NFL V - Turkey Day Edition.

[Mya Stone]

New thread.

[Bronn Stone]

New thread.

U=Rox

[Mexal]

Went from impressed to really effin' impressed. Lotsa leadership on that clip. Beginning to end.

Exactly. I wish I could see this more often. And I especially loved how he basically ran away from everyone and onto the field to finish the game. That shows some serious sack and he probably just earned his entire locker room's respect with that one act.

[Whiskeyjack]

Exactly. I wish I could see this more often. And I especially loved how he basically ran away from everyone and onto the field to finish the game. That shows some serious sack and he probably just earned his entire locker room's respect with that one act.

And now he's apparently starting today's game, in spite of being listed as doubtful on the injury report.

Should make the game more interesting.

[awesome possum]

Kid definitely has heart to go with the talent. Now if he can just get an offensive line that won't end his career early, things might start to look up in Detroit within a few years.

[Paddy]

That video is brilliant.

Real Hollywood stuff. It's no wonder that American Football makes all the best sports movies.

And while I have to give the kid kudos for standing up like that when he was hurt and making it happen, it seems to me that it's the same sort of attitude that leads to things like Roethlisberger playing after suffering a concussion.

Ok, of course, a concussion and head injuries are in no way on the same level as an arm injury, but isn't the mentality the same thing?

The other thing is that I forget sometimes how some of these guys really are just kids. At plenty of times, you can still hear how young Stafford is in his voice.

[Renasko]

Hmm...I watched that video and was a little underwhelmed, considering the 'I'm impressed' talk going around. Perhaps I've been involved in too many other sports, where this kind of thing is a fairly regular event, and leaves me thinking about how I'll never grasp the love for the NFL. Even watching what is supposedly special material. :/

[Mexal]

Hmm...I watched that video and was a little underwhelmed, considering the 'I'm impressed' talk going around. Perhaps I've been involved in too many other sports, where this kind of thing is a fairly regular event, and leaves me thinking about how I'll never grasp the love for the NFL. Even watching what is supposedly special material. :/

The guy was losing 24-3 in the first quarter, got repeatedly smacked around and ended up separating his shoulder and still lead his team back to win...oh yea and he's 21 years old and a rookie. That's why it's impressive.

[Renasko]

Eh, I just found it a little farcical, especially considering he knows he's being listened to and his mic is turned up. He whines like a girl, his voice is barely perceptible on the field, he says very little of worth, and so on.

And he got smacked around no more than a handful of times, and if those 'smacks' are the best the video has to supply, then there's nothing really more to it than that.

Sure, he got injured, but it can't have been much if he's playing in a week, and all he did was get up and throw the ball like 5 yards. Am I supposed to be reeled in by the dramatic music and over-abundance of attention on him?

Y'know, he makes me hot. :P

In a world of sport, where our athletes play through injuries all the time, get injections to remain at their peak and delay surgeries, this is really nothing to be impressed about.

Not to mention that it wasn't even his throwing arm that was injured.

[Mack Kilimaro]

My favorite part of that Stafford video has to be before the goal line play about mid-way through:

"Hey. I'm tapping you guys' helmets, acting like it's on you."

Then he bootlegs right, tosses an easy TD. On the sideline:

"Man. That was open as shit."

[dalThor]

Kid definitely has heart to go with the talent. Now if he can just get an offensive line that won't end his career early, things might start to look up in Detroit within a few years.

Lion's fans have been thinking the same thing for over 5 decades now. :/ I think he'll turn out to be an awesome QB (once he gets traded to a good team).

The guy was losing 24-3 in the first quarter, got repeatedly smacked around and ended up separating his shoulder and still lead his team back to win...oh yea and he's 21 years old and a rookie. That's why it's impressive.

...and he's a Lion.

I wish I were more hopeful but having lived in Detroit for the vast majority of my life (and being season ticket holder for a while, don't ask me why) I'd say they are going to suck until long after I'm dead. Or at least until Bill Ford Jr. sells them.

[Kalbear]

The only thing he's got going for him is his arm. His decision making is poor, he reads defenses badly and he has bad mechanics. Oh yeah, poor pocket presence too. By comparison, he makes harrington look competent.

Sorry guys - stafford ain't the answer in detroit.

[Swordfish]

What kind of noises would you make if your shoulder were dislocated?

Whining like a little girl, and probably some sobbing thrown in for good measure....

;)

I've actually had a separated shoulder. it sucks.

[Bronn Stone]

Sure, he got injured, but it can't have been much if he's playing in a week, and all he did was get up and throw the ball like 5 yards. Am I supposed to be reeled in by the dramatic music and over-abundance of attention on him?

In a world of sport, where our athletes play through injuries all the time, get injections to remain at their peak and delay surgeries, this is really nothing to be impressed about.

Not to mention that it wasn't even his throwing arm that was injured.

It is a separated shoulder. A very painful injury exacerbated by the fact that the jarring snap of the football is absorbed by the off-hand. Rotating the shoulders is part of the proper throwing motion - Stafford is forced to throw that winning pass with only a partial normal motion and still completes it in heavy traffic. A remarkable play.

YOUR athletes play through injuries all the time????? Compared to American football players?????

You know NOTHING, Jon Snow.

[Ran]

I think by "our atheletes", he means atheletes across all sports and all nations.

That said, not knowing what people were talking about, I looked at the video. I too thought that was a fairly impressive performance showing a lot of leadership in tough circumstances. And that is, of course, what he's being paid millions to do, so maybe one shouldn't act as if it's shocking that he pulled it off. But there are quarterbacks who would crumble in the face of being so far down, and he didn't, so good on him.

[ljkeane]

YOUR athletes play through injuries all the time????? Compared to American football players?????

To be fair they do play in all that stupid body armour so I wouldn't get too excited about how tough they are. :P

Having said that if by separated shoulder you mean a dislocated shoulder then that is reasonably impressive.

I'm watching some of the American Football that's on today and as a casual viewer, why do they call Dallas America's team? Does that not irritate all the other American teams that make up the league?

[Lord O' Bones]

To be fair they do play in all that stupid body armour so I wouldn't get too excited about how tough they are. :P

That's not how it works.

Having said that if by separated shoulder you mean a dislocated shoulder then that is reasonably impressive.

Yes.

I'm watching some of the American Football that's on today and as a casual viewer, why do they call Dallas America's team?

Dallas calls Dallas America's Team. Some in the media parrot that crap. Fans in 30 other cities aren't buying it.

Does that not irritate all the other American teams that make up the league?

Hell, yes.

[Jaime L]

Rodgers is so good it's a joke.

Easy there tiger. This comment would be more meaningful on a day he wasn't playing the Lions, a team that singlehandedly allowed Brady Quinn to quadruple his season TD total.

All I want to see from Aaron Rodgers at this point is a win against a good team. I think he's shown to be a good QB, now show me he's ready to lift his team to the next level.

[Jaime L]

To be fair they do play in all that stupid body armour so I wouldn't get too excited about how tough they are. :P

I always find it funny when people question the toughness of football players. These are guys who've historically shortened their lifespans through the brutality of the game they play. It is not remotely uncommon to hear of former NFL players dropping dead in their 50s due to complications from injuries they've suffered from the game they loved. It's not quite boxing yet...you don't have punch-drunk players constantly unretiring because the game is all they've ever known, but you do have situations, like Ben Roethlisberger (and Tim Tebow and etc.) where players go right back on the field after suffering concussions, literally putting their lives in jeopardy for the love of the game. You have running backs who in the course of a game will sustain 25-30 collisions each roughly equivalent to a traffic accident. It's no wonder these guys rarely are productive after 6-7 years in the league. The speed of, even, 300 pounders in this game is both remarkable and frightening. Even guys who aren't seen as "injury prone" or are believed to have fairly charmed careers suffer more than what's ever commonly known. For example, Trent Dilfer, a reasonably successful QB with a solid career estimates that he's suffered 17 concussions over the course of his time in the game. I hate to think of what that means for him as he ages.

I don't know any other legitimate professional sport that punishes its participants like football. TV doesn't do justice to sheer force of every collision that occurs. Really you have to be down on the field to see how fast these giant humans are moving and the fearlessness of how they approach the game to play at its highest level. There's a lot you can question about NFL players, but toughness isn't one of 'em in my view.

[Mya Stone]

I always find it condescending to see people say that just because football players wear pads it automatically makes them less tough. Often it gets compared to Rugby, which I find slightly ridiculous.

Football players get hit incredibly hard. The pads are there as buffers, yes, but more of a shock absorber, and even that doesn't stop a helmet-to-helmet collision from knocking someone into 2 weeks ago. I have seen some brutal hits in the years I've watched football, and the statistics of length of career only prove that it's an incredibly hard game on the human body.

And I'm curious, would you say hockey players are any less tough because they happen to wear padding, as well?

(Or, you know, what Jaime said. :P)