Tag: NFL

Favorites stories from the NFL Draft

Looking at the NFL draft is like watching a game and being told it is being stopped with the score tied with two minutes left and being told it will resume in two or three  years. That is because it is difficult to judge how good a draft pick is until he has had a chance to play a couple of years. That is why I prefer to look  for the best stories on the first round rather than trying to pick winners and losers this early.

Here are some of my favorite stories:

–The most heartwarming story of the draft was Fernando Mendoza deciding to stay home and not attend the draft, mainly because his mother has MS and it is difficult for her to travel. The NBC Nightly News even had a story about the reason for his decision. But the NFL didn’t salute him. They tried to get Peyton Manning to change his mind. Good for Mendoza for saying no. Now let’s hope it was good for Mendoza being selected by the Raiders, who have been struggling for years.  

–The Rams selected quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th pick to replace Matthew Stafford when he retires. But coach Sean McVay didn’t seem thrilled with the pick. He wants to win a Super Bowl with Stafford and a rookie sitting on the bench won’t help him this year. And the next question is whether Simpson will be a long term answer.

–For the first time in their 32 year history, the Jaguars didn’t have a first round pick because they sent it to the Browns for Travis Hunter last year. It is still too early to tell whether that was a good move because Hunter played in only seven games last year before undergoing surgery for an LCL knee injury and missing the rest of the year.

–The Chiefs decided to go for defense with their two first round picks. They traded up from nine  six to take cornberback Mansoon Delane who was targeted to replace Trent McDuffie. And with their second pick in the first round they took defensive lineman Peter Woods, who will backup Chris Jones and may eventually replace him. The Chiefs hope it will help Patrick Mahomes to have a better defense.

–The Vikings took defensive tackle Caleb Banks at No. 18 even though he is recovering from fool surgery. It was maybe the biggest gamble to take him that high and we’ll see if he makes a complete recovery to justify the move.

Looks like union will remain a paper tiger against NFL owners

The NFL owners apparently can’t wait to get DeMaurice Smith back to the negotiating table.

After the players’ selection committee voted to extend Smith’s contract as the NFLPA head, league spokesman Joe Lockhart congratulated Smith (pictured) in a conference call and then talked about the 2011 negotiations.

“I think we had productive negotiations with him in 2011,’’ Lockhart said. “We believe strongly that it has worked for both parties, for owners and players.’’

Can you imagine a Major League Baseball spokesman ever making a comment like that about a deal that Marvin Miller negotiated for the baseball players?

The deal has worked out great for the football owners. The players? Not so much.

Continue reading “Looks like union will remain a paper tiger against NFL owners”

Seahawks’ Sherman ill-informed about value of injury reports

Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks is a smart guy with a Stanford education, but he couldn’t have been more wrong when he said this week that the NFL’s injury reports “are for gamblers.’’

They aren’t for the gamblers. They are to prevent gamblers from getting inside information.

Sherman vented on the injury reports after he was listed questionable Sunday because he missed two practices during the week with a hamstring injury. He then played every defensive snap Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, as he’d done for 92 consecutive games after being listed as questionable.

“I guess from what I understand the rules are for gamblers, for Vegas to make sure the odds and everything are what they are supposed to be, which is apparently what the league is concerned about when talking about injuries and things like that,” Sherman said, according to the Seattle Times. “So maybe someone should look into that, because I thought we weren’t a gambling league or were against all of those things. But our injury report is specifically to make sure the gamblers get their odds right.”

Sherman also was listed as questionable the first weekt week after being listed as questionable in Week 1 because of a thigh injury.

Continue reading “Seahawks’ Sherman ill-informed about value of injury reports”

Pursuit of Elliott is more nonsensical buffoonery from Goodell

Remember New Coke?

In one of the most bizarre marketing decisions in American history, Coca-Cola changed its century-old formula in 1985 to a more sugary taste, only to face a deluge of complaints from outraged customers.

Just 79 days later, the company brought back old Coke as Coke Classic.

All you could think of at the time was, what were they thinking?

Their explanation is that they were worried about losing market share to Pepsi. But nobody in the boardroom raised a red flag that changing the formula wasn’t the answer.

Continue reading “Pursuit of Elliott is more nonsensical buffoonery from Goodell”

Five Things to Watch: NFL Week 1

Five things I’ll be looking at in the first week of the 2017 NFL season:

1. How will Tom Brady play in the Patriots Thursday night opener against the Chiefs?

At age 40, Brady has shown no signings of slowing down in training camp. And if Brady is still Brady, they are three games – two home playoff games and the Super Bowl – away from a sixth Super Bowl title before they inflate their first football.

With Brady, they are a lock to make the playoffs again since they play in a division with the Jets, Bills and Dolphins. But sometimes aging quarterbacks can just suddenly fall off a cliff. Or decline slowly.

Brady will be under the microscope for any signs of slowing down all season. Oh, and the other thing about the opener is the reception the Patriots fans will give Roger Goodell. How many will wear the clown T-shirt that defensive coordinator Matt Patricia wore getting off the plane after the Super Bowl? What will their signs say?

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NFL’s arrogant L.A. experiment is already a disaster

The NFL wants Los Angeles more than Los Angeles wants the NFL.

That’s been obvious for years.

When the Rams and Raiders both left after the 1994 season, there was no outcry about losing the team and no interest in building a taxpayer-funded stadium to get one back.

The NFL even awarded Los Angeles an expansion team, but Los Angeles shrugged and the team went to Houston.

The first Super Bowl was played there, and the city was so excited that the Los Angeles Coliseum was half-full.

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When will the NFL realize the Kaepernick issue isn’t going away?

Most of my younger readers have probably never heard of Frank Serpico.

He was a New York City police officer whose campaign against police corruption was chronicled in the 1973 movie “Serpico.’’ He was played by Al Pacino. It’s a very good movie, by the way.

Anyway, it turns out Serpico is now 81 and still an idealist.

He turned out at a rally Saturday of about 75 mostly minority police officers who gathered in Brooklyn wearing black shirts reading “imwithkap.’’

Kap, of course, is Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who remains unsigned after refusing to stand for the national anthem last year.

Continue reading “When will the NFL realize the Kaepernick issue isn’t going away?”

Despite the rhetoric, don’t count on an NFL lockout or strike

The saber-rattling between the NFLPA and NFL has already started, even though the current labor deal runs until 2020.

Some players have already starting tweeting about their salaries not matching NBA salaries.

And NFLPA head De Smith told The MMQB that a lockout or strike is a virtual certainty in 2021.

The rhetoric, though, doesn’t match the reality.

I doubt there will be a lockout or strike.

Continue reading “Despite the rhetoric, don’t count on an NFL lockout or strike”

Full-time officials is just another PR ploy by Goodell & Co.

The NFL’s announcement that it will hire up to 24 full-time officials is a good PR move. It gives the league a chance to show fans that it’s trying to improve the quality of the officiating.

But don’t be fooled. Even making all the officials full-time wouldn’t make much difference.

The other major sports have full-time officials — and their officials make mistakes all the time. Remember, they’re human beings. Coaches and players make mistakes all the time. To think officials aren’t going to make mistakes is downright foolish.

NFL officials tend to get more scrutiny than officials in other sports because the regular season lasts just 16 games and teams play only once a week, so fans and the media can spend several days talking about a blown call.

Baseball teams usually play the next day — and the next … and the next — so the debate about a blown call doesn’t last as long.

Continue reading “Full-time officials is just another PR ploy by Goodell & Co.”

With Coughlin being Coughlin, Marrone already looks like a short-timer

Jaguars coach Doug Marrone is facing an unusual dynamic this season that no NFL coach has ever faced.

He’s got Tom Coughlin as his boss.

Coughlin, who built the most successful NFL expansion team ever in his first tenure with the Jaguars, is back this year in a new role.

He’s the executive vice president of football operations, but he’s not the coach.

In his first stint with the Jaguars, Coughlin also ran the show, but he was the coach. So Coughlin couldn’t second-guess himself.

Continue reading “With Coughlin being Coughlin, Marrone already looks like a short-timer”