NFL 2010

[Sander]

Almost there gentleman, at this time next week I'll be planted firmly on the couch cursing the Patriots D. My optimism was fleeting...ahh, at least I can watch the Jets go down in flames.\

Woody Johnson is off the reservation, he's not with the fucking program man. Breaking ranks and violating the unspoken collusion that the competent owners had going. Spending money like water, resigning guys with 3 years left. Weakness.

I really like what Woody's doing: he's signing a ton of veterans to short contracts with the promise that they can compete for a Super Bowl this year. In an uncapped year, this is a great strategy: there are no long-term consequences to signing old but still good guys, no cap hits - he can spend as much as he wants. I bet next year they go back to normal building mode with fewer veteran signings.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

But why are the Jets the only team doing so?
The other owners clearly had an unspoken agreement not to fuck up the payscale for the 2011 negotiations, they were even able to hold Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder in check surprisingly.

The other owners are staying unified, and they (Irsays, Maras, Krafts, Rooneys, Luries) are the power brokers of the NFL, not Woody. He's clearly defying them and breaking ranks in the midst of labor negotiations. Shortsighted move Woodrow.

Have they even sold all those PSLs yet? How'd you like to drop a couple grand on PSLs and see them throw around money on guys like Taylor and Brunnell on one year deals? Then they turn around and sell the seats next to you, single games, at a discount. Nice. Jets are so bush league compared to the Giants.

I really don't see how, in today's NFL anyone could reasonably expect to win a SB with Mark Sanchez under center.

 

[Sander]

But why are the Jets the only team doing so?
The other owners clearly had an unspoken agreement not to fuck up the payscale for the 2011 negotiations, they were even able to hold Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder in check surprisingly.

The other owners are staying unified, and they (Irsays, Maras, Krafts, Rooneys, Luries) are the power brokers of the NFL, not Woody. He's clearly defying them and breaking ranks in the midst of labor negotiations. Shortsighted move Woodrow.

So, the other owners aren't doing something on purpose - and Woody exploits that.
That seems smart to me. He wants to win now, and you do that by exploiting the openings other owners leave.

Besides, what if the rest of the NFL hates him? What are they going to do, kick him out of the fraternity? Fat chance.

I think Woody's setting himself up to be the new Al Davis in terms of relations with the league. He made a big stink about the coin toss for the opening game of the new stadium, he really pushed for the New York Super Bowl - I think he wants to shake things up.
And I can only applaude that.

I really don't see how, in today's NFL anyone could reasonably expect to win a SB with Mark Sanchez under center.

Sanchez is so going to bomb. In 2 months everyone will have forgotten all the offseason praise for the kid, and they'll be booing him again. Good fun!

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Woody is cutting off his nose to spite his face if he's bucking the powerbrokers of the league in doing that. The NFL has a strong ownership cabal and little gets done without their consensus. Pissing them off isn't going to help your cause.
The NY Jets aren't the NY Yankees. And I don't want to see some freewheeling dude fuck up the NFL's payscale and turn this into the NBA or MLB - it's no mistake why the NFL has surpassed them. Who knows what 2011 will bring, but I'd hate to see Woody fuck it all up.

As far as Al Davis - Coach, GM, owner, commissioner, 3 SBs, winningest team of the last 50 years or something. What's Johnson's football pedigree besides inheriting millions to buy a franchise?
Al Davis, (despite seemingly having gone crazier than a shit house rat post-millennium) is probably one of the most influential NFL dudes ever. He is the Raiders, that's his whole life. You can't tell me the Jets are more than a hobby, like collecting Ferraris or owning a yacht to a blue-blooded guy with old-money like Woody. His company makes one hell of a Q-Tip though, I give him that. Peerless really.

This post brought to you by Great Moments in Jets History:

 

[Brother None]

And I can only applaude that.

That's a bit tarded.

Woody's "great tactics" is asinine shit anyway. Teams dumping off everything and losing sight of the future in making "their one big run" happens all the times. It's the Vikes and Jets this year. No surprise if they fall short.

As for the league, we're in a pretty unstable situation right now, and will need a lot of noses turned in the same direction in the end to get out of it with football still played in late 2011, and you applaud some douchefag owner who thinks he's above the league? Shheeeet.

 

[Sander]

Woody is cutting off his nose to spite his face if he's bucking the powerbrokers of the league in doing that. The NFL has a strong ownership cabal and little gets done without their consensus. Pissing them off isn't going to help your cause.
The NY Jets aren't the NY Yankees. And I don't want to see some freewheeling dude fuck up the NFL's payscale and turn this into the NBA or MLB - it's no mistake why the NFL has surpassed them. Who knows what 2011 will bring, but I'd hate to see Woody fuck it all up.

One team can't fuck this up. If anything, Woody's rabid spending would be a message to the rest of the league to get a cap back in place, as I'm sure the other owners don't like his spending.

With a cap in place, overspending is only going to hurt him. He's taking advantage of the small window in which overspending isn't going to hurt him.

As far as Al Davis - Coach, GM, owner, commissioner, 3 SBs, winningest team of the last 50 years or something. What's Johnson's football pedigree besides inheriting millions to buy a franchise?
Al Davis, (despite seemingly having gone crazier than a shit house rat post-millennium) is probably one of the most influential NFL dudes ever. He is the Raiders, that's his whole life. You can't tell me the Jets are more than a hobby, like collecting Ferraris or owning a yacht to a blue-blooded guy with old-money like Woody. His company makes one hell of a Q-Tip though, I give him that. Peerless really.

Al Davis made the Raiders great, yes. But Al Davis is also the biggest asshole in the league and the one owner who actively hates and opposes the league - Woody seems to be going that way too.

That's a bit tarded.

I like me some antagonism in sports.

Woody's "great tactics" is asinine shit anyway. Teams dumping off everything and losing sight of the future in making "their one big run" happens all the times. It's the Vikes and Jets this year. No surprise if they fall short.

What's interesting is that usually the teams that do that are the teams whose windows are closing like the '02 Bucs or this/last year's Vikings. The Jets are still young and have a big window of opportunity ahead of them. I don't think you can say he's sacrificing the future for the present, since he has a lot of young talent anyway.

As for the league, we're in a pretty unstable situation right now, and will need a lot of noses turned in the same direction in the end to get out of it with football still played in late 2011, and you applaud some douchefag owner who thinks he's above the league? Shheeeet.

I don't think the problem is getting the owners on the same page, the problem lies with the differences between players and owners. One owner being an asshole to the other owners isn't going to stand in the way of labour peace.

 

[Brother None]

I don't think the problem is getting the owners on the same page, the problem lies with the differences between players and owners. One owner being an asshole to the other owners isn't going to stand in the way of labour peace.

Except that it does, because you add in another factor. Two unified fronts negotiating is one thing. Two fronts negotiating while some babbling idiot is making a ruckus in the background is another.

 

[Sander]

Except that it does, because you add in another factor. Two unified fronts negotiating is one thing. Two fronts negotiating while some babbling idiot is making a ruckus in the background is another.

I guess, but last time around two owners disagreed with the CBA, were vocal about it, and it got pushed through anyway.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

It was kind of a slap-dash CBA by the looks of where we are now.

The strength of the NFL is the strength of ownership over player's unions and other interests. When guys like Woody spend recklessly, driving up team payroll in an uncapped year, you could be setting a new baseline for players salaries, caps etc. It's a bad precedent to set IMO. You keep conceding and conceding things to the players union and pretty soon you'll have a NBA or MLB like scenario where only the big market teams compete, the small market teams take the TV contract money and put it in their own pocket instead of futilely trying to compete against teams with gargantuan payroll.

Look at MLB payrolls:http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/salaries/teamsBaseball is lots of fun if you live in NYC, Boston or Chicago. Sucks pretty bad if you live in Pitt, Yankees Payroll is almost 6X higher! Pitt doesn't care, they take the TV money and luxury tax money and pocket it instead of reinvesting in talent - competition and parity be damned. The unions get too much juice and suddenly you get some really shady shit going on as they fight tooth and nail to shield scumbags from steroid testing and whatever other shady shit is going on.


I'm just glad football is back on, saw #3 Boise vs. #10 Va Tech last night, facking barnburner (nice recap on front page of ESPN.com). NFL with it's labor bullshit can kiss my ass when there's college ball like that on.
Love spoilers like Boise, and love the bright blue turf, that shit is awesome. Hope they can run the table and upset the BCS powerhouses.

Just want to say, VT QB is named Tyrod - How the fuck do you name your kid after auto parts?

 

[UniversalWolf]

Jets spending spree = raised fan expectations + lots of new players = bad or insufficient team chemistry = disappointment. Seen it happen 100 times. Like it or not the Colts are the model for building a successful franchise year after year. Hire good coaches, draft good players, and stick with them. It doesn't happen overnight.


BTW, classic Badger football against UNLV last weekend (run, run, run, then run some more).

RB John Clay - 17 rushes for 123, 2TD
RB Montee Ball - 16 rushes for 79, 2TD
QB Tolzien - 15-20 for 197, 1 INT

If they had a good QB they'd be top ten.

 

[Brother None]

Also...

What's interesting is that usually the teams that do that are the teams whose windows are closing like the '02 Bucs or this/last year's Vikings. The Jets are still young and have a big window of opportunity ahead of them. I don't think you can say he's sacrificing the future for the present, since he has a lot of young talent anyway.

This is strictly true, but not for the current FO. Their team is hyped up, they helped along their hype, and they're the Jets. They don't have a lot of elbow room to lose.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

i can't wait to watch Favre get laid out in the first game of the season. FOOTBALL IS HEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!!

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

I know, the anticipation of seeing his body lying limp on the turf with his calcium deprived bones shattered makes me feel like a little kid the night before Christmas. :while visions of compound fractures danced in his head:

I know I said last year that he's the reigning Ironman, and until otherwise he gets the benefit of the doubt, but I don't see him adding many more games to his consecutive starts this year...
or beyond, he said chortling smugly to himself.

Methinks the Saints sputter (haven't even looked at the spread yet, but I'd go blind the Vikes cover if not win outright), no way they can get out-gained so lopsided like before and win again. Week 1 is always tough to handicap though.

Also no more hurricane/Saints references please, nothing kills goodwill like unnecessarily prolonged special interest media-cycles. Right Brett?

Like it or not the Colts are the model for building a successful franchise year after year. Hire good coaches, draft good players, and stick with them. It doesn't happen overnight.

Polian is the master at team building, and he's had a potent formula since the K-gun days. Winning championships, ah, not so good lost 5 of 6 with Buffalo and Indy.
Also, having Manning on your team can compensate for a lot of deficiencies.

Manning and the Colts are starting to remind me of the later day Marino. It's basically him running the show and doing all the heavy lifting and everybody else just along for the ride.
I hear he wants $25M a year, he's probably worth it too if anyone is, but where does that leave the rest of your team?

 

[Sander]

I know, the anticipation of seeing his body lying limp on the turf with his calcium deprived bones shattered makes me feel like a little kid the night before Christmas. :while visions of compound fractures danced in his head:

I know I said last year that he's the reigning Ironman, and until otherwise he gets the benefit of the doubt, but I don't see him adding many more games to his consecutive starts this year...
or beyond, he said chortling smugly to himself.

Methinks the Saints sputter (haven't even looked at the spread yet, but I'd go blind the Vikes cover if not win outright), no way they can get out-gained so lopsided like before and win again. Week 1 is always tough to handicap though.

The Vikings only got worse this offseason. They lost their third-down back (bye-bye pass protection/balls being caught - and Gerhart isn't active for this game), they lost their #1 WR, their secondary is still pretty bad and their O-line got older. The Saints just stayed stagnant, except for losing Sharper (which is pretty bad, admittedly). But I don't see the Vikings winning, especially not in the Superdome.

Polian is the master at team building, and he's had a potent formula since the K-gun days. Winning championships, ah, not so good lost 5 of 6 with Buffalo and Indy.
Also, having Manning on your team can compensate for a lot of deficiencies.

Manning and the Colts are starting to remind me of the later day Marino. It's basically him running the show and doing all the heavy lifting and everybody else just along for the ride.
I hear he wants $25M a year, he's probably worth it too if anyone is, but where does that leave the rest of your team?

I wonder how far apart the Brady/Manning contracts are going to be. Sounds like Brady wants a real payday this time.


ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBAWWWWWW????

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

off to a great start!

 

[Sander]

Oh man the Vikes look bad. Purple Jesus looks good, but the O-line doesn't, and the secondary looks completely incompetent.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

gee...i dunno, Sander. if the Saints can't figure something out real quick, this second half might go completely in the Queens favor.

 

[Sander]

gee...i dunno, Sander. if the Saints can't figure something out real quick, this second half might go completely in the Queens favor.

Nah, the Saints were by far the better team in the first half, except for one drive where the Vikes got the TD.

And as I type that, PT gets the Saints back ahead on a strong dive featuring almost only runs, after the Saints ran about twice in the entire first half.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

oh man. that 3 an' out was beauty. i literally jumped up and down after it looked like Brent got picked right after the "turnovers" narrative.

EDIT:

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

Favre was what? 1 for 12 in the second half? LAWLZ!

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

We should start a death pool for Favre's career. He seemed very cautious last night, and Chilly's playcalling showed a lot of fear IMO.

When has the impromptu Favre broken-play shovel pass ever resulted in more than 3 yards vs. the number of times it's blown up in his face? Every time I see that shovel pass I have this prescient vision of him throwing it right in some Mike's gut.