"NFL Football is Back!" 2011 Season Thread

[SlowwHand]

You know what? I could have guessed that.

[ColdWizard]

Pretty odd the way he injured it... he and Pierre-Paul were trying to sack Cutler and Pierre-Paul basically kicked him in the knee, but it didn't look particularly hard or anything. He walked off the field under his own power without much of a limp...

I just saw a replay from a second angle and it looked worse than what I'd seen before. Not cringe-worthy but more than the "kick" it looked like previously.

[ColdWizard]

Michael Vick, the 6 year, $100m man

A league source told ESPN's Andrew Brandt the deal is worth $100 million and a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that it contains roughly $40 million guaranteed.

[Al B. Sure!]

He only gets ~1/3rd of that. The rest go to creditors.

[-Jrabbit]

Still, a pretty massive payday for less than one full season's work.

[Al B. Sure!]

Still, a pretty massive payday for less than one full season's work.

He played crazy good though. I broke down earlier to Ben how on a per game basis, Vick was the most dominant QB last year, even better than Brady in yards and TDs per game.

[Al B. Sure!]

In the Jets-Giants game:

The chippy game featured the Giants' Brandon Jacobs and the Jets' Muhammad Wilkerson being ejected for a fight.

The crazy thing is... Muhammad is a huge Giants fan.

[ColdWizard]

And -Jr breathes a sigh of relief.

Holdout running back Chris Johnson and the Tennessee Titans agreed to a four-year extension on Thursday, the team confirmed.
A league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that the extension is worth $53 million with $30 million guaranteed. The extension will be tacked on to the two years he had remaining on his previous contract, putting him under the Titans' control through the 2016 season.

[-Jrabbit]

Indeed.

[OzzyKP]

Lovie Smith Says Voices In Headset Keep Calling Him Idiot

September 2, 2011 |


CHICAGO—Harried, flinch-prone Bears head coach Lovie Smith said Thursday his biggest concern going into the 2011-2012 NFL season would be the constant presence of the cruel, derisive voices in his headset that keep calling him an idiot.

"I had hoped the voices would go away after last year, but they've been there all preseason," a visibly shaken Smith told reporters, saying the voices could be frustrated, angry, exasperated, or "even just sad, sometimes," and confirming he hears them whenever his headset is on. "Our first practice of the year, the first thing I heard when I put my headphones on was 'Welcome back, idiot.' I hadn't even done anything yet."

“I can’t stop them,” he added. “And if this season is anything like the last, the voices will only get louder and meaner. It starts with idiot, but the voices in my headset inevitably get angrier as the season goes on. They call me all sorts of things: moron, dumbass, stupid piece of ****—you name it. Sometimes all of them yell at once: ‘We could do this job far better than you without even trying, you ****ing idiot.’”

Team sources confirmed Smith has been plagued by the voices in his headset throughout his tenure as the Bears' head coach, most notably but not exclusively during crucial game situations involving clock management, replay challenges, fourth-down play-calls, and decisions regarding when to use Devin Hester.

"Those account for about half the times the voices call me idiot on my headphones, and those are the worst," said Smith, adding that while he would like to ignore the voices, circumstances have made it difficult to do so. "It's tough, because usually when they're calling me that, something really bad has happened and I'm trying to figure out what to do next, and being called an idiot doesn't help at all, especially when it happens like 10 or 12 times a game."

“Sometimes I wonder what I have to do to make them go away,” he continued.

According to Smith, the accusing voices do not always confine themselves to headphones but can be heard coming from all manner of electronic communications devices and sometimes even through ambient noise.

"Often when I’m at home I’ll hear them on the radio,” Smith said. "On the TV, too, if I pay attention. And now and then, if I listen closely, I hear them on my phone, especially when I’m talking to [Chicago Bears GM] Jerry Angelo. They’re also there when I eat in restaurants or go grocery shopping—even when I’m at church and it seems that no one's talking but the pastor. They’re sort of taking over my life."

"Last season I even started hearing them in the shower, and that’s really scary, because it sounded like my voice when that happened," Smith added. “So I went to a psychiatrist, a real nice guy and a Bears fan. He said that maybe I should really listen to the voices, especially when they tell me to get off the ****ing football field.”

Although the instances of hearing voices call him an idiot tapered off to just a few times a day during the summer lockout and ceased almost entirely when he was asleep, Smith said the frequency of the insults redoubled shortly after training camp began. The cries of idiot also began increasing in volume to the point that Smith reported hearing, during preseason games, roughly 60,000 people screaming "What are you doing, you idiot?" in unison.

"They came back in full force a couple days into practice, right after I cut [Pro Bowl center Olin] Kreutz and assigned a rookie center [in a complex and difficult-to-learn Mike Martz offense] to protect [fragile, mistake-prone quarterback and Smith protege Jay] Cutler [in a division that includes formidable defensive linemen Ndamukong Suh and B.J. Raji]," Smith added. "In fact, that time the voices came from behind me where the offensive linemen were hanging out. But when I turned around, they weren’t talking at all.”

"There it is again," the three-time NFC North champion coach and idiot said when reached by phone for an interview. "Did you hear that?"

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/ar...ling-hi,21267/

[Ben Kenobi]

I broke down earlier to Ben how on a per game basis, Vick was the most dominant QB last year, even better than Brady in yards and TDs per game.

Unfortunately, the NFL plays 16 games. Now that he got his payday, let's see how well he plays.

[demonbinder]

OzzyKP - "...three-time NFC North champion coach..." . Nuff said.

[SlowwHand]

Lee Roy Selmon shows signs of improvement, responsiveness


By JOEY JOHNSTON | The Tampa Tribune
Published: September 03, 2011
» 9 Comments | Post a Comment
TAMPA --

Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Buccaneer defensive end Lee Roy Selmon, who was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital after suffering a stroke at his Tampa home on Friday, was showing signs of improvement and responsiveness today, according to his former teammate, David Lewis.

Lewis, a former Bucs' linebacker, saw Selmon late Friday night in the St. Joseph's Hospital intensive care unit, where Selmon's family had assembled. According to Lewis, Selmon was able to squeeze the hand of his son, Lee Roy Jr., and he recognized family members, including older brothers Lucious and Dewey, who arrived from Oklahoma. Selmon was breathing on his own, Lewis said.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-ne...nsi-ar-255175/

[demonbinder]

That's good news about Selmon, esp. after all the NHL deaths this year. He is much too young to be in that condition, but that is what can happen to pro football players. That's why NFL has to do more with helping former players.

[Donegeal]

Finally some good news from the Bears:

Bears sign Pro bowl Safety Brandon Merriweather

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d...headline_stack

[Koyaanisqatsi]

I'd be hesitant about calling that good news. But, he should do better in the Bears system than in NE.

[-Jrabbit]

Bears were thin at safety and Major Wright was not looking ready for prime time (gave up rushing TDs by missing one-on-one tackes in the last two preseason games). Assuming Meriweather hasn't totally lost it, that's a way better waiver pickup than the Bears were hoping for.

[SlowwHand]

A shock to me...

Hall of Fame DE Selmon dies of stroke (AP)

Lee Roy Selmon, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Hall of Fame defensive end who teamed with his brothers to create a dominant defensive front and helped lead Oklahoma to consecutive national championships, died Sunday -- two days after being hospitalized for a stroke. He was 56. A statement released on behalf of his wife, Claybra Selmon, said he died at a Tampa hospital surrounded by family members.

[Lord Avalon]

RIP.

[ColdWizard]

Jags dump Garrard

[-Jrabbit]

That's kind of a stunner, to say the least.

Welcome to the Luke McCown (pre-Blaine Gabbert) Era!

Oh, and say good-bye to Jack Del Rio.

[OzzyKP]

Frick. I was pretty happy to have him as my backup too. Now there are nothing but dregs left over... *sigh* Guess I'm relying on Sexy Rexy for week 8.

[-Jrabbit]

Too soon to panic. With all the crappy QB situations in the league, he may find a nice landing spot.

He's Kenobi's QB2 in IDP iirc.

[Al B. Sure!]

They gave him the Byron Leftwich treatment!

Remember a few years back when Garrard took the starting job when Leftwich was cut the day before the season opener? Jack Del Rio is a jerk

The crazy thing about it is the Jaguars are already way under the cap and Garrard was cheap for a starting QB. This was not a financially-motivated decision at all.

[Ben Kenobi]

He's Kenobi's QB2 in IDP iirc.

I own him in all 3 leagues. I was even going to start him over Ryan and Cutler against that tasty Houston D.

[Sparrowhawk]

I was even going to start him over Ryan and Cutler against that tasty Houston D.

Though I have little to base my opinion on....in my opinion the Houston D will be far less "tasty" this year than it was last year.

/me

[Al B. Sure!]

You should be right, Sparrowhawk.

Ben's favorite coach, Wade Philips, is their coordinator and is instituting his 3-4 (I swear, weren't the Texans just a 3-4 like 4 years ago under Dom Capers? How many times is this defense realigning?). Wade knows his defense so that should be an improvement.

The Texans have had a perplexingly bad defense the last few years only because they're stacked with big names... Mario Williams, Demeco Ryans, Brian Cushing, (and lesserly) Antonio Smith. The secondary was atrocious last year but they've improved it with former Bengal Jonathon Joseph, he of 6 picks in 2009. They definitely have the personnel and, on paper, this should be one of the best defenses in the league.

I expect a slow start, especially with the shortened offseason, which would make the initial matchups (like the would have been Peyton vs. Texans in week 1) very tasty but this defense will consolidate by mid-season.

[-Jrabbit]

Ah, the return of real football... Tonight's game looks like an awesome matchup.

Make your picks and set your lineups, gentlemen. Here we go!

[MRT144]

WOOO WOOO WOOO homerrunningincircles.gif

[Ben Kenobi]

Ben's favorite coach, Wade Philips, is their coordinator and is instituting his 3-4 (I swear, weren't the Texans just a 3-4 like 4 years ago under Dom Capers? How many times is this defense realigning?). Wade knows his defense so that should be an improvement.

I know Wade. All his D's are tasty.

The Texans have had a perplexingly bad defense the last few years only because they're stacked with big names... Mario Williams, Demeco Ryans, Brian Cushing, (and lesserly) Antonio Smith. The secondary was atrocious last year but they've improved it with former Bengal Jonathon Joseph, he of 6 picks in 2009. They definitely have the personnel and, on paper, this should be one of the best defenses in the league.

Wade has bend but don't break, which is tasty for offenses when it does inevitably break.