NFC North / NFL Thread 2017-18

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

The Vikings are actually pretty darn good Wades. That defense is dominant, Case Keenum looks more than capable and Latavius Murray and Jerrick McKinnon have done just enough in Cook's absence.

[GGGG]

The Vikings are actually pretty darn good Wades. That defense is dominant, Case Keenum looks more than capable and Latavius Murray and Jerrick McKinnon have done just enough in Cook's absence.

Don't try to have a rational discussion with wades.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Brady or Elliott suspension?

 http://es.pn/2DH1yYG

[wadesworld]

Don't try to have a rational discussion with wades.

Would you like to wager when the Vikings season ends? Would love some easy cash.

[DegenerateDish]

Bears/Browns wasn't the fun bad I was hoping for.

Niners are going to be really good next year (barring injuries).

[MU82]

Would you like to wager when the Vikings season ends? Would love some easy cash.

Well, that's easy. It ends when they have to play the Panthers again!

BTW, there was never a doubt the Panthers would beat the Bucs. I mean, Cam even "dribbled" the ball to himself before taking it across the goal line for the winning score!

[#UnleashSean]

Brady or Elliott suspension?

 http://es.pn/2DH1yYG

Rodgers won't be punished. It wasn't his decision or his doing.

[MU82]

Rodgers won't be punished. It wasn't his decision or his doing.

Nor should he be.

But it sure looks like the Packers have to release him.

Call me crazy, but I have a feeling the market for his services would be fairly strong.

[WarriorDad]

Talk of Packers losing several draft picks because of the Rodgers situation.  Speculation on some sites.  That would piss me off to no end about this staff.

As far as the game goes, how many drops by our receivers?  Poor play.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Rodgers won't be punished. It wasn't his decision or his doing.

Tom Brady didn’t let the air out of the balls either...

[GGGG]

The rule is in place to prevent teams from stashing players on IR. Rodgers isn’t being stashed.

A fine or draft picks would be appropriate but completely unnecessary. All they had to do is fake some sort of injury and no one would have cared. 

[jesmu84]

Add TJ Yates to the long list of evidence in support of kapernick being intentionally ignored

[rocket surgeon]

Talk of Packers losing several draft picks because of the Rodgers situation.  Speculation on some sites.  That would piss me off to no end about this staff.

As far as the game goes, how many drops by our receivers?  Poor play.

  packers are so stacked, don't need the picks anyway, aaaa n'a?

[DegenerateDish]

If I were Rodgers, I'd send a copy of this Derek Carr game to Ted Thompson.

[MU82]

wades:

Had we made that Panthers-Patriots-playoffs bet, it would have been a push.

I must have been out of my mind to think there was even a chance that the Patriots wouldn't make the playoffs in that weakarse division/conference. If you have Belichick and Brady, you're a mortal lock - period. It's like when the Bulls had Jackson and Jordan.

As for the Panthers, I think they are quite underrated. Great front 7 on D, solid O line, dynamic QB, very good special teams. Just enough flaws to keep games too interesting for this Panthers fan, but a darn good team.

Looking forward to the playoffs. After watching some recent Eagles and Vikings games, I think my boyz have as good a chance as anybody. Frankly, the Saints and Rams scare me most.

[MUBurrow]

Looking forward to the playoffs. After watching some recent Eagles and Vikings games, I think my boyz have as good a chance as anybody. Frankly, the Saints and Rams scare me most.

The NFC playoffs are a damn gauntlet - I think every playoff team in the NFC (and the first team out) would be favored vs the third seed in the AFC on down. Assuming NE or Pit make the Super Bowl, the NFC will probably be an underdog, but its the much harder conference to make it out.

[BM1090]

wades:

Had we made that Panthers-Patriots-playoffs bet, it would have been a push.

I must have been out of my mind to think there was even a chance that the Patriots wouldn't make the playoffs in that weakarse division/conference. If you have Belichick and Brady, you're a mortal lock - period. It's like when the Bulls had Jackson and Jordan.

As for the Panthers, I think they are quite underrated. Great front 7 on D, solid O line, dynamic QB, very good special teams. Just enough flaws to keep games too interesting for this Panthers fan, but a darn good team.

Looking forward to the playoffs. After watching some recent Eagles and Vikings games, I think my boyz have as good a chance as anybody. Frankly, the Saints and Rams scare me most.

Honestly would be shocked if Philadelphia or Minnesota came out of the NFC. Carolina, LAR, and New Orleans look by far the best out of the NFC teams. I'd even add Atlanta if they make the playoffs. Seattle has too many holes. The Eagles without Wentz are the most vulnerable #1 seed that I can remember.

[4everwarriors]

Crapshoot, ai na?

[MUBurrow]

The Panthers will bring the highest price of any team ever sold in one of the 4 major American sports leagues. Numerous groups already have said they want to buy them despite knowing that the price will be astronomical.

There has been talk of $3 billion - which would be 50% more than the Clippers, the previous highest-price sale. I wouldn't be surprised.

Every time the sports franchise "bubble" gets brought up, the bear-marketers end up looking stupid, and prices keep going up and up and up. BUUUUT at the risk of sounding ignorant - we have to be getting there, don't we? From my understanding, the Panthers' key selling point will be their ability to escape Charlotte without much cost, to enable them to either fleece a new stadium from NC or elsewhere. But we just saw two teams get shoehorned into LA for lack of better options. There is no hot, go-to market without a team right now. Both LA and LV got their teams, but so far the whole thing has been met with a shrug. That charade might finally be winding down.

And all the other indicators suggest this is not as great an investment as it used to be. From a revenue standpoint, broadcasters are shedding personnel to pay for the inflated tv contracts. That will eventually filter back to the franchises as the deals come up. Putting the anthem protest aside, market saturation, middling product, brain injuries are all problems that aren't going to go away soon.

And from a cost standpoint, the current CBA runs through 2021, and I don't see any way the owners get this good of a deal again. From a 30,000 ft standpoint, the NFL has the most ownership friendly agreement in sports, and football is the most brutal, injury prone and health hazardous sport we have. In a vacuum, you'd have to think that the NFL's CBAs start to migrate at least partially toward a MLB-style model of loose salary caps and guaranteed contracts. Even small movements in that direction could have pretty big impacts on the bottom line.

If Richardson can get $2.5 billion, good for him, I guess - but its hard to see how these franchises predict to enjoy the kind of profit growth for the next ten years that they have over the last ten.

[MU82]

Every time the sports franchise "bubble" gets brought up, the bear-marketers end up looking stupid, and prices keep going up and up and up. BUUUUT at the risk of sounding ignorant - we have to be getting there, don't we? From my understanding, the Panthers' key selling point will be their ability to escape Charlotte without much cost, to enable them to either fleece a new stadium from NC or elsewhere. But we just saw two teams get shoehorned into LA for lack of better options. There is no hot, go-to market without a team right now. Both LA and LV got their teams, but so far the whole thing has been met with a shrug. That charade might finally be winding down.

And all the other indicators suggest this is not as great an investment as it used to be. From a revenue standpoint, broadcasters are shedding personnel to pay for the inflated tv contracts. That will eventually filter back to the franchises as the deals come up. Putting the anthem protest aside, market saturation, middling product, brain injuries are all problems that aren't going to go away soon.

And from a cost standpoint, the current CBA runs through 2021, and I don't see any way the owners get this good of a deal again. From a 30,000 ft standpoint, the NFL has the most ownership friendly agreement in sports, and football is the most brutal, injury prone and health hazardous sport we have. In a vacuum, you'd have to think that the NFL's CBAs start to migrate at least partially toward a MLB-style model of loose salary caps and guaranteed contracts. Even small movements in that direction could have pretty big impacts on the bottom line.

If Richardson can get $2.5 billion, good for him, I guess - but its hard to see how these franchises predict to enjoy the kind of profit growth for the next ten years that they have over the last ten.

Honestly, I've been saying "we have to be getting there" for some time. I've been wrong.

Unless Richardson gives a major "hometown discount" to local buyers, I would be stunned if the Panthers sale didn't set a new record. I'm not sure his fellow owners would even let him give a discount if he wanted to.

From my understanding, the key selling points are:

1. A growing, demographically favorable market (Charlotte is one of the country's fastest-growing metro areas, both overall and among Millennials) that has already proven very capable of supporting an NFL team, even in the years the team has sucked.

2. Belief that franchise values, especially in the NFL, never go down. Maybe you're right and they will eventually - they HAVE to! - but maybe not. It's a cash-cow league. And even if things start to turn bad ... they share revenue with the players, so if that happens they will just be able to give less to the players. It works in good times and bad.

3. The stadium thing you mentioned. Even though our stadium is still in excellent shape and just received big-money improvements paid mostly by taxpayers, sure, I'd be surprised if new ownership didn't demand more. Whether that demand would include a threat to leave, I'm not sure. How many markets are there willing and capable of supporting an NFL franchise to the point of building a $1 billion-plus stadium?

It will be interesting to watch this all unfold.

Go Panthers! (And I don't mean go to St. Louis or San Diego!)

[JWags85]

Go Panthers! (And I don't mean go to St. Louis or San Diego!)

Not to derail, but does anyone really think St Louis would get another team?  They’ve lost two teams in the last 30 years, they aren’t that big of a market nor a growing market and they drew pretty horribly their last years. So I don’t see it even as a make-good.

I think International or San Antonio would be the most likely

[MU82]

Not to derail, but does anyone really think St Louis would get another team?  They’ve lost two teams in the last 30 years, they aren’t that big of a market nor a growing market and they drew pretty horribly their last years. So I don’t see it even as a make-good.

I think International or San Antonio would be the most likely

Great point about St. Louis. There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me ... you can't get fooled again.

As for San Antonio, they've been on "the list" for many years now and never seem to be even among the finalists when one of these situations arises. Maybe it would be real this time.

It is pretty obvious the league wants a team in London.

Jacksonville is STILL a crap market that is too small and doesn't draw fans unless the team is winning big (and fights to draw even then). I would think they'd be the first to go anywhere. But this Panthers ownership change certainly puts them in play.

I like to think the region's demographics and trends, combined with 15 years of consecutive sellouts, would continue to make Charlotte the most attractive location of all by far for the Panthers. But the Colts and Browns obviously had incredibly loyal followings, and that didn't matter, so I presume nothing.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Oakland...

[MU82]

Oakland...

Do I need to pull up Dubya's "fool me once" quote again?

[MU82]

Steelers cut James Harrison ... and the Patriots just signed him.

Harrison will probably be a superstar in the playoffs, make a couple of huge plays against the Steelers in the AFC title game, and return a fumble for the winning TD in the Super Bowl.