NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - The Offseason

[Grandpa Troll]

Texans mini camp drills could prove expensive

The rules for what NFL teams can and cannot do during offseason minicamps are clearly defined and contact drills are a no-no. The Houston Texans now stand accused of breaking them. From ESPN.com:

Several sources told ESPN that even after the team's player representatives complained to head coach Gary Kubiak, the drills continued; and by the end of minicamp, three players had suffered season-ending injuries.

According to four players and a member of the team's front office who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Kubiak and his coaching staff conducted the drills despite the fact that players were not wearing pads. Their only protection, they said, was helmets.

"It was a live blocking drill. There were people getting pancaked. Everyone's going as hard as he can," offensive guard Dan Stevenson said.

Stevenson suffered a labrum tear in his right shoulder that he believes might end his career.

[Grandpa Troll]

From being a star to seeing a star (Lawman Badge)

Former Atlanta Falcons running back Jamal Anderson has been charged with felony cocaine possession and misdemeanor marijuana possession after being arrested at an Atlanta nightclub, authorities said Sunday.
Anderson, a fan favorite who created the "Dirty Bird" touchdown celebration dance, played eight seasons for the Falcons before leaving the team with a knee injury in 2001.
Atlanta police spokesman Officer Otis Redmond said Anderson, 36, was arrested early Sunday at the Peachtree Tavern in Atlanta's trendy Buckhead district. Redmond said a second man, whose name was not immediately available, also was arrested.
Redmond said an off-duty officer working in security at the club alerted police. Redmond said both men allegedly had powder cocaine in their possession and that Anderson also had a suspected marijuana cigarette in his pocket.
Anderson and the other man were taken to Fulton County jail. Anderson has a court hearing on the charge at 11 a.m Monday, authorities said.
Anderson helped lead the Falcons to their first NFC title in 1998, when he rushed for 1,846 yards and set an NFL record for carries in a season with 410. It was his only Pro Bowl season. The Falcons lost to the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl that season.
Anderson was drafted out of Utah by the Falcons in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL draft, No. 201 overall.

[Lord Avalon]

In the Pro Bowl they showed an iso of Fitzgerald on Harrison's return. He was running down the white stripe of the sideline (is that even legal? I thought if you went out of bounds, you have to get back on the field ASAP, which he didn't) and ran into a teammate who was not in the play so shouldn't have been there. If he hadn't been stopped and had to get up to speed again, he probably would have caught Harrison before he got to the end zone.

[-Jrabbit]

You watched the Pro Bowl???????

[Lord Avalon]

Hey, it's the last NFL fix I get till the draft.

[-Jrabbit]

...if you can call it that.

[Lord Avalon]

C'mon, where else would you see clips of both teams saying in their the huddles, "45 on three! 1-2-3 45!"

[Tuberski]

In the Pro Bowl they showed an iso of Fitzgerald on Harrison's return. He was running down the white stripe of the sideline (is that even legal? I thought if you went out of bounds, you have to get back on the field ASAP, which he didn't) and ran into a teammate who was not in the play so shouldn't have been there. If he hadn't been stopped and had to get up to speed again, he probably would have caught Harrison before he got to the end zone.

you don't read the thread do you?

Actually if you look carefully at the same :22 mark you will notice that Fitzgerlad gets blocked by one of his own teammates on the sideline, if that teammate was off of the white area, Fitzgerald would have caught Harrison earlier.

ACK!

Yes, I scooped ABC.

And he was blocked out of bounds.

ACK!

[Lord Avalon]

you don't read the thread do you?

I didn't watch the video in congruence with your post, so not having focused on Fitgerald at the time, I thought you meant an on-the-field teammate ran into him, not that he ran into an off-the-field teammate. Having missed that, with the announcers' comments fresh in my mind, I made my post. My oversight.

Yes, I scooped ABC.

You mean NBC? Couldn't say about ABC.

And he was blocked out of bounds.

It looks like Fitzgerald went out of bounds on his own. And he definitely stayed out of bounds.

[Tuberski]

I didn't watch the game, so didn't know which network it was on.

Actually it does look like he goes out of bounds to avoid a Steelers player, not blocked out by him.

ACK!

[Lord Avalon]

Also from the Pro Bowl: Warner talking to Harrison about that play. The WRs were supposed to be out wider, so that Harrison shouldn't have been a factor, even if he popped out.

[Theben]

There we go. That's the initial post, JR; and clearly the point of Theben using "freak" here was to denigrate the play, and suggest it was not due to skill but due to luck. I suggest it was due to skill. We can argue that all day (and I'm happy to do so!), but the semantics clearly are intended as I suggest they are.

Actually it suggests that it was due to both skill and luck.

I never said the Steelers were bad, just that the Cards, overall, played a better game. And argue all you want, by definition and reality it was a "freak" play (as in a freak occurrence, not freaky-looking).

[-Jrabbit]

OK, so today is the first day that NFL teams can release unwanted signed players.

Among the first to go: Pacman Jones.

Oh, and Matt Cassell has agreed to the "franchise" tag offer from the Patriots. That's $14.65MM, boys. Not bad for a guy who was a $500K backup going into 2008. (Doubtless the Pats will move him before the season. Otherwise they will have 24% of their cap space tied up in the QB position.)

[snoopy369]

That's ****ing hilarious. Two of the top four paid QBs.

I'm glad he got his paycheck, though I'm not convinced he'll be a substantial success anywhere else. I certainly hope the Bears don't pay much for him if they go after him (and they probably won't).

I almost wonder if they're mostly just hedging their bets against Brady being more seriously hurt (and not being able to come back effectively)... I can't imagine Cassell making anywhere near $15m in the open market, so you almost wonder if they know something ...

[-Jrabbit]

Absolutely it's a hedge. The Pats need to know Brady's condition with some degree of certainty before finalizing plans, and they know they can't do better than Cassel.