2014 NFL Season

[Mal]

In the AFC East, I wonder how many teams had the Jets, Bills and Dolphins winning and the Patriots losing in week 1? Certainly not me.

Yeah, I wonder what the average percentage of survivor pool entries wiped out by the Bears losing at home to the Bills was. That had to be among the most popular picks last week, right? I still think it's going to be a long season for the Jets, but maybe Miami can make it interesting for the first time in years in the AFC East. They're already up a game and a tiebreak on New England, and looked surprisingly good (or the Pats looked surprisingly bad, especially on run defense, and get to face AP this week).

[Wander]

Yeah, I wonder what the average percentage of survivor pool entries wiped out by the Bears losing at home to the Bills was.

I think it was around 20% - it was the second most popular pick, after Eagles over Jags (which I think was something like 45%, so if the Jags had held on...)

As for the AFC East, we've seen both the Dolphins and Bills get off to 3-0 starts recently before New England wins it anyway, so for now I'll remain cautiously optimistic.

[wilson]

Fantastic article at Grantland on the NFL's growing image problem and Roger Goodell's deteriorating leadership. Really worth a read.
Money quote: "If the NFL ever really loses supremacy in sports and culture, Monday is a good preview of what that looks like. The league will become such a mess that nobody can bring themselves to care about the actual games."

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

With the new info suggesting the NFL did, in fact, have a copy of the ill-fated elevator video, this scandal turns once again to focus on the failures of Goddell and the NFL rather than Ray Rice's horrific behavior.

Having watched Roger this morning on CBS in an interview, I heard his potential CYOA statement when asked if anyone in the NFL had seen the video ("to my knowledge, no") I am thoroughly disgusted.

He clearly knew, and was attempting to give himself a potential loophole if it were ever to come to light. Well, that loophole is a noose 12 hours later, and I don't imagine he will survive the week.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

[wilson]

...I don't imagine he will survive the week.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

My initial reaction to this was, "Nah, the league is still too big and he's still too powerful. He'll survive. But a lot of the player and owner statements in this article would seem to suggest otherwise. For example, several congresspersons are now weighing in, saying things like "Roger Goodell is part of the problem, and he is incapable of achieving a real solution." Pointed congressional criticism like that begins to hit too close to the NFL's sacred antitrust exemption, and could be a tipping point with regard to Goodell's support among owners.

[SoCalDukeFan]

My guess is that when the NFL owners selected Goodell they considered things like ability to negotiate TV contracts, deal with player's union, etc. etc.

How to handle a case when a star player slugs his girl friend on camera was probably not of highest priority. I assume it will be for the next hire, which I think might be pretty soon.

I do hope that the conversation returns to domestic violence, Ray Rice, etc. and away from the NFL's handling. The handling was bad but the violence was much worse, in my opinion.

SoCal

[moonpie23]

roger "millhous" goodell will laugh about all this on Super Bowl sunday….

[JasonEvans]

I hate to distract us with actual commentary on the games, but the NFL's ultimate goal of complete parity seems close to arriving. There are 7 2-0 teams, 7 0-2 teams, and 18 teams at 1-1. I don't think any of the 2-0 teams have seemed all that dominating. Among the clubs at 2-0 are teams like Houston and Buffalo, who were among the worst teams in football a year ago and didn't have very high expectations for this season. This may be the year where 12-4 wins home field advantage in one of the conferences.

-Jason "survivor leagues are being decimated. Making week 4 or 5 of your survivor league would be a major accomplishment this season" Evans

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Juwan Thompson getting some PT today with the Broncos!

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Juwan with a TD!!!

[weezie]

The Lion, back to stinking!!

[duke74]

The Lion, back to stinking!!

I'll call your "stinking" and raise you a "sucking." My Jets are God-awful. Poorly coached, no discipline, no front office ($20 million under the cap and no CBs?? And 2 of the 12 draft picks on the roster)

The good news: my Sunday afternoons are now free.

[weezie]

I'll call your "stinking" and raise you a "sucking."

I'm holding further embarrassment via the Lion fan goon who thought a laser pointer was fun to play with in the stands.

The dumb cluck is banned indefinitely from further Lion games...LIKE THAT'S A PUNISHMENT?????!

[weezie]

Does anybody remember a team winning a game after/because of receiving a penalty??? On the offense, delay of game?

Wacky Lion built to confuse...

[duke74]

Weezie, at least you won today...at Wembley! Geno achieved (?) a 0.0 QB ranking today, and was pulled in Q1. That's Blutarsky territory at Faber. I give up on that team. Look forward to my free Sundys!

[JasonEvans]

Big Ben had 2 really good days today. By that I mean that if you took his stats today and divided them in half, each half would be equal to a really good game by a QB.

40 for 49 passing to total 522 yards passing and 6 TDs. It is a damn shame that, at the very end, they didn't let him throw one or two more passes as 5 more yards would have given him the 2nd best passing yardage game in NFL history (he needed about 40 to become #1).

Jaw dropping to watch.

And the best part is that I have had him on my fantasy bench all season long. I have been starting Colin Kaepernick, but SF is on a bye so I played Big Ben this week. Ummm, yeah, I'm gonna win my fantasy game this week

-Jason "so the debate now is do I put Kaep back in as my starter next week?" Evans

[Reisen]

Big Ben had 2 really good days today. By that I mean that if you took his stats today and divided them in half, each half would be equal to a really good game by a QB.

40 for 49 passing to total 522 yards passing and 6 TDs. It is a damn shame that, at the very end, they didn't let him throw one or two more passes as 5 more yards would have given him the 2nd best passing yardage game in NFL history (he needed about 40 to become #1).

Jaw dropping to watch.

And the best part is that I have had him on my fantasy bench all season long. I have been starting Colin Kaepernick, but SF is on a bye so I played Big Ben this week. Ummm, yeah, I'm gonna win my fantasy game this week

-Jason "so the debate now is do I put Kaep back in as my starter next week?" Evans

I had prime tickets to this Steelers game but traded them for the Ravens game next month...

[weezie]

I'm a tad choked up! Blue Devil and Lion football both garnering respect?! This is a new and strange emotional landscape for me

[CameronBornAndBred]

Green Bay just scored again.

[elvis14]

Green Bay just scored again.

LOL, they should have just called that game at halftime. What a crushing defeat for Da Bears.