NFL 2012 NFL Pre-Season - Discussion

[The Falcon Strike]

Hi Guys,

I did ask before in this thread a ways back about the best seats to get.

I'm going to candlestick park to watch the 49ers and trying to work out which seats.

I can get elevated seats behind one of the end-zones pretty cheap - or splash out and get tickets on about the 25 yard line.

My thoughts are we are there for the vibe, rather than so much the match which I don't have much idea about - so just go the cheaper option

Thoughts?

 

[hayes]

Even though I'm a Saints fan I agree with what Hines Ward said on Mike and Mike a while ago. Almost every team agreed to give Goodell all this power and now they're arguing it. You should never give that much power to one man.

Why would anyone agree to have a system where you appeal to the person that handed out the suspension in the first place? If you think about it Goodell is a genius. I can just imagine him sitting there saying "OMG I seriously can't believe they agreed to that" laughing his ass off.

 

[tb_fanboy]

With players praising Vilmas action and also being unhappy with Goodell is there a case that if the commissioner further upsets the players that they will revolt and possibly strike, or does their CBA prevent things like that happening?

I hope not, don't want another lockout

 

[MarcusP2]

Hi Guys,

I did ask before in this thread a ways back about the best seats to get.

I'm going to candlestick park to watch the 49ers and trying to work out which seats.

I can get elevated seats behind one of the end-zones pretty cheap - or splash out and get tickets on about the 25 yard line.

My thoughts are we are there for the vibe, rather than so much the match which I don't have much idea about - so just go the cheaper option

Thoughts?

Just get the cheaper ones. I got cheap seats way up in the stands for my 2 games and it was still an awesome time.

 

[Chadwiko]

Very surprised (or, perhaps not) that GG has yet to post the article about Pryor being unhappy being the backup in Raiders land.

 

[Woodson]

Buccs keep making moves in the off-season by shipping out disgruntled TE Kellen Winslow to Seattle for conditional pick in 2013.

TE Winslow to Seattle

Ex-Colts TE Dallas Clark agrees to terms with Buccs. One year contract?

Buccs DT Brian Price family tragedy AGAIN!

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

I thought Clark went to Denver. Must of just been rumors.

 

[peterbuch74]

This photo makes me happy

 

[Exe Gesis]

NFL Owners meeting starts now.

Source

ATLANTA -- The last time NFL owners converged on Atlanta for a set of meetings similar to this, tensions mounted and electricity flooded the hotel lobby as last year's labor dispute reached its peak.

This week, we're not expecting anything close to that.

Instead, for the first time in several years, the collective bargaining agreement remains firmly in place. The owners instead will spend Tuesday's meeting (many will arrive Monday) discussing several rules proposals that were tabled at the March meeting in Palm Beach.

Specifically, they'll vote on the possibility of requiring hip, thigh and knee pads starting in 2013, in addition to a tweak to the trade deadline, which might be extended by about two weeks, from Week 6 to Week 8.

Though none of the proposals should have a profound impact on the fan's perspective of the game, one NFL general manager said he's all for the extended trade deadline. The proposed change would give teams a little more time to see where they stand in the playoff mix before making potential roster adjustments.

Originally, the owners also planned to discuss a new rule that would provide an extra roster spot for a player who has been diagnosed with a concussion, but a league source said they've taken that proposal off the agenda for this week. It's probable that it will be discussed at a later time. An NFL GM expressed some concern about that possible rule (although he expected it to eventually pass), since he believes it could potentially be abused to make room for players at positional needs for a given week.

The league also will discuss a potential rule that would allow a team to return one player from injured reserve to the active roster by a certain point in the season. This rule received some attention during the March meeting, but the competition committee and the owners decided to wait before passing it.

Despite the drama of last year's July meetings in Atlanta, this week's agenda is much more like the standard meetings typical for this time of year.

Requiring players to wear certain leg pads might be among the rules that could face complaints from some -- mostly wide receivers, who want the ability to choose whether or not to wear pads that could deter their speed. Nonetheless, as commissioner Roger Goodell continues to search for ways to make the game safer, it certainly seems realistic that the rule will indeed be passed.

The owners already voted on the more significant rules changes back in March, including a failed proposal to send all replay reviews to the booth and a passed proposal to expand the new overtime rules from just the playoffs to the entire regular season. The league also passed a rule in March that will cause all turnovers to be reviewed (without requiring a coach's challenge).

As always, all proposals on Tuesday will require 24 of 32 votes (75 percent) for approval.

 

[Brasher]

Hi Guys,

I did ask before in this thread a ways back about the best seats to get.

I'm going to candlestick park to watch the 49ers and trying to work out which seats.

I can get elevated seats behind one of the end-zones pretty cheap - or splash out and get tickets on about the 25 yard line.

My thoughts are we are there for the vibe, rather than so much the match which I don't have much idea about - so just go the cheaper option

Thoughts?

As Marcus says any seat for just soaking in the experience is great (except for the far corner of the stadium where the old moveable bleachers behind the visiting team obstructs the view).

I've done both on an upper deck behind the end zone and at midfield. To experience the vibe the uppder deck seats are great. You can't compare the midfield seats as far as being close to the action goes though.

Have a look at this site http://www.seats3d.com/nfl/san_francisco_49ers/ Have the ability to enter in the exact seat number and get a virtual view of the game from that seat.

Which game will you be attending BTW? I will be at either the Bills or Giants game depending on travel plans.

 

[Sven]

The NFL owners voted today to approve moving the trade deadline back two weeks and tweaking the injured reserve rule, two changes that will be implemented for the 2012 season if the league and the union can agree on the details.

......

The change to the injured reserve rule would allow each team to put one player on injured reserve for only part of the season, rather than making every player’s season come to an end if he’s placed on injured reserve. Under the revised rule, a player who is on the roster for Week One and then gets hurt during the season can be placed on injured reserve and designated for return, and then can return to practice six weeks later and play in a game eight weeks later.

thankyou pft

 

[The Falcon Strike]

As Marcus says any seat for just soaking in the experience is great (except for the far corner of the stadium where the old moveable bleachers behind the visiting team obstructs the view).

I've done both on an upper deck behind the end zone and at midfield. To experience the vibe the uppder deck seats are great. You can't compare the midfield seats as far as being close to the action goes though.

Have a look at this site http://www.seats3d.com/nfl/san_francisco_49ers/ Have the ability to enter in the exact seat number and get a virtual view of the game from that seat.

Which game will you be attending BTW? I will be at either the Bills or Giants game depending on travel plans.

Have had a look at that website - but having seen a real photo of AT&T park as compared to the seats3d image, I think depth perception is a little out.

Still - i think elevated behind the endzone it will be - i reckon i'll get a better view of all the plays (mainly because i'm used to that angle from computer games in the 90's)

I'll only be going to a pre-season game against Minnesota - so i appreciate I won't be seeing all the stars, but truth be told I wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway

 

[Joshen]

Kellen Winslow is an interesting pick. An upgrade on what we have on the roster (compounded by Carlson electing to move to Minnesota). Low risk, high reward which is always nice. Should get some nice double TE plays with him and Miller in there. Hopefully Flynn or Wilson use those guys a bit more than Jackson did last year + hope the TE's finally get a go at receiving rather than being forced to block a majority of the time.

Are Tampa fans happy he is gone?

 

[Woodson]

Some more embarrassing circumstances for the NFL could be the outcome of the CapGate farce (redskins/cowboys).

Not quite GG.

NFL wins salary cap fight with Redskins, Cowboys


ATLANTA (AP) -- An arbitrator upheld the NFL's salary cap reductions on the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins for this season and next.

Stephen Burbank ruled Tuesday in favor of the league and dismissed the grievances by both teams. The Redskins lost $36 million over two years. The Cowboys lost $10 million for overloading contracts during the uncapped 2010 season despite league warnings about such maneuvering.

The Cowboys and Redskins, who filed their grievances against the league and players' association, said in a joint statement they would "abide by the arbitrator's decision to dismiss."

"We will continue to focus on our football teams and the 2012 season," the NFC rivals said.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones compared the dynamics of the salary cap with using a credit card.

"The way you work around the salary cap is you kind of use the credit card to spend money that you won't be spending in the future," Jones said Tuesday at the owners meeting. "So it caused us to do more credit card spending in the future."

Redskins general manager Bruce Allen said the team is "obviously disappointed." Asked how losing another $18 million might inhibit the Redskins, he said: "We'll see. We'll have time to talk about it."

source: Post Gazette

 

[Chadwiko]

NFPLA are now suing the NFL though. It's far from over.

It really was a farce.

 

[Iason]

Ex-Colts TE Dallas Clark agrees to terms with Buccs. One year contract?

[

His injury problems probably had something to do with it.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

lol watching SC. All this Tebow stuff is going to really distract the whole team all the way up to week 1, especially a team full of egos like the Jets. Might as well boot Sanchez now and put Tebow in. Looking forward to the infighting and eventual implosion.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

lol watching SC. All this Tebow stuff is going to really distract the whole team all the way up to week 1, especially a team full of egos like the Jets. Might as well boot Sanchez now and put Tebow in. Looking forward to the infighting and eventual implosion.

Spoken like a true Patsie.

It's only been OTAs, but Sanchez has looked pretty smooth with his quarterbacking. He bulked up some in the off-season but will probably trim that back a little bit as we get closer to the season kicking off.

Tebow has so far been taking reps as a QB and is still learning Sparano's system (thrown a couple of interceptions, including to new Jets safety Yeremiah Bell) and has been practising as the punt protector on special teams. No Wildcat yet.

Very difficult to tell from 10,000 miles away, but so far this off-season, the team has been saying the right things and doing the right things in practice. Can't ask more from them than that, at this stage.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Source

Former NFL kicker Mike Vanderjagt has been suspended from his middle school coaching job after he was accused of grabbing and screaming at a student, apparently because the child taunted Vanderjagt over his missed field goal in the Colts’ loss to the Steelers in the 2005 playoffs.

The Naples News reports that Vanderjagt is a part-time coach at a middle school in Marco Island, Florida, but that he was suspended from that position when the school’s dean of students called the police to say that Vanderjagt had been witnessed grabbing a student by the throat. According to the police report, a student was taunting Vanderjagt by yelling “wide left, wide left,” and Vanderjagt walked up to him, grabbed him by the throat and started cursing at him. Both the student involved (who apparently didn’t realize that Vanderjagt’s miss against the Steelers was actually wide right) and another student who witnessed the incident told police the same story.

That sounds a bit like what got Bobby Knight fired from a much higher-profile coaching job, and it’s unsurprising that Vanderjagt’s side of the story is similar to Knight’s story when he got fired at Indiana: Knight said he was simply trying to teach a young man to respect his elders, and Vanderjagt said that he decided he had had enough after students had been taunting him about missed field goals for months.

Vanderjagt said he did nothing more than put his hand on the child’s shoulder at the base of his neck to hold him in place while talking to him, and he had no intention of hurting or threatening the student. Police forwarded their report to the state’s attorney’s office, which decided not to press charges. It will be up to the principal to decide when or if Vanderjagt is reinstated to coaching.

Vanderjagt spent eight years in Indianapolis and had some very good seasons but is remembered by many for that miss against the Steelers, which was his last kick with the Colts before spending one final NFL season with the Cowboys. He’s also remembered for being famously roasted by Peyton Manning, who called him a “liquored-up” “idiot kicker.” The always reliable Wikipedia says that Vanderjagt is currently working as a pizza delivery man.

 

[Exe Gesis]

NFL and Officials head to federal mediation

With the labor agreement between the NFL and its game officials expiring in less than a week, pro football will be heading back to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Washington, in the hopes of working out a new deal before a lockout or a strike.

Via Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the FMCS announced on Thursday that the league and the officials’ union have accepted an offer to submit their labor dispute to mediation, an informal process where the mediator has no power over the parties, other than possibly the power of persuasion.

The NFL’s labor dispute with players went to the FMCS before the lockout began. Once a federal antitrust lawsuit was filed against the league, it made more sense to conduct mediation within the confines of the litigation, for a variety of reasons (including the reality that mediation conducted under the umbrella of a lawsuit generally helps keep the parties in line, since the mediator has a pipeline to the judge).

The NFL already has commenced the process of lining up replacements, something the NFL did 11 years ago. Today, however, with unprecedented focus on player safety (and increased burdens on officials to spot possible concussions), an effort to replace the officials could be extremely controversial, especially in light of the current relationship between the NFL and NFLPA.

Especially if the officials strike — and if the players are inclined to respect their picket line.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

lol Vanderjagt was the biggest jackass in the NFL. Quite fitting he's now a pizza delivery man.

 

[Exe Gesis]

I guess that's it for Terrell Owens...

From PFT

Receiver Terrell Owens can’t get back in to the NFL. And now he’s out of the IFL.

The Allen Wranglers have announced that Owens has been released.

It’s hardly an amicable split. The statement takes multiple shots at Owens for not having the right level of commitment.

“Our fans are amongst the best in the league and it is impossible to maintain a player when even our fans notice and comment on a player’s lack of effort both on and off the field,” owner Jon Frankel said. “We need to do what is best for this team, our fans and this community.”

Team president and co-owner Tommy Benizio chimed in, too. With gloves fully off.

“It is difficult to look other players on this team in the eyes and tell them that being a team player is important . . . that giving it your all on the field every night is our expectation, when another member of this team is not operating by these standards,” Benizio said. ”The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back for Mr. Owens was his no-show to a scheduled appearance at a local children’s hospital with other Wrangler players and coaches. It is not the desire of the Allen Wranglers’ organization to disappoint fans by having our most notable player miss a scheduled appearance.”

Owens signed a much-hyped deal with the Wranglers, giving him a piece of the team. But it paid Owens only for home games. His participation in road games hinged on the willingness of the other team to sweeten the pot.

For the season, Owens appeared in eight games, catching 35 passes for 420 yards and 10 touchdowns.

And so likely ends the football career of Terrell Owens. Unless he can successfully find a way to blame this on the media. Or at least to blame someone other than himself.

 

[Exe Gesis]

After having so many teams turn them down, HBO finally finds a team willing to do the annual installment of 'Hard Knocks'...

Plenty of teams said “no” to Hard Knocks, for various reasons. The Dolphins agreed to do it.

On Tuesday, coach Joe Philbin discussed the situation, calling it a “football decision.”

Seriously.

“We’re excited that NFL Films and HBO has chosen the Miami Dolphins to appear on Hard Knocks,” Philbin said, via the video box on the right rail of the site. “I want you to know a couple things about the decision. Number one, it was a football decision. It was made by the football operations staff. Our owner, [Stephen Ross], supported our decision but in no way, shape, or form forced us to make this decision.”

Many will believe otherwise, especially since G.M. Jeff Ireland grew up in the Bill Parcells school of ultra-secrecy.

But as the Dolphins struggle to generate interest in the team via conventional means (you know, by winning more games than they lose), the team has to do something to get people sufficiently engaged to buy tickets to the games. Thus, the Dolphins are now more available to the media — and they’ll be even more available once the NFL Films cameras and microphones show up.

To the extent that the appearance arises from a football decision, Philbin didn’t really articulate a football reason. He said the that show will “showcase our players” and provide a “great opportunity for us to communicate with our fans.” While those concerns reflect prudent business reasons, there’s no obvious basis for the move, from a football standpoint.

In contrast, Vince Lombardi liked having NFL Films camera crews around because it made his players work harder. If that’s the basis for the “football decision,” why not say so?

And so the Dolphins will deny that the move was driven by dollars and cents, and the rest of us won’t believe them. But at least we finally know who the team will be, even if the end result likely will be far less compelling than if the Jets, Saints, Broncos, Colts, or Redskins had done it.

 

[Iason]

lol watching SC. All this Tebow stuff is going to really distract the whole team all the way up to week 1, especially a team full of egos like the Jets. Might as well boot Sanchez now and put Tebow in. Looking forward to the infighting and eventual implosion.

I really can't stand SportsCenter anymore, and I think all of the Favre stories killed it. I thought when he left that things would be different, but along came Tebow. ESPNNews for me now.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Interesting column from Rick Reilly:

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7986979/redemption-brian-banks