NFL Thread 2019-2020

[JWags85]

I’ve seen multiple people compare Trubisky to Alex Smith in needing a change of scenery and projecting future success. Which is baffling. They have nothing in common besides playing in an Andy Reid based system at a point in their careers and being disappointing top 2 picks.

[Pakuni]

Bears decline Trubisky’s fifth year option.

Four of the top five picks in 2017 didn't get their options picked up.
Lots of really good players in that draft, too.

[DegenerateDish]

Four of the top five picks in 2017 didn't get their options picked up.
Lots of really good players in that draft, too.

I still like Corey Davis, I think in the right system, he’ll become a decent WR2.

[MU82]

Here's an interesting article in The Athletic about this sportswriter's conversation with a young(ish) Donald Trump in 1984, when Trump owned the USFL's Generals and was trying to force a merger between the leagues.

https://theathletic.com/1795905/2020/05/06/the-nfl-is-largely-a-myth-my-1984-conversation-with-donald-trump/?source=dailyemail

I will respect The Athletics' paywall. It's a great site, and subscriptions are super-cheap. Anybody interested in sports should get a sub. But here are my favorite 2 paragraphs to give folks a taste ...

“The NFL is largely a myth,” he told me. “We have franchises right now that could beat most of the teams in the NFL — Birmingham, Michigan, the Generals, a couple of others. Pittsburgh has an excellent team. The NFL used to scoff at the AFL. They’ve done a great job perpetuating the myth.”

For the record, the “excellent” Maulers finished their one and only season in the USFL with a 3-15 record. Birmingham’s quarterback was Cliff Stoudt, Michigan’s was Bobby Hebert, New Jersey’s was Brian Sipe. The Super Bowl in the 1984 NFL season featured San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana vs. Miami quarterback Dan Marino.

[GB Warrior]

Here's an interesting article in The Athletic about this sportswriter's conversation with a young(ish) Donald Trump in 1984, when Trump owned the USFL's Generals and was trying to force a merger between the leagues.

https://theathletic.com/1795905/2020/05/06/the-nfl-is-largely-a-myth-my-1984-conversation-with-donald-trump/?source=dailyemail

I will respect The Athletics' paywall. It's a great site, and subscriptions are super-cheap. Anybody interested in sports should get a sub. But here is are my favorite 2 paragraphs to give folks a taste ...

“The NFL is largely a myth,” he told me. “We have franchises right now that could beat most of the teams in the NFL — Birmingham, Michigan, the Generals, a couple of others. Pittsburgh has an excellent team. The NFL used to scoff at the AFL. They’ve done a great job perpetuating the myth.”

For the record, the “excellent” Maulers finished their one and only season in the USFL with a 3-15 record. Birmingham’s quarterback was Cliff Stoudt, Michigan’s was Bobby Hebert, New Jersey’s was Brian Sipe. The Super Bowl in the 1984 NFL season featured San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana vs. Miami quarterback Dan Marino.

It was a viable spring board, and for a moment, a viable alternative with players like Steve Young, Reggie White, etc. Power tends to consolidate, which is largely what happened here.

[Uncle Rico]

Here's an interesting article in The Athletic about this sportswriter's conversation with a young(ish) Donald Trump in 1984, when Trump owned the USFL's Generals and was trying to force a merger between the leagues.

https://theathletic.com/1795905/2020/05/06/the-nfl-is-largely-a-myth-my-1984-conversation-with-donald-trump/?source=dailyemail

I will respect The Athletics' paywall. It's a great site, and subscriptions are super-cheap. Anybody interested in sports should get a sub. But here are my favorite 2 paragraphs to give folks a taste ...

“The NFL is largely a myth,” he told me. “We have franchises right now that could beat most of the teams in the NFL — Birmingham, Michigan, the Generals, a couple of others. Pittsburgh has an excellent team. The NFL used to scoff at the AFL. They’ve done a great job perpetuating the myth.”

For the record, the “excellent” Maulers finished their one and only season in the USFL with a 3-15 record. Birmingham’s quarterback was Cliff Stoudt, Michigan’s was Bobby Hebert, New Jersey’s was Brian Sipe. The Super Bowl in the 1984 NFL season featured San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana vs. Miami quarterback Dan Marino.

Everything Trump Touches Dies as the USFL has shown us.  Pete Rozelle didn’t want him in the NFL.  Jeff Pearlman’s book covers this pretty well.  The league had a good initial plan but it went haywire pretty quick and was accelerated when Trump bought the Generals

[Billy Hoyle]

Everything Trump Touches Dies as the USFL has shown us.  Pete Rozelle didn’t want him in the NFL.  Jeff Pearlman’s book covers this pretty well.  The league had a good initial plan but it went haywire pretty quick and was accelerated when Trump bought the Generals

Jeff Pearlman's book, Football for a Buck, is an awesome history of the USFL (my first pro football game was a USFL game, the Michigan Panthers, who still have more playoff wins than the Lions since 1958) and how Trump killed the league. The letter the Tampa Bay Bandits owner sent to Trump is a phenomenal takedown of him:

https://jeffpearlman.com/one-mans-letter-to-donald-trump/

[Uncle Rico]

Jeff Pearlman's book, Football for a Buck, is an awesome history of the USFL (my first pro football game was a USFL game, the Michigan Panthers, who still have more playoff wins than the Lions since 1958) and how Trump killed the league. The letter the Tampa Bay Bandits owner sent to Trump is a phenomenal takedown of him:

https://jeffpearlman.com/one-mans-letter-to-donald-trump/

They had a good initial plan in place but once salaries escalated like they did, they were doomed.  Trump deserves a lot of the blame but other reckless spending by owners incapable of paying the bills didn’t help.  Trump tried leveraging the league into getting a NFL franchise or hoping they’d have to take a number of USFL teams in a merger, including the Generals.  It did help change the NFL quite a bit, though, and mostly for the better I’d argue

[Pakuni]

Sounds like Earl Thomas should have stayed home.

[Uncle Rico]

Sounds like Earl Thomas should have stayed home.

Run over by a train in Derrick Henry then caught...never mind

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Run over by a train in Derrick Henry then caught...never mind

I bang chicks with my brother all the time.  Dont see a story here.

[MU82]

Panthers owner says he can envision full NFL season being played and says there could be "some amount of fans" at the games.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/article242705941.html?

Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper is optimistic the NFL will play games this season — with fewer fans than usual.

Appearing on CNBC Wednesday, Tepper said he thinks there will be enough COVID-19 tests available by the fall to make sure that players are safe. And he thinks fans, in some towns, could be in the stands to watch.

“There should be some amount of fans in the stadiums,” Tepper said “depending on what locale and where you are and what the local rules are."

Tepper did suggest that fans may have to wear face coverings at games. But he felt if people were comfortable flying that the league should make plans for some level of fan attendance at games this fall.

“You won’t be having full stadiums,” Tepper said, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fans in the stadium, either.”

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

So I've been having fun watching the Packer history documentaries by decade.  They were so bad in the 1970s and 80s, but those years are somewhat nostalgic because I grew up watching them then.  So in honor of those two decades, I have put together an "All 70s and 80s Team."  It was a labor of love.

QB – Lynn Dickey
RB - John Brockington
RB -  Gerry Ellis (Jeez this is bad. But not much to pick from here.)
WR - James Lofton (Best player in these two decades)
WR - Phil Epps  (Over John Jefferson, Sterling Sharpe with one good 80s year)
TE - Paul Coffman
T- Greg Koch
T- Ken Ruettgers
G- Gale Gillingham
G- Rich Moran
C- Larry McCaren

DT - Mike McCoy
DT - Bob Brown (DT was the hardest position to pick. Both played in early 70s)
DE - Ezra Johnson
DE - Robert Brown (Picked over Mike Butler and Alphonso Carraker)
LB - Fred Carr
LB - Tim Harris
LB - John Anderson (Best player over two decades on defensive side)
LB - Mike Douglass (over Brian Noble)
CB - Mark Lee
CB - Willie Buchanon (Ken Ellis could be here)
S - Johnnie Gray
S - Mark Murphy (the bald one)

K - Chester Marcol
P - David Beverly
KR - Steve Odom
PR - Walter Stanley

[Jockey]

Pretty good list. I’d only change a couple guys.

Offensive line was probably the easiest unit to pick.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Pretty good list. I’d only change a couple guys.

Offensive line was probably the easiest unit to pick.

Good thing I remembered Rich Moran.  Otherwise I had Leotis Harris there and that is a pretty big dropoff.

Hardest were the second running back (Terdell Middleton had one good year.  MacArthur Lane wasn't bad either)  and second receiver.  (Jefferson was a flashy guy but wasn't as productive as Epps.)

Probably the best to be left off the list was either Ken Ellis or TE Rich McGeorge. 

[Jockey]

Good thing I remembered Rich Moran.  Otherwise I had Leotis Harris there and that is a pretty big dropoff.

Hardest were the second running back (Terdell Middleton had one good year.  MacArthur Lane wasn't bad either)  and second receiver.  (Jefferson was a flashy guy but wasn't as productive as Epps.)

Probably the best to be left off the list was either Ken Ellis or TE Rich McGeorge.

Lane would be my change on offense.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Lane would be my change on offense.

Which is completely justifyable. 

[tower912]

I wonder if there is going to be different plans for domes vs outdoor stadiums.   

[Pakuni]

NFL proposes moving teams up draft slots if they hire a minority as head coach or primary football executive.
This is going to make some people very mad.

https://sports.yahoo.com/proposed-rooney-rule-modifications-include-teams-improving-draft-slots-for-hiring-minority-coaches-g-ms-195808996.html

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Watching Bundesliga this morning.  If the NFL doesn't have fans in the stands, I hope that Fox doesn't pump in fake crowd noise like Joe Buck said they were considering.

No crowds is strange.  But no crowds with crowd noise would be worse.

[JWags85]

Watching Bundesliga this morning.  If the NFL doesn't have fans in the stands, I hope that Fox doesn't pump in fake crowd noise like Joe Buck said they were considering.

No crowds is strange.  But no crowds with crowd noise would be worse.

It would make sense for the NFL though, IMO. Soccer and basketball have near constant action. So there is plenty of chatter and player communication bouncing about. So it works. The NFL would have these prolonged dead periods with no noise in between plays

[MU82]

It would make sense for the NFL though, IMO. Soccer and basketball have near constant action. So there is plenty of chatter and player communication bouncing about. So it works. The NFL would have these prolonged dead periods with no noise in between plays

So, to make it really realistic, do you pump in the kind of noise that fans would make?

When the road team is trying to pick up a 4th-and-1, do you pump in such a loud din that the offense can't hear signals and offensive linemen commit procedure penalties?

[Pakuni]

Phyllis George and Michael McCaskey have died.

[WarriorDad]

Phyllis George was terrific.  Smart, beautiful, understood football, classy woman.  Pioneer and did it better than most that came after her.  RIP

[GB Warrior]

So, to make it really realistic, do you pump in the kind of noise that fans would make?

When the road team is trying to pick up a 4th-and-1, do you pump in such a loud din that the offense can't hear signals and offensive linemen commit procedure penalties?

The NFL can consult with Minnesota who has experience doing this for a couple decades