Titan and my friend is a Panther so I keep up to date with analysis on them and watch most of their games so that's always a possibility is no one else supports them.

What kind of stuff would you like to know about the Pats?

Reply 8859