401 replies to this topic

[Khal Diablo]

Prince of the North, on 11 May 2012 - 04:25 PM, said:

Yep, approximately $3 million a year for up to four years.  So, the U of M will stand to make somewhere around $9 - $12 million on this deal (unless they can build the new stadium in under three years).  Also, something I'm curious about is how they're gonna handle alcohol for the Vikes games?  It's my understanding that the U of M is a dry campus.

Oh well, I'm just glad they're getting this done.  I think it would have been a travesty if the Vikings had left Minnesota.

It would have been a travesty.  As a Green Bay Packers fan I look forward to thrashing our younger brother to the west twice every year.  If they had moved to LA then we would have had to realign divisions and we would have gotten the St Louis Rams and the AFC west would have gotten the LA Rams.  So very excited that they are staying in Minnesota.

[Lightning Lord]

Oh come now.  LA wouldn't bother to change the name of the team from MN.  No one ever changes MN team names.  That's why we have the LA Lakers and the Dallas North Stars.  So it would TOTALLY have been the LA Vikings.

[BLU-RAY]

"The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles where there are no lakes. The Oilers moved to Tennessee where there is no oil. The Jazz moved to Utah where they don't allow music. The Raiders moved from Oakland to LA back to Oakland. No-one in LA seemed to notice."

[Lightning Lord]

And DVDR adds to the already-high respect level I have for him by grabbing the reference. *high-five*

[Lord O' Bones]

Triskele, on 13 May 2012 - 05:53 PM, said:

Would you guys watch this?

If there were a San Jose team, absolutely. As you describe it, we'd end up with mostly players from Stanford, Cal, Fresno and SJ State? How hilariously awesome would that be? (And maybe a placekicker or something from CalPoly? Glorious.)

[DanteGabriel]

Jonathan Vilma is suing Roger Goodell for defamation.

Quote

Suspended Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has filed a defamation lawsuit against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans claims Goodell has made false statements about Vilma while discussing the NFL's bounty investigation of the New Orleans Saints.

Goodell has said Vilma was a leader of the team's bounty program that put up thousands of dollars for bounties on opposing team's star players, including on then-Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner and then-Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre during the 2009-10 playoffs.

http://sports.yahoo....cEKmg1v0q5DubYF

When the player suspensions were first announced I didn't have a strong opinion either way.  The more I think about it the more I think Goodell came down too hard on the Saints players, Vilma in particular.  I feel like Vilma was scapegoated so that Goodell could provide himself and the league a little bit of ass-cover from the growing storm over concussions and player safety.  And again I say, Goodell needs to have a "discipline czar" to hand out punishments and reserve himself as the appeal guy.  At the very least he won't be the punishment guy for every time a player fucks up.

Edited by DanteGabriel, 17 May 2012 - 03:28 PM.

[Triskele]

Lord O, on 15 May 2012 - 09:50 PM, said:

If there were a San Jose team, absolutely. As you describe it, we'd end up with mostly players from Stanford, Cal, Fresno and SJ State? How hilariously awesome would that be? (And maybe a placekicker or something from CalPoly? Glorious.)

I think that's the idea.  San Jose would be a perfect fit for what I think the model is supposed to be.

I am curious how they'd go about assigning the players though.  If it's not owned by the NFL then it's not their official d-league.  So I would think that the teams would like, want to win, right?  What kind of rule would incentivize or encourage the SJ team getting all or most of the Bay Area and CV players?

ETA:  Here is a link to the FAQ's for the USFL.  This could actually be pretty cool if you're football obsessed and like the college game as well as the NFL.

http://www.theusfl.net/faq.html

Edited by Triskele, 17 May 2012 - 03:57 PM.

[Maithanet]

Not much NFL discussion going on, but here's a good article on cbssports about the pressure that two tight end sets cause, when both those TEs can go out wide.  

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No matter what defensive personnel is on the field, the Patriots can make you feel like you are in the wrong one. Play base personnel with a front seven and four defensive backs and they spread you out in a four-wide look. Play nickel defense with an extra cornerback subbing for a linebacker in the front seven, and they condense the set and run right at you.

He goes on to describe the trend that seems to be the best response to this:  Having a third safety to sub in against this package.  This player would either be a Super Strong Safety, or a FS/SS hybrid which allows the SS to move in for more run support if need be.  The idea is that if the offense lines up with four guys out wide, then you should do ok (or at least better) with 3 safeties and 2 CBs in.  And if they line up tight to run it, one of those safeties runs into the box to play like a fourth linebacker.  He suspected that this was why the Jets got Laron Landry and Yeremiah Bell, both relatively big safeties, to allow that kind of flexibility.

[Jaime L]

Maithanet, on 21 May 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

Not much NFL discussion going on, but here's a good article on cbssports about the pressure that two tight end sets cause, when both those TEs can go out wide.  

Yeah, the two TE set always seemed capable of creating a matchup nightmare if you had two athletic guys. It seems weird to me the Pats have been the only team to figure out how to maximize this.

Honestly I thought that's what the Skins were doing when they drafted Fred Davis in the second round when they already had Cooley. It was the one way I could justify the pick. But then of course they totally botched it. I dunno, maybe the Zorn identity didn't get the memo on two TE packages or maybe Cerrato was just retarded (wait, don't answer that) and wanted a really good backup TE.

Anyway looks like the Colts have been taking notes considering they drafted TEs at the beginning of the second and third round despite having holes everywhere.

Would also think the 49ers would be interested as they already have the modern TE prototype in Vernon Davis, a coach from Stanford who heavily used two TEs there, and a strong desire to pound teams. But I don't think they have a second TE who creates matchup problems and they seem to be going the other way by signing a flurry of WRs. But man, if they'd gotten Fleener, that would seem to me to have been the perfect way to maximize all the things Harbaugh likes to do offensively.

[Maithanet]

Jaime Bollocks, on 21 May 2012 - 12:06 PM, said:

Yeah, the two TE set always seemed capable of creating a matchup nightmare if you had two athletic guys. It seems weird to me the Honestly I thought that's what the Skins were doing when they drafted Fred Davis in the second round when they already had Cooley. It was the one way I could justify the pick. But then of course they totally botched it. I dunno, maybe the Zorn identity didn't get the memo on two TE packages or maybe Cerrato was just retarded (wait, don't answer that) and wanted a really good backup TE.

I think every Redskins fan who has been paying any attention has wanted to adopt more of a two TE package for years.  But for some reason, every year the coaches talked about using that set more, but then didn't actually do it, or only did it with a blocking tight end like Logan Paulson, which doesn't create any sort of mismatches.  I would hope that this year Cooley and Davis will be healthy, and we can do more of this, because now we have more speedy receivers to potentially get downfield.

The incredible thing is that the Patriots have been able to make good use of this formation in spite of the fact that Welker isn't much of a downfield threat.  It really shows how unusually fast Gronk is for his size that he is the primary downfield guy.  The Patriots system could be made even more dangerous if they had a true speed deep threat at WR, because it would put even more pressure on the already overloaded safeties.  

Going back to the Redskins, I would think that with a package of 5 lineman, Griffin, Hightower, Hankerson, Garcon, Davis and Cooley that you could indeed put a lot of pressure on the defense, because if they all go out wide, you can still have Hightower in to block, and the defense would have to account for Griffin taking off.  But at the same time, while Davis isn't a great blocker, if the other team has 5 dbs in, I would expect we could run against them with some success, particularly with the threat of play action and bootlegs keeping the safeties back.

[Lord O' Bones]

Two things about this for your consideration:

Chris Cooley is a natural fullback.

Delanie Walker.

[Jaime L]

Lord af Knogler, on 21 May 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

Chris Cooley is a natural fullback.

If that's the way to get more talent on the field, I'm all for it. I'm with Maith that with a team like the Redskins that doesn't have any gamebreakers, you gotta figure out how to create mismatches with the guys you got. And I think Cooley and Davis on the field in different packages is among our better bets (assuming Cooley is healthy).

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Delanie Walker.

You'd know better than I but I never got the impression Delanie Walker was any kind of mismatch nightmare. Or is he and the 49ers just underuse him? His stats were pretty meh last year.

[Lord O' Bones]

Jaime Bollocks, on 21 May 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

If that's the way to get more talent on the field, I'm all for it. I'm with Maith that with a team like the Redskins that doesn't have any gamebreakers, you gotta figure out how to create mismatches with the guys you got. And I think Cooley and Davis on the field in different packages is among our better bets (assuming Cooley is healthy).

Absolutely. I just thought I'd point out that Cooley is a fullback that often lines up at tight end.

ETA: Back when I played fantasy football I made sure to have Cooley every year. So if Antonio Gates or Tiki Barber (or whoever I was running out there most weeks) had a bye I never had to trade for anyone. Just run Cooley out in either case for a gain of maybe at most 20 yards but almost always a touchdown.

Quote

You'd know better than I but I never got the impression Delanie Walker was any kind of mismatch nightmare. Or is he and the 49ers just underuse him? His stats were pretty meh last year.

He isn't by himself. But Vernon Davis is. Walker is a solid TE otherwise on his own right and if Harbaugh wants to get crazy with two TE sets I think he has the personell to do it right now.

Edited by Lord af Knogler, 21 May 2012 - 02:18 PM.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Jaime Bollocks, on 21 May 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

  You'd know better than I but I never got the impression Delanie Walker was any kind of mismatch nightmare. Or is he and the 49ers just underuse him? His stats were pretty meh last year.

Nightmare might be a bit strong. He's too big for one corner to bring down easily and too fast for most LBs though. He does create matchup issues. He was out much of last season with a broken jaw.

[Lord O' Bones]

Manhole Eunuchsbane, on 21 May 2012 - 02:15 PM, said:

Nightmare might be a bit strong. He's too big for one corner to bring down easily and too fast for most LBs though. He does create matchup issues. He was out much of last season with a broken jaw.

Right. A prototypical TE. It's just that Davis rightfully gets most of the spotlight (good or bad) and play calls from that position.

[Jaime L]

Lord af Knogler, on 21 May 2012 - 02:14 PM, said:

He isn't by himself. But Vernon Davis is. Walker is a solid TE otherwise on his own right and if Harbaugh wants to get crazy with two TE sets I think he has the personell to do it right now.

Manhole Eunuchsbane, on 21 May 2012 - 02:15 PM, said:

Nightmare might be a bit strong. He's too big for one corner to bring down easily and too fast for most LBs though. He does create matchup issues. He was out much of last season with a broken jaw.

Hmm, interesting. And not that teams have to follow the Patriots example to be successful but just would feel like that would be right in Harbaugh's wheelhouse to use a now healthy Walker along with Davis.

But I think the point is probably moot because you don't bring in Manningham, Moss and draft AJ Jenkins in the first round to not use 'em.

[Maithanet]

Jaime Bollocks, on 21 May 2012 - 02:33 PM, said:

But I think the point is probably moot because you don't bring in Manningham, Moss and draft AJ Jenkins in the first round to not use 'em.

True, but Moss has a very short leash, and Manningham is at best a #2 guy (no matter what he thinks).  If SF has the personell, I wouldn't be surprised to see Harbaugh move to a more passing oriented attack with more 2 TE and 2 WR sets.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Maithanet, on 21 May 2012 - 02:38 PM, said:

True, but Moss has a very short leash, and Manningham is at best a #2 guy (no matter what he thinks).  If SF has the personell, I wouldn't be surprised to see Harbaugh move to a more passing oriented attack with more 2 TE and 2 WR sets.

He's going to open up the offense, that much I'm sure of. I just hope Smith is up to the task.

[Maithanet]

Salary Cap Appeal by Redskins and Cowboys dismissed.  No word yet on why, but that's pretty disappointing.

[Jaime L]

Maithanet, on 22 May 2012 - 12:31 PM, said:

Salary Cap Appeal by Redskins and Cowboys dismissed. No word yet on why, but that's pretty disappointing.

My guess is because the gutless NFLPA agreed to it so thus the punished was "collectively bargained". The league asked for dismissal on those grounds and apparently the arbitrator granted it.

Nevermind that the uncapped year was also "collectively bargained." Apparently you can now make up rules as you go. If I'm understanding this right, if 30 out of 32 teams decide after the fact that the Giants didn't win the Superbowl last year, poof, it's gone. Better not anger your fellow owners, Maras.